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18 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. MORE BOILER TRIALS, British Admiralty orders another competitive run between Minerva and Hyacinth--Tests of torpedo boat destroyers--Few orders for new ships--Scottish ship building letter. Glasgow, Dec. 4.--Another competitive run to Gibraltar is to be made by the cruisers Minerva and Hyacinth under conditions analogous to those laid down by the navy boiler committee, but on this occasion the trials will be conducted by the admiralty. They are chiefly intended for the testing of new propellers, the original screws having given remarkable results. 'The Hyacinth, al- though she had more engine power than the Minerva, did not realize so great a speed. New screws have now been fitted, which should yield important data. It is intended to take as complete information of the working of boilers and machinery as was made by the dock yard staff for the boiler committee. Neither type of boiler came out of the tests satisfactorily, for while the cylindrical boilers of the Minerva got choked at the tube ends by "bird-nesting" to such an extent that she could not have steamed further than Gibraltar anyhow, the Belleville boilers of the Hyacinth burned more coal per unit of power, and the tubes leaked at the point where they are screwed into the boxes 'joining each pair of tubes together. Some of the figures tabulated in the boiler committee's report were not re- concilable, and the admiralty has decided that a repetition of. the competitive trials will be helpful in illuminating the boiler question. | The two ships will leave in a week or so for Gib- raltar at three-fourths power, the object being, as before, to cruise at that power until all the coal in their bunkers is con- sumed, each having, of course, the same quality of coal to be- gin with. They will return at the best speed possible.: The committee appointed by the admiralty to enquire into the strength of torpedo boat destroyers has decided to test a boat of this type to the point of destruction. The appointment of this committee followed the loss of the Cobra in the North sea. It is under the chairmanship of Admiral Fitzgerald and includes Dr. Inglis, 1rofessor Biles, Mr. Archibald Denny and Mr. Deaaman of the admiralty. Theoretical research has been conducted on an extensive scale, and it has been considered desirable to put the theories to the test of actual trials, so as to ascertain the breaking strength of a destroyer when regarded as a girder. One view taken when the Cobra was lost was that the vessel being alternately suspended between waves, leaving 'the center partly unsupported by water, and carried centrally on the top of a wave with the bow and stern unsupported, the re- sulting sagging and hogging action broke her back. 'This will be demonstrated in a dry dock at the Portsmouth yard with one of the destroyers now attached to the navy. SHIP BUILDING RETURNS--FEW NEW ORDERS. We are nearing the termination of the ship building year, the records of which will show a surprising amount of work, notwithstanding the highly unsatisfactory condition of the shippin~y trade. In Scotland during the eleven months ending November the output has been 495,000 tons, or just about 5,000 tons short of the total in the same portion of last year, and with that exception considerably ahead of any previous year. The Clyde proportion of the total was 452,000 tons as compared with 461,c00 tons last year. There are some heavy vessels which will be probably put into the water this month, ii which case the year's total for 1902 may possibly exceed the record one of 1901. The November launches were thirty-two vessels of 48,500 tons, comparing with twenty-five vessels of 59,900 tons in November last year. The new work booked dur- ing the month was under 5,0co tons and included no item of outstanding importance. Last month's output included a 7,000-ton twin screw built by D. & W. Henderson & Co. for the China Mutual Steam Navigation Co.; a 7,400-ton twin screw built by John Brown & Co., Ltd., for the Federal Steam Naviga- tion Co.; a 6,200-ton boat built by D. J. Dunlop & Co. for the German American Petroleum Co., Hamburg; a 5,800-ton cargo boat built by Charles Connell & Co., Ltd., for Liverpool owners; a 5,000-ton boat built by Scott & Co. for the Clyde Shipping Co. ; a 4,500-ton boat built by the Grangemouth & Greenock Dockyard Co. for the Pure Oil Co.; a 4,0c0-ton cargo boat built by Rus- sell & Co. for Liverpool owners; a 1,600-ton boat built by Gour- layeBros. & Co., Dundee, for the Netherlands Steamship Co.; a 1,100-ton boat built by Murdock & Murray for the Co-opera- tive Wholesale Society, Manchester; a sailing vessel of 1,750 tons built by the Ailsa Ship Building Co. for Glasgow owners; and a number of small special steamers, fishing steamers, tug steamers, hoppers, barges and launches. The great diop in new contracts in November seriously affects the prospects on the Clyde where hitherto and till now there has been more activity in the ship yards than elsewhere. 'The price of steel ship plates has been reduced to £5 10s. in the north of s.ngland and correspondingly here, but the reduction is not enough to tempt ship owners to order. It is expected that iron and wages will be lower next year, and therefore ship- building costs also. The Clyde ship yards are now on to their winter schedule of forty-eight working hours, instead of fifty- four as in the summer schedule. 