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20 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. SHIP BUILDING IN THE UNITED STATES. Returns for the year ended with the first of the present month--Quite a falling-off in the Lake output compared with the previous year--Outiook not encouraging. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1903, the bureau of navigation states that 1,536 vessels of 456,076 gross tons were built in the United States and officially numbered, compared wither 1,657 vessels of 473,981 gross tons for the previous fiscal year. Returns of vessels under construction on July 1, 1903, in the United States indicate for the new fiscal year an output below that of the year just ended. : Le The world's shipbuilding reached its highest point in 1901. The diminished output since then has been less noticeable in the United States than abroad. Thus, Lloyd's latest returns show that on March 31, 1903, in the United Kingdom 425 vessels of 974,086 tons were under construction, compared with 431: vessels of 1,240,344 tons for the same day in 1902. The principal decrease in the United States for the past year has been in steel steamers built on the great lakes, which num- bered forty-one of 131,660 tons, compared with fifty-two of 161,797 tons, for the fiscal year 1901-2. The only item of considerable increase has been the cheaper _ forms of construction--unrigged canal boats, barges, etc----num- bering 320 of 79,574 tons, compared with 297 of 57,502 tons, for the previous year. Nearly two-thirds of the year's output consists of ninety-two vessels, of over 1,000 tons each, aggregating 295,548 gross tons. Of these the great lakes' yards built thirty-seven steel steamers, aggregating 130,283 gross tons, four of which, aggregating 7,147 tons, are built to pass through the Welland canal for ocean coast- ing service. Three lake steamers, James H. Reed, D. G. Kerr and D. M. Clemson, each slightly exceeds 5,500 tons. On the seaboard eighteen ocean steel steamers of 101,471 gross tons were built, the largest output of this type in our his- tory. The large vessels of this type, contracted for in 1900, are now completed or will be completed, barring strikes or unfor- seen delays, in the early spring and summer. No new contracts for this type have been made in two years. The year's additions were the Finland of 12,760 tons--the largest vessel built in the United States this year--and the Mississippi, Maine and Massa- chusetts, each of 7,913 tons, all four for the International Mer- cantile Marine Co.; the Siberia, 11,284 tons, for the' Hawaiian- Asiatic trade of the Pacific Mail, and the Arizonian and Texan, over 8,600 tons each, for the American-Hawaiian Co. Other steamers are for the coasting trade, of which four steamers of 12,974 tons, carrying oil in bulk, are noteworthy. Two barkentines for Pacific trade, aggregating 2,638 tons, were the additions to the square-rigged fleet. The new wooden schooners over 1,000 tons numbered: twenty-one, aggregating 36,537 tons. The steel schooner Thomas W. Lawson of 5,218 tons was documented early in the year. Other new vessels over 1,000 tons are three wooden steam- ers, aggregating 4,605 tons; three ferry and river steel steamboats, aggregating 3,849 tons, and seven rigged barges of 10,947 tons. The following table shows the output, both in wood and . Steel, of the several districts during the year ended June 30, 1903: . WOOD. STEEL. : TOTAL, SAIL STEAM. SAIL. - | STEAM. Gross. Gross Gross Gross Gross No.| tons. |No.} tons, |/N0-| tons, |No-| tons. || No.| tons. Atlantic and gulf, 482 52,795| 260 15,089)| 7 | 12,541| 50| 106,796|| 788| 187,221 5 10 Porto KACO... 5 MAD crcl oe ee eel vie oe ; 112 Racine (ck... 51} 18,542) 102} 11,046 ..s. .| 5] 10,498]] 158} 40,081 Hawaii........... 1 6} 2 te ee 3; | 2 Great Lakes..... 46} >. 5660) 52): 2704 te 41} 181,660|| 109] 140,114 Western rivers...| 1 11/140) 5,985)| .. | .... .|.. 6] 2,956/| 147) 8,952 Total..... . | 541} 77,126) 556] 34,980} 7 | 12,541) 111| 251,905|| 1215 376,502 During the corresponding year, ended June 30, 1902, the out- put of the ship yards was as follows: WOOD. STEEL. -- SAIL. STEAM. SAIL. Gross Gross||,,_ | Gross Gross Gros No.! tons. |No-| tons. |] No-| tons, | No- tons. ||No. fone, Atlantic and Gulf| 583] 65,265) 290| 19,021 aoa gal Porto Rico;...... 5 89 8) 9,228) 62) 102,647 ae 196, 156 STEAM. TOTAL, -- Ps raias TLS aye cae ee all ica tis ake 89 PaCiicg i... 47| 26,172! -90| 9,725]|....]....... 2 Hawa. 60. Oy: 1 2 Oe 4 Ogee cee on y oe Great Lakes.... 8 200) 65] 8,242 Ate 2) 161,797 114) 184] 7/927] -22.|.0.12. 6| "api Lael Stage Western Rivers. 6 Total ........| 650] 91,849] 580) 39.928 1 8) 9,228] 122] 275,479|11360| 416,479 Note--Unrigged vessels (canal boats, barges, etc.) built during the year ended imo numbered 820 of 79,574 tons; year ended June 80, 1902, 279 of FIRST IRON SAILING SHIP. Some interesting facts have been published in England con- cerning the first iron sailing ship which set out from Liverpool, _ Says a recent issue of the Scientific American. The vessel with this unique distinction was the Richard Cobden, commanded by Thomas Lidbitter. This craft was built of Coalbrookdale iron, and was launched in 1844. She was a bark of 461 tons, and had a speed of 10 knots per hour. She was constructed of iron [July 9, throughout, including the rudder, rudder frame and steering gear, Her lines were very fine, and she was five times her beam in length. She was without bulkheads, and in sailing trim she lay on an even keel. She