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a VOL. XXXII. CLEVELAND, MARCH 8. 1906. No: 10. SHIPPING WORLD YEAR BOOK. The Shipping World Year Book, edited by Major Jones and published by the Shipping World, London, 'is' out for 1906. This book is a port directory of the world and is now in its twentieth yearly edition. 'Major: Jones is al- ways interesting and his retrospective .view of 1905 while briefer than for most years, is well wo:th reading. In it he says: . eae "The year 1905 has been a remarkable one for ship owners and charterers. Freights have been high, low and subject to 'much variation in most of the markets. © But 'It might have been worse,' may 'be accepted as the composite verdict of British ship ownérs upon the old year. The highways and healthy developments of com- merce have, as must ever be the case, been: hindered and disturbed by the war. Ships were réquired to coal the fleets, to run blockades, and carry contraband of war to either or both of the belligerents. But the ubiquitous collier often found the cruisers of Japan and Russia in waiting . to capture or sink her. In this way tonnage measuring © about 80,000 tons, valued at nearly £1,500,000, was re- moved from the British register. The, Peace of Ports- mouth, the homeward transportation of the armies of the Czar, the civil war in Russia, and the ratification of the treaty between China and Japan, with its 'open door,' have served to improve or dep-ess fréights; but the div- idends on the whole were comforting. Again, the returns . of the Board of Trade, as well as the reports and balance- sheets of our great industries, especially in cotton fabzics, iron and steel, machinery and ship building, have enjoyed a great prosperity both in the home market and the ex- port trade. ' "For example, our yards put more tonnage into the water during 1905 than in any previous year, the total be- ing 1,744,402 tons, against 1,405,633 tons launched in 1904. The contribution of the private yards aggregated 1,698,152 tons; that of the dockyards 46,250 tons. Out of this total about 1,318,102 tons go to swell the British merchant fleet, already substantially greater in carrying power than the combined mercantile marine of all foreign countries, and 'embracing turbine 'vessels of larger size, and the highest speed, suited for every variety of trade. "Prices were never so low. New steel cargo boats were built by good firms for £5 5s per ton. Old tonnage launched in the seventies changed hands at 35s a ton, and fine wood-built ships were sold as low as 20s a ton.' » These prices were never known before; _several years must elapse before they return. "The reciprocating engine has departed for whole class- es of ships, probably never to return. The minds of en- gineers are turning to the other necessity of mavine pro- pulsion, viz., the boiler; and progressive engineers dream dreams of a turbine ship without boilers. For this achieve- ment the gas turbine would be necessazy, and this is not yet within range. The power of the petrol engine for marine work is gradually rising, and for small work and lighters there is an enormous field for this reliable motor. The gas engine with plant for producer gas has been in operation for land work up to, say, 5,000 I. H. P.; but there are certain inherent disadvantages in its use for large marine work, the chief thing being lack of easily worked reversing power. A proposal for a set of 1,000 I. H. P. gas engines, designed for use on board ship, with a plant for producer gas, which got over the reversing difficulty, has not crystallized into actual practice, but it is one of the near possibilities. The advantage of this system is its great economy compared with either steam or the ordinary oil engine. -- ' "The work of the Engineering Standards Committee has been continued during 1905, and two valuable reports have been made. Their list of standard rolled sections was pub- lished in March, 1903. During 1905 the committee issued a standard specification of structural steel for use in ship building, and a similar specification of steel for use in marine boilers. The forme: includes tests recommended for steel plates, angles, channels, bars and rivets used for ship' building, together with sketches showing the forms of the standard tensile test pieces. The tensile test adopted is 28 to 32 tons per 'square inch which is that hitherto accepted -by Lloyds committee, and is somewhat in ad- vance of the 26 to 30 tons formerly required by the ad- miralty. It will be.a great advantage to the steel manu- facturers to have a uniform method of testing which all their customers requiring the best material will agree to accept. The committee are now considering specifica- tions for steel castings and forgings, and standard tests for bar iron. "The admiralty, both in their ship building and engin- eering departments, have continued their policy of stand- ardization and interchangeability. In the hull specifica- tions, a list is provided of fittings which are standardized, and contractors have to conform to standard sketches. This all makes for economy in the after life of a ship when fittings have to be renewed. Of course, these stand- ard fittings have occasionally to. be redesigned to meet new conditions. The greatest experiment in this direction has been that of designing exactly similar machinery for whole classes of ships and making all the parts inter- changeable; and in this experiment the machinery con- tractors have cordially co-operated with the admiralty. Thus all the cruisers of the Duke of Edinburgh class and the battleships Lord Nelson and Agamemnon have inter- changeable machinery. Further progress has been made in wireless telegraphy, submarine signaling, and in other directions during the year 1905."