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1901.] MARINE REVIEW. | 25 gives a note corresponding to any given syntonized receiver, is conse- quently able to stop all communication, when used in conjunction with the apparatus for strengthening the radiation, within a radius of 500 miles or so. Consequently this method has been superseded 'by several other methods which permits of selective signaling, no matter how strong the interfering radiator may be or how close it may be, even approaching the interfering radiator within a few feet producing absolutely no effect. The parallel manner in which a considerable part of this work has been done may possibly be taken as evidence of the fact that the matter has now got down to a sound scientific base. Mr. Marconi and his emi- nent colaborateur, Dr. Fleming, are certainly to be congratulated on the results they have so far achieved, and no one joins more heartily in wish- ing them the 'best of success than the writer. The future of wireless telegraphy in their hands is certainly assured, and it cannot be many years before Mr. Marconi will see the great system which he was the first to see the points of and to put in practical form, in as universal use as our present methods of telegraphy. THE MIGHTY OCEAN LINERS. The mightiest and swiftest fleet of merchantmen in the world weaves its way through the deep but devious channel leading to the Narrows, New York harbor's picturesque gate to the sea, writes Samuel A. Wood in Ainslee's magazine. The value of these matchless craft is close upon $150,000,000. More than a third of this amount is represented by twenty- five magnificent twin-screw ships, including the Oceanic of the White Star line, the Deutschland of the Hamburg-American line, the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and the Kronprinz Wilhelm of the North German Lloyd line, the Cunarders Campania and Lucania, and the American liners St. Louis and St. Paul. Besides the immense cargoes that this transatlantic fleet discharges at the great piers of the metropolis, it lands yearly from 125,000. to 140,000 voyagers, mostly returning Americans, in the first and second cabins, and from 350,000 to 500,000 steerage passengers, nearly all immigrants. More colossal cargoes are carried away from than are brought into the port of New York, chiefly in the abysmal holds of mammoth twin-screw carriers like the White Star liner Cymric, the Ham- burg-American liner Pennsylvania, and the North German Lloyd liner Grosser Kurfurst. _ It is estimated that the cost of all the passenger and cargo carriers in service between Europe and the Atlantic ports of America is close upon $250,000,000. If the interests of the great lines in the Atlantic, Pacific and interoceanic trades were merged in a maritime trust the actual wealth represented-would be not less than $1,000,000,000. The wealth of the greatest steamship company in the world, the Hamburg-American line, as represented by-ships and piers, runs. over $50,000,000. It employs on its fleet about 7,000 persons, and 'gives employment on land to nearly 9,000. The next line in importance, measured by its wealth, is the North German Lloyd, which, like the Hamburg-American, is capitalized at $20,000,000. This, however, does not represent more than half the value of its property. Its new piers in Hoboken, which it owns, will have cost, when completed, $2,500,000. The Hamburg-American line's piers, in the same city, are worth about half this amount. All the other great lines, except the Holland-America, which has its landings in Hoboken, rent their piers from the city of New York. The revenue New York derives from the rental of piers to the Cunard, the White Star, the American, the Atlantic Transport, the Frénch, the Leyland, the National and other lines is nearly a million dollars annually.' The White Star line pays the largest rental, $217,000; the Cunard line is next, with $120,000, and the American line third, with $88,131. * Nearly all the famous liners of the world are twin screws. There are, however, a few remarkable single-screw ships which are nearly as swift as some of the great twin screws. Notable among them are the Cunarders Etruria and Umbria, which were launched, respectively, in 1884 and 1885. They did not develop top speed until they had been almost fifteen years in service. The White Star liners Germanic and Britannic, which were built in 1874, and are, therefore; among the oldest single screws afloat, have made quicker trips from Queenstown within recent years than they did when they were new. The characteristics of the White Star single screws are their steadiness. atid durability. Representatives of the line say that the Britannic willbe just as good as she is today probably ten years hence. These ships will doubtless tbe the last single screws of the White Star line. The single' screws have old types of engines that are heavy coal consumers, and, in case 'of the breaking of a shaft, they are practically at the mercy of the elements.' The twin screw is comparatively economical in the use of coal,' considering her great speed. Her pro- pellers may 'be used to steer'in 'case thé steering gear gives way, or the rudder is smashed by the slapping of the seas under the counter. There have been several instances when, on account of damaged steering gear or rudder, the twin ship has guided herself nearly half way across seas by 'her propellers alone. The value of the screws as an accessory to steering has been fre- quently demonstrated. The most notable case, in which the Hamburg- American liner Normannia (now the French liner L' Aquitaine), barely missed destruction by collision with an iceberg, occurred during her maiden trip, on May 27, 1890. The bergs had been drifting down into the steamship lane, enveloped in fog, for several weeks. Capt: Charles Hebich, the commander of the Normannia, thought he was steering a course far below the perilous iceberg region. The liner was steaming at the rate of about 17 knots when the lookouts on the forecastle saw a great three-peaked ice spectre materialize from the mist. Capt. Hebich, who was on the bridge, observed the vision at about the same time that the lookouts forward, shouting warning to the commander, ran aft for their lives. The commander shivered a bit as he pictured the destruction of the ship against the wall of ice. He ordered the helm put hard over. Then he ran to the tever 'controlling the signal to the starboard éngine room and signaled to the engineer to stop the great machine and reverse at full speed. The ship swung as if she were pivoted, just grazing with her port side the precipitous wall of the berg. The port quarter' gangway was smashed by thirty tons of ice that toppled on the deck, and some of the plates on the port quarter were bent. Capt. Hebich said 'that if his ship had been a single screw there would have been little hope for her and the 1,300 souls aboard her. One propeller