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rey 2° MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. SHIPS AND SHIPPING IN SCOTLAND. Glasgow, Nov. 4.--The admiralty has closed contracts for the four new scouts to which I have referred in previous letters. One is to be built by the Fairfield company here, one by Laird Bros. of Birkenhead, one by the Vickers company at Barrow and one by the Armstrong company, Elswick. The vessels are to have engines of 17,0co H. P., to develop a speed of 25% knots in sea-going trim, -- : In the ship building world there is little doing in the way of ordering new mercantile craft. Mr. D. C. Cummings, general secretary of the Boilermakers' & Iron Ship Builders' Society, in his October report, states that there have been recently large in- creases on the out-of-work Union lists--an increase of 1,560 idle, of seventy-four on sick benefit, and of sixteen on superannua- tion. No one, he says, can shut his eyes to the seriousness of the position, and affect to deny that the expected depression has at last descended on the industry. Certainly September is always a slack month for repairs, but the increase in repair work that can be reasonably expected in the near future may be counter- balanced by the slackening that usually takes place on new work in the closing months of the year. 'The prospects for the coming winter cannot be said to be hopeful. In this connection it may be mentioned that the trade unions are again trying to get the Clyde employers to start a system of weekly, instead of fort- nightly, pays. Mr. James Gibb, secretary of the committee which is endeavoring to obtain weekly payment of wages to Clyde ship yard workers, has sent to Mr. Thomas Biggart, secretary of the Clyde Ship Builders' Association and of the Northwest Ship Builders' Federation a circular to that effect. But it is no use. The weekly pay system was tried under agreement two or three years ago and was a dismal failure. 'The employers will not re- new it. NEW ARMORED CRUISERS. Another armored cruiser is to be built by contract and one at the dock yards, of a type the chief feature of which will be in the armament: These new vessels are the first designed by Mr. Philip Watts since he succeeded Sir William White as chief con- structor, and mark an important departure from recent practice. They will be the most powerfully armed cruisers of high speed in the service, or, indeed in any navy. The new cruisers will have a central citadel, and all of the big guns will be concentrated within this area, so that it will be possible to reduce the extent of armor protection necessary. 'The armor will extend to the upper deck, and there will be no casemates as in recent ships. Centrally placed at the forward and after ends of the citadel there will be a 9.2-in. gun, and at each of the four corners of the citadel there will be another, making six of these 22-ton guns firing a 350-lb. shot with a total muzzle energy of 18,400-ft. tons. No cruiser in the service has more than two of these guns, while the early County cruisers had nothing heavier than the 6-in. and the later Devonshires have only two 7.5-in. guns. Three of the guns are available for a chasing fight and four of them for broadside work. 'The ships will also have eight 6-in. quick-firers, two of which will also be fitted for bow fire. 'The Drake class have two 9.2-in. and sixteen 6-in. quick-firers, the Cressy class two 9.2-in. and twelve 6-in. quick-firers, the County class fourteen 6-in. and the Devonshire two 7.5-in. and ten 6-in. quick-firers. Two third-class cruisers, to be built by tender, are to be practically repeats of the Amethyst and 'Topaz, one of which was ordered six months ago from Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth _& Co., and is to be fitted with Parsons' steam turbine; while the other was ordered from Messrs. Laird of Birkenhead. 'These ves- sels are developments of the vessels of the Pelorus -class, their characteristics being lightness and speed. They are 360 ft. long, 40-ft. beam, with a mean load draught of 14 ft. 6 in.; and they displace 3,000 tons, of which 1,650 tons is due to the hull. The engines are to give a power of 0,800-I. H. P., the express water- _ tube boilers being then worked under forced draft. 'The speed . under these conditions will be 2134 knots, while under natural draft the power will be 7,000-I. H. P. and the speed will be 20 knots. The vessels will carry 300 tons of coal. protected excepting for a light armored deck. Their armament includes twelve 4-in. quick-firers and eight 3-pounder guns. TO EXPLORE THE SOUTH POLAR REGION. Among the countless interesting and remarkable vessels which have left the Clyde for active service of some sort, none is more interesting than the Scctia, which the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition are about starting to explore the South Polar region. 'Three expeditions--German, Swedish and British _-=are at present exploring the regions of the South Pole, and the Scotia sets sail this week under the leadership of Mr. Wm. S. Bruce. The ship was formerly a Norwegian whaler named the tiekla, but during the past seven or eight months she has been so thoroughly overhauled on the Clyde that she is as good as new. She is now named the Scotia, and is a barque-rigged aux- iliary screw-steamer of about 400 tons, measuring 140 ft. by 29 ft. and drawing about 15 ft. of water. With her new engines and boiler she averaged a speed of over 8 knots at her trial trip and is therefore the fastest of any of the vessels at present cruising in the Antarctic regions. In spite of her immense strength the Scotia, whose wooden walls amidships are no less than 25 in. thick, is a well-modeled craft with fine lines, which will meet the ice backed by 9 ft. of solid timber. 