Evening star., 1900-05-08
ALONG THE RIVER FRONT
BOAT BEING CONSTRUCTED ON A
NEW PLAN.
The Inventor Promises to Produce o
Speedy yessel-GeneraI and
Personal Items.


and will be the invention of the century.
The boat. which is about twenty-five feet
long and eight feet broad. resembles an
ordinary f1at-bottom boat, although 1t Is
somewhat more wedge-shaped than Is gen.
orally seen in such construction. Between
her bottom, which is Of sheet iron, and the
floor timbers, there air chamber.
and Mr.. Motherall claims that by forcing
air by means of pumps through numerous
little holes in the sheet-iron bottom. while
the boat is in motion, she will be made to
float with layer of air between her bot
tom and the wafer. thus greatly decreasing
friction. making her more buoyant and add
ing to her speed with smaller power than
is now possible.
The new craft is to be propelled by a
stern wheel of the Mississippi river type,
with feathering blades driven by a small
gasoline engine. 1t will be several weeks
before the boat is completed and trial
had on the Potomac.
There are living and doing business in
Washington a hundred or more persons
who have property at Colonial Beach. and
who spend considerable time there during
the summer. They are all anxious to have
a steamer make daily excursion trips to
that point. through the months of June.
July. August and September. and several
conferences have been held recently be-
tween committee of the landowners and
the managers of the river steamers, look
ing to an arrangement of this kind. AS
Yet no positive agreement has been reached,
though members of the committee state
that they have every confidence that it
Will be done and that those who desire to
visit the beach this summer will be able
to do so. and return the same day if they
wish.
Inspectors New Ruling.
Under recent ruling of the supervising
steamboat inspectors office, all steam ves-
sells are required to have on their bows, on
c;I Of thn ,N;Io
name generally appears. the name spelled
out in exactly the same way as it Is writ
ten on her papers No abbreviatons are
allowed like Saml. or Chas., and the steam
boat owners on the river have had their at
tention called to the rule. and in one or two
instances the names had to be repainted in
order to comply with the new regulation.
The packing houses the fish wharf
have now salted down about all the her
ring that can be handled during the next
year. and consequently the demand for
them is very light. Shad, however con-
tinue scarce and prices remain high and the
demand good Since yesterday almost 10O,-
600 herring and 1000 shad have been re-
ceived at the fish wharf. Roe shad sold
for SIS to $40 per 100. and buck shad at IS
to 50 per 100. Herring sold at from 81 so
light.
The five fish packing houses on the Alex
anarla hsh wharf are also filled up with
ring has fallen off there.
Mr. Louis Smoot has leased the wharf on
the eastern branch at the foot of Sd street
southwest. and will make it the headquar-
ters of his sand business. The wharf will
be repaired. several new buildings will be
erected and other improvements made.
Mr., ]. W. Grinder has sold the little har-
Dor tug boat, the De Boss Lennox, to Mr.
w. H Hancock of Norfolk The Lennox
mas been turned over to the new owner ana
Will be at once taken to NORFOLK for work
in the harbor there. Mr.. John Hoffs is in
~ nd mill taIra
Norfolk.
Coming and Going.
The bluejackets from the revenue cutter
Window were on drill this morning at
the Independent wharf of the American Ice
company. and the maneuvers were watched
with interest by the river men
The tugboat Mayfower and the schooner
Thos. B. Brown. Captain Rustin, have ar
rived with cord wood for Carter & Clark
The schooner Maggie Clark, loaded with
cord wood, is lying in the stream
The hatie Plunger, Captain Dunbar. and
the bugeye Seabright, Captain Brown, each
with about forty bushels Of oysters. ar
day are bringing from 80 cents to 30 cents
per bushel.
The schooner John A. Dixon arrived up
this morning from Coan river. with a cargo
OF lumber consigned lin part to Johnson &
Wtmsatt, and in part to l.. H. Biscoe
The schooner W. P. Snow, Captain Wiilin,
with 10000 feet of pine lumber on board
for L. H. Biscoe. IS in port from Lodge
Landing.
Schooner Greenhn. Captain Layfield, is
at v. W Riley's wharf, with a cargo of
lumber from Norfolk to Galliher & Bro.
The schooner VIM. H. Skinner will today
complete the discharging Of her cargo of
shingles for Johnson & wfmsatt, and will
proceed to Georgetown to load broken stone
for Florida port.
General Matters.
The schooner Ellen Martz cleared light for
the lower river yesterday evening.
The steamer Kent arrived up from the
lower river last night, with miscellaneous
cargo for the local commission houses
The Motley Hall line excursion steamer
River Queen has had her berth changed
from: the wharf at the foot of o street TO
the old Clyde line pier. foot of n street.
The schooner John p. Robinson has COM
pletsd repairs at the Alexandria shipyard,
and is loading burned sulphur rock for Nor
folk
The bugeye P. II. Stewart and Mr.. Theo
BaHenger's pungy. the Ada Ballenger, have
both been fitted out with new screw steer
Ing gear by the floating machine shop
Alice C.
a large three-masted schooner is, lying at
Colonial Beach, discharging a cargo of ice
This is the first large vessel to discharge a
cargo at the Beach.
A large sand scoGy, loaded with fertilizins
material, sprung a leak off Alexandria Sun.
day evening, but was run close lnshore near
the mouth of the old canal Before she sank
Yesterday she was raised, pumped out and
brought here for repairs.
Mr. A L. Barbers large steam yacht the
Snenera, came out Of GEORGETOWN harbor
Yesterday evening and had trip diwn the
river. returning about dark She is one OF
the largest and handsomest vessels ever
tention. Ct
The steamer T. V. Arrowsmith left ves-
terday evening for Baltimore, where she
VIII go into Woodall's dry dock for repairs
TO her metal and bottom. Capt Charles
EntWisle Is In command of the steamer RI
was at first announced that the boat would
remain here until next week. but a change
was made in the plans
MI K. F. Reyhurn's steam yacht Gretchen
is on the railway at the Alexandria ship
yard Tor repairs and repainting.
TRIED TO DYNAMITE CANAL