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| Shipbuilding Quite Active Prospects Are Good 5 eee National Council of American Shipbuilders points out that though the industry is quite active, there are still more than 30 idle building ways and that the value of unfin- ished business on July 1, is less than it was on Jan. 1. Many contracts for new vessels have been considered during the past six months and 15 have been placed; two passenger vessels at about $21,000,000; seven combination passenger and cargo ves- sels at about $23,000,000; and six tankers at about $10,000,000. This makes a total approximate value in new contracts during this period of $54,000,000. Employment in gship- yards has increased since the first of the year. There are now about 22,000 men engaged on_ straight shipbuilding work. More men will be added as the progress on contracts in hand continues. Shipyards on the Pacific coast have not up to the present shared in the contracts for any of the vessels in the new shipbuilding program. Some of these yards are well equipped to carry on new construction work of practically any nature. It is significant that while practi- cally every vessel ordered has im- portant provisions for cargo carrying, not a single new contract has been placed for vessels solely of the car- go type. Approximately 7,700,000 gross tons of vessels engaged in our foreign and domestic ocean trade are mostly of the purely cargo type. In the future a larger part of our ship- building program will by necessity be in the replacement and the addi- tion of vessels of this type. Some ac- tion may be necessary to so amend the merchant marine act of 1928 that some commensurate aid be given ships of this class. The only help they receive at the present time is in the terms of the construction loan fund. This help is not sufficient however, to offset the differential in operating costs. Contracts pending July 1, indicate that within the next few months fur- ther awards will be made for the construction of new vessels to the extent of at least $50,000,000. One feature which operates. against American shipyards is the placing of American owned tonnage in foreign countries. A summary of such con- tracts shows, two passenger and ecar- . go vessels under construction in Great Britain for the American Fruit Steamship Co.; a total of six 16,000-ton motor tankers for the Standard Shipping Co. as _ follows, three in Germany, two in Great Bri- tain and one in Italy; two motor tankers for the Atlantic Refining Co. in Great Britain; and one 410-foot yacht for an unrecorded owner in Germany. Lump Sum Operation The shipping board on July 9 ap- proved the recommendation of the Merchant Fleet Corp. and authorized the signing of a lump sum agreement with C. H. Sprague & Son, Boston, for the operation of the American Republics line which plies between Atlantic ports of the United States and ports of the Hast Coast of South America, on the basis of a payment of $10,000 per voyage, the operator assuming all repairs whatsoever up to $4,000 per voyage. 4 $ ¢ Raiser of Abandoned Ship May Claim Ownership ECENTLY a reader of MARINE RE- virw, having in mind undertaking a definite piece of salvage work, wanted to know; “If a tugboat is sunk in navigable water and ahban- doned can it be raised and owner- ship claimed by the one who raises it? If it is raised without owner’s consent can the raiser hold the cost of raising against the boat?” The question was fully answered by a decision in maritime law re- ported on page 49 of the January 1929 issue of MaRInE Review. Briefly these paragraphs state that a wreck- ed vessel after abandonment has no owner and that it is well settled that a shipowner whose vessel has been wrecked and sunk without his fault has a right to abandon it and after abandonment he is under no obligation to raise or remove it. From the above it is clear that the raiser of the vessel acquires owner- ship—speaking generally. If, how- ever, because of special circumstances or facts, the original owner should claim that there was no abandon- ment of the vessel, and ‘this claim can be ‘substantiated, the _ raiser would be entitled to file a salvage claim and recover for services rend- ered without the aid owner’s specific consent. If the company that origi- nally owned the vessel “is out of business and can’t be found” the raiser seemingly has nothing to fear in the way of a claim of ownership. L. S. Devos recently was appointed sales manager for the Standard Mo- tor Construction Co., Jersey City, N. J., builders of diesel engines. i a i urbine Reduction Geared Passenger steamship of the Canadian National Steamships now in service ee eo ane Alaska Speed 23 knots—Length overall, 384 feet 6 inches; beam. molded, 57 feet; depth molded 20 feet 8 inches; Load draft 16 feet 6 inches. Built by Cammel- Laird & Co. Ltd., Birkenhead, England. One of three sister ships. é : See Marine Review for May, page 36 for full particulars MARINE REVIEW—August, 1930 31