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2. MARINE REVIEW. [September 6, BRITISH SHIPPING IN 1899. From Syren and Shipping, London. For those who take kindly to the perusal and study of blue books we would recommend a course of the annual statement concerning navl- gation and shipping, recently published by the board of trade. The vol- ume is both bulky and interesting, and contains data which throw a valu- able light on the conduct of British shipping. The total entrances at United Kingdom ports were 359,821 vessels of 105,188,504 tons, against 358,030 vessels of 100,547,873 tons during 1898. The clearances _also show an increase, being 356,079 vessels of 104,159,577 tons, against 355,107 vessels of 100,300,683 tons cleared during the previous year. But, in spite of this marked improvement, sailing ship tonnage shows a falling off, for while the entrances and clearances during 1897 were 13,153,077 and 11,962,412 tons respectively, they fell during 1899 to 10,193,109 and 10,087,- 141 tons. While it is gratifying to notice that the shipping trade, as shown by entrances and clearances, was relatively brisk, it is by no means so pleasing to observe the growing part which foreign merchant shipping ' plays in the trade conducted at our ports. For the past three years the entrances and clearances of British and foreign ships were as follows: ENTRANCKS, Year. British tonnage. Foreign ton' age. 1899 32,864,524 16,011,394 1898 31,856,934 13,268,410 1897 ' 32,191,459 12,731,870 CLEARANOBS. 1899 32,784,465 16,122,504 1898 32,359,794 18,478,828 1897 32,235,086 13,040,448 Thus it will be seen that the pushful foreigner is securing a large and inereasing share in our foreign trade. The mercantile nation which ap- pears to do most business with British ports is Norway. The tonnage of Norwegian vessels engaged in the foreign trade and entering or clearing with cargoes and in ballast United Kingdom ports in 1899 agere- gated 7,442,597 tons. Next comes Germany with 5,238,057 tons. Forty years ago German tonnage trading to or from our ports totalled 2,314,255 tons, while the Norwegian was 1,456,764 tons. After the Germans come the Dutch with 2,950,447 tons. In 1860 the Dutch total was but 567,390 tons, so that here, too, substantial improvement has been made. The contrary, however, is the case with the United States. In 1860 just upon 8,000,000 tons of American shipping entered and cleared our ports, while during 1899 the total was only 569,979 tons, a falling off which the enterprising citizens of the States are doing all they can to check. The entrances and clearances of Danish ships were 3,375,632 tons; Swedish, 3,318,000 tons; French, 2,500,000 tons; Spanish, 2,000,000 tons; Belgian, 1,500,000 tons, and Russia, 903,547 tons only. The oft propounded query: Which is the principal British port? may be answered in various ways. according to the data selected as the basis of comparison. If we take entrances and clearances, both coastwise and foreign, as affording an in- dex of the business done at a port, then London comes out an easy first, as the following list shows: Total tonnage Total tonnage Port. entered and cleared. Port. entered and cleared. london 74 ei. 30,013,490 Belfast. 2 oie 4,994,028 Cardi 19,385,730 Cowes 6 4,964,062 Miverpool |. ....-.: TSe30.c10. > Newport ......-. 4,909,809 Pyne: Ports ....... - 16,110,220 bling Ae, 4,859,451 Glassow ....:.... 7,434,854 BiristoOle see. ce oOS0e La: PH ee 6,160,739 Manchester 2,299,423 Southampton 5,441,167 The position of Cardiff is, of course, accounted for by the great num- _ ber of steamers which resort there for coals. Of the tonnage quoted close upon 9,000,000 tons was in ballast, while at London the total was 7,000,000 tons, and at Liverpool only 3,095,000 tons. Thus, the entrances and clearances of ships at a particular port is by no means an index of the quantity or value of the trade in merchandise. Another method of com- parison, which is sometimes adopted, is that of actual shipownery, as shown by the number of vessels registered at the different ports. Fol- lowing this plan Liverpool is first and Cardiff simply nowhere: Port. Sail tonnage. Steam tonnage. Total. Iiverpool. ..... ess 681,974 1,531,033 2,213,007 Mondon 3-225. 28s, 234,864 1,404,321 1,639,185 Glasgow. 6 iy. 3 iiss 494,727 1,185,443 1,630,170 dyne: Ports: ei o.cea 13,269 501,976 515,245 Hartlepools:. 252.8242." 838 380,650 381,488 Sunderland 2.0.4.6). 7,184 267,036 274,770 WA 14,785 213,610 228 395 At the close of 1899 there were on the British register 22,368 sailing vessels aggregating 3,178,795 tons, and 12,528 steamers of 7,423,404 tons. Two years previous the sailers aggregated 3,579,477 tons and the steamers 6,836,965 tons. Thus the increase in the latter type of ship is larger than the decrease of the sailers, especially when the greater efficiency of steam tonnage is considered. To man this enormous fleet of merchant tonnage the number of men employed was 244,135. This total includes the home and fishing, as well as the foreign trade. The British subjects employed numbered 174,266; the forergners, 36,064; and lascars, 33,805. Leaving out the lascar element we have in the home, fishing and foreign trade a percentage of seventeen foreign seamen. But in order to arrive at a fairer estimate of the ubiquity of the foreigner on British ships we can eliminate the fishing crews. The British subjects employed on fishing craft number 22.380, while the foreigners employed are only 333--roughly 1% per cent. Deducting, therefore, the 22,380 Britishers employed on fishing craft and the 333 foreigners we have 151,886 native seamen and 35,731 foreigners engaged in our coasting and foreign trade, which works out to about 19 per cent. This is disquieting in the extreme and it is a pity that the blue book in question does not show where these for- eigners signed on, whether abroad or in British ports. With an increas- ing foreign tonnage entering and clearing at our home ports it is hardly to be wondered at that the facilities for enabling aliens to enter our merchant service are increasing. A case in point recéntly came under our own notice. A British ship regularly loaded part cargo at a continental port and came on to her home port to complete. All her deck hands were foreigners. They soon discovered, however, that the current wage at the completing port was higher than at Antwerp, and promptly de- serted--to serve, we presume, on board some other British ship at an