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#5 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. BRITISH SHIPPING MATTERS. London, Feb. 9--The most striking event in shipping cir- cles during the past few days has been the inspection made by the officers of the Chilian government of the water-tube boilers which have been constructed by Yarrow & Co. at Poplar. for the two Chilian cruisers now being constructed by Armstrong, Whit- worth & Co. at Elswick and Vickers, Sons & Maxim at Barrow. The boilers for the Elswick-built ship were particularly objects. of the Chilian inspection. It is, of course, well known that the Yarrow boiler is of the small tube or "express" type. For fit- ting in larger vessels the original design introduced in torpedo craft has been modified. At first the tubes were I in..in diame- ter, and this gave a very light, quick steaming boiler, suitable for its special purpose, and it is, of course, well known that remark able speeds were obtained. It was felt, however, that for larger vessels linings must to some extent be sacrificed, and.the dia- meter of the tubes was accordingly increased to 134 in., a size which may be compared with the 4-in. and 4%-in. tubes of the large horizontal tube boilers, such as the Belleville and other makes. There is much to be said for the Yarrow as compared with the horizontal tube. . About seven years ago Yarrow & Co. fitted their small-tube boiler into three large cruisers for the Dutch government. These were tried in conjunction with cylin- 'drical boilers, the Dutch engineering authorities, by way. of pre- caution, putting a small proportion of the latter in the Ships, "much =-as. our admiralty. are .doing . at." present. Two years later the same government constructed three, more large cruisers, and in each of these the whole of. the steam was. supplied by Yarrow boilers. Since then. an armor-clad vessel in which all the boilers are of this kind. has been built and two: others are under construction. trian navy has also had several vessels fitted with this boiler, there being three large-cruisers-completed and one building as well as three .armor-clad vessels, each of 14,000 H. P. The Swedish, Portuguese and Norwegian navies also have adopted Yarrow 'boilers entirely for séveral» cruisers and armor-clad ships. ' Already a start has been made by the British admiralty in the same direction: Four cruisers, according to the present pro- gram, are to be fitted with Yarrow boilers whilst in the pro- gram arrangements are made for the use of the Thornycroft boiler. The chief distinguishing characteristic between' the Thornycroft and Yarrow types is that the former has bent tubes and the latter straight ones. A great advantage in straight tubes-is that they can be inspected in the interior in situ. One of the tests at the inspection was the passing of an electric lamp down the tube to examine the base though of course with ample daylight the lamp is not needed... Mr. Yarrow stated: that 134 -in. diameter is large enough for all practical purposes and indeed any further increase in size is objectionable. 'The total power ia each of the Chilian cruisers will be 12,500, and each ship will have twelve of the Yarrow boilers placed three in a group in four stokeholds. . Each boiler will therefore give steam for over 1,000-H. P.; and-for this 3,000 ft. of heating surface has been 'provided. The proportion of heating surface to horse power is about 3 sq. ft. to each unit. 'This is'a more liberal al- lowance than is usually given with water-tube boilers for large vessels, and it will permit of steam being generated for full power with three-quarters of the boiler capacity being used, so that if the engines will take the steam a much higher power than the designed full power can be reached. It would appear that the limit allowed for weight was the standard requirement for Belleville boilers, and as there was no object in going below this, Yarrow & Co. determined to use their allowance in strengthen-- ing the casings, uptakes, etc., and giving ample heating surface. It may be pointed out: that -vertical-tube boilers can be forced with impunity, whilst it. is not possible to force the Belleville boiler to any considerable extent. In consequence of the excel- lent circulation, which increases with the forcing, there need be no fear of burning the vertical tubes, and for this reason there is always a large reserve of power for emergencies, such as a case of boilers being put out of action in a naval battle. It is, how- ever, estimated by Yarrow & Co. from previous experience that in ordinary times these modified small-tube boilers "should re main in thoroughly good condition during a period correspond- ing to two commissions of three years each.' 'The grate area in these boilers is somewhat less than usual. Mr.. Yarrow is of opinion--and in this he is in agreement with many engineers--- that it is better, both on account of economy and for the comfort of the stokers, to have a comparatively small grate and force the fires by fan draft, rather than have a big grate and slower com- bustion. The blowing of the firé causes the air and fuel gases to be more thoroughly mixed in the combustion space, and thus leads. to. economy. ert ve The Liverpool Steamship: Owners' Association in their an- . nual report 'are 'up in arms against the British government, and present their grievances: with considerable lucidity and vigor. The report states that the nation has during the past year reali- zéd, perhaps more keenly than it has ever done before, the nature - of the struggle in which the British ship owner is engaged 1o maintain the position of the country as the sea-carrier