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1902.] MARINE REVIEW. | 23 question has been solved by placing him among the pay directors with a star, to indicate a footnote, which says, "Subject.to nomination." The new roster of the line of the navy shows that in the last six months there have been eight promotions to the grade of rear admiral, sixteen to that. of captain, eighteen to that of commander, twenty-two to that of lieutenant commander, twenty-three to that of lieutenant, thirty- nine to that of lieutenant, junior grade, and fifty-six to that of ensign, leaving 116 vacancies still to fill at the bottom of the list. These vacan- cies in the grade of ensign can only be filled by midshipmen from the naval academy under the law, and as the classes for the next five years will not produce over sixty graduates annually without legislation cutting down the length of the course to four years, as it is at West Point, the navy must continue to suffer for lack of junior officers. . In the last six months twenty-eight officers have resigned, twenty-six have retired, two high ranking officers have died and one has been dis- missed. Among those who resigned were Lieut. J. H. Roys, of New York, whose last duty was in command of the president's yacht, the Sylph: Ensign F. H. Helm, Jr., of Kentucky, who was on the Monterey, attached to the Asiatic station; Passed Assistant Paymaster Abel B. Pierce, of Texas, and Chaplain F, C. Brown, of Massachusetts. Two lieu- tenants of marines, Yandell Foote and W. D. A. Junkin, also resigned. The retirements included Rear Admirals John A. Howell, B. J. Cromwell, E. M. Shepard, N. H. Farquhar and G. H. Wadleigh, and Capt. Samuel C. Lemly, judge advocate general.» Those who died were Rear Admiral William T. Sampson and Rear Admiral Lewis Kimberly. The officer dismissed was Capt. B. S. Neumann. The register shows that the United States now has commisioned and in active service nine battleships, two armored cruisers, two monitors, nine protected cruisers, forty-two gunboats, twelve training ships, ten men-of-war unassigned or on special duty, nine torpedo boat destroyers and torpedo boats, and one submarine torpedo boat, in addition to colliers and auxiliaries. The vessels are distributed as follows: North Atlantic station--Three battleships, one armored cruiser, one | protected cruiser and two gunboats. . European station--One battleship, three protected cruisers and one gunboat. Asiatic station--One battleship, one armored cruiser, two monitors, -- one protected cruiser and twenty-six gunboats. Pacific station--One battleship, one protected cruiser, two gunboats and one torpedo. boat. South Atlantic station--One battleship and one protected cruiser. Unassigned--One battleship-(to be attached to the Asiatic squadron), one protected. cruiser and three gunboats. Training service--One battleship, one protected cruiser and ten gun- boats and auxiliary cruisers. Special service--One gunboat, the Mayflower, used as the president's yacht; three other gunboats and one submarine boat. ANNUAL REPORT OF MESSAGERIES MARITIMES. The annual report of the Messageries Maritimes (leading French steamship line) for last year shows that the company did only moderately well. This adverse result is largely attributable to the dearness of coal during the greater part of the year. The number of steamers owned by the company was reduced by two, the Sindh and Tanais having been sold. The number of vessels owned by the company is sixty with a tonnage of 241,076 and an aggregate horse power of 203,050. A large cargo boat, known at present as No. 117, is building at the company's works at La Ciotat but the construction ofthis vessel was not pushed forward so actively last year as it might have been, the council of administration not being disposed to increase the working staff, and also being in no hurry to enter upon commercial navigation until the law on merchant shipping, which has been for several years past in course of preparation, had re- ceived the sanction of the French legislature. The council of administra- tion prides itself upon the prudence which it displayed, as it appears that ships brought into service before the promulgation of the new law are not allowed to participate in the premiums accorded. No. 117, which is to be launched in the course of the antumn, will