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8 a MARINE REVIEW. BRITISH SHIP YARDS. OPINIONS FROM AMERICANS REGARDING THEIR EQUIPMENT AS COMPARED WITH THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES--INTER- "VIEWS WITH DELEGATES TO THE CONGRESS OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS AND MARINE ENGINEERS--THE VISIT TO CLYDE YARDS. London, July 19.--In a previous letter, dealing with visits to ship- yards in England and Scotland, made by delegates to the International Congress of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, I ventured the opin- ion that there was nothing in the practice of ship builders here to g.ve them any advantage over the builders of America. Their labor cost is lower, but the few large plants which we have in the United States are more mod- ern in every way than most of the yards here, and labor-saving machinery is used more extensively in our country. I find that this opinion is general among the American delegates who are'now returning from the congress, and it will probably be interesting, therefore, to refer to interviews on the subject which I had with a few of them while visiting the different yards. No account has been given of the excursion to: the Clyde, but this will be found further on. Mr. W. I. Babcock of Chi- cago, who was one of the American delegates, has made his trip to Europe a business trip. He visited several of the ship-yards other than those on the programme of the naval architects, and when I asked him for an opinion as to what he had seen he answered that, not- withstanding the difference in labor cost, he was quite certain that if Ameri- can builders had only a small share of the great number of orders for new ships that are booked here each year they would soon stand ready to com- pete with the world in this industry. But for a great number of years the ship owners of all nations have been ~ thoes coming here for new vessels, and time will be required to divert any part of the business to the United States, even under the most favor- able circumstances. A talk with Past-Assistant Engineer W. M. Mc- Farland of the United States navy brought out practically the same opinion, but he first referred to the great hospitality of the British society. -"T cannot speak too kindly,' Mr. McFarland said, "of the splendid re- ception we have had and of the great success of the congress in every way. You know, of course, that at a gathering in such-an interesting city as London it is rather difficult to arouse great interest in the dis- cussion of papers, but in some respects this congress was an exception even in that regard, One of the greatest pleasures to me in attending the congress has been to meet and listen to the leaders of the profession, whose names have been very familiar to me for years, but most of whom I had never met before. Sir Edward Reed, Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, Sir William White, Sir John Durston, Messrs, Thornycroft, Yarrow, Milton, Seaton, Manuel, Mudd, Sidney Barnaby and others all took part in the discussion, as you know, and I must say that as a rule they were excellent speakers. I told Mr. Seaton that we rather prided ourselves in America on our readiness in debate, but that he would hold a high rank anywhere. I had the chance to see a good deal of him, and he is not only one of the leading engineers of England but one of the best fellows I have ever met. To speak in detail of all the social - courtesies we have received would be impossible, but Dr. Elgar, Prof. Biles, Mr. Yarrow, Mr. Morcom and Mr. Sidney Barnaby did a great deal for us besides the entertainments to which all were invited. And I must not forget my good friend Archie Denny.. You know what his firm has done in a scien-_ 'tific way, and, since the lamented death of his talented brother, Archie has looked after that side. He is one of - the best fellows in the world, and all the visitors owe a great deal to his kind- ness and attention. The management of such an affair as this congress, with its elaborate programme of entertainments, requires executive ability of a high or- der, and this work always falls on the secretary. The Institution of Naval Architects can congratulate itself on possessing such an accomplished secre- i tary as Mr. Geo. Holmes. He was simply perfect and indefatigable, and he has just cause to feel proud of the perfect success of his plans. The visitors owe a great deal also to the Earl of Hopetoun, the president of the institution. You know we citizens of a democratic republic are apt to think of noblemen as being a very effete crowd, and doubtless this is true of some, but Lord Hopetoun is_a worker and a model presiding officer. He was assiduous in his efforts. to make everything go well, and the success of the congress is due to him in a great degree. I have been so much pleased with the way all our British cousins have treated us that I hardly like to say any more for fear you will think I am exaggerating, and I can only say that when our Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers -enter- tains them, as it is sure to do some day, it will have a very difficult task to equal the splendid entertainment that we have enjoyed. One excellent effect of the congress is the creation of friendship among eminent pro- fessional men_ of So many. nations which makes them more than ever willing to exchange ideas and thereby advance the profession in all. coun- Lorp HOPETOUN, Mr. GEO. HOLMES, SEc'y. a ----S