THE SUPREMACY OF THE SEA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 301, 14 September 1908, Page 6

THE SUPREMACY OF THE SEA.

r-rr-rr—♦ In the August number of the World's Work Mr. Edgar Allen Forbes contributes an able and lucid article entitled " The Freighters of tho geas," replete with much matter of quite exceptionali interest to British folk. In the race for pre-eminence in maritime armaments, in the emotions engendered by the spectacle of a congerie of floating forts—terrible in their potentiality—such indeed as the visit of tho American fleet to New Zealand waters presented, in that legitimate pride, begotten of an interest however small in tho greatest fighting machine the world yet knows, there is a great danger of overlooking the fact that a navy, however great and powerful it may be, is after-all hut a means to an end, and not an end in itself. The navies of the world are in fact the stewards of commerce, tho guardians of tho infinitely moro important merchant wUotlier.

it be the palatial liner,the plodding tramp steamer from the coaly Tync, or the still | less pretentious wooden barque putting out from Bergen or Genoa. That ceaseless interchange of the world's commodities which we call commcrcc is verily bettor served by the unobtrusive "tramp" and "wind-jammer" than by those greyhounds of the deep such as the Mauretania and kindred vessels whoso melicr is to transfer the eager merchants or the dillntante pleasure-seeker from one continent to another in the minimum of time, and with the maximum of comfort, rather than to become general distributers of merchandise. One of the chief functions of a navy, and of the British Navy in particular, is to protect a country's carrying trade", and, as a natural corollary, the strength of any particular navy in ships and personnel will tend to vary directly with the carrying trade and commercc of the country that navy represents. Me. Forbes's article is written from an American view-point, and in a dispassionate survey of the world's carrying trade he shows what a tremendous lead Great Britain has over her commercial rivals, and unconsciously vindicates England's two-Powsr standard of warship-building in the interests of her vast oversea commerce. To , quote Me. Forbes It is no idle boast'of the British that: — There's never a floo'd goes shoreward now But lifts a keel we manned. for the Clyde and the Tyne have for centuries been the cradles in which the world's merchant marine was rocked." The milestones of maritime progress in the way of shipbuilding are clearly marked. In 1833 wooden paddles supplanted sails. A decade later iron hulls ousted wooden ones. In 1850 screw-pro-pellers had practically jettisoned the ungainly paddle-boxes. By the year 1879 simple had given way to compound engines, and steel had taken the place of iron for hulls. In 1889 twin-screws were adopted, while by 1907, when the Lusitania and Mauretania were launched, the triple expansion engines which had been considered as the Ultima Thule of marine engine achievement, had relinquished pride of place to turbine engines, using their mighty force upon quadruple-screw propellers. In 1801 a British tug-boat (10 horse-power) made its record voyage by the towing of two 70-ton barges for twenty miles in the Forth and Clyde Canal. In 1901 the Celtic, of ■ 14,000 horse-power, sped across the Atlantic freighted with 28,000 tons of cargo, besides passengers, whilo the Mauretania boasts a 70,000 horse-power and a carrying capacity of 33,000 tons. "Through all the changes that have come in ocean navigation, Britain's shipbuilders have hammered away, making more and bigger ships every year, and since the construction of a large vessel is a matter of months, and often of years, it will surprise those not informed of the industry that during the three years "which preceded 1907, three ships a day on an average were turned out of the British yards." Now, in spito of the strenuous competition of Germany and the United States, and the rapid strides made by other nations, more than half the world's output of tonnage last year was British, irrespective of the merchant vessels and warships built for other nations, Gn the basis of tonnage, the United Kingdom last year made five times as many ships as Germany, and more than three times as many as the United States. The total tonnage of the United Kingdom now exceeds 18 millions, while that •of its nearest competitor, Germany, is only four millions, and the United States has only about three and a half millions. Making comparisons in another way upon the basis of a speed computation, we find that of the 58 vessels that can make at least 21 knots an hour, Great Britain owns 38; seven carry the Belgian flag; six are French, and five are Germa,n. The United States owns two, the St. Louis and the St. Paul. In 1901 the earnings of the world's mercantile marine we're estimated at £170,000,000, and .of this huge sum £90,000,000 was earned fry' Great Britain—as Mn. Forbes says, " a plum-pudding worth while ! " A visit to the East India or Royal Albert Docks in London, or to the Alexandra Dock at Cardiff (the largest dock in the world), or a glance at the shipping in Port Jackson Harbour, or a journey, by ferry from Jarrow-on-Tyne to Newcastle—to take but a few examples—is calculated to make any thoughtful man endorse Me. Foebes's observation that "the.chief glory of the battleship is its service as a convoyer of merchantmen down the wet sea-lanes of the Empire." Me. Foebes's article is timely. It should at least provQ useful in re-estab-lishing in the minds of some of the moro pessimistic of our race a proper sense of Britain's supremacy on the sea both in respect to her mercantile marine and in respect of the fighting ships which act as guardians to her commerce with the nations.