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I HE shipping board has issued a call. for engineers to. serve on the new war fleet. of the merchant marine. Not less than 5000 additional engineer. officers needed on American ships in the next 18 months. Antictpating this demand, the board will. establish marine engi- neering schools, in which to train men not now qualified to receive papers, with terms to begin on July 21, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.; Stevens institute, Hoboken, N. J.; the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland; the Armour Institute of | Technology, Chicago; Washington university, Seattle; and Tulane university, New Orleans, Each term will last one month. The expense of tuition is borne by the shipping board. The Massachusetts institute can put. through 150 students a month, and the other institutions an average of 35. re Marine engineers of all grades, oilers and water tenders, and stationary engi- neers, are eligible for the classes. As the rules of the steamboat-inspection service, covering qualifications of. ap- plicants for-examination, have been. re- cently modified, the board expects a response to its call from all parts of the country. After passing their examinations, engineer students will. be given an opportunity for further train- ing under service conditions, until want- ed on ships of the new merchant ma- rine. The board is also recruiting for the merchant service 5000 masters and mates, and is establishing a chain of schools .in navigation on both coasts to train those needing preliminary in- struction. “Any citizen who knows the name and address of a seafaring man, active or retired, who might become a watch officer in the merchant marine, or of any engineer who might qualify,” said Mr. Denman, “will render a patriotic service by sending the name to the board’s director of recruiting, Henry Howard, at Boston.” Fb te ak ak As an indication of the burden being carried by Great Britain in furnishing ships for her allies, it has been pointed out since the French commission arrived in the United States that. Great Britain is exporting 2,000,000 tons of coal per month to France at the. present time. This one item alone requires the con- will = be_ : g Ce ia = Interesting Sidelights on the World War Gathered During the Past Month and Condensed for the Busy Reader ww TTT stant service of 200 2,000-ton vessels. The coal cost $30 to $40 a ton delivered at the French ports. The shipping ex- perts of the allies are very anxious to be relieved of this burden and some of them have stated that it is even more es- sential to obtain coal supplies from the United States than food or men. In fact, shipping experts do not view the prospect of sending a large American army to Europe hopefully. It is pointed out that it would require 20 tons of shipping per man to transport an army to Europe. After the American forces have arrived on French soil, the con- tinuous service of eight tons of shipping per man would be required to keep the army supplied. In other words, an army of 1,000,000 men would. require the con- stant services of 8,000,000 tons of ships, nearly one-half of the total shipping un- der the British flag. A small expedition- ary force of 100,000 men would require ‘the servicce of 800,000 tons of ships, equal approximately to the combined ton- _nage of all the German vessels seized’ in the American harbors. - Ce * Umberto Pugliere, an Italian naval engineer, has designed a new type of un- sinkable cargo boat which has been ac- cepted by the Italian ministry of marine. The vessel has a displacement of 10,300 tons and can carry 5800 tons of cargo. It has a double skin, the space between the inner and outer hulls being filled with coal and other material which is intended to protect the ship from mine or torpedo. er ee A resolution recently adopted by the French chamber of deputies calling for an increase in the French merchant marine and placing it under the control of one department, was accepted by the government. The resolution, signed by 44 members of the merchant marine committee, invited the government to centralize the work of building, buying and chartering merchant ships, a task which has been up to the present divided among several ministers. Louis Nail, under secretary for the mercantile marine, answering criticisms, said the French merchant fleet was 2,- 500,000 tons at the beginning of the war and.since that. time had lost 560,000 tons, 460,000 by acts of war. During the ‘same period 680,000 tons had been built or bought and another 140,000 was on 294 | HN the stocks, so that the fleet was actually greater now than before the war. Sec- retary Nail then pointed out that Ger- many had lost 2,500,000 tons, 50 per cent of its entire fleet, and declared that reports that Germany was building hun- dreds of ships were mere bluff. eee Beek A mine-sweeping device calculated to pick up and safely bring to the surface any mines that may be in the path of vessels is now being attached to a num- ber of ships proceeding through the > waters of the war zone. One of these devices was observed on a liner which arrived at an Atlantic port recently. It is attached to the bows and when let down a netted projection extends a con- siderable distance on either side of the ship. If a mine is encountered it is picked up and brought to the surface at a safe distance from the vessel. The ship to which the device was attached was on her first trip since April, when she was compelled to seek a drydock in a British port on account of damage from a mine. ej es cee The Root mission to Russia probably will visit Japan on its return to the United States. The most important sub- ject likely to come up at conferences between the Root mission and_ the Japanese government is that of shipping. Japan is ready to furnish bottoms for the use of the allies, but desires that when she does so she shall be permitted to obtain shipbuilding materials from Eng- land and the United States. Baron Den, Japanese minister for communications, recently said that, while no official nego- tiations were in progress concerning joint shipbuilding by Great Britain, the United States, and Japan, yet if Eng- land and America should supply the needed materials for shipbuilding Japan would be able to build ships for them by extending the Japanese docks. te seer The United States has bought the three Austrian merchantmen interned in New Orleans harbor, and they are at the Algiers navy yard, undergoing re- pairs. They are Anna, 1000 tons; Ciara, 2541 tons, and THEREsE, 2381 tons. Lucta, 6744 tons, was interned at Pensacola, Fla., and later purchased by the government. The price paid was about the prevailing price for sim- ilar ships before the war.