'The leader, the captain and They are un-, [Nov. 13, the scientific staff are accommodated in an after deckhouse, the officers in a comfortable cabin amidships, whilst the crew are quartered in the forecastle. The scientific work will be carried on in a deckhouse amidships, the after part of which forms the galley. Here there is good light for those who have to undertake delicate work, such as with the microscope, hydrometer, and other finely graduated instruments. A second laboratory, mainly for. zoology, lies almost immediately below the upper one, 'tween decks, and is reached directly from the upper laboratory. Ad- jacent to this is a dark room for photography. "Tween decks there are two great drums, each containing 6,000 fathoms of cable. The cable is led up on deck to a'specially constructed 4o H. P, steam winch, thence over the side of the ship by means of a der- rick, for the purpose of trawling and tapping in the greatest depths. 'lhe roof of the scientific deckhouse and its extension in the form of a bridge forms the center for the scientists, for this is where all the operations connected with sounding and physical investigation of the ocean will be conducted. Right aft on the poop is to be found an instrument which secures and hauls in by a special motor-engine huge kites, which will suspend meteoro- logical instruments at great heights in the atmosphere. This ma- chine, as well as all the hydrographical machines, can also be driven by a special engine, which is capable of hauling up instruments from the depths of the sea at the rate of 80 to 100 fathoms per minute. 'The Scotia will be navigated by Capt. Thomas Robert- son of Peterhead, who has had 20 years' experience in Arctic seas, and who has also made a voyage to the Antarctic. The scientific staff consists of half a dozen picked scientists--four senior and two junior. The expedition will follow the route indicated by the society, a course being steered direct from Glasgow for the Falkland islands. At Port Stanley the expedition will spend a few days taking fresh meat and coal on board. From this point the Scotia will sail 1,000 miles to the eastward, and, after inves- tigating the Sandwich groups, will strike southward. If the ice conditions in the Weddell sea prove favorable, the expedition will push as far south as prudent. Let us hope the Scotia will there do work worthy of her country and of the spirit of her owners. STEAM TURBINE IN VESSEL OF LOW SPEED. A memorable departure in the steam turbine for marine pro- pulsion has just been made here in the steam: yacht Emerald, which Alex. Stephen & Sons, Ltd., have launched for Sir Christo- pher Furness. In her marine engineers expect to determine some of the problems raised by the application of the marine steam turbine to the propulsion of ocean-going vessels. The Emerald is bound to throw light on the debatable question of economy of fuel at low speeds with steam turbines as compared with recip- rocating engines. At present all the vessels in which turbines are used are swift, and doubts are entertained of the economy of using turbines in vessels of low speed. 'The Emerald is not in- tended for high speed, and as she is, so far as model is concerned, a vessel which will compare well with others of a similar type, the results of the experiment should be of exceptional interest. 'Ine new yacht, which has been built to designs by Mr. F. j. Stephen, the ship building manager of the establishment, is a vessel of handsome appearance, while inside comfort and extent of accommedations have not been sacrificed to obtain speed. The intention is to obtain a rate of about 16 knots, with an entire ab- sence of vibration and an exceptionally low coal consumption. The Emerald is 236 ft. in length over all, 28 ft. 8 in. in breadth, and 18 ft. 6 in. in molded depth. She has been constructed under Lloyd's special survey to class 100 Ai, and has a fine cut-water stem with a carved figurehead, a long square stern, and a range of teak paneled deckhouses extending amidships for about 118 ft. A promenade deck from side to side of the vessel is carried the whole length of the deckhouses, and on it will be placed the boats --one of which is a high-speed launch--and a large teak deckhouse for deck lounge and navigating room. 'The vessel has three sets of steam turbines, three shafts and five manganese bronze pro- pellers, one propeller on the center shaft and two each on the side shafts. All these have been supplied and fitted on board by the Parsons' Marine Steam Turbine Co. of Wallsend-on-Tyne. The hull has been specially strengthened to prevent any vibration in the structure owing to the great speed at which the shafts will revolve. In the engine room, besides the three turbines with their condensers and the duplicate electric lighting machinery, there are a large number of auxiliary engines of all kinds. 'The main boiler, which is of very large diameter, is fitted with How- den's forced draft. Sir Christopher Furness says that what Mr. Parsons, Messrs. Stephen and he had in view in fitting the Emerald with turbines was to put into the vessel such power as would enable her to steam at the highest rate compatible with entire freedom from vibration. He believed their object would be attained, and the comfort and the health of those who would sail on her. He be- lieves, as a business_man, and as one engaged with ships and shipping, that the turbine will practically revolutionize yachting and yacht owning in this country. 'The Emerald is the first of the kind to be butt, and the builders and Mr. Parsons will make many trials and experiments with her, so as to obtain com- plete data for future purposes. POWERFUL TWIN-SCREW STEAMER. In former letters I have referred to the growing trade be- tween Fleetwood and Belfast, due largely to the splendid service