be admitted into the com- pany's fleet early next year; the expenditure made upon her in the course of 1901 was £51,522. The removal of the Sindh and the Tanais from the fleet reduced its initial value to the extent of £147,026, but the cost of the two vessels had been previously wholly written off by the annual allow- ances made for depreciation. The later additions to the company's fleet appear to have been of greater staying power. Thus ships built between 1852 and 1860 yielded, on an average, only twenty years' service; while of the vessels withdrawn from the fleet since 1890 it was observed that fifteen had had an average career of 30% years. On the company's At- lantic line, which was established in 1860, steamers first began to be re- placed between 1869 and 1872, and the process of renewal was completed . between 1872 and 1878. Some renewals were again made in 1888 and © 1899, and three further steamers--the Chili, the Cordillere, and the At- lantique--were added between 1896 and 1900. Upon the Indo-Chinese line the first steamers brought into use in 1862 have been renewed three times, while the latest renewals have been effected by the introduction into the service of the large steamers Ernest Simons, Laos, Indus, Tonkin and Annam. Similar changes have occurred upon the Australian and the Caledonian line, the large steamers Australien, Polynesien, Armand Behic, and Ville de la Ciotat having succeeded vessels of the Yarra and Mel- bourne type, which were brought into use upon the creation of the line in 1882. The Madagascar line is now accommodated by the steamers Natal, Melbourne, Iraouaddy, Yangtse, Djemnah and Oxus, which were origin- ally built for the Indo-Chinese service. Similarly, the steamers Portugal, Congo, Equateur, Senegal, and Niger, which were originally built for the company's Brazil and La Plata line, have now been transferred to the Mediterranean, where they are working upon postal lines. Of the sixty steamers which the company owned at the close of last year, fourteen have now swung clear of the writing-down process; that is, it is not neces- sary to make any further allowances for their depreciation, as in any case they may be expected to realize something over the reduced amounts at which they stand in the company's books. The original cost of the com- pany's fleet (the total covering hulls, engines equipment, and, in fact. everything) was £7,832,391. Of this amount, the annual allowances 'made for depreciation have cleared off £3,810,957, leaving the present book value of the fleet at £4,021,434, or 51.43 per cent. of the initial outlay. ee -- Allusion has been made to the dear coal difficulty, against which the council of administration had to contend last year. This difficulty has been gradually becoming more intense. In 1897 the cost of the coal consumed by the company's steamers showed an increase of £49,620, as compared with 1896, the average cost of the coal consumed having been about 10d. per ton more. In 1898 the crisis became much more acute, the additional outlay for fuel used, as compared with 1896, rising to £137,557. In-1899 the pressure gradually became more severe, and the comparison showed an increased outlay of £205,707, as contrasted with 1896. A comparison of 1900 with 1896 showed increased outgoings, under the head of fuel, to the extent of £342,157. It is fair to remark that this increase in 'expenditure was partly attributable to the fact that the com~- pany's steamers ran during the year an additional 1,014,464 leagues, in consequence of the exhibition of Paris, and the expedition undertaken to China. In 1901 matters gradually grew worse, coal having become still dearer; the increased cost of fuel last year, as compared with 1896, was no less than £374,524. The average difference in the cost of the coal used in the company's steamers in 1901, as compared with 1896, was 6s. 10d. per ton. The company endeavored to meet--or, at any rate, to mitigate--the difficulty by having recourse to American coal, of which it used 73,802 tons last year. The company has also been using of late more Asiatic coal, of which 176,836 tons were purchased last year, as compared with 76,791 tons in 1896. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCHOONER. The Boston Herald publishes the following chronology of the con- ception and development of the schooner rig of sailing craft: 1714--First two-masted, fore-and-aft vessel, ever constructed in the world, built at Gloucester, Mass., by Capt. Andrew Robinson. She was an innovation on anything ever before seen in the rig of a vessel, incidentally giving Andrew Robinson much perplexity as to its designation. On the day of the launching, happily for the builder and the world at large, the problem was solved by a bystander, who observed, as she slid into her home: '"'How she schoons!" "If she schoons she must be a schooner," remarked the builder. 1849--First three-masted schooner ever constructed, the Zachary Taylor, built at Hanover street wharf, Philadelphia, by Matthew Vandusen, for Capt. James A. Mershon, father of Charles 'Mershon, the Wal- nut street ship broker. Her mizzenmast was much shorter than the other masts. She loaded a cargo of cars, engines, machinery, small boats, etc., for Chagress, a port near where Aspinwall is now located... She ran.for two years, and was lost in Delaware bay. She was about 250 tons register and carried 375 tons of cargo. 1849--Second three-masted schooner, the Spray, built at Wilmington, Del., for Capt. Isaac Cathcart. She had a long mizzenmast, just as the present three-masters have. She loaded for California and was sold out there. a 1866--Largest two-masted schooner, the Oliver Ames, 456 tons register, built at Berkley, Mass. 1880--First four-masted schooner, the W. L. White, built at Bath, Me. by Goss Sawyer and Packard for Jacob B. Phillips of Taunton, Mass. She registered 995 tons gross, and was the largest vessel of her class at that time in the world. She was a four-master by acci- dent, for she was originally designed for three masts, but it was thought that they would be too unwieldy, and so the fourth mast -- 'was added. 1881--Second four-masted schooner, the Francis C. Yarnall, built at Wil- mington, Del. 1882--First schooner over 1,000 tons register, the Elliott B. Church, built at Bath, Me. She registered 1,137 tons and was a four-master. 1882--Second schooner over 1,000 tons register, the Augustus Hunt, built at Bath, Me. She registers 1,200 tons, is still afloat and has four masts. 1884--Largest three-masted schooner ever constructed, built at Kenne- bunk, Me., the Bradford C. French, 968 tons gross. 1884--First schooner over 1,300 tons register, built at North Weymouth, Mass. She was the Haroldine, 1,361 tons register, and was a four- master. 1886--Second schooner over 1,300 tons register, built at Bath, Me. She was the Sarah W. Lawrence, 1,369 tons register, and had four masts. 1887--First schooner over 1,600 tons register, built at Bath, Me., the T. A. Lambert, 1,630 tons register: She had four masts. 1888--First five-masted schooner, the Gov. Ames, built at Waldoboro, Me., 1,778 tons register. 4 1896--First schooner over 1,800 tons register, built at Bath, Me., the William B. Palmer, 1,805 tons register; has four masts. 1897--First schooner over 2,000 tons register, built at Bath, Me., the Frank A. Palmer, 2,014 tons register, and up to date is the largest four-master ever built. " 1898--Second five-masted schooner, the Nathaniel T. Palmer, built at Bath, Me., 2,440 tons register. 1899--Third five-masted schooner, the John B. Prescott, built at Camden, 'Me., 2,454 tons register. 5 1900--First schooner over 2,600 tons register, the William C. Carnegie, built at Bath, Me., 2,663 tons register; five masts. 1900--First six-masted schooner built at Camden, Me., the George W.. : Wells, 2,970 tons gross register, 1900--Second six-masted schooner, the Eleanor A. Percy, built at Bath, Me., 3,401 tons register. 1901--Five-masted schooner Baker Palmer, built at Waldoboro, Me., 2,792 © gross tons register. 1902--Five-masted schooner Prescott Palmer, built at Bath, Me., 2,811 gross tons register. Largest five-master afloat. : 1902--Seven-masted steel schooner Thomas W. Lawson, built at Quincy, Mass., for the Crowley boys. First seven-masted vessel in the world and the first steel schooner ever built in America; capacity 8,000 tons of cargo. The Houston line, which has a fleet of twenty-one steamships in the South African trade, has, according to a New York dispatch, secured contracts for shipping all machinery needed from England and the United States for the British South African Co., the Rhodesia railway and the -- Consolidated Gold Mines.