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May, 1915 commodations for a full complete- ment of 356 officers and men, includ- ing flotilla commander and staff, and 51 extra men, of all grades, for relief of the flotilla crews. The deck machinery consists of a steam windlass forward, towing ma- ends, chine aft, fitted with warping THE MARINE REVIEW two electric and two steam winches for working cargo booms, boat gear, etc.. The hand and steam steering gear is fitted at after end in “tween decks with shafting to after steering station and telemotor control from navigating bridges amidships. The propelling machinery is located amid- g iY 4 S99 an’s SSS KS 169 ships and consists of two Parsons’ turbines turning a single screw shaft- ing through reduction gearing, steam being supplied by two Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers. Miss Helen Neel, granddaughter of the late Admiral Melville, christened the vessel. What the New Shipping Law May Cost American Shipping—An Analysis of Its Various Sections ONGRESS has passed, in an C amended form, the _ so-called “Seamen’s Bill” that was pend- ing before it for several months, and on Feb. 28 the President signed it. Its general provisions apparently become active on Nov. 1, except where treaties with other countries will prevent. There are three classes of vessels differently affected by the new law. A large part of it pertains to passenger vessels almost exclusively, because of new “Safety at Sea” requirements, ne- cessitating the expenditure of consid- erable sums for life-saving apparatus and life-boats. River boats and sound steamers do not have exactly the same requirements as passenger ships for ocean transportation and the Great Lakes. Presumably, the addition to the costs of water transportation from this part of the.law will be in the form of fixed charges on the additional cap- ital that will be required for the new equipment, but there is a possibility that when the regulations that the United States board of supervising in- spectors and the secretary of com- merce decide upon, based upon the law, are promulgated, it will be found that additions to the crew will fre- quently be necessary on passenger ships, in order that every one of the additional life-boats required by the statute may be manned in the required way. Nobody is exactly sure, today, when these provisions about safety go into effect. July 1 is named, but the wording is somewhat ambiguous. Sea- going passenger lines will all have to equip with new appliances. All for- eign ships leaving American ports come under these requirements and in estimates of competition, therefore, American shipping seems not to be adversely affected. Americans who wish for an increase in the country’s foreign commerce and _*From The Americas, published by the Na- tional City Bank, New York. for a growth of our mercantile marine are concerned more directly with the probable effect of the new law on the operating costs of ocean freight ships. Of course any great increase in an American merchant marine must in- clude the establishment of lines with fast passenger and express ships, but that is for the future. How much more is the new law going to make the operation of a 7,000 or 10,000-ton freight steamer cost? That is the live question right now. That costs will be higher is certain, and one of the most unfortunate fea- tures of the situation is that nobody is certain what the effect will be. Cer- tain increases can be figured out by owners of ships for their particular vessels, but there is an uncertain fur- ther element of increase that has to do with the maritime labor market which only time will reveal. Our navigation law does not specify the number of crew that ships must carry, but it empowers. supervising inspectors at the ports to make regu- lations about crew requirements. In practice there is virtually a general regulation, covering the ships of all our ports, and it compels ‘United States merchant ships to carry more crew than competing ships under for- eign flags carry. Now the new law will add to these already higher labor costs in several ways. First, a new requirement added by the “Seaman’s Bill’ just passed and approved is that no United States. ves- sel of 100 tons or more may leave any home port with a crew of which less than three out of every four men understand English. The law reads: “A crew, not less than 75 per centum of which, in each department thereof, are able to understand any order given by the officers of such vessel,” which might be construed to mean that the men must be expert navi- gators, or even include Lascar crews By Welding Ring of the Pacific, that make excellent seamen and understand exactly what they are to do. But the law is under- stood to mean that they must’ under- stand English. Some ship owners think they must be United States cit- izens, but there seems to be nothing in the law requiring citizenship. The practical effect of this require- ment, some operators of the ships say, will be to make it next to impossible to man our present sample merchant navy. The vessels of our Atlantic coast shipping, both coastwise and overseas, are manned largely by for- eigners. Officers of United States ships must be citizens. Swedes, Nor- wegians, Finns, Russians, Spaniards and Latin-Americans fill the crews, as seen on some actual lists, with only an occasional citizen of this country. On the Pacific there is a large preponder- ance of Lascars, Chinese and other Orientals. It must be remembered that all the employes upon a ship are “crew”. Just how deep the require- ment cuts nobody knows. It might rule out nearly all the Lascars, Chinese and Japanese, because it must be “any order”. On the Atlantic, where the line is to be drawn on a language test, on “Broken English’, who can tell? Second, the law creates what is prac- tically the “licensed able seaman”. From 40 to 55 per cent of future crews, the percentage progressing for four years, exclusive of apprentices and officers, must be of a rating not less than “able seamen”. Able seamen for ocean work must be 19 years old and must have had three years’ service on deck at sea or on -the Great Lakes. For Great Lakes work and that on bays, sounds, etc., the requirement is 19 years age with 18 months service. Graduates of. school ships are able seamen after a year’s service’ at sea. But it is no longer possible to hire seamen upon their experience only. Able seamen must have passed an