Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), 17 Sep 1903, p. 19

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1903.] MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD, 19 SHIP BUILDING AND SHIPPING IN SCOTLAND.. Glasgow, Sept. 3--The month of August has been a busy one in our ship yards so far as the completion of vessels on the stocks. Lhe total tonnage put into the water by Scotch builders was thirty-four vessels of 73.585 tons, which compares with only seventeen vessels and 17,315 tors in July, and with twenty-two vessels and 46,880 tons in August, 1902. The Clyde proportion was 69,018 tons, the Forth 1,630 tons, the Tay 1,900 tons, and the Dee 1,037 tons. The total included five twin-screw steamers, one floating dock, one sailing vessel, ten fishing vessels, two dredgers, one stern-wheeler, and two barges. As to owner- ship, 7,500 tons were for Holland, 1,500 tons for Spain, 500 tons for Germany, 1,950 tons for the British colonies, and all the rest for the United Kingdom. The August output makes up largely for the July short-fall, but per contra it reduces the amount of work left on hand. The total for the eight months in Scotch ship yards now stands at 299,340 tons, as compared with. 338,700 tons in 1902, with 354,825 tons in 1901 and with 321,360 tons in 1900. It is the smallest since 1898, when the out- put of the eight months was 274,463 tons. The contracts booked during August aggregate about 36,000 tons of miscellaneous items including a few cargo tramps. A further development in the turbine steam service is by the Union Steamship Co. of New Zealand, who have contracted with Wm. Denny & Bros., Dumbarton, for the construction of a tur- bine steamer for their service between Melbourne and Laun- ceston, Tasmania, under a contract recently made by the com- pany with the Commonwealth government. The vessel is to be 300 ft..in length by 43 ft. beam, and is to be capable of maintain- ing a sea speed of 18 knots. At this speed it will be possible to make the run between the two ports named, from wharf to wharf, in about 16 hours. The turbine steamer Queen on the English Channel service, runs a distance of only 21 miles, as against 276 miles to be performed by the Union company's new steamer. The Union company were the first to adopt mild steel in the | building of mercantile steamers, their steamer the Rotomahana having been built of mild steel in 1879, and they were the first to recognize the advantages of bilge keels. The introduction of the turbine steamer into Canada is in- dicated by the announcement that Messrs. Brown, McFarlane & Co. of Glasgow are making arrangements with the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. for the installation in that company's lake- boats of turbines, which will have the effect of reducing vibration to a minimum. The fleet of the Stranraer & Larne Steamship Co. is also to be increased by a new turbine steamer, the order for which has been placed in the hands of William Denny & Bros., Dumbarton. It is expected that the riew vessel will make the passage between Stranraer and Larne in considerably less time than the present steamers, and this will prove a great advantage in the conveyance of the mails. The new steamer is to be ready in time for the ex- tra service commencing in June of néxt year. A new steamer for Canadian owners has been launched by the Grangemouth & Greenock. Dockyard Co. from their Greenock yard, viz: the steamer Neepawah, built to the order of the New Ontario Steamship Co., Canada. Her dimensions are: Length 253 ft. over all; breadth 4o ft.; depth 16 ft. or 24 ft. to awning deck. She is of full canal size and of fine design. Every detail has been carefully planned to meet the requirements of the pack- age service and general cargo business on the Great Lakes. Mr. W. G. Walton, president of the company, attended the launch, and his wife named the vessel, the bottle broken over the bows being filled with water from Loch Katrine. es The occasion of the meeting of the Cunard company the other day was taken fora discussion on the question of the build- ing of the two new 25-knot Steamers. Mr. G. B. Hunter of Swan, Hunter & Wigham-Richardson, Ltd., Mr. De Rousset, that firm's designer; Mr. Andrew, Laing, managing director of the Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co., and Messrs. Charles Ellis and J. G. Dunlop, directors of John Brown & Co., Ltd., of Clyde- bank, all met in the board room at the Cunard offices. Mr. James Bain, general superintendent and engineer in' chief of the Cunard Line was also present. The Clydebank yard'will, it is un- derstood, construct and engine one of the boats, and Swan, Hunter & Wigham-Richardson will build the other one, whose engines will be constructed by the Wallsend Slipway & Engineer- ing Co. The London & Glasgow Engineering & Shipbuilding Co,'s report for the year ending June 30, 1903, shows that during the year the ship building and engine works have been fully employed on contract work and repairs. The boiler works have also been well employed building boilers for other firms as well as their own contract work, and also on special work for which the com- pany are now fully equipped.' After makin~ allowance for depre- ciation on buildings and machinery, the balance at the credit of profit and loss account is £39,787.3.10._ The directors recommend that a dividend of 5'per cent. free of income tax, be paid, which will absorb £7,039.10, and also that a special bonus dividend of £1 per share, free of income tax, be paid, which will further absorb £23,465; that the sum of £6,000 be transferred to reserve fund; and that the balance of £3,282.13.10 be carried forward to next year's account. The directors have concluded to increase the paid-up capital of the company by £1 per share, and a call notice is issued, but they have been able to provide by the bonus dividend the funds necessary to meet the call. During the year H. M. S: Monmouth completed, her steam trials, and has been handed over to