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6 MARINE REVIHW. Seneca Shoal. 'Major E. H. Ruffner, corps of engineers, U. S. A., furnished us with a tracing from which the accompanying illustration of the shoal spot recently struck by the steamer Seneca is made. He says: "We have sounded the place thoroughly and located it exactly. While there isa large area with a less depth than 20 feet, there is not an extensive ridge, or area, of as little as 16 79°00! . 78°55" 78°50" } BAS Pont "i <0 x Sowing' im the inslonee' spor very from 184 ff tezaft The buoy (8 Pleced 17 cheat 15$ Ff of weter Mverys Creek 424s eG BTATVYE MiLce a re T 2 3 2 aa ed feet. One cast of 15 4-10 feet was found, and quite a number of 16 feet, but the shoal runs in general 17, 18 and 19 feet. A bar- rel buoy, placed by the Lehigh Valley people, marks the spot, and I hope the light house inspector will mark it with a can buoy. No large vessel should be in this vicinity, but the shoal is quite a distance in the lake." Lake Freight Matters. Occurrances of the past ten days in the iron mining region of Lake Superior, together with the suspension of grain shipments to the seaboard, would certainly have prompted vessel owners | to tie up a very large part of the tonnage of the lakes, if it were not for general confidence in a return to active business wirhin a short period. The suspension of mining operations has been so general, however, that even an early clearing up of financial troubles throughout thecountry may not be of importance enough to overcome other special difficulties that have depressed the iron ore business in particular, and there are some leading men in the industry who are of the opinion that a return to normal conditions need not be expected during the next two months. It is now certain that the output of ore from all Lake Superior mines can not exceed 60 per cent. of last year's product, which would be about 5,500,000 tons. The greatest surprise is the absence of any movement in grain, notwithstanding the low prices at which all cereals are selling and the certainty of a demand in Europe for the grain now in American elevators. 'The question of wages to come up in the iron industry on July 1 may also prove a drawback in trade, and altogether it would seem as though disadvantages have all come to iron men at once. Rates of freight on "wild" cargos of ore for a week past have been the lowest ever recorded, and still they have been only nominal, as the question with the vessel owners has not been one of rates but to secure cargoes at almost any price. é Designs for the Submarine Boat. Special Correspondence to the MARINE R&vVIEW. WASHINGTON, D. C., June 29.--Secretary Herbert has appointed a board, to consist of Lieut. Commander Sperry, Prof. Alger and Nayal Constructor Capps, to consider and report upon the plans and bids submitted to .the department for the construction of the submarine boat authorized by congress, These bids were opened at the navy department a few days ago, and were as follows: From George C. Baker, Washington, D.C., to build in nine months, $130,000 ; John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Company of New York, twelve months, $150,000; Marens Rutherburg, Philadelphia, Pa., eighteen months, $175,000 ; Lemon Lake, Baltimore, Md., (design only); Cowles Engineering Company, Brooklyn, N. Y., twelve months, $120,000 ; Clarence B. Shultz of Philadelphia, Pa., (design only), on commission of 6 per cent.; John Ambrose, Youngstown, O., estimated cost $75,000, but no bond ; Albert Bosshoerd of Philadelphia, Pa., (design only); O. Bruebaker, Alleghany, Pa., (design only). From a cursory examination of the plans submitted by persons who pro- pose actually to built the craft, it does not appear that any novel ideas have been evolved by them. The Baker boat has already been a subject of test by the navy department. The Cowles boat is understood to be of the Norden- feldt pattern tried in the British navy. The primary object of this craft, for which congress made an appropriation of $200,000, is to run submurged under torpedo nets around the sides of ships, fit a torpedo to the bottom, set it off, and disappear before being discovered, The general design of the vessel is left entirely to the contractor and only general requirements in her construc- tion are demanded by the department. The most important of these require- ments are safety, certainty of action when submurged, endurance, both sub- _ murged and on the surface, speed when on the top of the water and means for the visibility by the helmsman of the object to be attacked. Great reserve of buoyancy is required, so as to make certain of the craft rising to the surface should her machinery break down or the boat suffer any accident that might endanger the lives of those on board. The boat is to be large enough to carry supplies for three days action and also five auto-mobile torpedoes, and is to be fitted to fire two of the torpedoes at a time either on the surface or submurged. Abuse of the Law--Buffalo Matters. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. Burrawo, N. Y., June 29.--There is no doubt that the law by which the men employed on board of a vessel can tie her up for unpaid wages was enacted to meet an abuse of the rights of seamen, but it is too bad that the possibility of another abuse about as bad was created by it. The schooner H. D, Alverson has lately felt the weight of the wrong side of the law. Two years ago a man shipped on board of her and deserted after working a few hours. It is said that he refused to receive any pay. On her visit here last week she was tied up on a libel claiming about $31 for the man's services. Capt, Gundersen was inclined to resist the claim and stand trial, but he found out just what the attorney for the seaman knew all along, that it wouldn't pay him to fight, so he compromised for about half the claim and went his way. This port is standing the falling off in business remarkably well. The fleet continues very large in spite of the almost total dropping off of grain re- ceipts from Chicago and the failure of ore receipts. In fact the stagnation has hardly struck us at all as yet. Canal rates have declined steadily for several days, but everybody knows they were too high for midsummer, higher than they have been before ina dozen years. This is a strange state of affairs and possible only under most exceptional conditions. Should the rates go very much lower there may be a chance for the floating elevators. They were actually needed last season to keep the canal alive, but when rates went up no boat would look at them. Anticipating a big demand for floaters out of the pool, two or three new ones were built by various parties, but some of them have not yet been equipped. Ryan's elevator at Ferry street on the Niagara is about the only one out of the pool that has done anything so far. The Tonawanda strike has kept our lumbermen rather busy receiving car- goes that were intended for that port. Had Buffalo been so minded and had there been docks at hand the Tonawando business could largely have been transferred here and retained, but the connections between the two ports are so intimate that nothing of the sort has been thought of. The refusal of the Tonawanda union to accept the overtures of the dealers after virtually accept- ing them has widened the breach and no compromise is now looked for. Official Numbers and Tonnage. The bureau of navigation, E. C. O'Brien commissioner, assigned official numbers and tonnage to the following lake vessels during two weeks ending June 42: Steam--Idle Hour, Buffalo, N. Y., 347.93 tons gross 283.62 net, No. 100,559 ; Francis A. Bird, Buffalo, N. Y., 14.55 tons gross, 7.28 net, No. 120,937; City of Alpena, Detroit, Mich., 1,735.51 tons gross, 1,282.40 net, No. 126,974; H. E. Runnels, Port Huron, Mich., 862.09 tons gross, 694.41 net, No. 96,236 ; Manitou, Chicago, Ill., 2,944.66 tons gross, 2,391.55 net, No. 92,521. Unrigged--Clara, Sandusky, O., 16.46 tons gross, 19.46 net, No. 34,225. Sail--Elvira Hunter, Port Huron, Mich., 25,00 tons gross, 23.79 net, No. 136,367, ~ar er RDU ts~csesientminiiemenines