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Up and Down the Great Lakes | Coal Trade Will Be Late—Welland Ship Canal—January Lake Levels— Re-elect Officers—Adopt New Safety Rules—Breakwater Construction trade is expected to be four to six weeks late this season, due to the stocks on hand and the dis- appointing movement off the docks so far this season. The lake busi- ness is the chief source of encour- agement to the eastern coal opera- tors following the slump in demand from the winter and spring seasons. The probable dullness of the lake business this season, due to the un- usually mild winter and low con- sumption, is seen in reports of sales- men traveling the dock territory se- curing early tonnages for boat load- ing this year. Companies which nor- mally book a heavy advance tonnage at this season say that they have been unable to obtain a single order of consequence thus far. Lake ship- ments, which are virtually the only outlets of the eastern coal producers during the summer months, have provided summer running time for years. A near-record tonnage was T=: beginning of the lake coal dumped for the lake trade at the — lower Lake Erie ports last season. The total came within a few thou- sand tons of the record established in 1929. Coal companies owning docks or with dock connections naturally are in the best position for an early start of the lake coal movement. It is thought that these will start ship- ments to the lake docks as promptly as possible merely as a means of pro- viding running time for their oper- ations, similar to last year. The docks along Lake Michigan and at Duluth, Superior, and Ashland last year piled up coal in expectation of normal winter weather. Instead the dock owners have left stocks of both domestic and steam sizes beyond any expectation, due to the balmy winter weather. Large Vessels to Use Canal When navigation opens for the coming season in the Welland ship canal, the size and draft of ships allowed will continue the same as prevailed at the close of naviga- tion in 1930, namely present St. Lawrence canal size vessels up to a maximum draft of 18 feet. It is expected that contractors’ progress, mainly on dredging work, on or about May 24 will have aa- vanced sufficiently to permit ves- sels up to 450 feet with a maximum 42 were re-elected. draft of 18 feet to pass through the canal, and that by July 1 lake ves- sels of all sizes with a maximum draft of 20 feet will be able to use the canal. This is equivalent to the conditions in the channels between Lake Superior and Lake Erie. The date of opening of the canal every spring depends upon ice con- ditions and varies from April 15 to 25, with an occasional extreme date of May 1. January Lake Levels The United States Lake survey re- ports the monthly mean stages of the Great Lakes for the month of Janu- ary as follows: Feet above Lakes mean sea level MEU EVONPROR ET oe olce, os sis ce\cantestsaccovcanucs sanauoebvsocsavsease 602.12 Michigan-Huron ..... Lake Superior was 0.29 foot lower than in December and it was 0.16 foot lower than the January stage of @ year ago. Lakes Michigan-Huron were 0.29 foot lower than in December, and they were 1.41 feet lower than the Janu- ary stage of a year ago. Lake Erie was 0.23 foot lower than in December and it was 1.96 feet low- ‘er than the January stage of a year ago. Lake Ontario was 0.36 foot lower than in December and it was 1.71 feet lower than the January stage of a year ago, 0.25 foot below the av- erage stage of January of the last ten years. Re-elect Officers At the annual meeting of the De- troit and Cleveland Navigation Co. held in Detroit Jan. 27 all officers The nine directors of the company are also to serve an- other year. The following are the officers: James T. MacMillan, presi- dent; A. C. Angell, vice president; James R. Coulter, vice president and treasurer, and William K. Muir, sec- retary. Lake Shipping Man Dies James Thompson, 68, head of the James Thompson Dock Co., Erie, Pa., and well known in Great Lakes freight handling operations for the past 40 years, died suddenly at Phil- MARINE REVIEwW—March, 1931 adelphia on Feb. 15. Mr. Thomp- son was born in Erie and rose from messenger boy to head of one of the largest dock and _ stevedoring concerns in the country, operating freight docks at Erie, Buffalo, Bal- timore, Philadelphia, New York and Hoboken. During the World war this company played an important part in the stevedoring operations of the American army at home and abroad. He was also head of the Eastern Coal Dock Co., Hoboken, and had supervision of the Pennsyl- vania dock at Buffalo and managed stevedoring operations in Baltimore, New York and other eastern sea- board terminals. Adopt New Safety Rule According to a statement from Washington Feb. 16, provision has been made for additional safety on all vessels operating on the ocean, in coastal waters and the Great Lakes. The new rule, adopted at a recent meeting of the supervising inspec- tors of the steamboat inspection serv- _ ice, requires that all ships plying these waters must be equipped with fire resisting bulkheads and fire screens. Under this rule, the new fire protection equipment must be able to withstand 1500 degrees Fabhr. for one hour. It is claimed that this new rule is similar to the one created at the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea in London 1929. Breakwater Construction Plans are taking shape for im- portant breakwater and jetty con- struction in the Lincoln park dis- trict, at Chicago, and elsewhere along the southern shore line of Lake Michigan. This work has been stimu- lated by enactment in the United States senate of a bill to give the Lincoln park board complete juris- diction over a portion of Lake Michi- gan, extending 350 feet from the shore. Under this plan, the Lincoln park commissioners are entitled to build a breakwater of about a half mile. Work already has been started to finish an incomplete breakwater. A jetty recently constructed in the Lin- coln park district required about 4500 tons of structural steel and sheet piling.