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8 MARINE REVIEW. Ore Sales Market---Lake Freights. A statement prepared by the ore dealers of Cleveland last week showed that on March 26 there was 2,500,000 gross tons of ore on dock. On April 15, 1892, which was twenty days later in the year, there was 1,750,256 gross tons on dock. Shipping orders show that the difference in these figures will be practically wiped out in the twenty days intervening between Marce 26 and April 1 5 of this year, so that the condition of the docks as re- gards supplies is about as it was a year ago, notwithstanding an aggregate of 9,074,234 tons in shipments last year, against 7,057,- 078 tons in 1891. It is also agreed that stocks of ore at the furnaces are very much lighter than they were at this time a year ago, and there is no surplus of pig iron. Thus the ore dealers see no cause in the condition of supplies for relinquishing their demand for $4 on standard Gogebic Bessemer ores, and there is no change in the situation. Non- Bessemer ores on dock have been selling quite freely, and rumors of several sales of Bessemer for next seasons delivery have been current during the week, but they are not of impor- tance, as the leading furnace men still refuse to make purchases on the four-dollar basis. Until the large buyers of ore come into the market, there can be nothing definite as to lake freights. Nearly all of the vessels at Ohio ports, for which first car- goes of coal were sought, have been chartered at 50 cents to the head of Lake Superier, 55 cents to Milwaukee, Green Bay and Chicago, 50 cents to Manitowoc and 45 cents to Gladstone and Chicago. On Wednesday twenty vessels in all had been charter- ed for hard coal at Buffalo, the great bulk of the tonnage going to Chicago and Milwaukee at 60 cents. One or two engage- ments have been made for hard coal for the head of Lake Superior but a fixed rate has not as yet been made. The rate on lumber from Ashland to Buffalo has been fixed at $2.35. Stock Companies. For convenience in the management of vessel property, stock companies are now formed by most owners of new boats on the lakes. A stock company will control the steel steamer Alva, being built by the Cleveland Ship Building Company for the Bradley line of Cleveland, and the steamers Gladstone, Hes- per, Pasadena and Grover of the same line were a few days ago made the property of a corporation to be known as the Ohio Transportation Company. Alexander McVittie, John C. Parker, Clarence A. Black, A. I. McLeod, C. B. White and Alexander Bernie, owners of the steamer Progress, now being rebuilt at Detroit, have incorporated their interests in the Progress Trans- portation Company of Detroit. By the division of interests made between W. H. Wolf and Thomas Davidson at Milwaukee last week two new companies are formed and the Wolf and Davidson Steamship Company passes out of existence. The _ Wisconsin Steamship Company, which includes the Davidson and minor interests, and which is capitalized at $385,000, will control the steamers Ferdinand Schlesinger, Thomas Davidson and George H. Dyer, while the steamers W. H. Wolf and Fred Pabst, of which Commodore Wolf retains a control, will be the property of the Wolf Transportation Company. Trimming Machines. Mr. R. Thew of Cleveland, who has been at work for a long time past ona machine intended primarily for handling iron ore in the holds of lake vessels, has placed two of the machines in the wooden steamer Nimick, owned by the American 'Transpor- talion Company of Fairport, O., and it is understood that two more of them will be put into the Harper, a sistership, as soon as possible. 'The apparatus, which has been referred to several times in the REVIEW, is a combination revolving and traveling derrick and dredge, which is attached to overhead rails in the hold. It is first intended to make a success of it for trimming purposes and then endeavor to apply it to the loading of buckets in the hold. Mr. 'Thew has made several improveme jn the machine, and several vessel men who were at fi 'ptical | about it are now inclined to think that it will shortl ome into general use on ore carrying steamers. Trimming charges alone form a big item of expense on such vessels. " Shipbuilding Here and Abroad." T'o those who have embarked in the shipbuilding industry in this country and to those large-hearted Americans to whom native independence and advancement are always dear, Naval Constructor Philip Hichborn's article in the North American Review for the month of April must be full of gratifying inform- ation. Under the heading of 'Shipbuilding Here and Abroad,"' Mr. Hichborn has forcibly demonstrated the reasons why we should foster this phase of our domestic manufactories, and has shown how, despite the meager encouragement of the general - government and federal enactment, the shipbuilding industry of this country has grown to the magnitude and prominence of its present position. No one to whom this branch of our arts is of interest should fail to read the article. Norwegian Viking Ship. The Norwegian Viking ship for the Chicago exhibition is a true copy of the famous Gogstad relic, and shows to perfection the remarkable ship building skill of the old Vikings, and the attractive lines they produced in their vessels. The ends are sharp and the sides are somewhat flat under water, whereas above the water line they slope upwards. 'The vessel is built of oak planks, tarred inside and outside. Its length is 77 feet. 'There is no real deck, but several "lids,' of boards fastened together, form a kind of floor, about 4 feet below the top of the ship's side. At 'both ends there are slightly raised platforms, and on the plat- form aft in the vessel is the chief's seat. 'There is no room for proper cabins below the flooring, but there will be good accom~ modation for stores. For the protection of the men a tent can. be erected, there being a scaffolding resting on three poles for this purpose. The rudder is on the side of the vessel, and is shaped as a broad oar. 'The Gogstad ship had sixteen oars on each side, which are put out through holes in the ship's sides. Along the sides will also be placed a number of shields, about 3 feet in diameter, alternately yellow and black. Stocks of Grain at Lake Ports. The following table, prepared from reports of the Chicago board of trade, shows the stocks of wheat and corn in store at the principal points 'of accumulation on the lakes on April 1, MOOS Yow Wheat, bu. Corn, bu Ghia mote: fe uie scans ssl: 16,200,000 5,588,000 Duluth adv. O,02 25000 341 000 Milwaukee). sansa. tink 2,000,000 13,000 Wetroittage td. Gek we ads 1,964,000 49,000 MPoledomiintiee. incl. oe 3,691,000 1,821,000 Piilitea Citas. street a9. a: 1,929,000 251,000 Mo tala. ALG Gis a a 42,406,000 8,063,000 At the points named there is a net increase for the week of 509,000 bushels of wheat and a decrease 215,000 bushels of corn. In addition to the above stocks, there was afloat in lake vessels at Chicago on the ist inst. 4,762,000 bushels of wheat, 2,938,000 bushels of corn and '316,000 bushels of oats; at Duluth, 571,000 bushels of wheat; at Detroit, 374,000 bushels of wheat, and at Toledo 25,000 bushels of wheat and 132 bushels of corn. THE MARINE REVIEW, 516 Perry-Payne Building, Cleve- land, O., will pay 20 cents for copies of issues 1 and 10, volume 3, if mailed to the foregoing address in good order. A special meeting of the board of supervising inspectors of steam vessels will be held in Washington, May 10, to take action relative to an act passed by the last Congress for the regulation of lights on canal boats and barges towed by steam vessels.