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4,000,000 tons. Strandings and kindred casualties, which are comprised under the term "wrecked," are, according to Lloyd's statistics, much the most prolific cause of disaster. To such cas ualties are attributable 46 per cent. of the losses of steamers and 42 per cent. of the losses of sailing vessels. The next most common termination of a vessel's career is by breakinz up, nearly 19 per cent of the vessels removed from the merchant fleets of the world being accounted for in this manner. Uf the remain- ing causes of. loss, collision is the most general for steamers (13.5 per cent.) while, for sailing vessels, cases of abandonment at sea are about 12 per cent. Cases of abandon:d, foundered, and missing vessels may, perhaps, be regarded as more or less similar in the circumstances of loss. If these be taken collec- tively, they comprehend 16 per cent. of the steamers and 31 per cent. of the sailing vessels removed from the mercant:.« marine during 1901. Great as the absolute annual ioss of vessels pe- longing to the United Kingdom appears to be, it forms a very moderate percentage of the mercantile marine of the country, and compares favorably with the losses sustained by other leading maritime countries. The merchant navies which exceed a total of 1,000,000 tons are those of the United Kingdom, the British colonies, the United States of America, France, Germany, Italy and Norway. Of these countries, the United Kingdom and the British colonies show the smallest percentage of loss, viz: 1.71 and 1.86 per cent. respectively of the vessels owned; Germany is 2.41 per cent.; and Norway is the highest with 4.83 per cent. Of steamers, while the percentage for the United Kingdom stands at 1.10, the average of the percentages of loss for the other six countries is 1.51. Of sailing vessels the percentage of loss for the United Kingdom is the same as the average percentage for the other six countries, namely, 4.17. These percentages do not include cases of breaking up, condemnation, etc., not conse- quent upon casualty or stress of weather. Steamers have a much greater immunity from disaster than have sailing vessels. The losses of steamers belonging to the chief maritime countries of Europe and to the United States of America amount only to 1.31 per cent. of the number and 1.19 per cent. of the ton- nage owned, while the losses of sailing vessels reach 1.05 per cent. of the number and 4.3 per cent. of the tonnage. QUESTION OF SUBSIDIES. Without waiting for the report of the committee on shipping subsidies Sir Spencer Walpole, K. €. B., has issued a pamphlet on the subject. He argues that unless we are prepared to say that Great Britain is entitled to a monopoly of the carrying trade of the world, and that no other nation has a right to compete with her on the ocean, there is nothing in the position of her trade to justify alarm. On the contrary, the statistics afford ample ground for 'saying that the rapid expansion of our mer- catitile marine has far exceeded anv reasonable expectations, and affords the best justification of the policy of freedom under which it has grown to its present proportions. 'Thus the whole excuse for any legislative interference disappears. 'The experi- ence of other nations in granting subsidies to shipping is not encouraging. 'That experience confirms, in his opinion, the im- pression that a policy of subsidies does not lead to large profits. On the contrary, the subsidy relaxes instead of strengthens indi- vidual effort. The extent, moreover, of our own trade makes a policy of subsidies impossible. No nation could bear the cost cf subsidizing a marine whose tonnage exceeds 15,000,000 tons. The obvious impossibility of doing so has driven the advocates of subsidies into tecommendations that the subsidies should be - paid only on particular branches of trade or on particular classes of vessels. The subsidy, if it had any effect at all, would divert vessels from a mcre profitable to a less profitable trade. By con- ferring an advantase on a particular kind of vessel it would place competing lines at a disadvantage. If, for example, a sub- sidy was given to exceptionally fast vessels sailing to New York, it would make it more difficult for other steamers, either with passengers or cargo, to hold their own on that route. For the sake of encouraging a service of some convenience and luxury, the subsidy would help to destroy a much larger and much more valuable industry. In this:opinion Sir Spencer Walpole is not supported. The protectionists suggest confining trade between British ports to British bottoms. They seem to forget, he says, that there are two interests concerned in this matter; (1) the shipping interest, naturally in favor of dear freights, and (2) the manufacturing interests equally naturally desiring cheap freights. The manufacturing interests secures its object by the existence of competition. 'The shipping interests would have the manufacturers at their mercy if competition was withdrawn. Men in India, for example, already complain that a great line of steamers has secured too much of a monopoly of the eastern trade. How greatly would those complaints increase if the Peninsular & Oriental Co. was no longer subject to the competi- tion of the French Messageries and the North German Lloyd by foreign vessels being prohibited from trading with British goods to British ports. Subsidies paid to steamships for the carriage of mails are payments for work done, and are not really sub- sidies. If a government engaged in a great commercial business like the post office finds it necessary to transmit some bulky mail matter on specified dates. bv specified routes, and at specified rates of speed, there is no more objection to it paying a steam- ship company for the service than there is in paying the North Western railway for carrying mails to Scotland. But such pay- ments, provided that they bear a reasonable relation to the work to be done, are in no sense subsidies. It is unfortunate that they have ever been known as such for their existence under this name encourages the notion that subsidies are in certain cases ~ 1902.] