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6 MARINE REVIEW. Tonnage of Lake Customs Districts. Tables printed herewith were prepared from the annual report of the United States commissioner of navigation for the year ending June 30, 1892. They show the number and tonnage of different kinds of vessels making up the lake fleet, and also the number of vessels, with their tonnage, owned inthe different customs districts of the lakes. The Cleveland district continues to increase its lead in the amount of tonnage controlled by its vessel owners, although the owners of Buffalo, Port Huron, Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago and Grand Haven all control a greater number of vessels, which are, of course, not as large in tonnage. TABLE SHOWING DIFFERENT KINDS OF VESSELS MAKING UP THE LAKE '. FLEET, AND ALSO THE INCREASE IN LAKE TONNAGE DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1892. vgs Cuass. June 30, 1892. June 30, 1891. | 23° No. | Gross tons. No. | Gross tons. Steam. vessels...s;..c.csecss00000 1,631 | 763,063.32 || 1,592) 736,751.53 | 3.5 Sailing vessels.......t.c00000. 1,226 | 319,617.61 || 1,248} 325,131.06 | *1.7 Canal boats ....:........ Serer vie 731 75,580.50 703 72,915.42 ae Barges...... niieeddesaneats ddbes 69 25,321.12 62 20,472.37, | 23.7 Poidl ee oe ee 8,657 |1,183,582.55 || 3,600 |1,154,870.33 | 2.5 * Decrease. TABLE SHOWING TONNAGE OWNED IN DIFFERENT CUSTOMS DISTRICTS OF ; THE LAKES ON JUNE 30, 1892 AND JUNE 380, 1891. June 80, 1892. June 30, 1891. Customs District. é Number. Gross Tonnage] Number. |Gross Tonnage Cugahoga (Cleveland)............6+ 971 223,017.20 256 209,542.98 Buffalo Creek (Buffalo),............ 399 163,077.14 315 160,668.38 Huron (Port Huron)......0.ss+eeee 449 153,779.98 441 153,382.27 Detroit.......... seeeeersernececesaererere 9279 146,748.09 999, 150,835.12 Milwaukee............seseereeees en | 404 106,946.19 395 105,485.26 Oia Gwescsneccssts esis eae asses akees 311 74,706.00 839 73,999.45 (Charalp ieese esc e secede. senses *615 59,229.98 | *592 56,871.73 Superior (Marquette)............000. 139 57,448.63 141 52,254.00 Sandusky ........-ssecceesssceeesesseees 107 48,159.75 89 41,193.21 Michigan (Grand Haven)........... 302 32,943.23 293 32,050.03 IEG secs ieeseeceeeeeceseneeeeees ries 53 31,039.20 46 29,740.00 WR WEDALCHIC [0 cactes sonssetwmssers oe 45 22,531.13 55 26,685.64 Oswego Bia, cafe os dohncs see nwat tated ¥*113 17,844.18 *113 18,042.89 Miami (Toledo)........... wavlivecaceae 68: 17,807.84 63 17,053.62 INGA Aria oss.ctpccosecsasccnsen aaa 93 12,759.32 21 10,252.93, WMermont:.c..cccedudecsdsrgvetenrdgncuene 37 5,666.53 40) 5,983.72 GeMCSEE........0eeseeeseeceeserseeseens #05 3,988 48 #24 4,259.00 Cape Vincent ........:.... Mescrwstaes. 51 3,388.89 50 3,692.21 Duluth.. duisajs wen oatcas Ue eeeeaemees iievees 39 1,458.18 35 2,678.49 Dunkirk.......... waealbeeue ee Sin coe ee 4 202.61 7 699,45 Total...2....5.c4peettenc occ: 3,607 | 1,183,582.55.| 3,600 | 1,154,870.38 *Largely canal boats. These tables do not include boats and lighters, decked and not masted, employed within the harbor of any town or City, or canal boats and barges, without sails or inter- nal motive power of their own, employed wholly upon canals or the internal waters ot a State, or barges or boats plying on rivers or lakes of the United State: and not en- eenod pee. WL contiguous foreign territory, and not carrying passengers, or boats Buffalo Harbor Matters---Detroit River Lights. Special Correspondence to the MARINE KEVIEW. Burrato, N. Y., June 15,--Buffalo harbor is serene again. The grain blockade was never much but a name, though at one time there was some de- tention. Receipts have fallen off and there will doubtless be room enough for the rest of the season. The heavy takings of grain at Duluth would find plenty of room here should it all come down in one day. The canal is again the heavy east-bound carrier, having taken over 1,000,000 bushels of wheat out last week, more than all the railroads. Both rail and canal rates are up; rail to 6} cents and canal to 5} cents on wheat to New York. This isan ex- orbitant rate these times, by either routes, but the situation appears to warrant it. Freights appear to go by contraries. The distance is about half of that from Duluth here and the rate is twice as much. And so the government proposes to let Detroit river be a light unto itself after July 1. Thoughit is known that the new light-ships building for the Lime-Kilns and Ballard's reef will not be out of the builders' hands till well into July, to say nothing of equipping them with lighting apparatus, the goy- ernment has notified the Lake Carriers' Association that it does not propose to renew the contract for lighting these points which it now has with the associa- tion and which expires with June. It can hardly be possible that they will be left dark for an indefinite time, but it looks as though they would unless something is done. In spite of reports to the contrary ,it is the opinion of those acquainted with the case that the British minister at Washington has not moved in the wreck- ing reciprocity matter yet; at any rate Canada has not issued any orders in the #5 matter. If things drag along in this way much longer