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iy 12 MARINE ----= DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, O by John M. Mulrooney and F. M. Barton. SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per yearin advance. Singlecopies 10 cents each. Senet binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on appli- cation. Entered at Cleveland Pest Office as Second-class Matl Matter. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1895, contained the names of 3,342 vessels, of 1,241,459.14 gross tons register in the lake trade. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on June 30, 1895, was 360 and their aggregate gross tonnage 643,260.40; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 309 and their tonnage 652,- 598.72, so that half of the best steamships in all the United States are owned on the lakes. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1895, was as follows: Gross Class. Number. Tonnage. Steam vessels............. dceeepestdonae ts deavevsced tL, 755 857,735-13 Sailingevesselsscccccccsccarsoensesosstepesce seooee 1,100 300,642.10 Unrigged........... anew ecaen peeeeree te peeees Seen 487 83,081.91 Motalssss.sccs «cc. aera spouocaaoceocnone yg: I,241,459.14 The gross registered tonnage of vessels built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States com- missioner of navigation, is as follows: FG Number. Gross Tonnage. Year ending June 30, 1891............00 sen | 204 T11,856.45 es ss Obey henonn Seat const ae 169 45,968.98 cs s ss 1893...06 Meeeeweecs - 175 99,271.24 s gs iH TOOAssssseccserssesscn) 2 LOO 41,984.61 ss . titel OQ Syececuaseeecssacess = (03 36,352.70 Motel Jsstitites aevthnessscecdceesccdoe! 22 FAY: 335,433 983 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (From Official Reports of Oanal Officers.) St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1895.* 1894. 1893: 1895. 1894. 1893. No.vessel pass'ges| 17,956] 14,491|'_ 12,008 3,434] 3,352} 3,341 Tn'ge,net registd/16,806,781/13,110,366|9,849,754||8,448,383|8,039,175|7,659,068 Days of Navigat'n 231 234 219 365 365 365 * 1895 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie, which was about ¥% per cent. of the whole, but largely in American vessels. i IN LOOKING over the list of aids to navigation for which appropria- tions have been made in the congress just adjourned, it is found that the vessel interests of the lakes have again been turned down by the light- house board. Fora longtime past the vessel owners of the lakes have tried to keep on pleasant terms with the light-house board, notwith- standing the treatment they have received. The REVIEW has hesitated about referring to the inefficiency of this branch of the government ser- vice on the lakes, as it was thought that anything said in these columns might be taken as coming from officials of the Lake Carriers' Association, but the wholesale manner in which all efforts of lake vessel owners in the last congress have been openly opposed by the board must be plain to everybody concerned. In letters to the senate committee on com- merce the board declined to approve of an appropriation for gas buoys for the lakes, although it is admitted on all hands that these buoys would be highly valuable in the new channels of the Detroit, St. Clair and St. Mary's rivers, where the vessel interests have been compelled to maintain private lights. There is certainly a power in this board that is working against the lakes, and it would seem about time that the whole subject of light-house appropriations for the lakes should be taken up with the secretary of the treasury. Numerous recommendations of this board are known to have been made without special knowledge of the facts, and they fail to make provision for even the most important chan- nels on which the government has spent millions of dollars. Note, for instance, the light for Middle island, for which Senator McMillan intro- duced an amendment to the last sundry civil bill. She board declined to recommend this light, saying there was alight on each side of Middle island about ten miles distant, and that while a light on the island would be a convenience, it was not at all necessary. They apparently pay no attention to the long list of strandings on the island, or to the fact that vessels run behind the island asa natural harbor of refuge and needa light there for that purpose. These facts have been presented to them repeatedly, and years ago they recommended the very light which they now disapprove. This board has been known to disapprove lights on the lakes without knowing where they were to be located, and without ad REVIEW. taking the trouble to look up such matters. Several years ago they de- clined to recommend a light on Ballard's reef, and it subsequently turned out that no one of the board knew where Ballard's reef was at the time this action was taken. It would seem that there is nothing to be gained from further efforts to conciliate Admiral Walker and