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52 less lasting one, if the builders are not handicapped any more than at present. The threatened advance in the freight tariff on structural steel used in ships, from 65c to 75c per 100-Ibs. is viewed with alarm. It is not that the difference of $2 per ton on say 4,000 tons of steel required for a $1,000,000 vessel will seriously menace the industry on the coast. The menace lies in the utter disregard of the carriers for the pro- vision of the interstate commerce act which stipulates in words of one syllable that no interstate carrier may raise an established rate simply be- cause of the withdrawal of water com- petition, but must first come before the commission and show cause for an in- crease aside from such withdrawal. Pacific coast builders fear the result of the establishment of such a_ precedent and when the tariffs announcing the raise were first filed, threats of suits were heard from all quarters whick have crystallized in the filing of a suit by the Skinner & Eddy Corporation. Steel ship building is also handicapped by the scarcity of skilled labor evidenced by the fact that the Ames Shipbuilding Co., of Seattle, is bringing a nucleus of 200 men for its new plant from the eastern seaboard. These handicaps are not being felt by the builders of wooden vessels. What if they do need a million or a million and a half feet of lumber in the con- struction of a vessel? They have bil- lions of most excellently adapted timber almost at their back door. These builders stand to reap a rich harvest. There are probably in excess of 60 wooden vessels contracted for on the Pacific coast whereas a year ago there was comparatively slight activity in the line. With few exceptions these vessels are designed primarily for lumber car- rying. They range up to 2,250,000 feet in capacity, are nearly all schooners and are powered with either diesel or semi- diesel engines. The Riley Shipbuilding -Co., Buffalo, has a number of vessels lined up for repair work during the winter. A large amount of this work is now under way: The company also is building one large steel tug. — ¢ Steamship Newton, Capt. Chase, re- cently landed at Boston a 6,800-ton cargo of bituminous coal from Charleston, S. C. The.ship» was sent there owing to shortage of fuel at Chesapeake bay ports. ————— Two-master schooner Exsie M. Hart, Souris, P: E. I., for New York with cargo of potatoes, is at Boston for ex- tensive repairs, having been battered by a gale that made assistance by coast guard cutter ANDROSCOGGIN necessary. THE MARINE REVIEW Big Ship Built at February, 1917 Largest Freighter Ever Turned Out : at That Yard Now Ready to Sail HE Moore &_ Scott Iron Works, San Francisco, has just completed the largest vessel ever constructed in the company’s ship yards at Oakland, Cal. This ship is Capro, of 7,100 tons dead- weight. She has been turned over to her Norwegian owners. Capto was ordered by James Rolph Jr., mayor of San Francisco, and head of the Rolph Navigation & Coal Co-on Jan. 1, 4916 “The keel was laid in May, and in the same month the vessel, then known as ANNETTE RotpH, was sold by Mr. Rolph to B. Stolt Nielsen, Haugesund, Norway. She was launched on Oct. 14, 1916, and was completed in December, well ahead of the contract date. The vessel is 376 feet long, 52 feet 3 inches beam and 28 feet molded depth. She is equipped with a 2,400- horsepower Curtis turbine and with three boilers of the Scotch marine type. She will burn oil, being fitted with an oil burning system developed by the Moore & Scott company. During the construction of the ves- sel the plant of the Moore & Scott company was considerably enlarged. A number of buildings were con- structed, including a punch _ shed, mold loft, planing mill, joiner shop, pattern shop, power house and an office and administration building. Additional wharves and spur tracks also were added. The company’s success in the con- struction of the big ocean-going freighter has caused contracts for other large vessels to be obtained. These include two freighters of the same dimensions, a 425-foot tanker, and three freighters 402 feet 6 inches in length. The next vessel will be completed late in February. To Build Standard Ships Germany is emulating the example set by England and America. Big German shipping men have formed a million-mark ship building com- pany, which will immediately begin the construction at Hamburg of a series of 8,000-ton steamers for Ger- many’s -freight carrying trade after the war. The strong Hamburg-American line is behind the new project, and Albert Ballin, director-general of that line, will be chairman of the board. The plan is to abandon temporarily the custom of building huge — special ships and concentrate on the con- struction of 10-knot boats—several at a time—which can be turned out faster and cheaper than steamers each re- quiring particular specifications. The ships’ parts will be standardized and will be made probably at Hamburg. Isherwood System in 1916 The year 1916, as far as Great Brit- ain is concerned, was not very prod- uctive of merchant ship building; most of the construction of merchant vessels was carried on in the United States and Japan. Nevertheless the Isherwood system made considerable progress on foreign soil, according to statistics prepared in England by J. W. Isherwood. The number of Isher- wood vessels contracted for up to Dec. 19, 1916, was 152, with a total gross tonnage of about 698,875, which is equivalent to about 1,000,000 tons in deadweight carrying capacity, thus making the total number of vessels built, under construction and on order 620, with an aggregate deadweight carrying capacity of 4,500,000 tons. The following analysis shows the adaptability of the Isherwood system for various types and classes of ves- sels. The 620 vessels referred to above are classified as follows: 265 oil tank steamers aggregating 2,413,- 750 tons deadweight carrying capac- ity; 25 colliers and ore steamers ag- gregating 255,000 tons deadweight carrying capacity; nine passenger ves- sels aggregating 44,600 tons dead- weight carrying capacity; 24 Great Lakes freighters aggregating 279,600 tons deadweight carrying capacity; 73 barges aggregating 25,850 tons deadweight carrying capacity; 221° general cargo vessels aggregating 1,645,200 tons deadweight carrying capacity; two dredges aggregating 760 gross register tons, and one traw- ler of 570 gross register tons. In the United States well over 90 per cent» of the oil tank tonnage at present under construction and about 50 per cent of the total merchant ton- nage is claimed by the Isherwood system, as are also a very large num- ber of the merchant ships now being built in Japan. The three-mast schooner Grace G. BENNETT has been rebuilt by the Dela- ware Shipbuilding Co., Seaford, Del.