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6 MARINE REVIEW. CHICAGO LAKE, INTERESTS. = F WESTERN OFFICE, MARINE REVIEW, t No. 13 Western Union Building, CHICAGO, IIl., Sept. 1. Grain is pouring into Chicago at a great rate, and some of it must go out faster than it has been moving all this season. Many vesselmen believe that the demand for tonnage will improve early in September. Prospects of heavy shipments early in the month no doubt had much to do with the maintenance of rates during the dull times of the past week. Vessel owners appear deter- mined to maintain 2} cents as the wheat rate to Buffalo at the expense of ore rates, as several big boats are being daily sent away after an ineffectual effort to secure cargoes here. In this marine men have apparently been wise, for when the improvement comes the start will be at a good figure. It is just about as easy to boost rates from 2} to 3} cents as it is from 1 to 2 cents. With a good start, it may be that there will be good money in the grain trade fora couple of months after all. There is a string to this prediction,for nearly every forecast of grain rates has gone adrift this season. Just when everything was ready for big business the unexpected has happened, and freights became - dead. The City of Venice, one of James Davidson's "Big Three'"' got away with 102,000 bushels of wheat. This, Capt. Egan says, is the largest cargo ever carried on a wooden boat on the lakes. It is certainly the best showing yet made by any of Davidson's steamers. . Capt. J. L. Higgie has good reasons to feel abused at the course of the Society for the Prevention of Smoke. His smoke preventing device was identically the same as that placed on locomotives, which railroad men say will so abate smoke that the society will fall down and call them blessed. The tug men have not the pull that the railroad companies have. The officers of the society who have been drawing large salaries, had to make a show of prosecuting somebody, and the tug men were selected as the fellows without friends. It is always safe to prosecute a man without friends, as a terrific warfare can be waged without any back shot. Some news- papers are ever careful to select some such victim, and as the marine has fewer friends in Chicago than any other line of industry, it is generally selec- ted as the first point of attack in every "reform."' It is immaterial whether it is the smoke nuisance, the bridge nuisance or any other nuisance. If there was a possible chance of starting in on the marine as a cholera preventive it would be done. I have watched locomotives for several days, and as a matter of fact they are smoking more atrociously than any tug on the river, Yet the Society for the Prevention of Smoke accepts the bunko devices of the railroad men, and are hypocritical on anything that tug men propose. There was much disappointment among the Chicago marine men at the unpardonable course of the Anchor line in sending the new straightback Mahoning to Milwaukee instead of this city on her maiden trip. - George Boyden, the well known shipper, had agreed to the ex- penses of a proper reception to the new boat. Mr. Boyden was greatly disappointed when the Anchor Line so arranged it that the Mahoning was not to come to Chicago at all. The course of general manager Evans was generally condemned by people who expected to have a good time on the trip out to meet the Mahoning. It is likely Mr. Evans knew nothing of the plans of the junketers, but it will be a long while before his great offense can be forgiven. * The Seamen's Union is going to have a float in the Labor Day parade rep- resenting Columbus' flagship. On the back of the ship will be the transparency. "This boat needs no police protection.'"' The thing ought to be one of the biggest hits of the parade. It is a paradox, however, why the Seamen's Union, which disclaims so vehemetly responsibility for attacks on non-Union crews, should be so touchy about police protection. There seems to be a screw -- loose somewhere. Lloyds Supplement for September. The names of eleven new boats are contained in the September supple- ment of the Inland Lloyds Register. Three of them are metal boats. The aggregate tonnage of the eleven vessels is 8,656 net tons and the total valu- ation $726,000. Following is the list : : Net aaa Name. Port of hail. Owner. tonnage. Valuation. City of Genoa.............. Bay City, Mich......... James Davidson............ 1,778 $135,000 City.of Naples«........... Bay City, Mich........ James Davidson............ 1,771 135,000 IBUGNA NY: .caesiiseccdssoe anes ChieCagore we nce. IBWenasbarke Cloves. |s nee 5,500 ISSONN ES oe aceresnigecs Cleveland...... esses Pickands, Mather & Oo.]............... 16,000 iPathfinder:...... PaICLEVelamndemmee en: Huron bargerCosn ss 2,000. 180,000 Wyandotte COnOlietereaysiesneeses| CLAD Me HIS tale ns tee 450 75,000 Grace ........ Buffalo........... Beale ecm DG eee ieee tenets 7 3,500 Maxwell A. Alpena, Mich .../Alpena Fish Co. ti 47 12,000 J.D. McFadden......:..|Duluth ............ seve (JOSEPH Magee.. ; 8 4,000 A. H. Shores, Jr........... Milwaukee............... eile sehen rence Slee eoU 60,000 ¥SAGAMOLGH< cackirehssoonee Cleveland.......... Eeteee Huron Barge Co... 3.0. + 1,700 109,000 8,656 $726,000 *Barge, all others steam. +Estimated. Sailors' Superstitions. It is said that much dissatisfaction has been expressed in the navy over the selection of a married lady to christen a war ship almost ready for launching at Bath, Me. Maritime tradi- tions declare that the ceremony of christening a ship should be performed by a young maiden if it is to carry with it happy auguries for the future career of the craft. About such matters old salts are particular, and young sailors inherit the beliefs that have come down from tarry generations that have long rested in Davy Jones' locker. Despite the great changes in ships, sailors continue to be pretty much the same as they used to be. They may not dance hornpipes; they certainly do not drink grog in the old drunken fashion, but the belief in certain superstitions is still the test of orthodoxy with them. 'The sailor of today thinks it a bad sign if a cat deserts the' ships and there is almost a panic if the rats follow suit. A shark per- sistently following the ship makes the sailors nervous with apprehension of disaster to come. Sailors are and always were a superstitious lot. Itis related that the Roman admiral Ap- pius Claudius, not he who wronged Virginius, but a much later character, on being informed by the. Augurs, on the eve of an engagement, that the sacred chickens would not eat said, "' Let 'em drink, then," and had them all thrown overboard, after which he attacked the Carthaginian fleet and got a terrible thrashing. Doubtless the Roman sailors attributed his defeat to his mad defiance of the auguries, and believed that had he waited until the sacred chickens had recovered their appetite there would have been another glorious victory to inscribe on the annals of Rome. 'The sailors of modern days would say much the same thing of a modern admiral whose defeat should follow some such daring defiance of the auguries. Marryat, Chamier, and Cooper have made us familiar with the supersti- tions of the sailors of their time. Their time is not far off after all, and many modern captains could, if they would, relate in- stances of the force of omens and superstitions. The experience of one captain, well-known in Boston, and still in his active prime, isa casein point. He says that a few years ago he com- manded a vessel plying between Boston and one of the West India islands. One very dark night the ship was becalmed. A silence that was oppressive brooded over the sea. The cap- tain had retired for the night and was sound asleep when the mate woke him, reporting that strange sounds were heard on the sea off the port bow. On reaching the deck the captain -- found the crew gathered in a group forward listening intently. They said they had heard something that sounded at first like a shout and afterwards like singing, that it came out of the dark- ness on the port bow and appeared at first to be close aboard and then to pass off to a distance. Seeing a veteran Swede who had sailed every sea listening more intently than the other sailors the captain asked him what he thought the sound was. With a smile at the supposed necessity of the question the Swede answered, "It was a mermaid singing." "Don't talk nonsense !" was the captain's reply. You are the oldest man on board." " But," retorted the Swede, "it wasa mermaid. They sing ahead of ships at night until a boat is sent after them, and (with a shudder) the boat never returns." Just then the sound was repeated. To the captain's ears it was like a faint far dis- tant hail. A boat was lowered, lanterns were hoisted in the rigging, and a blue light burned, the captain's supposition be- ing that a raft or boatload of exhausted shipwrecked people were somewhere in the darkness. 'The boat put off, made a long search, and came back, having encountered neither mer- maids nor shipwrecked mariners. 'The mystery of the strange sounds remained forever unexplained to everyone but the Swedish sailor, who, despite the boat's safe return, said he knew it was a mermaid all the time. Probably it was one of those strange, weird sounds so frequently heard at night at sea, which inspire in the hearers an awe, a creeping sensation, very favor- able to acquiescence in the superstition of the forecastle and quarter-deck. Superstition makes its way aft somewhat refined and weakened when it reaches the wardroom, but still supersti- tion. Nor does steam affect it. There is a steamer coming regularly to this port which has a bad name with sailors. 'The cats have left her at the wharf, and other cats were stolen by the sailors and were kept on board with great difficulty until she sailed. On another occasion the rats ran squeaking up from below and took refuge in the piling of the dock ; and everything short of shipwreck and mutiny has happened to the vessel, whose crew is kept together only by the exertions and persuasions of the officers. _ As evidence that superstition is found on the quarter-deck, it may be mentioned that the Army and Navy Joornal, which reflects its sentiment, editorially protested against reviving in the new navy the names of ships associated with misfortune. By all means let the comeliest of young maidens be selected to christen new cruisers.--Boston Lranscript.