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22 MARINE REVIEW. oo wine AROUND THE GREAT LAKES. A record of 41,000 tons of iron ore in twenty-four hours loading was made at the Two Harbors docks of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad a few days ago. Capt. George Couvrette, well known throughout the great lakes dis- trict, died at Montreal a few days ago. He was for a number of years in the service of the Calvin company, and previous to that sailed for some time between Chicago and Buffalo. : Capt. John Mitchell of Cleveland will make a trip to the Mediter- ranean during the winter, leaving home about Jan. 25. Capt. J. S. Dunham. of Chicago will make the same trip. There are other lake vessel owners who also contemplate a trip to Europe before the opening of navigation in 1900. In conformity with the practice of the Minnesota Steamship Co. of Cleveland, which provides names for its vessels beginning with M and ending with A, the name of the large steel steamer Pennsylvania, pur- chased from A. B. Wolvin and others while under construction last winter, but after she had been named, will be changed to Mataafa. The anxiety of underwriters regarding fall cargoes of grain and their determination, after a prosperous season, to grant only such ex- tensions of policies as they were absolutely compelled to accede to, may be understood when it is noted, for instance, that two cargoes of flax moved down the lakes in the closing days of the season by the steamers _ H.C. Frick and J.J. McWilliams were. valued_in.round figures at $560,- 000. The Frick carried 240,000 bushels and the McWilliams 160,000 bushels. sighs oes oy ee vans "ng a An effort is being made by Mr. Geo. Y. Wisner of Detroit, acting as a member of the United States board of engineers on deep waterways to determine the approximate effect of shallow water on the speed of steamships. The board is collecting from vessel owners information from the logs of their vessels regarding the time of passing lights on Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair, and will thus be able to form a fair comparison of the rate of speed on Lake Huron as compared with that on Lake St. Clair. Mr. R. L. Newman, who was in charge of the Globe yard of the American Ship Building Co. at Cleveland, and whose resignation was announced a short time ago, left for Philadelphia Wednesday to enter upon the duties of general manager of the New York Ship Building Co., which is erecting at Camden, near Philadelphia, a very large ship build- ing plant that will be in all respects one of the finest in the country. Mr. Newman took with him as a remembrance from foremen of the Globe yard a silver smoking set. As the Canada-Atlantic company, operating between Chicago, Du- luth and Parry Sound, Ont., has only two vessels, the steamers Arthur Orr and Geo. Orr, to take the place of five Menominee line package freighters just returned to M. A. Hanna & Co., or rather to the National Steel Co., they will very probably find considerable difficulty in securing vessels to care for their lake trade next season. It would seem that the wrecked steamer Harlem could be rebuilt so as to be admirably fitted for the Canada-Atlantic service. National Steamship Co. is the name selected for the corporation that will control hereaiter the steamers Parks Foster and Ira Owen, purchased recently from Messrs. Clough, Foster and others of Elyria, O. The vessels are chartered to carry ore next season. Officers of the new com- pany are: President and general manager, A. McVittie of Detroit; vice- president, J. G. Keith of Chicago; secretary and treasurer, M. E. Farr of Detroit. Messrs. F. E. Kirby and C. B. Calder of Detroit are mem- bers of the board of directors. es When properties of the Lake Superior Iron Co. were purchased by Carnegie interests a short time ago, the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., ot which Mr. W. G. Mather of Cleveland is president, shared in the purchase to the extent of one-fourth of the whole. It has therefore been arranged that of the six steel vessels included in the transfer, two, the Andaste and Choctaw, will hereafter be controlled in the office of the Cleveland-Cliffs company. The four remaining under Carnegie manage- ment are the Jolliet, La Salle, Wawatam and Griffin. As an instance of the remarkable change that has taken place in the value of wooden vessels on the great lakes on account of the high freights of the past season, it is noted that the steamer V. H. Ketchum, sold a few days ago by the Mock-Becker interests of Cleveland to Capt. George England and others of Detroit for $55,000, was bought eight years ago on the same day in December at exactly the same price by the late Capt. Wm. S. Mack from Pickands, Mather & Co. The transfer in -both cases was made through Mitchell & Co., brokers. In this: period of eight years there were times when it was thought the older class of wooden yéssels would never again be worth one-quarter of the prices at which they are now selling. Glancing at a card om his desk announcing the death of Capt. James ] J. Clark of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Co which occurred at his home in Detroit several days ago, a Cleveland vessel owner said: "It is not right to say of Capt. Clark that he was not appreciated to the full extent of his worth while living. No one connected in any way with lake shipping was more highly respected. All that has been said of his business capacity and integrity, modest, gentlemanly and courteous manner will be endorsed by vesselmen from one end' of the lakes to the other. They all met him often during the many years when he was the leading spirit in the Detroit Fire and Marine company.' James J. Clark was born in Oswego, N. Y., Oct. 1, 1833. He was elected secre- tary of the Detroit company March 10, 1868; became a director Jan. 8, 1884, and was elected vice-president May 12, 1891. Reference was made in these columns some time ago to patents held by A. H, Wolf of West Dover, O., on appliances designed to raise sunken vessels, and in which Mr. N. J. Boylan of the Pittsburg & Chi- cago