of the world. The British ship owner is handicapped not only by the' protection given to foreign competitors by their own countries The Aus- - Same way. [Feb 16)" but by unfair: advantages given to foreign ships: in our own ports. The-report declares that so unequal a fight cannot long be maintained, and that the issue is whether the British ship owner is to be driven from the field or whether our laws are to be altered to place him in a position of equality with foreign com- petitors. The report attacks the code embodied in the merchant shipping act of 1854, under which British shipping is controlled. Substantially that code has not been altered by subsequent amendment of the act. The report declares it to 'be obsolete, inasmuch as during the last fifty years both the class of ves- sels and the nature of their'employment have altered. Never- theless every:new improvement in type of ship has to be brought within the old law; and the ship owner is in many cases com- pelled to adhere to practices which experience has shown to be capable of improvement, whilst the country is risking incalcula- ble injury to its' general trade by insisting on the shipping in- dustry being governed by obsolete rules and regulations. For example, the passenger and emigrant regulations now in force are, in the main, those of 1855. A modern 20-knot vessel has still to be equipped and provisioned for the same length of voyage as the vessel that was making the same voyage in 1855. 'The law of 1855 divided. steamships into two classes, the first hav- ing a speed of at least 5 knots an hour, and the second of at least 10 knots an' hour. There are no ocean steamships afloat. at the present time of only 5 knots an hour, and there are no' ocean passenger steamships of only 1o knots. Still the law stands, and voyage after voyage the. ship owner has to see his' money wasted in complying with it. In many other respects the law is altogether inapplicable to the existing types of vessel engaged in the trade, and grave and constant injustice is com- mitted by forcing the specially-built and equipped modern pas- senger vessel to comply with its provisions. No other nation, it is declared, hampers its passenger and emigrant trade in the It is, of course, essential that all necessary steps should: be taken. to- secure safety of life, of cargo, and of the ship itself, but regulations to this-end, it is urged, are as applica- ble to foreign as to British ships, and it is anomalous to enforce them against British ships only. [he report gives instances of this differential treatment. Both British and foreign ships bringing deck cargoes of timber to this country have to comply . with the same regulations, but in regard to incoming grain: ves- sels, they are enforced only against British ships. Regulations as to unseaworthiness and passenger-carrying are also differen. tially applied. © Replying to the possible argument that if British regulations are enforced-on foreign ships foreign governments will retaliate, the association: doubts if this is a real risk; but. whatever. it:may amount to, if it is not faced the country must be. prepared for further transfers. of British shipping to foreign flags, for it is idle to expect that the British shipowner will be- able for long to compete, even in his own ports, with vessels that : are manned and equipped at far less cost, and that carry more cargo than precisely similar British vessels: MR, SWANK'S SOUVENIR OF THE IRON TRADE, Mr. James M. Swank has completed his thirtieth year of service with the American Iron & Steel Association, first as secretary and then as general. manager. He has done more than any dozen men to preserve the industrial history of the United States as related to iron and steel. As a souvenir to mark the completion of his thirty years of service he has com- piled in convenient form the iron and steel, iron ore and coal statistics for the United States and European countries. The table of contents of the compilation is as follows: Produc-: tion of coal in the United States; production of coke in the United States; shipments of Connellsville coke; shipments of Pocahentas flat top coke; production of iron ore in the United States; production of Cornwall iron ore; shipments of Lake Superior iron ore; imports of iron ore into the United States; shipments of iron ore from Cuba; production of pig iron in the United States; production of Bessemer steel in the United States; production of open-hearth steel in the United States; total production of steel in the United States; production and prices of Bessemer steel rails in the United States; production of pig iron in Great Britain; production of coal in Great Bri- tain; production of iron ore in Great Britain; production of Bessemer steel ingots in Great Britain; production of open- hearth ingots in Great Britain; total production of steel in Great Britain; production of iron ore in Germany; production of pig- iron in Germany; production of coal and lignite in Germany; production of finished steel in Germany; production of iron ore in France; production of finished steel in France; production of Bessemer and open-hearth steel ingots in France; production of : coal and lignite in France; production of iron ore in Algeria; pro- duction of pig iron in France; production of iron ore in Bel- gium; production of pig iron in Belgium; production of steel ingots in Belgium; production of finished steel in Belgium; pro- duction of coal in Belgium. Gross earnings of the Pittsburg & Lake Erie Railway (iron ore road) for 1902 were $10,008,706.89 or $54,422.87 per mile. This is said to be the heaviest gross earnings per mile of any rail- way in the country.