enhanced rate of pay. There are other instructive teachings in the blue book whose contents we have briefly summarized, and we would com- mend its perusal to all concerned in the development and conduct of our mercantile marine. THE GERMAN SHIP BUILDING INDUSTRY. The report of the commission appointed a few months ago by the German government to inquire into the condition and capabilities of the German ship building industry, with a view to the placing of orders in | connection with the sreat scheme for the renewal of the fleet, contains much interesting, and presumably reliable, information. At the period during which the inquiries were being made about 35,000 hands were em- ployed in the German Baltic and North Sea ship yards. By far the great- est proportion were working in the Baltic district, the ship building trade in that district having (contrary to what has happened in the shipping trade) made much greater strides than in the North Sea district. The six most important Baltic yards alone were employing quite 50 per cent. of the total number of workmen engaged in the whole trade; in the year 1898 they turned out a number of steamers measuring altogether in round numbers 75,000 tons, with a total indicated horse power of more than 150,- 000; and last year the vessels completed or still on the stocks in these six yards amounted to about 360,000 tons. The Baltic yards have been busily engaged in the building of war vessels, not only for the Fatherland, but for other countries; the number remaining on the stocks in 1899 (not reckoning those completed in that year) was eighteen for German and sixteen for foreign account, while in the North Sea yards there were only four for German and none at all for foreign account. A comparison of the future capabilities of the industry is afforded by a statement of the number of slipwavs already existing or proposed to be laid down: in the Baltic and North Sea yards altogether there were, when the inquiry was being made, no less than 106, and 32 new ones were projected. The pre- ponderance of the Baltic yards over those of the North Sea is further shown in the size of the slipways, there being now (or will be in the near future) twenty-one of a greater length than 500 ft. in the former district, while in the latter there are scarcely half so many. The building of war vessels at home had much to do with the progress and development of the German ship building industry, and a further great impetus was given to it by the condition insisted upon in the subvention contracts for the Im- perial mail steamship services that all subsidized vessels shall be built in German yards and with German materials. In other directions also these subvention contracts had a stimulating effect, namely in respect of the docking and repairing of vessels at home, and the establishment of a German 'association for the classification of ships. One of the most re- markable of the facts elicited by the commission was the great progress made in the repairing branch of the trade, which formerly had been almost monopolized by the British yards. The German Baltic yards were the first to be made available for the prompt execution of all kinds of repairs. both of hulls and machinery, by the construction of modern-typed iron floating docks; the number of these docks rose from 9 in the year 1880 to 17 in 1890, and to 27 in 1900. German ship owners, therefore, are now able to dock their vessels in home ports instead of being obliged to have recourse to foreign dry docks. What important adjuncts to the German ship yards the modern iron floating docks have proved is, among things. testified to by some of the extensive jobs effected by their means, such as the lengthening of the subsidized steamers Preussen, Bayern, and Sachsen, which jobs, were it not for the existence of the big German floating docks, woe have had to be performed in England or elsewhere abroad.--Fair- pray. REBUILDING THE GUNBOAT MACHIAS. The commandant of the Charlestown navy yard has received an order authorizing the rebuilding of the gunboat Machias, which is now out of commission at the yard, and commanding that the work be rushed as fast as possible under normal conditions. The total cost of the job is roughly placed at from $60,000 to $75,000, and it will occupy fully four months with a large force employed. The 'Machias has been in commission nearly eight years, and during that time has been only temporarily repaired. Much of her interior work is out of date, as well as her fittings. The ship has proven her value as a light draught gunboat to police Central American waters, and the department proposes to have her put in fine condition to continue this work. The hull will be thoroughly overhauled and cleaned, and, finally, after everything else is ready it will be painted. The machinery will be repaired and wherever new parts are needed they will be substituted for the old worn-out pieces. The 'Machias will probably be a faster ship when the commission whip is again broken out at her masthead than when it was hauled down. The electric light and boiler plants are to be modernized and repaired so that they will be equal to those aboard of any ship of her size. The electric outfit is, of course, not quite up to date, having been installed about eight years ago. An entire new set of boats is to be furnished to the Machias. One of the most notable changes to be made in this ship is the substitution of fireproof wood for the present inflammable wood finish and fittings. This same thing is being done to the Olympia, and is along the most approved lines of construction in the navy... ihe United States navy was away ahead of other navies in adopting fireproof wood for its ships. All our modern ships are fitted with it, and its value has already been established in actual warfare. It is now being used extensively in foreign navies. Besides being proof against fire, the fire- proof wood does not splinter, and here is a great advantage. On ships fitted with the old style woodwork a great many were wounded or killed in action by flying splinters, and this danger is now obviated. Naval Constructor Baxter has been experimenting for months with the several fireproofing processes for the purpose of ascertaining which was the best fitted for use on board our ships. All the finish of the cabins, quarters and wherever ordinary wood is used at present will be fireproofed and the furniture is all to be made from the same materials.