Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), 30 Apr 1903, p. 18

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18 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. [Apri "30, GLASGOW SHIPPING LETTER. Cunard Agreement and the big new Steamers--Technical Education of Engineer Apprentices--New Steamer for Canadian Lake Service. Glasgow, April 20.--Lord Inverclyde, chairman of the Cunard company, speaking of the agreement between the government and the Cunard company says it is the most momentous transac- tion which has taken place in the history of the company. 'The essence of it is that during the term of the agreement the Cunard company is to remain a purely British undertaking--British as to its shareholders, British as to its ships, British as to its board and officials and employes, and British as to its management and control in every respect. The board has the entire support of the shareholders in regard to this distinguishing feature of the agiree- ment. 'The Cunard company has undertaken to build two large steamers of high speed for the Atlantic trade, and these two ships and the rest of the fleet are to be held at the disposal of the gov- ernment during the currency of the agreement. In return for this the government is to lend to the company the money for the construction of these two new 'ships at 234 per cent. per annum, i yet placed the contract for the two fast steamers which we have undertaken to build. These steamers will, of their kind, be the biggest thing which has yet been done in the world, and we have, therefore, desired to give the utmost care and consideration to every point before we definitely place the order with any one. It has not been time wasted. We have had the benefit of the advice of some of the best experts in the country in many mat- ters pertaining to the ships. There is a vast amount of detail which requires to be thought out in connection with these steam- ers, especially as no ship builders were prepared, when we first went to them, to undertake straight away the building of such ships as we required. 'The best dimensions for the ships, their internal arrangements, the placing of their weights, their draught, their engine power, and many other details have required the greatest thought and care. I have the utmost confidence in what the result will be, and I am sure that time given now in thinking out these things is of the utmost value in the long run, and that we shall feel that we have left no stone unturned in endeavoring to design two perfect ships, which will, I trust, not only give satisfactory results to our shareholders but will be such POPULAR TYPE OF SAILING CRAFT. Auxiliary sail boat 57 ft. over all, 41 ft. on the waterline, 14 ft. beam, 7 ft. Lin. dee : fond of sailing. She makes a very commodious craft, having, besides the forecastle and galley, two large staterooms, toilet and bath, saloon and engine room. The motor is one of the gasoline type of 14H. P. The Gas Engine & Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury & Co., Morris Heights, New York, are building several of them. and also to pay the company, from the time these new ships be- gin to run, the sum of £150,000 per annum. All this, of course, was known, but Lord Inverclyde has reissued the draft with his official signature. He says it is intended to convene a meeting of the shareholders as soon as practicable for the purpose of ob- taining their approval of such alteration in the articles of asso- ciation as are required to enable the directors to enter into the formal agreement with the government, embodying the terms which have been arranged, but he regrets that it has not yet been possible to convene the meeting, because, although no time has been lost on either side since the negotiations with the govern- ment were concluded, it has not yet been found possible to have the formal agreement finally drafted and completed. Although the heads of the arrangement were completely settled months ago, many details in the drafting of the agreement have required 'the most careful consideration; both on the part of the govern- ment and the company. When the agreement came to be drafted and put into proper shape they had to deal with four government departments in the matter, namely, the treasury, the admiralty, 'the postoffice and the board of trade. Although it has taken a considerable time to get the matter put into proper shape, espe- cially as a trust deed has also had to be drawn up providing for the security for the loan which is made by the government, there has been no unavoidable delay in working at the matter and everyone has done his best to bring things to a conclusion: 'The greater part of the negotiations have been conducted by the president of the board of trade, acting on behalf of the different - departments involved, and he has conducted the negotiations with the most perfect spirit of fairness. As to the new boats, Lord Inverclyde says: "We have not p and draws 4 ft. 6 in. of water--a type of craft very popular with yachtsmen who are ships as both the company and the country will be proud to own." TECHNICAL EDUCATION OF ENGINEER APPRENTICES. The subject of the technical education of engineer appren- tices is to be introduced by Professor Cormack, late of Glasgow University, at the June meeting of the Institution of Civil Engi- neers. Some of the Clyde firms are adopting Mr. Yarrow's scheme, candidates who have obtained first-class certificates after a complete course of instruction over three years at a technical engineering college, or who have a first-class honors degree or its equivalent in an engineering course at a university, may be ad- mitted as pupils. They will receive pay at the rate of 20 shillings weekly on entry, with an annual increase of 5 shillings per week. Candidates who have received a similar training, but have ob- tained lower class certificates may submit their names to the firm for admittance if they can be strongly recommended by the pro- fessors, but in any case these whi have obtained the highest honors will have the preference. The time to be served is three years with the third year spent in the drawing office. Another scheme is intended for the sons of workmen and others. who have not obtained university or technical colleve certificates and who are between the ages of sixteen and nineteen. They must be examined before entry by a competent examiner, chosen by the firm, in arithmetic and mensuration, algebra to quadratic equa- tions, geometry up to the standard of the first four and the sixth book of Euclid, theory and use of locarithms, trigonometry to the solution of triangles, elementary theoretical mechanics, heat and electricity, freehand and mechanical drawing. 'The matricu- lation examination of an approved university or the school- leaving certificate of the University of London are to be accepted in so far as the subjects above have been covered. Any candi-

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