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BEYOND doubt the answer of the well posted lake marine individual as to which was the best known boat on the lakes, would be the E. C. Pope. There are several reasons for this, in addition to the fact that she surpassed everything in her line at the time she was built. She made 14 miles an hour loaded and carried 3,628 net tons on 16 feet draft and 3,167 net tons on 14^ feet draft. It is an open question whether she has ever been beaten by a freight boat of her size, and boats built two seasons later with more power were racing with her during the season of 1893. That she may be compared with some boats that carry about the same cargo her dimensions and power are given: 337 feet over all, 42 feet beam and 24 feet hold; engines 22, 35 and 56 inches by 44 inches; two boilers 14 feet, 2 inches by u*4 feet. The E. C. Pope also secured a corn cargo record of 125,730 bushels. This has not been greatly surpassed by larger boats. When the company were going to build on their own account last year they were thinking of duplicating the Pope. Passenger ferry steamers, though not so well known, make up eight of the fleet of the one hundred and eighteen vessels built by the Detroit Dry Dock Company. They represent a peculiar construction, found to be most satisfactory for the service required, which consists of making quick trips, with large deck capacity, across Detroit river. They have to encounter considerable ice during the winter and their efficiency in this line is shown by the fact that several of them were chartered at an expense of $500 per day to relieve a number of the most powerful steamers on the lakes from ice floes at the mouth of the Detroit river in the fall of 1893. The Promise is a recent addition to the fleet of the Detroit, Belle Isle & Windsor Ferry Company, and is the Detroit Dry Dock Company's No. 108. The hull is of wood, 130 feet long, 118 feet on the wrater line, 38 feet beam, 34}^ feet at the water line, 50 feet over guards and 13^ feet deep, drawing about 11 feet. The engine is three cylinder, non-condensing, allowing steam to be used at boiler pressure in all three cylinders. There are two 9^ x 12^ foot boilers. The boat accommodates 1,200 passengers. Ability to cope with ice is dealt with in the following chapter.