rushing one way' at full speed and the other churning the other way, with the aid of the rudder, »tutned the ship within her' own length. ee Fash aey ae dj aman. The first twin screw passenger steamship constructed in Germany was the Auguste Victoria, built by the Vulcan Co, in 1889, and since lengthened 60 ft. by Harland & Wolff at Belfast, giving her the aspect of a new ship. Her designers learned their trade in British ship yards, and outclassed their instructors. The Hamburg-American line's fleet consists of 109 ocean craft of about 600,000 tons employed in the North American, South American, Chinese, Japanese and East and West Indian trades. The North German Lloyd's tonnage is more than 500,000. The British line owning the largest tonnage is the Peninsular & Oriental, generally known as the P. & O., which has fifty-eight ships of 813,392 tons, all employed in the East Indian, Australian and Chinese trade. While the tonnage of the world is overwhelmingly British, the Germans are making an effort to drive the red merchant ensign from many seas, and their steam tonnage is growing with wonderful rapidity. They imported most of their tonnage less than two decades ago, chiefly from British yards. They have now seventeen great ship 'building yards, em- ploying 51,000 workmen. The output of the yards is constantly increas- ing, and they have been taking on new men at the rate of two or three thousand a year. Mr. Lockroy, former minister of marine in France, de- clared recently that he believed Germany would become eventually the greatest ship 'building country in the world, because of the fostering care of the government, its energy in improving its harbors and the natural and artificial advantages of the country. The British ship builders themselves' do not seem to fear German competition as much as they do that of the United States, which is reas- suming its ante-bellum glory as a builder of ships, not only for Americans, but for the outside world. It is almost an axiom that the merchant marine of a nation increases in proportion to her development as a naval power. This is true of the United States. A number of her new ship yards were started chiefly to get the contracts for constructing naval vessels, for which Uncle Sam pays with unsurpassed liberality, provided all require- ments are fulfilled. Less than 10 per cent. of the American exports are carried in American bottoms, and there are only about 100 American steamships in the foreign trade. The largest of these, the St. Louis, St. Paul, Philadelphia and New York, belong to the International Navi- gation Co., better known as the American line. The St. Louis and St. Paul, built by the Cramps, of Philadelphia, are the swiftest merchantmen flying the Stars and Stripes. They are economical coal consumers and steady ships in a gale. It was printed frequently just after the swift Cunarders came out that they were not paying ships. This was believed by representatives of the German lines, but it is not so. The sea express--even so mighty a coal consumer as the Deutschland--does pay, and pays well, in the season when traffic is heaviest on the Atlantic. 'It is estimated that it costs the Hamburg line about $45,000 to run the Deutschland across seas. The largest item of expense is that of coal. She sends through her four monu- mental funnels every trip vapor representing $5,000. Then there is the bill for lubricating oil, and the cost of the ship's immense laundry. In the seasons when the cabins and the steerage are crowded, the ship's washing usually consists of nearly 24,000 pieces, including table linen, blankets, sheets and the coats of the stewards. The laundry bills for a single trip vary according to the number of passengers carried, from $300 to $500. There are only two ships in service that do their washing aboard --the cruising yacht Prinzessin Victoria Luise and the excursion steam- ship Auguste Victoria, both of which have electric laundries. Next to the cost of coal is the expenditure for wages. The board of the Deutsch- land's crew of 557 persons, the cost of providing her 700 or more cabin passengers with meals, the wages of the commander, her officers and the chief engineers help to swell the list of expenses. The commanders of the' German ships receive more pay than those of either the American or British lines., Aside from their regular wages, which range from $1,500 to $4,000 a year, they have a share in the earnings of their ships. On the British lines the captains receive from $1,500 to $6,000 a year, with per- quisites. If, at the end of the year, a British commander's ship has met with no accidents, he gets' 4' bonus. The British lines think this system of reward has a tendency to make commanders more careful. The pay of an engineer on the German lines ranges from $1,200 to about $2,500 a year. The pay of the British engineer does not differ materially from these figures, but he also receives a bonus if his engines run without accident during the year. DIFFICULT WORK AT SEA. A special dispatch from Victoria, B. C., says that the officers and crew of the Norwegian tramp steamer Guernsey succeeded in performing a difficult job of repairs at sea. Losing their propeller and shaft in mid ocean they shifted the cargo until the stern of the boat was tilted high in the air and then put in a new propeller and shaft. The captain of the Kaga Maru reported at Victoria that he sighted the Guernsey July 1 far out in the Pacific. Her captain came alongside and said they had broken their tail shaft and lost their propeller. Fortunately, under regulations of the underwriters which compel such vessels to carry an extra shaft and propeller, these were on board, but the difficulty of shipping them was so great as to appear almost insurmountable. _Favored-by calm weather and quiet-sea, however, the captain decided to make the attempt. The ship being in ballast, her cargo was moved forward until her bow was deep in water and her stern was elevated with the propeller shaft clear of water. Rafts were improvised and a nine-ton propeller lowered. The propeller shaft was placed in position without great difficulty, but the swell of the ocean and crude appliances at hand made the task of shipping the screw very difficult. Repeated attempts only resulted in failure, until finally by the skipper's orders two opposite blades were cut off. Thus lightened, the screw was at last got into position, and Capt. Kroghanson expected to get under way with his dual bladed propeller the next day. The Kaga Maru was detained for about an hour and a half by the incident, when, as she could be of little servicé,-she steamed away. » The Clyde line steamship Comanche has been taken to Cramps, Phila- delphia, where she will be cut in two and lengthened 48 ft.. She is at present 326 ft. in length and 42 ft. beam. Green's ship' yard, Bridgeport, Conn., is building a four-masted schooner to be known as the Perry Setzer. be. sales