British Whig (Kingston, ON), 13 Oct 1898

p.2

MOVEMENT OF VESSELS.

The schooner Acacia cleared for Oswego today to load coal.

The schooner Two Brothers got away for Oswego yesterday afternoon.

Three more boats for the Atlantic coast reached Ogdensburg yesterday.

The schooner Fabiola is completing the discharge of her cargo at Swift & Co.'s wharf.

The schooner F.H. Burton was taken to the spile dock above Cataraqui Bridge yesterday.

The tugs Jessie Hall and Walker arrived from Montreal yesterday with five light barges.

The schooner Eliza Fisher arrived from Charlotte today with coal for the Rathbun company.

The sloop Pilot, from bay ports, discharged peas at Richardsons' elevator yesterday afternoon.

The schooner Wave Crest was released from Davis' dry dock yesterday after receiving general repairs.

The sloop Maggie L., with oats and wheat from Wolfe Island, unloaded at Richardsons' elevator this morning.

A new lighthouse is being built on Carleton Island. The light will be at the top of a huge spar and raised by machinery nightly.

The tug Petrel left today for Cornwall, having aboard wrecking apparatus to be used in connection with the raising of the wrecked iron bridge.

Vesselmen on the upper lakes are jubilant over the prospects for the balance of the season. The freight rates on lumber have risen, and on coal, grain and ore they remain firm. The balance of the season will be profitable to the vessel owners.

On Sunday night the schooner A.J. Rogers struck on a reef near the Old Mission lighthouse, Lake Huron, and Capt. Frank Coulson and crew were forced to seek safety in the lighthouse. The wind carried the schooner off the reef, and out into the lake, where she sank in fifty feet of water, 6 miles from Old Mission point. She was laden with iron ore, and both cargo and schooner were well insured.

The Aragon Released.

Yesterday morning a representative of the Donnelly wrecking and salvage company said that the steamer Aragon, ashore in the St. Lawrence river above Split Rock rapids, would be off before nightfall if the weather did not interfere with operations. True enough, the work was accomplished, and long before darkness set in. At five o'clock a telegram reached the city saying that the steamer had been released at four o'clock, and although leaking a little was resting safely in a quiet bay. The leak, existing at the forefoot, was stopped without difficulty, and today she was to continue her passage through the Split Rock and Cascade rapids. It was first reported that the Aragon had gone ashore in the Cascade rapids, but a despatch yesterday stated her grounding was above Split Rock. These large boats are taking the old raft channel through the Split Rocks, and not the usual steamboat channel. They reach Montreal through the Lachine canal.

Let It Remain.

"The Whig was quite right in expressing against the removal of the Martello tower in front of the mutual wharf," said one of our oldest captains last evening. "It has stood there as long as I can remember, and throughout my experience it has caused very little inconvenience to navigation. It is true the tower inferferes somewhat with the north-east approach to Swift's wharf, but it is not practically an obstruction. Hence when navigation scarcely demands it, the removal of such an historic structure would be unjustifiable.

Not A Practical Scheme.

A voice has been heard in Cornwall suggesting the doing away with pilots on the river by a system of buoys marking the channel in the rapids. A local vessel owner remarked yesterday, in answer to the question, that the suggestion should have gone no further than from the lips of the speaker. It would be useless to attempt buoying the rapids, and even if they were marked every captain or mate would not be capable of taking their boats down. The scheme would not at all be feasible.

Welland Canal Report.

Port Colborne, Oct. 12th - Down: steamer Iron Chief, Chicago to Kingston, corn; steamer Myles, Tonawanda to Prescott, pig iron; steamer Resolute, Windsor to Deseronto, salt.

p.4 Our Waterways - Montreal will benefit from deepening of Welland Canal and St. Lawrence canal. [Montreal Witness]

p.8 General Paragraphs - The steamer King Ben loaded a cargo of wheat at Richardsons' elevator this afternoon and cleared for Montreal.

The R. & O. navigation company has declared a half-yearly dividend of three per cent.

Not A Favorable Wind - A north or east wind had a tendency to lower the water in the St. Lawrence river rapids, and the north-east wind prevailing today will make it inconvenient for the Donnelly wrecking company to take the Atlantic boats down.

Death of Capt. Eli Kendall - Clayton, N.Y., Oct. 13th - leaves a wife and family and a number of brothers and sisters.