Gas Coal Co., Cleveland, is also interested. Mr, Wolf's plans contemplate the construction of two large pontoons of whaleback de- sign, which would be so shored and strengthened as to withstand great pressure of air, enough, he says, to lift 28,000 tons from a depth of 100 [December 14, feet. He directs attention to several unsuccessful attempts that have been made of late to raise vessels sunk in deep water on the lakes and also to the great expense involved in raising steel vessels, even in the shallow waters of the rivers. He has patents fully secured and says he is willing to unfold the whole scheme, in order to secure the assistance of capital in its promotion, as he is unable to provide the large sum of money that would be required in constructing the pontoons, purchas- ing air compressors, etc. It is the intention of the Review to present with the close of the year a list of transfers of lake vessels, on account of the great number of changes in ownership, especially in wooden vessels, that have taken place during the past season. The list will very probably show that James Corrigan of Cleveland (Corrigan, McKinnie & Co.) has been the prin- cipal purchaser of wooden craft. He had ore to move for which vessels of medium size were required. In the beginning it was thought that he was treading on dangerous ground in wholesale purchases of vessels of this class, but it would now seem that if he had not bought the vessels it would have been absolutely impossible for him to move his ore. He has the ships for another year that will be practically a repetition of the one now drawing to a close, and in serving him in the sale of ore as well as the carrying of it, they will probably pay for themselves in the two seasons. Mr. Corrigan had at the opening of the present season the steamers Bulgaria, Caledonia and Italia and the schooners Amazon, Australia, Polynesia and Tasmania, seven vessels. Now he has, twenty- two vessels and their combined capacity in a single trip is about 53,000 gross tons. The addition of fifteen vessels, all purchased within a few months, includes the steamers Emory Owen, Robert Wallace, M. M. Drake, Iron Duke, Iron Chief, Progress, Iron Age, Minnesota and "= Quito, and the schooners Michigan, Ewen, Jno. M. Hutchinson, Iron Cliff, Halloran and Ashland. : STEAM COVERING BUSINESS. A representative of the Review who has been visiting manufacturers in the east during two or three months past says: "In regard to the steam covering business; J find that all negotiations for a combination are off, because the Keasbey & Mattison Co. would not go into it. Dr. Mattison told me he thought 'every firm ought to stand or fall on its own bottom.'"' In other quarters it was said that Manville of Milwaukee had bought H. W. Jehns' western business and that Johns was selling a good many of Manville's coverings in the east; also that the Johns com- pany had been doirg everything they could to hold down expenses lately and had succeeded quite well on this score. Whether they had also cut off part of their trade remains to be seen, as all the covering concerns are always busy at this time of year, and the results could not be seen until spring. Other representatives of the steam covering trade are non- committal, They had a bad scare while the attempt at a combination was in progres: and don't know yet where they are standing. They are selling everything they can get and hoping that they will be allowed to continue as in the past. Wha: frightened them was the attempt of the proposed combination to buy outright all the sources of raw material such as asbestos, mineral wool, clay, magnesia, etc. The Keasbey & Mattison Co. is the largest manuiacturer of magnesia in the country, utilizing the finer products in the drug trade and the refuse in the coverings. Magnesia is a staple in the covering line, and so the combination failed upon the refusal of this company, as it would have been a fight between magnesia and mineral wool versus the combination. TRADE NOYES. A new branch office has been established at 453 the Rookery, Chicago, by the Watson-Stillman. Co., New York, manufacturers of hydraulic machinery, tools and supplies. The Bullock Electric Mnfg. Co. of Cincinnati, is advertising for bids to extend its main building 200 feet. This will make the company's main machine shop 500 feet long by 101 feet wide. The large volume of busi- ness that has been booked by the Cincinnati company from all parts of the world during the last.six months necessitates the enlargement of its works with all possible haste. In times like the present, when there is opportunity for everybody to get a share of business, the concerns that have been most reliable and upright in business methods throughout good and bad years, profit most by the improvement. They are usually found with all the work their establishments can possibly handle. Mr. W. Fogg of 195 Front street, New York, well and favorably known as a manufacturer of mattresses and bedding, writes that he has enjoyed a full measure of prosperity in the year now drawing to a close. Subscribers to the Review who have been. receiving it through the marine posteoffice at Detroit will avoid the loss of December numbers if they will.inform this office at once of addresses for the coming winter. "VALUE OF STOCKS-LEADING IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRIALS. : 'Quotations furnished by HERRERT WRIGHT & Co., Cleveland, date of Dec. 13. 1899. NAME OF STOCK, OPEN | HIGH | LOW CLOSE American, Steel & Wire........... e 8% | 89%.) g6% 36% American Steel & Wire, Pfd.......... S04 | COD a= 8k 1Z x8 " Rederal\Steel reer... AG opie nd | 4 Federal Steel, Widieecee ccc: ace ORG i) TBR. TB 76 National Steel oigeccct tees. coe cccccces. 34 feed ¥% 38 38 Nationalioteel PtGs ane «cin 25. .cn.. 92% 9% u] u] Americanelin Plates... yn... "6 eB G tere son 25 PiMlencatalineclateMmeds..:scecl, le ee ene. 5 American Steel tloape.) As..én..., 42 43 aie 10 American Steel Hoop, Pfd............ SO alsa | eG 80 Republic tron & Steel .)::.............. 20% 25 |: 19 19 Republic Iron & Steel, Pfd......... 68 Go Bre Gate