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26 MARINE REVIEW. RISE OF GERMAN,MARITIME INTERESTS. SHIP BUILDING GROWTH OF THE EMPIRE--POSTAL SUBSIDIES COMPARED WITH THOSE OF GREAT BRITAIN, The ship building growth of Germany is dealt with quite largely in a report on the development of commercial, industrial, maritime and traffic interests of the German Empire, recently prepared by Mr. Gastrell, ie British commercial attache at Berlin. An extract from the repor ollows: "Among the many directions in which the German Empire has been pushing its economic expansion as a powerful European state in recent years, none is more remarkable than the line of development of its mari- time interests in the broad sense of the term, which includes ship build- ing carrying power, and over-sea commerce, together with its necessary protection as represented by a navy. Sea interests and sea power are the natural corollaries of trade interests and industrial power, and they today t#ke a leading place in German politics, whereas up to quite recent times they were of quite secondary importance to politicians and still less to the nation at large. It is, however, only since 1881 that, moved by national considerations, the German government decided to foster the growth of ship building; but the intention to do so did not take practical shape until the first subsidy bill of 1885. By this action they afforded material support to the colonial and commercial aspirations of the empire. Though the principle then laid down has since been extended, it is almost entirely due to the energy of private individuals that such a high level of effi- ciency in this direction has been attained that, at the present time, the German ship building yards have been offered more orders than they can possibly carry out. _ "There are now being constructed for the Hamburg-American Co. fourteen new large ships of 144,980 tons, and a further nine of a tonnage of 78,380 tons are building for the North German Lloyd. Together, there- fore, the immense total of 223,360 tons of ship building are now being built for these two companies, of which all but four ships of 34,360 tons are laid down in German yards. And it is not only magnificent merchant shipping that has been and is being constructed, but also large numbers of men-of-war, both for the German navy and for foreign nations. 1Jn 1897 as many as eight were launched. : "The German government has not, however, largely subsidized or assisted the construction of ships, as has been the case in other countries. They have merely followed out their usual policy of affording a very moderate amount of protection to the young or struggling home in- dustry, in order to enable it to have a fair chance of successfully com- peting with already existing foreign competitors. The most import- ant form of subsidy is by postal contracts for mail services, by quick steamers, though it is frankly acknowledged that other important objects are kept in view throughout, such as the indirect advantages that would accrue to German trade, the gain\to the empire by the increase of the material for forming an efficient naval reserve, the utilization of the fast steamers as cruisers in time of war, and last, but not least, the coveted means of favoring home industries. Conformity with admiralty require- ments, the use of German materials and products as far as possible (includ- ing coal), and the construction of the new vessels in the ship building yards of the empire are among the chief conditions of the contract. These subsidies, which are only enjoyed by two steamship lines, the North Ger- man Lloyd and the East African line, amount at the present time to £324,500 a year for direct postal subsidies, and to £19,250 for separate pay- ments for carriage of mail bags, chiefly to North America by lines other than the two above mentioned. The total expenditure is, therefore, £343,- 750 a year in Germany, whereas the similar postal subsidies paid to British companies amount to £653,276 this year, and the sum expended by Her Majesty's government for the right to use certain fast steamers as cruisers, in case of naval warfare,amounts to an additional £48,600 yearly. No such payments are made by the German government to any of their lines of steamers, even when the ships are built on admiralty lines. But they can be requisitioned under the law of June 18, 1873, for war purposes. To other German shipping companies, of which there are many, nothing is paid to assist their development; but they may occasionally receive pay- ment for single mail bags carried out of the above mentioned small sum." FINE COASTING STEAMER. The Harlan & Hollingsworth Co. of Wilmington, Del., have just con- tracted with the Boston & Philadelphia Steamship Co. to build, under American Shipmasters rules, a freight and passenger steamer to ply be- tween Philadelphia and Boston. Dimensions of the vessel will be: Length of keel, 265 feet; length over all, 290 feet; beam, moulded) 42 feet; depth, moulded, at center to hurricane deck, 36 feet, and of about 2,500 tons burden. Engines will be of the inverted triple expansion type with cylin- ders of 25, 41% and 68 inches by 42 inches stroke. There will be four boilers of Scotch type, 12 feet diameter by 10% feet long, built for a work- ing pressure of 170 pounds per square inch. The ship is to show a speed of 1534 knots on trial, light, with ballast tanks filled. She is to be fully equipped with all modern appliances, the captain's room being fitted in mahogany throughout, with smoking room and dining rooms also of mahogany. There will be large stateroom accommodations, electric lights, telegraph, speaking and sounding tubes and Ellis & Eaves induced draft. This is the fourth vessel to 'be built by the Harlan & Hollings- worth Co. for the Boston & Philadelphia Steamship Co. Construction of this ship will be under the supervision of Mr. C. W. Wiley. Notwithstanding the bad weather of the last two weeks and the delay resultant thereto, work is progressing rapidly in the Harlan & Hollings- worth Co.'s yards. The keel plates have been laid for the torpedo boat destroyer Hull and those of the Hopkins will be laid down this week. The steamer Ponce, building for Miller, Bull & Knowlton, New York, is going along rapidly. Her water bottom floors are nearly all up and the workmen will shortly start in on her frames. The keel has also been laid for the Red D Line ship Maracaibo. Both the latter ships are being built under the supervison of Mr. John Haug. The steamer Kershaw will