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New Zealander, Volume XV, Issue 1365, 18 May 1859, Page 3

BRITISH SHIPPING. A return has just been laid before Parliament of the British shipping employed in the trade of the United Kingdom for the yetrs 1854 to 1858. There is nothing in this return which can induce any one to take a desponding view of the position of British shipping. On the contrary, every branch of shipping shows an improvement, and in steam shipping, which is the most important of all, the improvement between the years 1! 34 and 1858 is something remarkable. With regard to vessels of all kinds registered in the Uni ed Kingdom, it appears that they have increased from 17,41-7 in 1854 to 20.C/1 in 1858. In the same period the tonnage of these vessels has increased from 3,729, 093 tons to 4.325,242 tons. What is of equal importance, the number of men employed has increased from 182,416 to 177)832. It is gratifying to find that the steam tonnage of the country, though somewhat affected by the recent pressure of the times, has not given way to any serious extent. In 1054 the number of sea-going steamers registered in the United Kingdom was 538, with a capacity of 212,637 tons, and worked by 15,894 men; whilst in 1858 the number of steam vessels was 862, with a capacity of 339,204 tons, worked by 25,177 men, This return is exclusive of several hundred river steamers. THE NAVIES OF THE WORLD. (From the " New York Times.”) In preparing the following comparative view of the naval armamentsof the world we have teen anxious to ascertain as a-', curately as possible the present available efficiency of those armaments; and to illustrate the extraordinary development, to which the Russian war gave so vigorous an impulse, of the steam marine of war. We have therefore omitted all consideration of the Russian navy, which is now in process of reconstruction, and of navies like those of Sweden and Denmark, from which we have nothing to learn, since they 'remain like our own, upon the footing of 30 years ago, and are even : n the rear of our own progress. Neither of them possesses a single screw line-of-battle ship, and the fleet of gunboats by which Sweden holds the Gulf of Bothnia consists mainly of sailing vessels. The navy of Spain would claim no more consideration in a paper of this kind, were it not of special interest to us in connection with the present aspect of our relations with that Power. We should add that our account of the French navy rests mainly upon personal observations made during the past summer, and upon documents prepared lor the use of a foreign Government, the French Minister having forbidden, by a recent circular to the Press, any specific statistical publications with regard to the naval forces of France. The object of this prohibition it is not easy to divine, though it may be supposed to have a reference to those sinister designs upon “somebody” which the Third Napoleon is so generally believed to be cherishing. Of steam line-of-hatlle ships, carrying from 60 to 131 guns, •nd propelled by force varrying from 200 to 700 horse-power, England has -.2 ; France 33 ; Holland I i Austria 1. Of sailing lineof-battle ships, carrying from Cl to 120 guns, England has 41; France, 23; Holland, 9; Spain, 6 ; the United States, G. , In the above force we include, of course, only vessels •dually launched, and either actually in commission or capable of being fitted for sea within a reasonable delay. But on "decomposing” the figures of the sailing fleet, we find that three of the six American liners—the Pennyslvania, Columbus, and North Columbus—are really only fit to remain where they now are, in “ ordinary.” The same is true of two of the Spanish liners, and of a certain proportion of those of £ England and France. The others may be reckoned among the forces which may be made available by the application of steam. The liners of England and France are undergoing this transformation, and it was the intention of the Government of Lord Palmerston to form out of the superannuated English ships a strong squadron of “ blockships.” The present administration we believe, has virtually given up this project, and rests content with the nine ships of this kind bequeathed to it by its predecessors. One, at least, of the vessels formerly reckoned By our own naval authorities among the 74’s —the Franklin—is now rebuilding into a screw of 54 guns at Portsmouth, and when completed, may take rank with ships like the Edinburgh •nd the Russell of the English coast squadron. Very liitJ'ercnt are the steam line-of-batlle ships here enumerated. In this branch of the service the French fleet may claim a just pre-eminence. The steam liners of France have been built on the basis of the experience acquired by England, •nd althuugh numerically inferior to the Biitish, are probably mote directly available for warlike purposes than the larger force of their rivals. The irminent of the first-class French liter* consists of six 84's, GO long 30-pounders, and 54 30-pouuder

