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1903.] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. : _ nearly the same, being almost exactly .75 I. H. P. per gross ton in merchant ships. Steam pressures of 200 lbs. and over were more frequently heard of last year than at any previous time, but the quadruple engine makes little progress, only about twenty ships having been engined with that type in 1902. The next notable feature in marine engineering is, as before stated, the extended use of the Parsons' steam turbine, five sets, aggregating 19,000 I. H. P., being supplied last year. These were fitted as follows: In the Velox of the British navy, 8,000; 4,000 in the Clyde passenger steamer Queen Alexandra; 3,500 in the yacht Lorina; 2,000 in the yacht Tarantula, built for the .ate Col. McCalmont, and 1,500 in the yacht Emerald, built for Sir Christopher Furness, M. P. "As a result of the admiralty boiler committee's labors and recommendations, more extensive trials, under modified condi- tions, are to be given to such boilers as the Durr, the Niclausse, the Babcock & Wilcox, and the Yarrow. _ The committee recog- nized that the water-tube boiler possesses many excellent features, and for the purposes of further trials they recommend that cer- tain of our new ships should be fitted with boiler installations composed in part of water-tube and in part of cylindrical boilers. The committee's report makes it clear that all water-tube boilers are not proving as unsatisfactory as the Belleville. "There are no new developments to note in connection with marine engineering in other countries last year. As in the case of the British Isles the output shows a _ reduction, the total. readiig 717,717° I. H.-P. -for., 1902,. against, . 7o0.ag6 1 Hi. P. for 1901. This. reduction of nearly, 93000 - 1 P. or 10 per cent, taken in conjunction with an increase of 18 per cent in the foreign tonnage launched last year, would imply a lowering of the engine power fitted into the ships. To last year's total, German engine builders contributed 234,096 I. H. P., or nearly one-third; those of the United States, 174,024 I. H. P.; those of France, 80,500 I. H. P.; and those of Japan, 64,120 I. H. P.; no other country producing more than 36,000 I. H. P. in marine engines during 1902. To the German engine builders belongs the credit of constructing the highest-powered set of propelling ma- chinery ever constructed for any one ship, namely the twin-screw engines for the Kaiser Wilhelm II. The vessel and her engines were built by the Vulcan Co., Stettin, for the Atlantic express ser- vice of the North German Lloyd. These engines are a distinct departure from the ordinary practice, in that they are divided into four sets, each of the four-cylinder quadruple expansion type. Each set is to be capable of indicating upwards of 10,000 I. H. P. and will be placed in a separate water-tight engine room, two engines being coupled on each shaft. There are in all sixteen cylinders, four being 37.4 in., four 49.2 in., four 78.4 in., and four 112.2 in. in diameter, with stroke of 70.9 in. Steam will be sup- plied at a pressure of 225 Ibs. from twelve double and seven single- ended boilers, the total heating surface being 107,643 sq. ft. With the engines indicating 40,0oco H. P. the vessel is expected to travel at 23% to 24 knots. The Kaiser Wilhelm will leave Bremen on her maiden trip across the Atlantic on April 14. "There would seem to be still reasonable room for doubt as to whether we are getting the most out of our screw propellers. Tt is a well-known recognized axiom that every type of ship re- quires its own particular type oi propeller; whether it gets it or not is open to question. With her original propellers the Drake-- one of the four mighty cruisers in whose construction one would have expected every improvement known to science to be embodied--made 23.5 knots, but when fitted with new propellers the speed was augmented to 24 knots with the same horse power. This is a striking result, and it will no doubt lead to more atten- tion being paid to propellers than formerly. PROGRESS OF WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. "Great progress has been made with wireless telegraphy dur- ing the past year. Only a short time ago telegrams were suc- cessfully transmitted from Cape Breton in Canada to Poldhu in Cornwall. The towers at the former station are 215 ft. high, these, of course, taking the place of the masts used in the earlier experiments. The Marconi company has now fitted up forty coast stations in Great Britain and Europe, sixty-six vessels of the British navy and twelve of the Italian navy. In the Congo Free State the Marconi apparatus is now working over 75 miles of a country in which it would be well nigh impossible to maintain wires or cables. With such a record there need be little wonder that considerable rivalry exists between the various inventors. "There was a keen competition for the supply of instruments to the German navy. in which, we believe, the Marconi company took no part. The systems to be used on the German ships are Breun's, worked by Messrs. Siemens & Halske, and the Slaby-Arco, worked by the Allgemeine Elektricitata Gesellschaft. Castelli has brought out a new form of receiver in Italy which is stated to be an improvement upon the receiver with metallic filings. THE USES OF LIQUID FUEL. "Liquid fuel continues to make great progress in the merchant service, where the importance of large furnaces and combustion chambers is fully recognized. Indeed, as a well-known writer on the subject says, the indications seem to be that before long a coal-burning steamer will be a curiosity. At present some twenty- five regular Suez canal traders are using oil as fuel. In 1901, the latest figures available, 20,100 tons of liquid fuel, valued at £26,057, were landed into the Shell Trading & Transport Co.'s tanks at Suez. Of