had a great rise of floor, falling in some- what from her bilge to the rails. In 1844-45 she set sail for China, but was laid up twice for repairs at Cork and Rio Janeiro respectively during the passage. She aroused considerable atten- tion at the various ports at which she called, as she was the first iron vessel ever seen, and was regarded somewhat suspiciously by the superstitious, to whom the idea of making iron float was con- sidered as flying in the face of Providence. Her second voyage was to Bombay by way of the Cape of Good Hope and back. She covered the round trip in some seven months, which was consid- ered a remarkable performance. She made another journey to Bombay, which was reached in 94 days. On none of these trips did the vessel make any water, so that the feasibility of utilizing iron for vessels was firmly established. ones The next vessel commanded by Capt. Lidbitter was also an iron vessel, launched in 1853. She was 192 ft. in length, 32 ft. beam, and 22 ft. depth. She was a three-masted craft, and was provided with an iron bulkhead abaft each mast. Like the Rich- ard Cobden, she was without steam power. Her first voyage was from London to Bombay, Calcutta and Melbourne. She covered the distance between the two last named ports in 60 days. In June, 1854, she left Melbourne for home with a large and valuable cargo of wood and £300,000 in gold. The captain intended to round Cape Horn on this trip, but after passing Tasmania the ship sprang a leak during a gale, and as she listed with dangerous heaviness to port, the captain beat his way northward to Tahiti, and Papate was safely reached; but the vessel had only been kept afloat by three weeks' incessant pumping. At Papate the ship was pumped out and examined, and the leaks were found on both sides of the ship, abreast the mainmast. Three hundred rivets were knocked out and renewed before the vessel was again ready for sea. When the repairs had been satisfactorily completed, the captain again set sail, and this time safely reached London in March, 1855. The vessel was again overhauled, and the spring- ing of the leaks was found to be due to the keelson, which, in- stead of being made solid from end to end, was constructed in three unconnected lengths separated at the fore, main and mizzen bulkheads respectively, and these bulkheads were found to be far too weak to withstand the enormous strains set up. The defects were remedied and the vessel made numerous voyages, principally between Philadelphia and New Orleans, and was finally stranded in the northwest Providence channel. FOREIGNERS IN BRITISH SHIPS. The report of the committee appointed by the British board of trade to inquire into certain questions affecting the mercantile marine has been issued. It may be of interest to refer to the remarks upon the increasing of employment of foreigners in Brit- ish ships. There were 37,174 foreigners in 1901, an increase of 12,184 in thirteen years. The committee proposes no bar to their service so long as they can speak English, while regretting, as might be expected, that the number of British-born men is fall- ing off. The members of the committee asked themselves: Is there any objection to be felt or apprehension entertained in view of the undoubted increase of foreign seamen in the mercantile marine? As regards the shipping trade, it appeared to the com- mittee that there was no apprehension to be felt in time of peace. It is stated that "the trade is efficiently carried on, and there is no reason to suppose that the supply of foreign seamen available will run short. There appears to be no more real danger of scar- city of men in the event of a naval war. It is doubtful if even the subjects of the state with which we might be at war would desert their calling, and even so, the foreign seamen employed are of so many different nationalities that the supply would still be sufficient. It is worthy of notice that Swedes are the most numerous of all the foreign seamen employed on March 31, 1901, and that the Swedes, Norwegians and Danes together amounted to more than one-third of the total number of foreigners em- ployed. It is probable also that some ships of the mercantile marine would necessarily be laid up in time of war, and their crews added to the number of men available for employment; and if freights and wages rose the effect would be to draw men from shore into sea employment." As to the naval service, this com- mittee agrees with the one appointed last year on naval reserves, that in the event of any great naval war it would not be practi- cable to draw men to any considerable extent from the crews of the sea-going vessels of the mercantile marine. MARYLAND STEEL CO, BUSY. Sparrows Point, Md., July 8--Five new vessels and' five jobs for complete overhaul is the quota of. the marine department of the Maryland Steel Co. in Atlantic coast ship building now under way. This yard may therefore be said to be the busiest on the coast. They secured a contract a few days ago for a large tug for the quartermaster's department of the army and they are the lowest bidders for the two large suction dredges to be used in Ne York harbor, for which the government opened bids last week. __ the Norfolk-Hampton Roads Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., with a trifle of $20,000,000 of capital authorized, suffered its office furniture, valued at $800, to be sold at public auction last week to satisfy a debt. Meanwhile the plan to establish a plant at Hamp- ton Roads has been definitely abandoned .