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. | 19 justifiable. Sir Spencer Walpole is right in some of this, but his argument in reference to India does not apply to the real coasting trade and moreover even in the Indian trade the com- petition between British ship owners would always be enough to keep down rates. ; ee : - The agreement between the Cunard Co. and the government of which you will have received particulars by cable, involves payment of an annual sum of £150,000 to be paid to the com- pany in return for services to be rendered to the government and the holding of the whole fleet at the disposal of the govern- ment when occasion arises. This is not a bounty but a payment for service in excess of what the company needs to provide as a commercial enterprise. The company is to build two large new boats of greater speed than any now on the Atlantic, and the goy- ernment will advance the money at 234 per cent. for repayment in annual installments over twenty years. is is a better bar- gain for the Cunard company than Mr. Morgan made in the case of the white Star, for he has to pay 5 per cent. interest. Here- with the sup bui.ding world is much enlivened at the prospect of two new Cunarders contesting for the blue ribbon of the Atlantic. . ES ih A phenomenal development of the last few days has been the charter of a steamer to take 5,000 tons hard coal (of anthra- cite character) from Giassow to New York. Such a thing has not happened within my memory. It is, of course, one conse- quence of the Pennsylvania strike, which has sent so many -- orders for iron over here.. Quite a number of steamers will be required to take across from the Clyde and Tees, the Mersey and Cumberland all the pig iron tuat has been bought for America within the last week or two. oe Lok SHIP BUILDING AT NEWPORT NEWS. -- Newport ivews, Va., Oct. 15.--T'he new Old Dominion liner. Monroe, building at the yard of the Newport News Ship Build- ing & Dry Dock Co., will be launched Saturday morning about 9:30 0'clock and willbe christened by Mrs. Andrew Jackson Mon- tague, wife of the governor of Virginia. Pres. Guilleaudet of the Old Dominion Steamship Co., will come down from New York on Friday with a large partv of guests, using one of the steamers of his fleet. A number of outside guests have been asked to witness the launching, which promises to be a notable event. Fo.-owing the launching, a luncheon will be given in honor of the sponsor by the ship building company at Hotel Warwick. 'the Monroe will be one of the handsomest ships in the coastwise service and will cost in the neighborhood of $500,000 when completed. The Siberia, second of the new Pacitic mail leviathans to be built at the ship yard, is complete and ready to sail for San Fran- cisco around the Horn as soon as the owners say the word, and as soon as coal can be secured with whic.. to take her there. It will require more than 3,000 tons of coal to carry the Siberia as far as Montevideo, which will be her first stop for fuel, and even though suffcient coal could be procured for this voyage there is no certainty that she will be able to get coal at Mon- tevideo because the supply there comes from the United States. The coal question here is one that is worrying everybody. 'The ship yard manages to get sufficient trom the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad to continue operations, but the electric railways and other industries have onlv a few days' supply ahead and have little prospect of getting all of the fuel they need. The steam- ship St. Enoch, which loaded nere, had to go to New York for bunker coal, because she could not be accommodated here, at Norfolk or at Baltimore. A syndicate of shipping men in this vicinity has hit upon a novel idea of securing coal from the bottom of Hampton Roads and in the harbors o: Newport News and Norfolk around the coal piers. 'These men propose to dredge for coal that is known to be somewhere on the bottom. 'They have already secured purchasers for all the bituminous coal they can recover at $9.50 a ton. Work will start off Ocean View where the coal barges Volunteer and Mystic Belle went down about eighteen months ago, loaded with New hiver coal. A large number of ships have gone down in the Roads in the' past few vears, coal laden. In this connection the question of ownership of the coal has been raised, but the syndicate is not letting this cause any delay and will begin operations at once. Preparations are being made at the ship yard to begin active work on the construction of the battleshin Louisiana. As this yard is virtually competing with the government and can- not afford to consume more than the contract time in building the ship, there will be no delay. Orders are already being placed for material and the draughting force is cetting out the plans. 'The ship yard is now on its metal and something out of the ordi- nary may be expected in the Louisiana. According to the present plans of the navy department, the battleship Texas, which is now in dry dock at the navy yard having a year's growth of seaweed and barnacles removed from her bottom preparatory to repainting, will go in commission Nov. 3. The ship will. re-enter service with a new battery of 6-in. casemated suns, quick-firing, which are now ready to be placed aboard. The old battery of 6-in. guns will be sent to Washing- ton to be converted into rapid-fire ordnance. The Texas will join the North Atlantic squadron in time for the winter man- euvers. The United States auxiliary cruiser Prairie, temporarily in service as a transport, is coaline and taking on supplies prepar- atory to sailing for Panama with 500 marines, who have been aboard for a week.