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o..0. A .k.....] EB : ' . wie ' ee Ries ANCHOR LINER CALEDONIA--BRITISH SHIP BUILDING Liverpool, Noy. I sine new twin-screw steamer Caledonia, launched recently by Messrs, D. & W. Henderson, Glasgow, for the Glasgow and New York service of the Anchor Line, is the largest vessel yet built for: the Clyde transatlantic route. «= Her tonnage is/16, 000. tons; 'she is 515 ft. long, 58 ft. broad; and her reciprocating engines will develop 30,000 H. P. The Caledonia, will carry 800 steerage passengers, 400 second and 300 first-class. passengers,' besides affording luxurious state- room accommodation. Speaking at.a special meeting of the Anchor Line debenture. holders held. in London on Friday, called to adopt a supplemental trust - deed, Mr. W:: F, G. Anderson gave some interesting particulars relative to the progressive character of the Anchor Line. During the -last five years he said the: company. had, disposed of 24,000 'tons Of. "They had built nine new *- their older and smaller veséelé. ships with a gross tonnage of 50,000 'tons. Also they had bought a second-hand steamer of 5,000 tons, admirably adapted for their work, and they had the Caledonia building, so that when she was delivered to them'they would have added 65,000 tons to their fleet in that period. When the Caledonia took her place in the Glasgow-New York service next spring she would compete favorably with the very finest vessels afloat. The directors were adopting their policy to circumstances a3 they altered, and to maintaining the position which they had long held as a first-class passenger line. Messrs. Napier & Miller, Ltd., have launched just recently another twin-screw ice-breaker named the Montcalm, which they have built for the Canadian government for work' on the St. Lawrence to the order of Messrs. Fleming & Ferguson. Ltd., Paisley, who are supplying the machinery. The prin- Cipdl. dimensions ot. the vessel. are: . Length, 245°. ft; breadin, 40 °m 6 in.- - depth, 18° it. with "a>. gross tonnage of about 1,350 tons. The vessel has been built under Lloyd's special survey, and is designed for ice-breaking purposes, being greatly strengthened in order to resist the heavy pressure to which she will be subjected. The shell plating at the bows and where subject to ice-pressure is all of double thickness, with intermediate frames extending all- fore-and-aft. The keel, stem, sternpost, propeller brackets and rudder are also extra strong and heavy and made of nickel steel. On the sternpost is fitted a massive cast-steel knife for the double purpose of breaking ice when working astern and protecting the rudder stock. Although principally intended for ice-breaking, the steamer is designed with fine lines to at- tain a high rate of speed, and is fitted up as a government yacht. The vessel has been built to the designs and under the superintendence of Capt. M. P. McElhinney, nautical adviser to the Canadian government. The machinery consists of two sets of triple-expansion engines, having cylinders, 23%, 38 and 64 in. in diameter, with a 42-in. stroke. The boilers are of the water-tube type by Messrs. Babcock & Wilcox, Ltd. Sixty steamers of 111,090 tons gross, and twenty sailing ships of 2,213 tons net, or a total of eighty vessels of 113,303 tons, were added to the register of the United Kingdom in September, as compared with eighty-eight vessels of 103,653 tons in September of last year, and seventy-five vessels of 98,315 tons in September of 1902. The registers were closed during the month of thirty steamers of 47,225 tons gross (of which three of 7,391 tons were sold to Japanese owners) and thirty-one sailing ships of 5,548 tons net, or a total of sixty- one vessels of 52,773 tons, against sixty-three vessels of 56,608 tons in September last year, and fifty-seven vessels of 47,536 tons in September, 1902. The net increase of tonnage for the month has been nineteen vessels of 60,530 tons, which com- pares with twenty-five vessels of 47,045 tons a year ago, and eighteen vessels of 50,779 tons in September, 1902. For the nine months the net addition to the register of the United Kingdom has been 153 vessels of 403,382 tons, against 248 ie BE WwW R vessels of 359,841 tons in the corresponding period of last year, and 262 vessels of 610,482 tons in 1902. % Scotch ship building returns. are more cheerful reading than for some time past. In the ten months ending with October Scotch ship builders have launched 264 vessels of 355,670 tons. This compares with 242 vessels of 377,073 tons in the first ten months of last year, 446,269 tons in 1902, and 443,565 tons in t901, and 398,182 tons in 1900. But while the total is the lowest since 1897, the fact that new tonnage is more freely talked about leads one to believe that more prosperous times are returning. The launches in October numbered twenty-six and aggregated 43,395 tons. Twenty vessels of 39,155 tons were built on the Clyde, three of 700 tons on the Forth, one - of 3,200 tons on the Tay, and two of 340 tons on the Dee. The largest vessel was the Anchor liner, Caledonia, of 9,400 tons, built at Partick. Of new work about 42,000 tons were reported, making a total for the ten months of 396,000. Prospects are now there- fore slightly better than they were a few months ago. Two fresh contracts are just reported, one for four steamers of 3,700 tons dead weight, which the Danish-Russian Co., Copen- hagen, has placed with the Clyde Ship Building & Engineering Co., and another for a steamer of about 4,000 tons, which Messrs. Russel & Co., Port Glasgow, are to build for the Lyle Shipping Co., Greenock. The work on hand on the Clyde 1s now, with the help of Messrs. Beardmore's big battleship and the ten steamers for the Thames, considerably more than it was at this time last year. MR. PENDLETON DEFINES DEMOCRACY'S ATTITUDE In a letter which has just been made public Mr. Fields S. Pendleton, 130 Pearl street, New York, thus defines the con- clusion of the Democratic party upon the question of protection to shipping in the foreign trade: "The Democratic party no longer advocates the free Ameri- can registry of foreign-built ships--it has abandoned free trade and advocates protection through the old successful Democratic policy of discriminating duties for restoring Amer- ican ships to the foreign-carrying trade. Proof of this asser- tion will be found: "7, Shipping plank in Democratic national platform. "2, Statement on American shipping in Democratic text book. "3. Extract from report signed by all the Democratic mem- bers of the house merchant marine and fisheries committee. "4. Reference to our merchant marine in Judge Parker's letter of acceptance. "With the Democratic party thus advocating and promising to restore American shipping, with an insistent demand for an American merchant marine growing stronger in all parts of the Union, with both parties and their candidates favoring legislation, the next session of congress should witness the adoption of an American maritime policy that will again give to American-built ships the carrying of the great bulk of our imports and exports. As a Democrat and a ship owner I beg to request that this matter may receive your earnest atten- tion." The Clyde trustees are experimenting at Qlueen's dock with another American "grab" for discharging cargoes of iron ore and other minerals. Neither of the two American inven- tions previously tried have been more successful than the home-made grab--the Priestman. All have the defect of some- times lifting only one big lump in the mass of matter caught, and allowing the rest to slip through. Each of them when working in suitable material can do the work of a number of men, but they have their own notions of what is suitable for their grip--Glasgow Shipping Notes. jira