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January, 1910 THE Marine REVIEW 13 Ship Building on the Pacific Coast HE president of one of the large companies engaged in steel ship building on the Pacific coast recently. 2d- vanced the opinion that, speaking generally, theré is but little oppor- tunity on the western seaboard for the building of ocean going steel vessels at the present time. High wages, short hours and a high cost of raw material compared with At- lantic coast conditions place the Pa- cific coast on an unequal footing with the eastern yards. Ocean going ves- sels can be 'built on the Atlantic coast and delivered at San Francisco or Seattle at no greater expense than that required to deliver them at New York or Philadelphia. The expense of the costly voyage around Cape Horn can always be met by carrying a cargo; often the cargo can be made to pay a profit. Speaking further, however, he declared that this state of affairs need give the Pacific coast builders no "cattse tor alarm. ~The coast is growing. at a very rapid rate and the demand for small ves- sels of one kind and another, ves- sels up to 200 ft. in length and $200,- 000 in value, is constantly increas- -ing. These 'boats cannot 'be _ profit- ably built in the east and brought around Cape Horn; they must be built on the Pacific. coast, and it is to this "class .of -- construction: that coast yards must look for their prof- its. He advised the local builders to specialize on the smaller craft, de- signed to suit the particular needs of western traffic and to leave the larger work alone. The Year an Improvement. A study of the 1909. ship building statistics of the Pacific coast seems to bear out. this contention in. every particular. The past year was fair- ly active and was a considerable im- provement over 1908. Leaving out of consideration for the time, the small tugs, fishing schooners and power boats, which are built in the west in large numbers, we find that on the Pacific coast in. 1909, 16 wooden and 13 steel vessels were either built or so far completed as to be considered a part of the year's work., The aggregate horsepower in- stalled in the wooden boats is 4,675 and the steel boats 7,250. The ag- gregate value of the steel boats is $2,620,000 and of the wooden boats During 1909 By H. Corte Estep $606,000; the total investment in wooden and steel boats together be- ing $3,226,000, and the total horse- power being 11,925. The average value of the wooden boats is $38,- 000 each and of the steel boats $200,- 000 each. The average horsepower of the steel boats is 550 and of the wooden vessels 290. The average length of the wooden boats is 125 ft. and. of thé steel boate 150 i; The average statistics of steel boats are somewhat disproportionate on account of the four submarine tor- pedo boats being built by the Union Iron Works Go:, San Francisco, and the Moran Co. ,Seattle, being includ- ed. These vessels are small and on account of their special nature and patented features are relatively ex- pensive. Le. will boats type that cannot be profitably built on the Atlantic coast and brought around Cape Horn. be -noted. that all of the The relatively large proportion of. steel construction is significant.. 'The west must be considered the last stand of the wooden vessel and while the number of wooden boats built on the Pacific coast is still greater than the number of steel boats the wooden crafts' lead is not- It will be noted that all the important vessels built during the year are steel. In a community where steel products are from 50 to 80 per cent higher than they are in the east and where clear fir lumber can be purchased for from $12 to $13 per 1,000 ft. this speaks elo- quently for growing popularity of the steel ship. very large. Steamer H. B. Kennedy. One of the most notable vessels built on the Pacific coast during the year was the steel passenger steamet H. B. Kennédy, constructed for the Port Orchard route by the Willa- mette Iron & Steel Works, Port- land. This vessel developed the highest speed and the most horse- power of any boat built on the coast in 1909. It is also interesting to note that she was fitted with water tube boilers of an entirely new design, built by the Ballin Water Tube Boil- er Co,; Portland, Ore. Three fire boats were built during the year, two for San Francisco and one for Seattle. under consideration are of a- Among the notable wooden ves- sels of the year are the. steamers Majestic and Hyak. The former was built by. the Main Street = tron Works, San. Francisco, and the Jat- ter by Joseph Supple, of Portland. The Majestic is 211 ft, fong,. feted with 675 H. P. engines, and« cost $130,000. The Hyak, which is the fastest wooden boat built during 1909, is 140 ft. long, equipped with 800. H. P. engines, and cost $75,000. She. is owned by the Kitsap County Trans- portation Co., Seattle. Government work on 'the Pacific coast in 1909 was only moderate in volume.: The collier Prometheus re- ceived her finishing touches at the Mare Island navy yard, but is not yet ready for sea. No other west- ern navy 'yard is engaged in con- 'struction work. At private yards two artillery tenders were complet- ed and four submarine torpedo 'boats are under way. Repair Work Plentiful. Repair work was plentiful, particu- larly during the last few months when the revival of the coastwise lumber trade permitted a large num- ber of coasting schooners which had been laid up, to fit out and put to sea, _ The Union. Iron Works Co. San Francisco, is making very ex- tensive alterations and repairs tothe United States army transport Sher- man; the Moran Co., Seattle, finished: a large job on the H. B. Kennedy, while the repairs to the Norwegian steamship Eir by the Commercial Boiler Works and the Heffernan Dry Dock Co., Seattle, were the most ex- tensive executed in the west during the past season, aggregating in cost over $78,000. a Iron Works, The Northwestern Seattle, builders of hoists, winches and auxiliary equipment, reports a good volume of business during the year. : The future is bright. The Union Iron Works Co., at San Francisco, is building a 20-knot steel passenger steamer for the Monticello Steam- ship Co., two duplicates of which are to follow; the Willamette Iron & Steel Works, Portland, is con- structing several steel barges and has just laid the keel for a large, Moran Co,. 252-ft. sea-going steel tug; the Seattle, is building a steel