Paixhans. The type of these magnificent vessels may be taken to be the Algesiras, built by M. Dupuy de Lome, and launched in 1857. On her trial trip this ship made the fastest passage ever known to Algiers from Marseilles, in 32 hours, at the average rate of 12 knots per hour. At this fate she consumed 45 tons of coal per day, and with an expenditure of “0 tons per day, reached a spfeed of 14 knots. The Duke of Wellington and Marlborough, the leading ships of the English steam navy, have never, we believe, exceeded an average of 13 knots, but at this rate we have no vessel-of-war, excepting the Niagara, which can claim equality with them. The Emperor, the only Austrian screw-liner now afloat, though two others are building, one at Venice and one at Pola, is described as a splendid vessel of UK) guns, and is, doubtless, a very fine ship. Of steam-frigates, carrying from 20 to 54 guns, and propelled by a force from 150 to 1030 horse-power, England has 19; France 48 ; Holland, 3; Spain, 2 ; United States, 6. Of sailing-frigates, carrying from 32 to 54 guns, England has 91; France, 54 ; Holland, 12; Spain, 10; United States, 12; Austria, 6. The steam-frigate of the first-class is now to be classed as a smaller line-of-batlle ship. It has no advantages over the larger vessels of this rank in point of speed, and is liable, of course, therefore, to be forced into unequal encounters with its superiors; but for the ordinary purposes of a navy in times of peace it has great availability. The proportions of our own vessels of this class, and the character of the Dahlgren armament (always supposing its utility in time of war), entitle thtm really to rank with heavy liners; and we have achieved a higher success with these vessels than with any others of our present navy. The English frigates, also, such as the Imperieuse, Euryalus, Arrogant, Shannon, Mersey, which have been built within the the last six years, maintain the ancient reputation of England on a nearer level with that of France thin the larger ships of her Britannic Majesty. The Mersey is a particularly favourable specimen of these vessels. She was launched in the spring of the present year, is fitted with engines of 10CJ horse-power, and carries an armament of 40 guns, 32’s and 68’«. The respective force in steam and sailing frigates Of England and France significantly illustrates the secret of the momentary superiority of the latter power in disposable steam force. England is encumbered with a larger amount of “ old material ” than her rival; but, with a prudence and foresight which we should be glad to see imitated nearer home, she is freeing herself of this encumbrance as rapidiy as is consistent with a just economy and an aristocratic admiralty. Her paddle-wheel steamers, too, of which a division appeared in the great review of Spithead, in April, 1856, are more numerous than the French; but we believe the Ar.:erican Government is alone at the present moment in the enterprise of adding to this now useless arm of its service, and in seriously considering paddle-wheel packets like the Adriatic and the Baltic as available additions to its war force. Steam corvettes, sloops of war, and avisos, mounting from 5 to 20-guns, and of from 50 to 350-horse-power:—England, 156: France, 129; Holland. 7; Spain, 15; United States, 12; Austria, 5. The utility of vessels of this class has been seriously impaired by the development of the gun-boat system, which has introduced vessels of equal speed and less draught, carrying heavy armaments of from two to five guns of the largest calibre, and navigable at a much smaller expense, in the place of the heterogeneous craft thus classified. Still, the figures we have given will shew that, in the event of a maritime war. France and England particularly possess a means of tormenting our coasts and our commerce with ships of this calibre, which deserves the attention of our authorities. The French steamcorvette of 16 to 20 guns is a very vexatious style of vessel. Great pains have been bestowed by the French upon this class of vessel, and we give the dimensions of one of its best types, launched at Bourdeaux in 1857, as a means of comparison with the three best vessels of the same denomination which we now possess—the Hartford, Brooklyn, and Lancaster—launched, but not yet ready for sea, under the Act of Congress for building five new sloops of war:—Length 230 feet to water line 36 feet; depth of hold 22 feet; displacement, 1,968 tons ; armament, four long and 12 short 6(J-pounders of the French, or sixty eights of our own calibre. Sailing corvettes, Arc., carrying from 10 to 20 guns.—England 105; France, 130; Holland, 21; Spain, 23; Austria, 12; United States, 21. Passing over now the small fry of brigs and schooners dc tailed for revenue and coast duty in the various countries, we come to the new and more important classes of small steamvessels, of which France and England have now a small squadron in the American waters. The steam gun-boat is a wiry little monster, ranging from 200 to BTI tons burden, from 4 feet 3 inches to 12 feet of draught, carrying from 2 to 6 68 or 84-pounder guns and making from 7 to 13 knots, with steam power varying from 20 to 350 horses. She depends for the force of her remonstrances more upon the range and calibre, than the number of her cannon. The French type gunboat throwing a ball of 84 pounds a distance of 3,500 yards,, and lying as a speck upon the water would thus prove herself a very disagreeable antagonist with a vessel much her superior in size and number of guns. Of these vessels we possess not one, against more than 200 in the service of England, and very nearly as large a number in the navy of France. Holland herself counts 36, and Austria 20 of such vessels, and they are now building in the port of Feirol, in Spain. The French gunboats are constructed on a more uniform model than the English, and are, doubtless, of at least equal efficiency. The English West India squadron now contains five of these vessels, and we have reason to believe that a larger number has been despatched from France to these waters. Of the bomb-vessels and floating batteries brought into being during the Russian war, and the former of which, at least, have established their character as a new and most dangerous vessel of war, we reserve an account, with an examination of the naval personnel of the different nations, for another occasion, contenting ourselves now with summing up the results of our first inquiry, in regard to the actual steam force of the world and omitting all reference to the sailing ships, as not to considered in dealing with the future of our navy— Line of Steam

We leave these figures to carry their own lesson. In any sudden naval encounter with the world, or with any strong naval power, we can now count immediately upon exactly 18 vessels, of a class available for the modern warfare of the seas. To this force, from the vessels now in construction, or capable of com. pletion in an efficient sense, might in six months be added one-half as many more. But of the two extreme terms of naval efficiency, the steam-liner and the gun-boat, we have not a single unquestionable specimen.

Battle. Frigates. Sloops, Ate. Gunboats. England——— 521!) — ISO — . 200 Pranrp. . .Tt — 21) 12!) — 200 Holland- 1 - 0 — 7 3! A usl ria 1 — 5 20 United States~~~* 2 — 15 —