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436 than a year ago, 0.13 foot above the average stage of October of the last 10 years, 2.38 feet below the high stage of October, 1876, and 0.96 foot above the low stage of October, 1911. During the last 10 years the October level has aver- aged 0.2 foot lower than the September level and 0.3 foot higher than October level. Lake Erie is 0.43 foot lower than last month, 0.07 foot lower than a year ago, 0.20 foot below the average stage of October of the last 10 years, 1.80 feet below the high stage of October, 1885, and 1.10 feet above the low stage of Japan Shy of Material Great Britain’s prohibition of ex- ports of ship building materials is reported to have hit the Japanese ship yards pretty badly. Since this rule has been enforced, these yards have been put to great inconvenience and have had their contracts very much delayed. Even though the British government has relaxed its regulations somewhat—for the spe- cial benefit of Japan—the firms have not been able to take advantage of the concession because of the very high prices now prevailing in the United Kingdom for all kinds of steel and iron materials. So they have had to look elsewhere for their supplies, and they have come to the United States. Here, too, they have experienced difficulties, as the demands of the belligerents are ‘such that the supplies available for new customers are very limited. At most, Japanese builders found that they could not obtain from the states much more than half the amount which they had been in the habit of importing each year from Great Britain. In 1915 they imported materials to the value of 13,000,000 yen, and this year they would have taken much more. Instead, they are get- ting a good deal less, and, as they | have many important orders for naval and mercantile vessels, serious delays “are inevitable. Their own steel and iron works are endeavor- ing to increase their output, and in time they will do so very largely, but nothing they can do at present will make up for the great scarcity of imported materials. October, 1895. During the last 10 years the October level has averaged 0.2 foot lower than the September level and 0.3 foot higher than the level in the month of November. Lake Ontario is 0.63 foot lower than last month, 0.89 foot higher than a year ago, 0.32 foot above the average stage of October of the last 10 years, 1.75 feet below the high stage of October, 1861, and 2.39 feet above the low stage of October, 1895. During the last 10 years the October level has averaged 0.4 foot lower than the September level and 0.2 foot higher than the level in the month of November. the ~ equal. - finished 19 steel merchant vessels of 46,- THE MARINE REVIEW More.Ship Building Work for U. S. Yards The bureau of navigation of the de- partment of commerce announces that the steel merchant vessels, building or under contract to be built in private American ship yards on Oct. 1, 1916, numbered 417, of 1,454,270 gross tons. On June 30, 1916, Lloyds Register re- ported 439 steel merchant vessels of 1,540,118 gross tons under construc- tion in British ship yards. The Ameri- can returns cover contracts on which work has not begun, while Lloyds re- turns cover only ships on which con- struction has actually begun. Although the British yards have in- creased their merchant work, the de- livery of engines and machinery is slow, and at present the completed outputs of American and British yards are about In September American yards 608 gross tons and made new contracts for 47 steel merchant vessels of 208,686 gross tons, about half of which are for Norwegian owners. The month’s new contracts equal all the merchant steel tonnage in the United States building or under contract on July 1, 1913, and exceeds that building or under contract on July 1, 1914. How Work is Divided The following table shows the distri- bution of this work among the several builders of steel vessels in the United States reporting merchant vessels under contract or under construction: Merchant Con- airy Oct. 1, 1916, Gross Ship yards. Number. Tons. American Bridge Co., Ambridge, Penn., and Trenton, N.-J.:..... 102. 52,100 American ‘Shipbuilding Co., ‘Cleve- MA ers wis biave/aca ate wi eek wok siarare ayers 27. 