those of his associ- ates who see fit to accord this sort of treatment to lake interests, anda straight out-and-out struggle over their heads with the secretary of the treasury would at least result in no great loss. Then, too, a change in administration that may place an Ohio man in the White House is near at hand, and this work on the part of the vessel owners ought to shape itself before the opening of the next congress. Ir itis possible to do so, officials of the Lake Carriers' Association will take some means, either through government officials or the courts, to overcome the utter disregard shown for private lights and buoys, again this season, by careless vessel masters, and especially by captains of tugs towing big rafts. The tug Vigilant of Buffalo, towing a raft of logs belonging to Loud & Sons of Au Sable, Mich., passed down through the Detroit river on May 31 and carried away three small floats used as light- ships at Ballard's reef and one spar buoy from the west channel line in the same locality. This same tug in passing down the river with another raft on the 10th inst. again swept over all the buoys and carried away all the floats and lost them. Capt. Andrew Hackett, keeper of these lights .and buoys, had been informed that the Vigilant was coming down the river andsent his son to meether and endeavor to prevent a repetition of the trouble, but he was ordered off the tug and insulted by the man in charge of her... The raft was one of the largest that has been seen on the river for years. It took up the whole river. The steamer Topeka, which was bound up the river at the time, had to put back to Lake Erie. The float on which J.J. Lynn of Port Huron maintains a light on the Cana- dian side of the middle ground was recently carried away three times within ten days. The expense and anroyance to which light-keepers are subjected on account of this carelessness has become so great that offi- cers of the Lake Carrierss Association are to take a hand inthe matter and see what can be done. THE FAcT thatthe new American line steamer St. Paul has made the voyage between Southampton and New Yorkin 6 days, 5 hours and 32 minutes, beating all previous records between these ports, does not mean that she isthe fastest passenger ship on the Atlantic. The Cunarders Campania and Lucania--whatever may be said of the great power and great expense of fuel required in their operation--have crossed the Atlantic at arate of speed per hour that is a full knot in excess of the St. Paul's speed. The average hourly speed of the St. Paul on the entire voyage was 20.82 knots. The Lucania has attained an average hourly speed on the Liverpool voyage of 22.01. knots and the Campania has made 21.82 knots for the full voyage. The St. Paul's tonnage is 11,629, her horse power 22,000 and her coal consumption about 310 tons perday. The Lucania and Campania are each 12,952 tons, with 30,000 horse power and burn about 540 tons of coal per day. WHILE IN A reflective mood, a few days ago, one of the oldest of lake 'vessel owners remarked that he would await developments in the lake business for a year or two before putting any more money into ships. "Tt looks very much," he added, "as though Rockefeller and a few of the big ore corporations will regulate lake freights with their big fleets, and Carnegie, with his Conneaut railway, will soon bein a position to regulate rail charges from Lake Erie ports to the furnaces. They want stability in the business, and with their immense interests, they not only have advantages over the smaller class of owners, but they will be satisfied with profits that would prove a small item on a few vessels. By reducing rail freights from Lake Erie to Pittsburg and other furnace districts, Carnegie will overcome a large part of the advantages claimed for steel plants like that of the Johnson Company at Lorain. He never had any faith in the Lake Erie--Ohio river ship-canal scheme. His ownership of the Conneaut railway places the canal scheme at rest as far as he is concerned "' A CONSIDERABLE amount of what is called luck seems to attend most cases in which money is made in large sums these days. Itis understood that Breyman Bros., dredging contractors of Toledo, made about $100,000 on the Grosse point dredging work, which was included in the 20-foot channel project. When the Toledo contractors agreed to do this work their bid was looked upon asa hazardous one, and it was known that they were themselves fearful of the outcome, although they had been over the ground and had used every means within their power to deter- mine the character of material to be dredged. Fortunately the job proved far easier than their greatest hopes, and it has made them rich. Ir is to be sincerely hoped that the report that the Japanese govern ment is to send two officers to the United States for the purpose of in- specting the ship yards of this country, with a probable view of ordering vessels here for that government, is true. Bf