shortly be ready for her trial trip, and her sister ship, the Nantucket (both being built for the Merchants' & Miners' Transportation Co.), will go into the water early next month. NEW BALTIMORE SHIP YARD. PROPOSITIUN FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A LARGE ONE ON CHESAPRAKy BAY BY HENRY G. MORSE AND OTHERS--SHIP BUILDING CONTRAOTS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. A proposition for the establishment of another mammoth ship build. = ing plant on the Atlantic coast, and at the head of which is Mr. Henry G. Morse, formerly president of the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., Wil. -- mington, Del., has been talked of in Baltimore but has not as yet assumed definite shape. in the representations made in a semi-official manner _ it has been stated that the plant would employ in the neighborhood of 5,000 men with a pay roll aggregating about $7,500 daily. The pro- posed capitalization of the company is $3,000,000, although it is stated tha should it meet with success anticipated dry docks would be constructed and the capacity of the plant doubled, the total outlay eventually to aggre. gate in the neighborhood of $6,000,000. It is understood that the location of the plant will be determined largely by the ability of the city selected to raise the requisite $1,500,000--or in other words half the proposed -- capitalization--by subscriptions to stock. According to press reports up- wards of $1,000,000 has now been subscribed in the city of Baltimore, and should subscribers manifest a willingness to make good their promises there can be little doubt that the plant, if the project goes through, will be established in the vicinity of that port. Sites at Canton and Curtis Bay are most prominently mentioned among those in the vicinity of Balt- more. Among the Baltimorians whose names have been associated with the enterprise are John K. Cowen, Nelson Perin, Jenkins Brothers, Harry Walters, Henry A. Parr and the firm of Robert Garrett & Sons, The steel sailing ship Arthur Sewall was launched a few days ago at the Sewall yard, Bath, Me. She is 340 feet over all, 320 feet keel, 45 feet beam, 25 feet 9 inches depth and of 3,225 gross tons burden. She carries four masts, 184 feet long, and will spread about 12,000 feet of canvas. It is claimed that this vessel, which is the ninty-seventh launched by the Sewall firm, is the most finely finished and furnished sailing ves: sel afloat. Work is being pushed on the Jefferson, the second of the Old Do- minion steamers under construction at the Roach yard, Chester, Pa. She is well plated and the decking is in preparation. ; William Bates of Santa Barbara, Cal., has begun work on a new yacht which is expected to prove especially speedy. John Bishop of Vincent Point, Mass., has begun work ona schooner for Capt. Charles H. Harty. J. J. Wardwell, master builder for H. M. Bean, Camden, Me., ship builder, has just completed a set of moulds and plans for a vessel to be built at Belfast, Me. YACHT FOR MR. MORTON F. PLANT. Mr. Morton F. Plant, second vice-president of the Plant system lately purchased from John D. Barratt of Johnson & Higgins, New York, the steel schooner yacht Ingomar. The Ingomar is a new 90-foot vessel and is speedy and commodious. She left Boston Jan. 21 and has just passed Key West, Fla. She has been kept busy dodging the continued winter storms which have, of course, been unprecedented in fury during her trips down the coast. The Ingomar was built at the yard of the George Lawley & Son, corporation, East Boston, Mass. Mr. lant is having the yacht brought to Tampa with the idea of spending some six weeks in cruising around Cuba, Porto Rico and Jamaica. : The Plant service is now in full operation on even a more extensive scale than previous to the war. The vessels now running regularly from Port Tampa include the Plant mail steamer Olivette. recently rebuilt, the Plant liner Florida, the chartered Morgan line steamer Whitney and the chartered British steamer Yarmouth. The Plant people are also operat- ing the river steamers Margaret, Clara, Lawrence and Tarpon from Port Tampa. The Plant liner Mascotte is now at Cramp's ship yard, Phila- delphia, and will be entirely rebuilt. : The United States government is now engaged in extensive shipping operations between Port Tampa and West Indian ports. The transport Minnewaska, draught 22 feet, left a few days ago with troops, artillery, stores, water and horses for Havana, Matanzas and Santiago. An increas- ing number of British and German vessels are calling at the port for cargoes of phosphate. It is expected that the government appropriation for deepening Port Tampa harbor from 22 to 27 feet will be of considerable benefit to the commerce of the port. Mr. J. Stewart ' 1omson, secretary to the second vice-president of the Plant system, in a recent letter to the Review from Tampa states that the excursion steamers of the Plant sys- tem on Tampa bay and up the Manatee river are doing an excellent busi- ness. Referring to the trials of the British first-class gunboat Sheldrake, which has just been commissioned, the London Globe says: "The Shel- drake is a vessel whose future career will be watched with great interest by naval engineers, as she is the only ship in the service that is fitted with Babcock & Wilcox's patent water tube boilers. She has been sul- jected by the Admiralty to the severest series of trials, which she passed through triumphantly. After various basin and economy trials, she W!s taken to sea and tested at full power. Her boilers are four in numbel, with an aggregate grate surface of 252 square feet. The average pressure of steam was 151 pounds, and the pressure of the air supplied to the "res was only half an inch of water. During this trial the average indicate horse power was 4,050, the revolutions were 280, the coal consumed pet indicated horse power per hour was 1.57 pounds, and the average spec 20.6 knots. Considering that her original forced draft 3,500 and her extreme speed 19 knots, this must be looked 1pon as an immense success." A visit to the national capital may be enjoyed without extra cost for fare in going to Philadelphia and New York over Pennsylvania short lines. Tickets to those points via Washington may be obtained at same fares as apply over Pennsylvania direct lines, and will be good for tem days' sojourn at the national capital. For particular information apply 10 Pennsylvania lines ticket agents or address C. L. Kimball, assistant gen- eral passenger agent, Cleveland. power was ak