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MARINE, REVIEW. ia and the Ossifrage to Milwaukee, out of that port, in the freight and pass- enger trade. The Lora is being supplied with a fore-and-aft compound engine and is also having her accommodations for passengers improved, while thirty feet are to be added to the length of the Ossifrage. Should 'Mr. Wheeler's scheme be carried out, Milwaukee will have two lines. of steamers to St. Joseph next season, while still another line from Milwau- kee to Michigan City isin embryo, with every prospect of it being estab- lished. It remains to be stated that the St. Joseph and Lake Michigan Transportation Company will be operated principally in connection with the Vandalia railway line out of Chicago. Evidence in the collision case of the schooner Starke against the schooner Charles E. Wyman, docketed for hearing during the March term of the United States district court for the eastern district of Wiscon- sin, is now being taken. The collision occurred off Port Washington last summer, the Starke, which was laden with a floatable cargo, receiving damage which caused her to waterlug and capsize. The claim preferred against the Wyman is for $7,000. According to current gossip the owners of the Wyman offered to settle for something over one-half of this sum but met with a refusal. Hence they concluded to let Judge Jenkins de- termine the atnount of their liability should the Wyman be found at fault. The announcement that the resignation of Capt. Charles EK. Moody as master of the steamer F. & P. M. No. 5, had been accepted has turned out _to be erroneous. Loth to part with Capt. Moody's services the railway company at the last moment raised his salary and thus secured his con- sent to remain with them. The scramble for a master's berth will now be turned from the doors'of the F. & P. M. officials in the direction of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Sault Ste. Marie railway management and their whaleback steamers under contract at West Superior. The Milwaukee Tug Boat Line management kept tab on the steamers Helena and Veronica during the past season with this result: TShe Helena travelled 25,600 miles on an average coal consumption of 200 pounds per mile, or 10 miles per ton of coal. The Veronica traveled 25,120 miles on an average of 155 pounds of coal per mile, or 13 miles for every ton of coal consumed. The Helena carries nearly as much again as the Veronica. Her engine is a triple expansion, with Scotch type boilers, while that of the Veronica is a fore-and-aft compound with marine boiler, Toledo Notes. | Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. TOLEDO, O., Jan. 7.--Conrad & Cardinal are rebuilding the tug Dexter, recaulking the steamer Panther and putting new deck, deck beams and hatch combings on the barge Massasoit. Capt. D. H. Mallory of the steamer George G. Hadley is wearing a brand new gold watch, presented to him by the owners of the big boat. Capt. Thos. D. Gibson has been re-appointed master of the steamer Panther. Mr. Fred. M. Haidion last year chief engineer of aie pennies Joliet, is visiting relatives in the city. He began lake service on Toledo tugs. Activity in Detroit Shipyards. . Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. DETROIT, Mich., Jan. 7--With five boats under way at the different yards of the Detroit Dry Dock Company, and the steamer Kasota coming out with a rebuild which will make her almost equal to a new boat,there is certainly a great deal of activity in the ship building line here. The Kasota has been sold to Detroit parties--price understood to be in the neighbor- hood of $90,000. The work of repairing her has begun and every effort will be made to have her ready for the opening of navigation. Of the five steamers building by the dry dock company,three will be of steel and two of wood. They are: No. 107 for the Cleveland-Cliffs Company of Cleveland, Wm. G. Mather, president, a steel pig iron steamer 225 feet long, 35 feet wide and 17% feet deep, with engines 19, 30 and 52x 4o inches stroke; boilers II xX IL; cost $117,000. No. 108 for the Detroit Belle Isle and Window Ferry Company, a wooden passenger boat similar in design to those now in this service, 130 feet long, 39 feet wide and 13 feet 8 inches deep ; cost $50,0co. No. 109 for the Clark estate of Detroit, a steel passenger boat 165 feet long, 35 feet wide and 9% feet deep ; engines 16, 24 and 38 x 24 inches stroke ; boilers 74 x 12 ; to be an eighteen mile boat, cost $75,000. No. 110 for Anchor Line, E. T. Evans,Buffalo, manager, a steel freight boat, "straightback" pattern, 289 x 4o x 26 feet ; engines 20, 33 and 54 x 42 inches stroke ; boilers 14 x 12 ; cost $175,000. No. 111 for Graham & Morton of Chicago, a wooden passenger boat similar to the Indiana, 212 feet long, 39 feet 6 inches beam, 15 feet deep ; 1200 horse- power, and to develop eighteen miles an hour ; cost $128,000. Steamer No. 111 will be built at the upper yard of the Detroit Dry Dock Company, No. 108 at the Clark dry dock yards, and the steel steam- ers at the Wyandotte plant. The cofferdam at the new dry dock has been made perfectly tight and work i is well along towards remedying the