The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

i 12 MARINE : REVIHW. CHICAGO LAKE INTERESTS. WESTERN OFFICE, MARINE REVIEW, t No. 13 Western Union Building, CHICAGO, III., Nov. 24. By the time the Reyrew issues its Thanksgiving number, grain freights for the season will be at end here, with the exception of a few straggling loads. The close has been very unsatisfactory. For days the markets have been out of line for the movement of grain, and legitimate shippers were unable to make sales of corn in the east. The corn clique has had afew cargoes to go forward, but it has not cared much about shipping at all, and the drop in rates was the only alternative left vessel agents. The winter will come on with an enormous stock of grain in Chicago elevators, and with every indication that stocks will increase steadily. Boats for storage will most likely be in good de- mand early in the winter, and good rates ought to be obtained. Work in placing a tubular boiler in the Dunham tug Mollie Spencer will be commenced as soon as navigation closes. The boiler will have 200 pounds of steam, and the tug will,with her compound engines, become one of the most powerful boats on the river. The changes will cost more than the Spencer is now worth. Capt. Dunham has put in an electric light plant in his repair shop at the foot of North Market street, and is going in for a thorough overhauling of all his boats the coming winter. The loss of the Newburg is one of those things which make the under- writers tired. Coming immediately after a long line of heavy losses, the New- burg wreck was a kind of cap-sheaf, so to speak, of gloom. There are many tug captains who would like to command the new revenue cutter Calumet, now under construction at Buffalo for harbor service here. Most likely Collector Clark will serve out his term, which will not end until February, 1894, and will consequently have the say as to the appointment. Following the precedent of the last administration, the collector is quite as likely to appoint a Democrat as a Republican. It will be a soft berth and one which is well worth striving for. Deputy Collector Burke, who has been in charge of the barge office this season, will be transferred to the world's fair grounds as soon as navigation closes. Correction of Lake Charts--New Battle-Ship. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. Wasuineton, D. C., Nov. 24.--The expert engineers of the bureau of steam engineering have just completed specifications for the engines and boilers of the sea-going battle-ship No. 1, which will be the largest vessel in the United States navy. Notwithstanding the great size of the vesssel, she will displace 11,250 tons--she will not be a particularly speedy craft as vessels are now rated in these days of naval progress. But that is because she is to be heavily armored; not "protected," like the New York, in certain vital parts, but covered with heavy Harveyized steel plates capable of resisting the armor-piercing projectiles of great guns. 'The great weight of this armor has obliged the naval architects to reduce the weight allowance of the engines and boilers, and this means a reduction in speed, particularly as a liberal allowance must be made for the coal supply of the ocean-going man-of-war. The new vessel will have engines of 11,000 horse power, which, at 1123 revolutions per minute, will give her a speed of 16 knots an hour. They will be triple expan- sion engines. 'Three double-ended main and two single-ended auxiliary steel boilers will supply steam at 160 pounds pressure to drive these engines, and to make a sufficient draught the two smoke stacks will be made 100 feet in height. These tall stacks are not acceptable to lovers of beauty in marine design, but they are very economical and enable the engineers to get along in ordinary cruising withont the forced draught. The details of the complicated machin- ery are so many that it requires a book of ninety-four printed pages to describe all of them In his annual report, just published, Gen. Casey, chief of engineers, en- dorses Gen. Poe's recommendation, that an appropriation of $50,000 be made for surveys and other work connected with the correction of lake charts. The report of the chief of engineers says: "In view of the great importance of this work to the lake marine an ap- propriation of $50,000 for surveys and other expenses connected with correct- ing and extending the charts of the northern and northwestern lakes is most earnestly recommended, as the conditions now existing are urgent and require that this amount should be available at the earliest possible moment, and an appropriation of $3,000 is recommended for the printing and distribution of the charts." Bad Effects of the Eight-Hour Law. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. Toxepo, O., Noy. 24.