'The trade unions concerned with the work of the ship yards lately approached the Clyde [Dec. 18. . Ship Builders' Association with a joint request for the abolition of the fortnightly and the reintroduction of the weekly system of payment of wages. A few years ago the ship builders gave the weekly system a year's trial on the condition on their part that if it proved a success generally and did not lead to a further loss of time, they would adopt it permanently; and on the part of the men that if it did prove a failure, or materially unsatis- factory, the fortnightly system should be restored and main- tained without further question. At the end of the year it was found that the weekly system had involved such a loss of time and irregular working that the employers declared it a. failure. The fortnightly system was restored and has been (as agreed with the men) in operation ever since. In applying once more for the weekly system they referred to it as in operation almost everywhere else than on the Clyde. The employers, however, have replied that after full trial it was found far from a success here, being conducive neither to the profit of the employers nor to good time-keeping by the men. After careful consideration of the application of the men the employers have intimated that they cannot make any further change and they request the trade unions to regard this decision as final. NEW ARMORED CRUISERS. It is now stated that the orders for the two new third-class cruisers have been placed with English firms, and that the order for the first-class armored cruiser will be given to the Arm- strong company. . One of the third-class vessels is to be built by the Palmer company, and the other by Laird Bros. of Bir- kenhead, who have already in course of construction one of the same type ordered eight months ago. These vessels are im- proved Pelorus cruisers, having a displacement of 3,000 tons, their lengths 360 ft., their beam 4o ft., while their draught at full load will be 14 ft. 6 in. The Palmer company's vessel will be fitted with the Reed small-tube boiler and the Laird vessel will have Laird-Normand boilers. Both vessels will have reciprocating engines with high-pressure cylinders 141% in., three intermediate cylinders 38% in., and two low-pressure cylinders 42% in., with a stroke of 24 in. Running at 250 revolutions the engines will indicate 9,800 I. H. P., which, it is anticipated, will give a speed of 2134 knots. These vessels will depend for pro- tection on an armored deck, and for armament will have twelve quick-firing guns of 4-in. caliber, eight 3-pounders, and three Max- ims, with two torpedo launching tubes under the water line. The vessels are to be completed in twenty-one months, heavy penal- ties being specified for late delivery. Ship builders everywhere are naturally interested in the efforts which are being made to influence the admiralty to give the order for the armored cruiser for which tenders were re- cently received to a London firm. 'The policy pursued recently by the admiralty has been to order ships from different districts, so as to distribute the work and ensure prompt delivery, but this has been done with a due regard to cost. Once this item of cost is omitted, political or other influences may be brought to bear on the question of contracts. There is the important question also of the lack of modern plant and facilities in the London yards and the great cost of completing a ship at a long distance from either the ship building or the engineering works. The encroachments of shipping have, as in Liverpool, altered the conditions and these necessarily compel the removal of large warship work from London. As to maintaining a yard in Lon- don for repairing warships, naval officers do not support the idea, because the time lost and the risk involved in taking 1 large ship up the Thames would introduce a dangerous element of delay. The Chatham and Sheerness dock yards are already available for the overhaul of a North Sea fleet. The Thames lost its ship building industry many years ago by the folly of the trade unions, the admiralty cannot restore it. STEEL BARQUE OF 3,000 TONS. From the yard at Troon of the Ailsa Ship Building Co. there was launched on Saturday a steel barque of 1,500 tons register. The princip.1 dimensions of this vessel, which has a deadweight capacity of 3,000 tons, are: Length over all, 273 ft.6in.; length between perpendiculars, 252 ft.; breadth molded, 39 ft.; depth molded, 24 ft. 4 in. ©She was built under special survey to class 100 Ai at Lloyd's and is owned by the Kildalton Barque Co., Ltd., of Glasgow. The Ailsa Ship Building Co. has the marquis of Ailsa as chairman and it operates in a°har-: bor made by the dukes of Portland. The fourth duke of Port-: land 'built at Troon a tidal basin of considerable depth of water, and a graving dock which was then (1808) the largest in Scot- - land. He also formed a railway, the first in Scotland between Kilmarnock and Troon, and erected the first steam crane in the country: for shipping coal. Then he started ship building in Troon, and in 1831 there was built in the yard a 10-gun_ brig, which was so much ahead of the frigates of those days that the duke presented her to the admiralty. In the fifties Troon also built the largest wooden ship that had been put into the water in Scotland up to that time, and some time later there was launched from the yard the first steam collier that carried coal between Great Britain and Ireland. When the fifth duke succeeded to Troon harbor he spent large sums in improving and developing the port and during the twenty-two years of his proprietorship the present duke has followed the example. A large new gray-