defect discoyered. last fall, Work on the new machine shop of the Dry Dock Engine Works is well along and the building is expected to be completed in 60 days. Plans for a new boiler shop are about completed, and the company will soon have one of the best equipped boiler shops in the country. Tuscarora--Owego. EDITOR MARINE REVIEW:--With hesitancy Iintrude myer upon you,:. as I know you must have a great deal of matter of more importance than - a controversy between two steamship masters as to the relative speed of the vessels they command. "U. L.," which I presume means Uuion Line has found space in your columns for several falsehoods which.T will thank you for space to enable me to correct. The Union Line flyer' Owego. we. have always understood, was built more for. speed than for profit. J have met her on several occasions and have beaten' her with the 'Tuscarora. No one is more astonished at the remarks over the signature "U. 1." which recently appeared in your paper than myself. I note that the writer claims that when the Tuscarora beat the Owego the latter was drawing 15 feet 7 inches and the former boat 13 feet io inches. The fact is the Tus- carora was drawing 15 feet 3 inches. He says the Tuscarora ran the river the entire length without checking. This isa falsehood also. 'The Tus- carora checked, as always, in shoal water, and did not average more than half speed through the whole river. Finding that the Tuscarora could easily keep ahead of the Owego after passing Bar point, she was not again _ pressed to full speed during the trip. We arrived in Buffalo 25 minutes ahead of her, not 4 minutes, as the writer "U. L." states. I shall have to correct another mis-statement. "U. L." says that on Dec. 1 the Owego left Milwaukee over two hours behind the Tuscarora and passed her the following day off Skillagalee. The fact is she left Milwaukee just 12 minutes behind the Tuscarora and passed her just 17 hours after she left there. She took ona large quantity of the best screened coal in Milwaukee, at a cost, 1 am imformed, of $4.50 per | ton, for the purpose of racing with us, whereas we had nothing but run of mine coal which we had taken on at Buffalo. The standing instructions: from the manager are that there shall be no racing and, as a conséquénee; there never is any racing in our line. Capt. Burns of the Owego knew before he left Milwaukee that we were short of fuel and it was utterly im- possible to drive the ship to any great speed. Now with regard to. 'the, class of the two steamers: If all I hear about the Owego is true I am satisfied that the Tuscarora is not in that class but a much better one: Buffalo, Dec. 31, 1891. Lele 2 ae Suggestions From the Commissioner of Navigation. EDITOR MARINE REVIEw:--I have just read with much interest the statistics of Gen. Poe printed on page 7 of the number for Dec. 31, but'also with some regret have noted that that there is no data given whence to: find how much was earned by the tonnage passing the locks. The car- rying trade seems to be never included in the business done at any port, in any part of our country. Our statisticians all seem to be men who never think shipping contributes to business. Why not the editors 'of the MARINE REVIEW show the country a new leaf in statistical matter the coming year, by showing the earnings of ape lake fleets along with that of producers, etc. etc. The vessels in tife Puget sound export Jum- ber trade average 30 per cent. more in earnings--in business--than the mills do that cut their cargoes. Wo. W. BATES. ' Washington, Jan. 2, 1892. [Editorial reference to this communication is made elsewhere. Ep] Fifty Second Congress--First Session. 'The following bills of interest to lake vessel owners has been Amen duced in Congress : S. 1223.--To amend section 4,153, revised statutes, defining registered tonnage, to provide for the supervision of vessel measurement, and to secure accuracy in the computation of tonnage. ste S. 1224.--To amend the law relative 1o the shipment, payment anid discharge of seamen. S. 1225.--To regulate the changing of vessel's names. S. 1226.--To increase the safety of life and property on ships at sea a by establishing rules for freeboard or load marks. In the House on Tuesday, Mr. Chipman of Detroit introduced' several bills, of which copies have not been received, so that numbers can not yet be given. They ask for asurvey of a route fora ship canal: through American territory from the great lakes to the Atlantic seaboard via the Hudson river; for a test of utility of Ward's patent wreck indicating buoy; for the relief of workmen engaged on the Poverty island light-house and for the establishment of telegtaph communication between Alpena and adjacent life-saving stations. Representative Weadock of Michigan, in- troduced his bill for an increase of compensation in the life-saving ser- vice, and Mr. Johnson of Cleveland a bill for the establishment of ahome for aged and infirm seamen. Mr. Burrows of Michigan introduced bills to increase the pay of inspectors of hulls and boilers at Marquette, and to create the rorthern judicial circuit of the state of Michigan and to pro- vide for holding of the district and circpit courts at Marquette,