the dockyard authorities. The first-class cruiser Cumberland is now, so far as the building contract, is con- cerned, complete, and will be made ready. for sea, here, instead of, as formerly, at one of the government dockyards. The first- class cruiser Roxburgh is also in a forward state: The machin- 'ery, plantiand buildings have been kept in thorough repair, and the sum of £7,652.11.3 has been expended.on new machinery and charged to'capital account. I should add:that the cruiser Cum- berland on her eight hours' full power trials. has just averaged 23.7 knots. eh Be With reference to shipping and ship building prospects the chairman of the Prince Line, Ltd., at a recent meeting said that fortunately for England, she has managed up to the present to maintain to a large extent her predominant place. But the for- eigners he said are seriously and earnestly laying themselves out to wrest'from her more and more. Yet he did not know that they would be able to take much more of the regular line business from us. As to ship building, the position, he thought, is not so good. This,country enjoyed for many years practically almost the entire ship building business of the world. Foreign countries, however, had during the last few years, steadily laid. themselves out to build for themselves, and it looks as if we had - now got almost to the point where some of them would entirely supply their own needs, and others were getting well advanced in the same direction. Not only would some of the most im: portant countries, like Germany, be able to supply their own home market, but the time is proximate when they. will start in _ the field with us in neutral markets, and perhaps the time is not _ fat distant when they might even be in a position to share some of our own home requirements. We could not-.expect to enjoy monopolies for ever, and we must be prepared for competition, He referred to fair competition, and if they could not hold their own in fair competition then the fault must lie with them, and they should have to look into it and see what the fault was and set about correcting it, He referred particularly to'the improper methods adopted by some countries to assist their people to. -wrest the trade from us. Some of these countries not only, gave: subsidies to their ships, but that assistance was increased largely if the vessels were built by the builders of their own country. That is a double-edged sword against this country anda very . serious menace to it, because it not only injures the ship owners, but alsa the ship builder. As to the prospects, however,.all ship owners: do. not share the pessimistic views above indicated. - CANADIAN PACIFIC'S ANNUAL REPORT. The annual report of the Canadian Pacific Railway shows $6,454,309 increase in gross earnings and $1,750,932 in net earn- ings.- In'his comment on the year's operations President Shaugh- nessy says: Tess co : "To-meet the pressing requirements of settlers, many of whom came into the country during the past two' years, your directors authorized the construction of a railway between Re- . gina,'on the main line, and Arcola, the present terminus of the Pipestone branch, a distance of about 113 miles; and an arrange- ment has been made whereby the Manitoba and Northwestern Railway will be extended an additional distance of thirty-three miles. You will be asked to approve the construction of these lines and to authorize the creation and sale of sufficient 4 per cent. consolidated debenture stock for the purpose. ae "Under the authority of the resolution passed at the last an- nual meeting, your directors purchased from the Elder-Dempster Co. fifteen steamships, constituting that company's Canadian- Atlantic fleet, the purchase price of the vessels and of the good will of the sellers being £1,417,500 sterling. This amount has been temporarily advanced from your surplus earnings pending the issue and sale of 4 per cént. consolidated debenture stock to a like amount which you will'be asked to authorize at this meet- ing. An unfortunate accident resulted in the. loss of one of the freight steamers. The amount required in excess Of the insur- ance to replace this vessel' will, of course, be charged 'against revenue. te ees pe "Of the proceeds of the sale of $19,500,000 ordinary shares, there had been expended to the end of the fiscal year $17,228,953, and there were orders outstanding for cars and locomotives un- delivered amounting to $4,221,865. Since then additional orders have been placed to the amount of $1,351,000, and it is proposed to continue the policy of increasing the rolling stock equipment as rapidly as circumstances will permit, until the company is well ahead of its immediate requirements. When these contracts have been filled, the proceeds of the issue of common shares, as well as the amount of $3,000,000 appropriated from surplus earnings, will have been absorbed. The cost of cars and locomotives pur- chased during the last couple of years has been substantially in- creased, because of the necessity for getting so many of them outside of Canada, and paying the Canadian duty on their impor- tation. In the near future, when your own shops have been com- pleted, it is expected that you will be able to build yourselves most of the cars and locomotives required, thus saving the manu- facturers' profit and the duty. Your directors will ask authority © 'to expend $5,000,000 during the next year on various classes of equipment in addiiton 'to all orders that have been placed up to this time. Many -of the new works on which capital has been ex- pended are being carried out on a more comprehensive scale than was originally 'contemplated, and the increase of nearly 50 'per cent. within three years in the tonnage moved annually has'made it imperative that you should, for the convenience of 'the public and your own financial advantage, provide forthwith many addi- tional facilities for prompt and economic handling of traffic." .:

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