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8 MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. JOHN M. MuULROONEY, F. M. BARTON, Sioa ik ae a a a HOMER J. CARR, - - - Associate Editor and Manager Chicago Office, 210 South Water Street. Published every Thursday at No, 510 Perry-Payne Building, Cleveland, O. \ PROPRIETORS. SUBSCRIPTION-—$2.00 per year in advance. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on application. The books of the United States treasury department contain the names of 3,510 vessels, measuring 1,063,063.90 tons 1n the lake trade. In classification of this fleet the lakes have more steamboats of 1,000 to 2,500 tons than the combiued ownership of this class of vessels in all other sections of the country. The classification is as follows: Class. Number. Tonnage. RORGUIA VEBSEIS coc cccasetvs Csscausaeeueissecsecesssas 1,527 652,922.25 SAMIR VESSCIG a5 os 505 cusiseses sous esessvenss eset 1,272 328,655.96 ROHMM I DOBLS (cian ciecacs soc sscn sve bce setevnnbeases 657 67,574.90 PRAT ES cc bac ci say sis soakas i saus suas de coemeeneecettNns 54 13,910.09 OAL sities Sig icdatepisebendavaativedas 3,510 1,063,063.90 According to the report of William W. Bates, United States com- missioner of navigation, 46 per cent. of the new tonnage of the country was built on the lakes during 1889. This is a percentage greater than the work of the Atlantic coast and western rivers combined, and almost equal to the whole work on the Atlantic and Pacific coast. In 1890 the tonnage built on the lakes is but very little less than that built on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Tonnage built on the lakes during the past five years was as follows : No. of boats. Net Tonnage. BRM e ca sic cca Susu bulvaek veda uaes cup eeonnaues 5 20,400.54. DibrgccStnasac kyon secs iosreuuuce seuss teustses 152 56,488.32 MEMOS ates cco ues wi ices voces sl kine chess ates 222 101,102.87 SESE i sS6) aoa occas syne sh scgdeceetssceseowscase 225 107,080.30 RO oe sasies ose ep ne assess ces seusasutoccweseas 218 108,515.00 NOLAN cus ears awe. 5 Soe esesieasessces 902 393,597-03 Annual tonnage entries and clearances of the great seaports of the world, for 1889: New York, 11,051,236 tons; all seaports in the United States, 26,983,315 tons; Liverpool, 14,175,200 tons; London, 19,245,417 tons. Tonnage passing through Detroit river during 234 days of naviga- tion in 1889, amounted to 36,203,606 fons. Ten million tons more than the entries and clearances of all the seaports in the United States, and three million tons more than the combined foreign and coastwise shipping of Liverpool and London. St. Mary’s Falls and Suez canal traffic: Number of boats through St. Mary’s Falls canal in 1890, 234 days of navigation, 10,557; tonnage, net registered, 8,454,435. Number of boats through Suez canal during 1890, full year, 3,389; tonnage, net. registered, 6,890,014. — aha Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class. Mail ‘Matter. DETROIT'S commercial organizations, the board of trade and associations of vessel owners, merchants and manufacturers, have taken upon themselves, under the leadership of Congressman J. Logan Chipman, the responsibility of selecting Washington, D. C., as the place for holding the convention in the interest of lake improvements and they have decided that the date shall not be later than Dec. 15, 1891. This action has been taken without a general expression from shipping interests in the different lake cities as to time or place for holding the convention, but it can not be said that Detroit did not offer sufficient opportunity for a statement of preferences in this regard. Commercial organiza- tions in all parts of the lakes were asked to not only give an opinion as to the advisability of holding such a convention, but they were also asked to suggest time and place for the gathering. All endorsed the convention but there was no rivalry in the mat- ter of selecting a city tor the meeting, as the object in view insures harmony and united action. The REviEw favored Chi- cago, Minneapolis or St. Paul, for the reason that it was thought that a convention in any of these cities would attract attention from northwestern congressmen and business organizations whose support would otherwise be limited. Cleveland and Chi- cago vessel owners were of thé same opinion, but Chicago made only a half-hearted bid for the convention. If, then, Detroit is not.asked to reconsider its action in the matter, it behooves all interests to immediately begin preparations for an immense as- semblage of delegates in Washington. The plan of holding a convertion at the capital just following the. opening: of Congress may prove a wise one, and it is to be hoped that shipping asso- ciations in all parts of the lakes, and especially the Lake Car- riers’ Association and Cleveland Vessel Owners’ Association, will do all in their power to assist Detroit in the movement, The resolution calling for the convention asks for consideration of the interests of lake navigation, including the construction of channels where needed to insure not less than 20 or 21 feet of water in depth, the building of light-houses, the improvement of important harbors and the question of the construction of a chan- nel connecting the lakes with tide water of a sufficient depth and width to float our largest vessels. WHATEVER is done in the next Congress with the plans of lake and shipping interests for a 20 or 21-foot channel through- out the lakes, it is an absolute necessity that an appropriation be granted at once for the deeping of the Grosse point channel, where the loss to vessel interests during the past three months in delay and damage from boats going aground has been suffici- ently to pay for the work of dredging ten times over. Never in history of navigation in the rivers between Lakes Huron and Erie has the loss from stranding been so great. Boats have been aground daily, very often fleets of a dozen or more big carriers at a time, and Gen. Poe is aware of the gravity of the.situation, but there is no hope of relief this fall. A few days ago when the vessel owners of Cleveland appealed to the secretary of war and Gen. Poe, the answer was that if the department had the whole United States treasury at its back dredging, sufficient to be of any benefit could not be completed before the close of navi- gation. The department realizes the importance of this great loss to shipping, however, and when an appropriation is made for dredging at Grosse point it should be sufficjently large to deepen the channel at that point to 20 or 21 feet, with a view to fully overcoming the present difficulty and meeting the demands of the future. It is unfortunate that while in Great Britain and other lead- ing maritime countries, as well as on our own seaboard, great. attention is given to the use of oil in assisting vessels to with- stand heavy weather, vessel masters on the lakes can not, excep- ting in a few instances, be induced to even give attention to the - question of merit in the use of the fluid. In England improved .. appliances for distributing the oil from the bows of vessels are constantly being introduced, and there is no longer any question whatever as to their value aboard ship. On the lakes many owners who have given study to the subject and are convinced of the usefulness of the oil can not even induce their captains to give it a trial. With big steamers capable of leaving port in almost any kind of weather, occasion for the oil is not’so great as it was in years past, but there are times, nevertheless, when a supply of it with some kind of a distributing device would result in a saving of life and property. " . SECRETARY TRACy of the navy says; “ The present.revenue marine, composed of some two hundred officers, should be taken. bodily into the naval service and organized as a separate corps, | to be known as the revenue marine corps of the navy, subject in all respects to the laws and entitled to all the privileges which attach to the naval commission.” Marine interest in all parts of the country agree with the secretary in this matter. Not. only would the change result in improvement in the revenue marine service and a saving to the government, but the treasury department would be relieved of one of the many branches that. make it too cumbersome in its operations. Me eee Hae alee = The MARINE REVIEW and the MARINE ENGINEER ' z ; y : E ENGINEER, Lo: - one year for $4. Write the MARINE Revirw. i" E Le see Send 75 cents to the MARINE REVIEW for a hinder, that numbers, oy will hold 52 Ce 2 S