The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

€ ~ MARINE REVIEW Devoted to the Merchant Marine, the Navy, Ship Building, and Kindred Interests. Published every Thursday at No. 418-19 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohio, by THe MARINE Review PuBLIsHING Co. SupscripTion--$3.00 per year in advance; foreign, including postage, $4.50, or 19 shillings. i Single copies:10 cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, $1.00. ' Advertising rates on application. 4 Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. ---- -- ---- a The embers of the Sampson-Schley fire need only to be stirred to burst into flame; and a long caravan of naval officers, laymen and news- papers stand ready to heap fuel upon it. When things are somewhat dull these two celebrated characters are called upon to divert the public. It is the one theme which can be played upon indefinitely. Each counts his adherents by the score and the controversy becomes not a controversy between the principals but a free-for-all between the advocates. (Conse- quently the controversy breeds a multitude of disorderly scenes and every city becomes a theater of action. The battle of Santiagu was Sampson's battle--of that there is no doubt whatever. It is an unfortunate circum- stance that Sampson in detailing the victory of the American squadron did not state precisely what had happened. In order to emulate the laconic qualities of some of the famous commanders he sacrificed clear-. ness for the sake of brevity. One can't be too clear in telling things to the public. It has an alacrity in misunderstanding. But assuredly in this particular instance the public was not to blame for believing from Sampson's dispatch that he was in the fight. In fact no other interpreta- tion was possible. When it was discovered the next day that he was not within gunshot of the fight, the people felt that he had deceived them. They wanted to know at once who was the ranking officer in the actual conflict, and when it was discovered that it was Schley they heaped laurels upon him all the more generously because they thought that an attempt 'had been made to deprive him of them. Schley got far more credit than he deserved and Sampson far less. The fact remains that Sampson was in command and was responsible for the action ot the American squadron. Since then, however, charges and countercharges have followed so fast that everyone has forgotten the original cause of the controyersy; but it is doubtless true that if Sampson had been a profound student of human nature he could have averted it altogether by giving no cause for its existence. There never has been any particular criticism of Schley's conduct during the engagement in official sources. There was, however, considerable criticism of his conduct prior to the engagement. His deliberate violation of orders in endeavoring to gosto Key West to coal when he was told to stay at Santiago gave the officials at Washington a nervous fright: and it has never -been satisfactorily = explained why he spent four or five days in going from Cienfuegos to Santiago. That is not saying, however, that there may not be som a satisfactory explanation of his action. Reat! Admiral Bob Evans says' that the Brooklyn was never informed of the message of friendly Cubans that the Spanish fleet was not at Cienfuegos and that, therefore, Schley was justified in lying off that port from May 21 to May 24. The present revival of this celebrated case is due to the use of some villainous lan- guage in the third volume of Maclay's history of the United States navy. The author, who is a clerk in the Brooklyn navy yard, has written two volumes which are used as text books at the naval academy. It was feared that the third would also be used as a text book. Owing to its intemperate language it could not fail to exercise an unfavorable influence against Schley in the minds of the cadets. The expressions are doubtless Maclay's personal views and reflect as little credit upon him as a historian as they do upon Schley as a commander. They have no placé in a his- tory which should be an impartial and unbiased review. The strange part of the whole affair is that the proofs seem to have been read in the navy department and that the book is issued, if not with the consent, at least with the knowledge, of that department. Schley has asked the secretary of the navy for a court of inquiry and will probably also sue the historian. It is surprising that he did not insist upon the former course long ago. One of the perplexing problems confronting the navy department at present is that of obtaining sufficient commissioned officers to command the new ships building and which are from week to week leaving the builders' hands. The shortage is particularly noticeable for the small craft 'building, such as torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers. Thirty-five torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers are soon to go into commission with no one to command them. To put young naval cadets without experience in charge of these vessels would be altogether too risky a performance. Before the end of the summer the navy will have a numerous torpedo flotilla, and the board of officers appointed to decide upon a scheme of coast protection with boats of this class has practically determined upon establishing a series of torpedo stations extending from Portland, Me., to Pensacola, Fla. Three main stations will' first be established at New London, Conn., Port Royal, S. C., and Pensacola, Fla. It will be impossible to carry these plans into action however, until the quota of commissioned officers is complete. 