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CRORE LA Jie ONE OPS ee TOES 1902. ] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. 21 though it is fair to reckon them as a standard type of high class construction. At the present time, the tendency to increase size and carrying capacity. is marked. Speed and passen- ger traffic are considerations which have been, in general, steadily decreasing in im- portance since the days when there was active com- petition along these lines, but there are important ex- ceptions to this statement. The Morgan boats, for ex- ample, carry freight from New Orleans to New York in five days, which is not much different from freight train time, and.the Maine Steamship Co. advertises widely its fast passenger service to Portland, through the Sound,-and secures a large passenger traffic in the warm months. Similarly, the Old Dominion line has a good all-the-year business to Norfolk, though the boats are not as fast as would be feasible under modern ~conditions, because the "rush" traffic must of necessity go by rail, and the steamship company would not be recompensed by enough increased trade, in case a faster service were maintained, to pay for the extra coal. In fact, the general traffic of the coasting lines to-day is not unlike that of the Atlantic Transport, or Leyland lines to England. Freight Old Deminion, 1872. Old Dominion and Joy Lines, 2,223 Tons. which is bulky and need not be rushed is the main consideration; the passenger business is secondary but very profitable in the busy season. What might be called the "economic" speed on the coast is from 12 to 14 knots; a trifle less than that of the better transatlantic boats which handle he same general traffic. The slow transatlantic boats of great carrying capacity have ™ two competitors; the express steamers, and charter boats. or "tramps," which hover about from port to port wherever there is prospect of busi- ness. Sailing vessels are no longer in trans- atlantic trade. On the coast the conditions are somewhat analog- ous, but less favorable. for the _ steamers. First and foremost, the railroads are in the field for every kind of traffic, and rates must be low, in- deed, to secure even freight of bulkiest and least profitable char- acter. Next in order, Neptune, 1864. MetropelitanLine. 1,848 Tons. and corresponding in a certain way to the competition of the "tramps,' come the schooners. 'The fleet engaged in the coal and lumber business is enormous, and the boats can go up the rivers to semi-inland ports such as Beaufort, S. C., and secure their cargoes almost from the mills direct without the necessity of previous shipment to a steam port. With the increase in carrying capacity of the steamers, however, schoon- er charters have been be- coming scarcer and their competitive rates lower, year by year, until now the trade is.only really profita- ble under exceptional con- ditions. | Cheap charters are better than none, how- ever, and the effect of the schooner competition is, in a considerable degree, to take the lumber trade away from the steamers, except at two or three ports, such as Savannah and George- town, S. C. During April, 1902, the Brunswick Board of Tirade reported to g,- 485,200 superficial feet of lumber, and 7,253,300 super- ficial feet of railroad ties shipped coastwise on sail- ing vessels, a total of 20,- 633,650, as against 3,895,- 150 3¢, by. steamer. (No lumber at all was shipped north from Brunswick by rail, since whatever goes that way is sent direct from the mill where it was manufactured. The rates vary greatly and it is impossible to summarize them furth- er than to say that, in general, steamers average about $1.00 per 1,000 ft. more than sailing vessels. It will be noted that Bruns- wick is reached by a weekly service of the Mallory line. Prince:s Anne, 1897 Old Dominion Line. 3,079 Tons.