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-- THE MARINE REVIEW VOL. 42 CLEVELAND FEBRUARY, 1912 NEW YORK No. 2 i Some Special Numbers HE March issue of THE MarinE Review will. be a. Fitting - Out number. There has rarely been a time in the history of water-borne commerce when ships were as busy as they are now, or as busy as they will be during the current year. The port-to-port commerce of the world _/ was never as heavy as now, and the { movement is really worldwide. Cargo 'space is just as difficult to get in English and German ports as it.is in New York. There is absolutely no comparison between the pres- ent period and any similar period of maritime activ- ity. There has been nothing like it in all history. It is the best period that ship owners have ever known. It appears to be a revival which embraces the whole world, for the commodity movement is quite as notable in Australia as it is in the United States. Steamship owners and ship brokers have no explanation to offer as to the cause of the revival. All they have to say is that the tonnage handled is something wonderfu! and the rates very profitable, but economists attribute the tremendous distribution to the recovery from the panic of 1907 and point to 1881 and 1896, when a worldwide movement began, following panics. But these movements were nothing like the present. The movement obviously has had direct influence on the ship yards, which are very busy altering old vessels and building new ones for the trade.. What is being done to equip American vessels for their part in this movement will be dealt with in the Fitting-Out num- ber. The June issue will be devoted to the great Inter- national Congress of Navigation, which opens in Phil- aldelphia May 23. This will be the first meeting of the International Congress in the United States and many questions of great importance to the marine en- gineer and naval architect will be discussed. The foremost engineering authorities of the world will be present. What will be the dimensions of seagoing vessels of the future? This question is of vast import- ance and will be treated thoroughly at the conference. The construction of harbors, dry docks, canals and canal locks, are intimately associated with this prob- lem. When E. L. Corthell, the celebrated engineer of New York, predicted at the Eighth International Con- gress in 1900 in Paris that before 1923 there would be vessels afloat of 765 ft. length, 80 ft. breadth and 31 ft. draught, his prophecy was received with amuse- ment; yet just seven years later the Cunard line built two steamers which exceed these dimensions in every respect and much greater ones have been built since. Some distinguished engineers are already predicting that the ship, lanes of the north Atlantic will be navi- gated by vessels 1,500 it. long, 160 ft. wide, with a draught of more than 50 ft. Every great European port, including Hamburg, Antwerp and Rotterdam, will send their great engineering authorities to this congress. Shall there be an international agreement which. shall fix a standard depth of water to which the im- portant harbors of the world should be improved? To what degree shall American seaports make possible the continual expansion in the size of American liners? These questions will be thoroughly debated, the lead being taken by C. E. Grunsky, one of the consulting engineers for the Panama canal. Mr. Grunsky main- tains that there should be an international agreement fixing the depth of water at low tide in important har- bors. The lock dimensions of the Panama canal obvi- ously put a limit upon the size of*vessels that can use that waterway. The lock length is 1,000 ft., width 110 ft., and depth over sills 41.5 ft., which is about equal to 40 ft. draught in salt water. When com- pleted, the Panama canal will be the only canal that can pass the Olympic and Titanic. The Kaiser Wil- helm canal is inadequate and is undergoing enlarge- ment, and the Suez canal is being deepened. The International Congress will bring together « great body of distinguished engineers, and it is well worthy of a special issue. The October issue of THE MARINE REVIEW will be devoted to the Panama canal. As known, this great engineering feat was undertaken solely by the United States and has. been prosecuted with great vigor. Ordinarily, enterprises of this character are not com- pleted until long after schedule time, but the Panama canal is going to be completed ahead of time and will, in a little more than a year from the date of this edi- tion, be opened to navigation. This edition will treat of the canal in all its phases, constructive, strategic and commercial. Undoubtedly, its existence will bring into being hundreds of enterprises as yet undreamed of. The Panama canal is an achievement, of which the whole American people have reason to be proud. The December issue will be known as the Marine Engineer and Naval Architects' Number, and will be ~ made of exceptional interest to them, containing not alone the complete discussion of the fall meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and a condensation of the papers to be read at the meeting, but a survey of all the leading events of importance to them that may have occurred in all parts of the world. It will be one of the most im- portant numbers of the year and the services of experts will be enlisted to make it a crowning feature. _ No one "interested in the subject can afford to be without this issue.