--It is the general opinion here that Col. Jared Smith, government engineer at Cleveland, made a mistake in rejecting bids recently on some of the Toledo work from the dredging contractors. These are the only bids as yet rejected by Col. Smith, and he undoubtedly meant well in the matter, but it is thought that he did not allow a sufficient percent- age of difference in cost of such work through the operations of the eight-hour law. Dredging contractors are cut down in their working time four to five hours a day through this law. Workmen who live on the dredges worked twelve hours a day in most cases on actual dredging. On government work now they are not only cut down to eight hours, but there isa loss of this time in start- ing and stopping. This law, which was intended mainly for government em- ployes in the departments at Washington, must be modified as regards contract Dear James Van Slyke of Port Huron, owner and master of the barge Sonora, died very suddenly Tuesday morning while the vessel was at anchor outside of Turtle island, waiting for daylight. A government survey is being made of the Maumee river. There is plenty of grain in the elevators, but no easte:n demand for it. Changes in Army and Navy Officers. Detroit will soon have three members of the army engineer corps. Major Milton B. Adams, from Burlington, Vt., will ina few days take up the light-house engineer duties from which Col. Wm. Ludlow was relieved some time ago, and which have been attended to in the meantime by Gen. Poe. As part of Gen. Poe's river and harbor work has been assigned to Col. Ludlow, the general will now have more time to devote to the Sault canal and 20-foot channel improvements. Capt. Smith S. Leach succeeds Major Adams at Burlington. Commander J. J. Brice, U.S. N., who will on Dec. 15 succeed Commander Nicoll Lud- low as inspector of the ninth light-house district, with head- quarters at Chicago, is a relative to Senator Brice of Ohio. He has been connected with the Fish Commission. Paying Losses on the Gilcher. The insurance companies are showing very laudible rivalry in the prompt payment of losses. Elphicke & Co. and Crosby & Macdonald of Chicago paid $25,000 each to the owners of the lost W. H. Gilcher within a day after the receipt of the proof of loss, and David Vance of Milwaukee was only a day behind them on payment of a like amount. The Aetna has also paid its loss of $25,000 on the boat, and Smith. Davis & Co. of Buffalo write Mr. Gilchrist that $80,000, representing the amount held by four of their companies, will be paid next week. Worthington & Gill have paid $2,100 insurance on the boat's freight list. As the companies are given sixty days in which to pay these losses, it will be seen that the underwriters are making the best face possible, and come to the scratch in good form. First Class Steel for Ships and Boilers. The Condit-Fuller Company of Cleveland are in the field as agents of the Carbon Steel Company of Pittsburg, prepared to furnish open hearth steel plates for ships, boilers, arches and straps for vessels. A specialty will be made of steel] plates. to conform to Lloyds requirements or for any purpose where strictly first class quality of material is required. Vessel owners as well as builders will look more closely than heretofore to the quality of material entering into the construction of their ves- sels and will welcome this addition to the list of makers of strictly first class steel plates. McDougall's wha'eback passenger steamer, which is in- tended for serviee at the World's Columbian Exposition, will be launched Saturday, Dec. 3. SEND 50 CENTS IN STAMPS TO THE MARINE REVIEW FOR TEN PHOTOTYPES AND GRAVURES OF LAKE STEAMERS NEATLY BOUND. NITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, Grand Rapids, Mich., November 8, 1892. Sealed propos:ls for pier construction at the harbors of Muskegon and Grand Haven, Mich., will be received at this office until 10 a.m., on December 1, 1892, and then pabicly opened; and proposals for like work at the harbors of Manis- tee and St. Josepb, Mich., and Michigan City, Ind., will be received at this cffice until 10 a. m, on De ember 2, !892, and then publicly opened. Specifications, blank forms and all available in- format on will be fursishe:t on application to this office. WILLIAM LUDLOW, Major of Engineers, Bvt. Lieut. Col., U.S. A. 17-24. S. ENGINEER OFFICE,HICKOX BUILD- e _ing, 185 Euclid Avenue, ' levelind, Ohio, € November 1, 1892 Sealed proposals for dredg- ing in straight channel through Maumee Bay, for Toledo Harbor, Ohio, will be received at this office until 2 p.m. of Thursday, December 1, 1892, and then publicly opened. Specifications, blank forms, and all available information will be furnished on application to this office. JARED A. SMITH, Corps of Engineers, U.S. A, AZ AY IN SS a ee | SECOND-HAND TUG ENGINE, Must be about 24x24; Compound preferred. Address-MARINE REVIEW, 516 Perry-Payne Bidg., CLEVELAND, OHIO, Mention No, 160,