20 | MARINE REVIEW. [July: 253: -- BUSINESS OF THE FRENCH LINE... According to the reports<of the directors of the French Transatlan- tique Co., the total receipts in 1900, including subsidies and the. sum brought forward from the previous year, amounted to 95,290,640 frs., and _ the expenditure, interest on loans, etc., amounted to 48,649,448 frs., thus. leaving a gross surplus of 6,641,192 frs. When compared with. 1899, the income shows an increase of 5,764,514 frs., and the outgoings an increase of 5,578,128 frs., and the relation of expenditure to income rose from_ 86.96 per cent. to 87.98 per cent. The increase in the traffic is to a great . extent attributable to the Paris exhibition, and was most in evidence in the New York line, although the intention of the directors to put the two _ new boats Lorraine and Savoie into the passenger service was not fulfilled. _ The emigrant traffic, also, was greater than in the previous year.. In the" West Indian line the earnings were satisfactory, and further progress _ was tade in the lines to Tunis and Algeria; the takings in the coasting services, too, maintained their ordinary level.. In spite of the active employment found for the fleet, two of the company's steamers (La Champagne and Bordeaux) were chartered to the French government. The number of passengers carried rose from 240,091 in 1899 to 266,145. On the other hand'there were fallings off in the following directions: the quantity of cargo carried fell from 667,078 tons to 660,824 tons; the value of the bullion and securities conveyed, from 170,177,452 frs. to 141,711,248 frs.; the number of post-packets from 768,036 to 765,763; and © the number of voyages made in the year was 963, against 1,068 in 1899, The coal bill (owing to increased prices and higher wages and freights) was greater by 1,970,309 frs. The number of sea-miles covered by the boats was 699,014, of which total 458,596 miles went to the credit of the mail lines. The report touches on the difficulties which had to be con- tended with in the building of the Lorraine and the Savoie, caused by delay in the delivery of materials and by strikes. The Lorraine was put in the New York service on Aug. 11 last, and the Savoie is now nearly ready for sea. In order to maintain the fleet in a satisfactory condition ~ a great deal of work had to be done in the course of the year: five of the boats, for instance, were supplied with new boilers. On Dec. 31, 1900, the company's fleet comprised fifty-seven steamers, measuring 168,336 -- tons gross and a displacement of 257,522 tons, with engines of an aggre- gate horse power of 186,950. The value of the fleet rose (by reason of renewals of boilers and machinery) from 117,743,965 frs. at the end of the previous year to 119,362,612 frs., but a sum was written off at the end © of last year bringing down the book-value to 106,793,723 frs. The directors' acknowledge in the report that the year 1900 did not produce the expected' amount of profit. The shipping business was sadly hampered and injured 0 by strikes, and the company had to make costly concessions in order to © keep its mail contracts going. Competition with the great foreign ship-' ping companies whose boats call at Cherbourg was also very onerous, and the foreign companies secured a large share of the passenger trade. " The contract for the conveyance of the West Indian mails lapses on July -- 21, 1901, and has not been renewed, but the directors have signed an ~ undertaking to continue the service for the present under certain condi- tions. After placing the sum of 5,085,000 frs. to the redemption fund, 1,556,192 frs. remain out of the gross profits for distribution among the ~ shareholders, and a dividend of 16 frs. per share of 500 frs. will be paid, © being the same as for the year 1899. : SHIP BUILDING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. From returns compiled by Lloyd's Register of Shipping it appears. that, excluding warships, there were 441 deccls of 1300179. tiie gross: under construction in the United Kingdom at the close of the quarter . ended June 30, 1901. Particulars of the vessels in question are as follows, | similar details being given for the corresponding period in 1900 for the -- "purpose of comparison: : June 30, 1901. June 30, 1900. Description, 'Number. Gross tonnage. -Number. Gross tonnage. STEAM, ; i Stes ee ee 409 1,287,366 436 1,243,307 POW oe os tk ee ves 2 380 30 6,661 Wood and composite....... 2 72 2 870 | "Potdl yr pe 413 1,287,818 - 473 1,250,838 SAIL micel 022; el ees cea ee Dees 15 10,948 : 8 12,370 POT Vee ee. se ae : Wood and composite....... 13 1,413 18 2.105 Total me 28 12,361 26 14,475 Total steam and sail.. 441 1,300,179 499 1,265,313 2 The present return shows a decrease in the tonnage under construc- -- 'tion of about 3,000 tons as compared with the figures for last quarter. As compared with the return for December, 1898, which is the highest on ° record, there is a reduction of 101,000 tons. Of the vessels under con- struction in the United Kingdom at the end of June, 374 of 1,062,464 tons are under the supervision of Lloyd's with a view to classification by that society. During the quarter 148 steam vessels of 342,251 gross: tons and fourteen sail vessels of 8,680 gross tons were begun, and 160 steam vessels ~~ of 392,864 gross tons and seventeen sail vessels of 5,721 gross tons were launched. During the quarter there were under construction in private and royal shipyards fifty-six warships of 403,225 gross tons. LBs torpedo boat Stringham, built b ' i eq 1am, y the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., Wilmington, Del., met with an unfortunate accident just et to her trial trip last week. The little vessel had just got out into mid channel when atube in the after boiler blew out and scalded six of the. crew _ badly. The accident cannot be account 1 a e pressure on at the time. #LfOn #8, there; Wan nen Mim There have been no developments of note in the n i ildi . s € project at Chester, Pa., to which the Review lately valled stiaetioar de it is understood that all. preliminaries have been satisfactorily arranged and that 97 per cent. of the $3,000,000 capital stock has been' subscribed. It is understood that the. plant. will employ about 4,000 men. ad