RECORD SHIPBUILDING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 21 May 1914, Page 8

RECORD SHIPBUILDING

THE F.RA OF THK MAMMOTH LINKR. LONDON. April 2. Rear-Admiral the Marquis of llristol. in his presidential address to the In*litiiti; <..f Naval Architects at tlie Royal Society <if Art.*, said that the worldwide interest taken at tli>' present tiitnin questions relating to shipbuilding was a significant proof of tin- ili-cn and far-reaching influence exerted by that branch of "engineering upon the commercial and fndusti ial development i.f nations. During the past year there had been a record output of merchant ships. namelv, 1.932,000 tons, and of wawliips over 271.000 tons. The activity which had manifested itself in Rritish yards during the past year h:id been reflected i'i those of most 'of our foreign competitors, and for the whole world the total output exceeded 4.000.000 tons. which also constituted the- highest en record. The percentage cf the total merchr.nt tonnage launched in the I'nited Kingdom, as compared to the world's output, had fallen from 63 per cent, in 1911 to 58 per cent, in 1913: while the output had increased in two years by 128.000 tor.s. that of iYreign shipbuilder- had increased in the aggregate by 554.000 tons. The gr. wth in the size of individral l.nits had once more been a feature ot niicaatile ship construction. In shi,s ••: 6'J'X! tons and over, while the yearly av'i.ije >f such ships during the" five vi.i:,- l.fCl to 1912 wY.s forty-one, during t .; i :-t year no les.s than eighty-four s L . ii t-l';" were launched. To ships of 10.000 ti iu and upwards, the average number of which during the previous five years was eleven, the number for 1913 was twenty-one. Whatever troubles had been experienced with some of the monster Atl-.utie liners, there had been iij disposition on the part of either owners of builders to shirk the difiicul ties, maiiv of which often arose from the very qualities of these large ships The progress made in motor-driven ship engineering had been noteworthy, paiticularly on the Continent. In oiir own country it had suffered something of a check, the dominant factor being thee distribution of the oil supplies of the world, and the uncertainty in the minds of shipowners r.s to the future of this industry from the commercial side. Although the gradual elimination of mechanical difticullies was placing the problem of the motor-driven ship of medium size in a much more favourable light than before, yet the question of supplies and cost of oil was still one that needed a more satisfactory answer than could yet be iriven before owdlis were likely to embark on a large scale upon the new means cf propulsion.