SHIPS AMD THE SEA.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 132, 4 June 1904, Page 12

SHIPS AMD THE SEA.

The bhip's bell of tho famous Uiitannie — which s-lnp hah now been btoken up — has been given a place ot honour in the otHces of the While. Star Line in Liveipool. It is aitihtic>illy mounted under a polished \\ ood canopy, and beais in its Mirf«ieo a white star. During her t bitty years' cm our, the Britannic tiuvelled 2,262,990 miles. If ono were not «o inured to the marvellous (says an exclmngi) one would ceilainly g<i*i> -i little at tho vows that I lie lluin-buig-Amerieau lines are bunding two shipa — ono of them; tho America, is almost leady for launching — of a displacement of 30,000 tons. Complied with such a vessel, tho Gieal Kaslem, .so long the wonder of the world, Mould bo a pigmy, and even that leviathan the Cedric, with its iwarly 700 feet of length, and its 21,065 gloss tonnage, littlo better. Jn tho early eighties the City of Koine was a vessot to travel miles merely to wonder at, though its tonnage was liltlo more than a iouvth of that cicditcd to tho America. But it ship of anything like the dimensions of even the City of Rome never onturod tho wildest dreams of our ancestors of a century ago. It was in 1800 that Mr. R. Willett, a great authority on shipping, wrote: — "The size of our ships seems now to havo l eached its ultimatum (sic) Timber cannot be made to grow larger, and tho sea has only certain depths, that cannot be increased The French, indeed, havo latterly huiH a ship of a most ex t moid i may size, 172 feet keel, and tonnage about 2850 tons ; but she is pronounced to be entirely unfit for s-crvice." And now they me building ships of 30,000 tons. It is refreshing once in a while (says an exchange) 10 lind that in some fields of labour we maintain a reputation of superiorly over tho hustling Yankee. Tho testimony of Mr. Wa.laee Downey, Prosident ot the Townshend-Dou tie} Shipbuilding Company, before the llouso of Commons Committee on Labour in Washington recently, when the American Kight-hour Woiking Day Bill was ponding, reads curiously like an invented report such as wo are well accustomed to with the charge of sloth and scamping against the Old World labourer. According to a report in the Iron Ago, Mr. Downey sum that workmen in British yards acquired greater speed and cxpertnoss because ot the jiieoc-Nvork system, and the result was that a vessel ol a certaiii'size could be built in a British yard in from four to five months, while in America it would bo contraclod for on the basis of twelve months, and would .probably be finished in fifteen months. i>y building largo numbers of vessols under such conditions the various types were standardised, wJiich also contributed to efficiency, speed, and low coat. Id reply . to a question as to whether thoro was anything to prevent an American shipyard from adopting the piecework system in use in Great Biitain, Mr. Downey said ho had made a poisonal experiment, but failed. Continuing, ho saia : — "I havo spent sixteen houia a day trying to persuade ]500 workmen to produce these results. I bought 18,000 worth of tools in Scotland, ana biought them over here, and installed them in New York, mm, I brought over the materials and said to my men: "Is it possible that we here cannot put through as many pounds of Mtcel per hour per day as they can in Scotland?' I bpgged them to try to do it, and did everything a white man could do to get up what they were doing in Scotland, ana we nover got within 60 per cent, of it." An American commercial paper reckons up the situation of tho Shipping Trust by saying thai, if it is true tnut the Knglish now control it, then the Knglishmen hold tlreir own property again, plus tho cash contributed by the syndicuto, and plus the property of the* American lines. In fuct, tho English owners were tho only people who received any cash at all. The White Star owners received 20 per cent, of thu value of their property in cash, 75 per cent, in prfforred trust stock, and, over and above, 37 i per cent, in common stock ; the Dominion received similar uayinont, and the Loylaiid all cash. The American and Atlantic trunsport lines received no cash, but all in preferred or common trust stock, non-dividend-paying. Thua it seems that British control is effective, as the. Ameri-can-owned stock is a clear minority ; and thus the cry of tlio British morcantilo marine passing over to. .American" control is admittedly not justified. Mr. Morgan was at the zenith of his career when ho launched the International Mercantile Marine Company. He murgod the American lino, the White Star lino, tho Atlantic Transport line, the Dominion line, and the Leyland line. This gave him a fleet of 123 ships, with a gross tonnage of 1,034,884, and an aggregate book value of £15.600,000. Upon this property he issued £24.000,000 oj common stock and £12,000,000 of preferred, and £10,000,000 of 44 per cent bonds. The bonds were sold for cash. The cash, according to Mr. Creelman, paid to the British companies went into the pocket* of the shareholders. But. it was agreed that the cash paid to the American companies should be used to pny Hooting debts and for largo ships contracted for or in course of construction in Europe So that a largo part of tho actual money received by tho American lines went into tho pockeis of British shipbuilders. The British companies refused to accept payment in stock. They insisted upon and got a lurge proportion of haid cash. They were alarmed by the magnitude of Mr. Morgan's threatened ocenn monopoly, but they did not want stock in it. Americans loft everything to Mr. Morgan, and wero paid almost wholly in stock which has never paid a dividend and is now without a markot. Tho steamer Nebraskan, of the Ameri-can-Hawaiian line, went nearly 13,000 miles on petroleum fuel without stopping anywhere to renew supplies, and maintained a good average speed. The incident will receive investigation by tho United States Navy Department. A board ( of naval officers will examine the machinery and oil-burning apparatus of the steamship, and make enquiries as to economy, space, labour, aafety, nnd other matters in which the Department is' interested. The broad rosults which tho vessel has shown were as follows : — Sho did 12,724 nautical milo3 at an o-verage speed of 10.35 knots, Accomplished tho journey from San Diego to New York in 51 days 7 hours 27 minutes, and still had in her reserve tanks sufficient fuel to crosH the Atlantic Crude Californian petroleum was the fuel burned during tho trip, and the vessel in all hud 10,500 barrel*» on board. The Australian squadion will shortly be strengthened by the addition of the now twin-screw # sloon Cadjjnis. This handy little craft was ofliom'.ly inspected on 4th April by Rear-Admiral Graham, Superintendent of the Sheernesa Naval Establishment, and parsed out of bund as fully oquipped and reudy for transfer to tho Medway Fleet Reset ve. She was to be commissioned on 13th April at SheernesH by Commander Heibert dv Luard for sorvice on tho Ausiialian station. Tho Cadmus, which has been built at Sheornesjs from the designs of Sir W. 11. White, late. Director of Naval Construction, ut a cost of £87,200, has a displacement of 1070 tons. Her machinery is of 1400-horso power, and her four boi'e.i'B ate of the ISielausso watertube typo. jj)h."it is capable, of steaming 13.4 knotM, and is equipped with six 4in and four threo-iSoundor quickliriug guns, and three .ZQ6\n, Maxim guns.