tries. The attendance at the congress has been something unheard of in an international gathering of this kind; and, as I said in Starting, the whole affair has been a great success, and I count myself especially for- tunate in having been detailed by the navy department as one of its Tep- resentatives." ; SHIP BUILDING IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA. _In answer to a question as to what was the opinion of himself and other experts regarding the equipment of plants in Britain and at home Mr. McFarland replied: 'Well, we have seen a good deal to admire. but on the whole we think our later shops are better equipped, and our older ones as well. Of course, everybody realizes that expensive tools cannot be thrown out after a few years' service just because better ones have been devised, and naturally the new plants have the better tools, All the yards we visited have been in business many years, so that their equipment lacks many of the modern tools found in such a place as Newport News. One of our ship builders remarked on the entire ab- sence of traveling cranes over the building slips, a feature possessed by all our newer yards. We were all greatly pleased by the readiness of the managers to show us everything, and there was a total absence of the foolish idea that there are great trade secrets to be guarded. Indeed Dr. Elgar spoke of this, as you remem- i Ley ber, and said that if anybody had missed anything to let them know it, so that it could be shown. One cannot fail to be impressed by the marvelous activity in ship building and engineering on the Clyde, and especially by its prosecu- tion under what would seem to be dis- advantages. You know that the Clyde is a very narrow and really artificial stream, and yet the greatest steamers in the world have been built in these yards. We heard a good story of a conversation between an American and a Scotchman on the subject of the Clyde. The American was speaking of it very disparagingly in comparison with : our rivers, such as the Hudson and Delaware. 'Yes,' said the Scotchman, 'but God made the Hudson, while we made the Clyde ourselves.' This is al- most literally true. Sixty years ago it was a little creek, only three feet deep. Now it has been dredged and blasted out until it is 28 feet deep, "T must tell you, too, of a most interesting trip made by Mr. W. I. Babcock and myself to the works of Messrs. G. & J. Weir at Cathcart. Mr. James Weir and his sons, Messrs. J. R. Richmond and SIR EDWARD REED. William. Weir, were very kind during our whole stay at Glasgow, and they made our visit to the works specially pleasant, taking us everywhere. Probably they are best known at home as the makers of evaporators and hydrokineters, but a large part of their business, and the most important, is as makers of feed pumps, of which they-have supplied a great many to the British and foreign governments. To say that their place is run on the American plan should be counted a com- pliment coming from an American, and we were certainly delighted with the plan and equipment of the plant, and above all with the methods of work. All similar parts are made interchangeable, and where possible all work is done to gauge and to surface plates, special sizes of these being used so as to get in all sorts of places. It was a visit to make anyone with a mechanic's instincts very much pleased. Denny's ship- yard and engine works have both been held up as models so long that everybody knows about them. Of course, we were all very much_pleased with our kind reception by the firm and with all we saw. It was a matter of general regret, in view of the great size of Armstrong's plant at Newcastle, comprising ship-yard and ordnance works, that our visit was . necessarily very hasty. Probably every one was most impressed by the great hydraulic forging presses, although the big gun plant was very impressive too, While viewing the large number of ships for foreign governments on hand here,. I heard the remark from Americans that it behooved us not to fall behind in our ship building programme, or Japan would soon have a more powerful navy than ourselves. I am not sure whether these are the largest works in the world, but they must come near the top with their list of 24,000 employees." TWO FAMOUS CLYDE SHIPYARDS. The programme attending the visit. of the naval architects to the Clyde, which was referred to only briefly in previous letters, was in every espe equal to the unlimited hospitality P England. In this cradle of the art 0 marine engineering and naval architecture the visitors had expecte to divide their time between several ship-yards. They spent one day 1 two of them--fortunately the most important on the Clyde--when ey were again called upon to accept urgent invitations to entertainments © various kinds, among them a reception by the Lord Provost ane ie corporation of the city of Glasgow and a pleasure excursion on ne Clyde. The cruise was around Arran and Ailsa Craig, going via t f Kyles of Bute and the Sound of Kilbrennan and returning by way © the south end of Arran and Fairlie roads. More beautiful scenery 1n 4 day's sailing could probably not be found in any part of the Wehio On the first short run down the Clyde to the works of the Fairfield Ship Building & Engineering Co. at Gogan. and to those of Messrs." me Denny & Bros. and Messrs. Denny & Co., Dumbarton, the visttons Ft only a passing view of the Clydebank company's yard and several. othtt MR, G. W. MANUEL, OF P. & O. Co. ey ae