103,400 Bethlehem Steel ‘Co., ‘Sparrows AP forbs myoatlh Ws Lectac ain Sin Aaa ieee eg Cee 12 74,893 Baltimore Dry Docks & Shipbuild- AE OO0., 7) DaltiinOLOs: + eisieie 6 sieiere 10 37,600 Bath Iron Works, Bath, Me...... 3 1,600 eels Shipbuilding Co., Chester, ete EMO G RIGA ere ohdlaty rata Dieser ere 14. +67,700 ane reRtver Shipbuilding Corpora- tion, Quincy, BS Qicwmes atarese oi 13 87,800 Great Lakes Engineering Works, WDGER OLE Suir iol toe eats laresscesahenetd 19 74,130 Great Lakes Towing ‘Co., Cleve- : Melts ech Seah c odes he elalerestacels 4 376 Harlan & Hollingsworth ‘Corpora- tion, Wilmington, Del.......... 15 63,959 Howard Shipyards Co., Jefferson- nia Bl ctspies Ue oifc UR epee: She eae tate ore Hus ae 5 2,950 J. F. Duthie & Co., Seattle...... 5 26,850 Manitowoc PUEDE: Co., Mani- POMOC SAWS ee, tog kak aire aae 11 17,450 Moore & Scott Iron Works, Oak- MTV et alist ere ceecott acute Gaile’ el sievoveueiete 7 35,600 Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va... 14 97,573 New York Shipbuilding Co., Cam- Get e | ceca Win iakttcsisceree et eres 26 133,804 Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Co., Glodeesters Neto) ov soieete sis ae 10 65,000 Pusey & Jones Co., Wilmington, DMEM re shes ylacn epee nan eoniae wiolerare a orate 13 12,150 Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Core eattle avons sissies sees e's 10 56,700 Skinner & Eddy Corporation, Segittless iis crca eats Mere stare ws weiner 10 58,640 Standard Shipbuilding Corpora- tion, CW MOD ati iia. Sirciaces 6 28,800 Staten Island "Shipbuilding ‘Co., Port Richmond, Ea ote 4 5,941 Sun Shipbuilding Co., Philadel- DUA cs van kM ace eek tele sc erpceces 2 12,400 December, 1916 Texas Steamship Co., Bath, Me. 4 26,000 Toledo Shipbuilding Co., Toledo, OG ead ed acu sw tecas ees 20,690 i ihn orks Co., San Fran- aoa ee Seni test sate eceiae: whaie Bien 28 176,028 Williamette Iron & Steel Works and Northwest Steel Co., Port- Mand: Ofer aiteie os erie tes ewes 7 39,900 William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co., Phila..... 10 64,200 Book Review Brown’s Nautical Almanac, edited by James R. Brown; paper, 627 pages, 8% x 514 inches; published by James Brown & Son, and furnished by The Marine Review for $0.50 net. Although English publishers are work- ing under difficulties these days, the Canadian Yards Busy The ship building yards of Canada and British Columbia are active. Considerable difficulty exists in ob- taining raw materials, as many of the plants which would normally aid in supplying these are now de- voted exclusively to the work of turning out war munitions. In spite of these conditions, a large number of ships are now under con- struction and good progress” is being made. In British Columbia .25 vessels are etther being built or projected, only three of these being steel ships. The big demand at present ts for the lumber carrying trade, and the opinion is held that the de- velopment of a fleet of wood saitlers 4s particularly desirable for this in- dustry. Eight of the wooden ves- sels have been contracted for by the Canada West Coast Navigation Co., and, although none of these is yet completed, four have already been chartered. The average carrying ee ea of the wooden ships is 00,000 feet of lumber. One of - steel ships 1s being built for the Japan trade and the other two for general freight purposes. All these ships are expected to be ready for service within a year or 18 months. These developments are attributed to the British Columbia. shipping bill, under which builders are ad- vanced 55 per cent of the construc- tion cost, to be paid back with in- terest in five years, while a subsidy on the operation of ships is pro- vided. 1917 edition of Brown’s Nautical Al- manac is filled with interesting and val- uable data. With the exception of the absence of the usual maps, which, ow- ing to the restrictions of the censor- ship, are necessarily omitted, the vol- ume measures up to its usual high standard.. The first part of the book is devoted to an astronomical ephem- eris for 1917 and the first three months of 1918. This is followed by a section given up to nautical tables and methods. In addition the book contains a harbor and dock guide, daily tide tables, and other miscellaneous in- formation.