the fall storms will be here before the details are arranged. There is need of such a regulation here almost any time. The Canada shore is very close and there has been more than one vessel ashore there this season. Of course there were plenty of people to claim that the newspapers man- ufactured the story of the foundering of the Nyack last Sunday. The truth was that a street rumor to that effect persistently eluded all effort to locate it till New York was calling for information on the subject, and not till past 3 a.m. on Monday was the vessel discovered in Erie, The search for her was entirely on the theory that she was safe and it was not given up till she was found. Had. Capt. Parsons reflected that the 60-mile gale he went through would make people uneasy when it was discovered that he didn't pass Detroit on time,he would probably have made known his whereabouts. The collapse of coal freights, 10 cents at a time, was hardly expected, and when the heavy takings at the drop rate are coupled with the fact that very little business is usually done when rates go down,it looks as though the vessel men were very neatly done by the shippers. The burning up of upwards of 50,000 tons of coal along with the splendid new Reading stock trestle no doubt had something to do with the decline, Rushing Grain Through Canada--Dominion Marine. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. Krncston, Ont., June 15.--The grain trade with the west continues to be very large. The forwarding companies are using every facility to make speedy work, The Kingston and Montreal Company has now handled 2,000,- 000 bushels, almost as much as they have handled in a full season before. En- glish dealers are rushing their orders. The Montreal Transportation Com- pany has also had all it could do, and last week for the first time in its history sent 300,000 bushels to Ogdensburg for storage, so as to prevent delays to ves- sels. The lack of elevators here is being very strongly presented and it is ex- pected that with government and city aid the needed warehouses will be pro- vided. Attention has been directed in the past few days to the old fashioned and obsolete methods in use on the St. Lawrence cunals. The barge Hall struck and carried away a gate, the water rushing down and making it dangerous for other vessels. Luckily no damage ensued, but forwarders are demanding a tel- ephone service,so that when such important interests are at stake quick com- munication can be had up and down the canals. Marine men are wondering. what causes are at work to prevent President Cleveland from signing the' proclamation putting into effect reciprocity in wrecking. The governor general of Canada had his signature to the measure before June 1, the time set for it to go into operation. On Lake Ontario reciprocity would be equally advantageous to the wrecking concerns of Kings- ton and Oswego. Is there a "'nigger in the fence?" The St. Catherine's Journal makes complaint that not only are materials used in ship building taxed, while completed imported vessels can secure en- trance free, but that different rates of duty on materials are imposed at dif- ferent times and places. In 1890, Muir Bros. of Port Dalhousie paid 173 per cent. on steel plates from Glasgow used for strengthening wooden vessels; in - May, 1891, the same firm imported similar plates and were taxed 30 per cent. This last tax was protested but no change or explanation has yet reached the firm from the customs department at Ottawa. "But this," says the Journal "is not the worst, for Muir Bros. have learned that Messrs. Adam Hope & Co. Hamilton, imported plates for repairs and they were admitted duty free.' The paper concludes: 'A matter of this kind is too serious to be lightly passed over, and if the advance as in Messrs. Muir's case from 174 to 30 per cent, duty is due to bureaucratic stupidity, a government that was honest and meant well towards the people would lose no time in rectifyirg such a serious blunder."' Lumber charters are now being made at Toronto at $1 per 1,000 feet. Coal from Oswego to south shore points remains at 30 cents per ton. Invention of a Marine Nature. Specially reported from the patent office, Washington, D. C., for the MARINE REVIEW. 498,256--Beacon or buoy, by John M. Foster of Cranford, N. J.; filed Aug. 25, 1891; serial number, 403,673. : 498,572--Water jet propulsion for steamers, by Frederic W. Richardson of Hartlepool, England; filed Oct. 24, 1892; serial number, 449,836. 498,677 to 498,682--These six patents are by Alexander McDougall, and are extensions of the whaleback patents, being intended to cover ships of war. They are all close to the parent patent, the differentiation being to admit a peculiar armor, a system of arranging guns and arrangements of cabins and spar decks. 498,707--Copper coating the hulls of vessels, by Thomas §. Crane of East Orange, N. J.; filed Oct. 12, 1892; serial number, 448,628. 499 ,087--A pparatus for determining the bearings of a ship and its course, by Edwin Baker of Cardiff, England; filed Dec. 27, 1892; serial number 456,418. Copies of patents can be had from the MARINE Review, No. 516 Perry- Payne building, Cleveland, O., at the uniform rate of 15 cents each, wa ----aieiinnecaen