the deliveries from these tanks, 11,280 tons, all but 450 tons were placed on board steamers for bunker purposes. On a recent trip to the far east the German liner C. F. Laiesz, with a mean of 2,200 I. H. P., consumed 1.4 Ibs. of oil per indicated horse: power per hour against nearly 40 per cent greater consumption of coal on a corresponding trip. But in the case of vessels fitted with the Howden system of heated draft the consumption under both conditions is very much less. Using coal over an extended voyage, the consumption was a trifle under 1.5 lbs. per unit of per hour, while with oil fuel in the same boilers it was practically I lb., or to be exact 1.065 lbs. This result, however, has béen al- most equalled in the case of a ship fitted with the Orde-Arm- strong apparatus, the oil consumption having worked out at 1.08 Ibs. It would thus appear that, provided oil can be got as con- veniently as coal at any point of the voyage and that the price does not exceed by more than 30 per cent the cost per ton of coal, economy must result from its use. Another advantage of oil fuel, which is often overlooked, is the great speed at which a ship can be bunkered with it. Speaking on this side of the question at the launch of the Silverlip in December last, Sir Andrew Noble said that a battleship which took twelve hours to coal in fair weather could be refueled with oil in three quarters of an hour in well nigh any weather. THE ATLANTIC SHIPPING TRUST. The builders and owners of British ships knew at the begin- ning of the year 1902 that the bad times were overdue. They awaited their coming with calm and anxiety, inseparable from impending adversity. Amid this calm came the announcement that an American syndicate had bought up several of the great Atlantic steamship lines. There was a panic in the press, in parliament, on the street. Foolish theories were propounded; the wildest rumors credited: British ship owners had been over- reached; their patriotism was impugned; and a political motive was attributed to Mr. J. P. Morgan, who had negotiated the Atlantic shipping trust. A minority of the press argued that the Ismays, Mr. Pirrig and their British associates in the transaction were not going to sell their country and might be trusted to hold their own in the business of their lives; that the combination of shipping in the Atlantic trade, the 'community of interests' be- tween American shippers and British ship owners, was a business matter to be conducted on business principles. This minority of journalists repudiated the theory that Mr. J. P. Morgan, Mr. Clement A. Griscom and their American colleagues would be par- ties to a grand scheme to compass the national humiliation of Britain. a "The provisional agreements were made public in February ;. the general agreements were published in full on May 9, 1902. The parties to these were Messrs. J. P. Morgan & Co., bankers of. New York and London; Messrs. Harland & Wolff (in respect of ship building contracts); the White Star Line; the Dominion Line; the American and Red Star Lines; and the Atlantic Trans- port Line. The terms were: (a) That the merger company should have an authorized capital of £40,000,000, made up of a share capital of £24,465,000, one-half in 6 per cent cumulative divided preference stock and one-half in the ordinary stock of: the International Mercantile Marine Co., and of £15,000,000 in 4% per cent debentures. (b) The business properties and good will of the constituerit companies were to be taken over as from Jan. I, 1901, and, the transactions and payments were to be con- cluded and made on or before Dec. 31, 1902. (c) Payment would be made to the companies entering the combine of a sum equal to - ten times the net profits of such companies in the year 1900. "These general terms were subject in detail and workings to conditions and collateral agreements. The merging operation is not accurately described as a sale by the British companies to the American syndicate. It was the consummation of a working agreement in perpetuity. That is the most accurate description of the operation. The payment to the White Star Line (and the example will suffice to explain the principle and general terms of all the necessary subsidiary agreements) was made (exclusive of new tonnage, as to 25 per cent in cash and the remainder of the. purchase money in the preference and ordinary stock of the International company. The actual price paid to the White Star shareholders amounted to £10,699,436, the cash proportion at the time of payment being £3,147,236. [he old share capital of the Oceanic (White Star) company was £700,000. This sum did not represent the earning power and true value of the shares, prop- erties, connections, and good will. But perhaps that is all well covered by the original purchase money we have named, £10,699,- 436, the payment in cash of £3,147,236 and in preference and ordinary shares to the amount of £7,552,200. "Under the agreements the British ships of the International company are to continue under the British flag, to be controlled by a British directorate and officered and manned according to the regulations of the board of trade. Moreover, the present and future British-built ships of the British companies in the com- bine will enjoy all the rights and privileges in respect of postal contracts and admiralty subsidies that are or shall be enjoyed by any other company--by the Cunard company, for example. The present' arrangements existing between the White Star line and the British government are covered by a twenty-years' agreement, with a right of extension at the end of that period by a five-years' notice. "The British tonnage of the International company's fleet-- that is to say, the vessels of the White Star, the Leyland, the Dominion, the Atlantic Transport, and the American and Red Star lines--measures 508,607 tons. The entire fleet of the combine