Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), May 1917, p. 158

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158 yards along the St. Clair river which he believed he had now developed to a point that would enable him to launch eight vessels every four months. Mr. Sawyer, of the Kelly-Spear Co., Bath, Me., when questioned as to the possibilities of having the frames of ships sawed to pattern in the wood ad- vised that his companies were already doing that, and that he believed the practice could be extended to advantage. Some of those present felt that this step toward standardization of parts for ship- hat HE advantages of the United States in building wooden ships are discussed at some length by a special correspondent of Lloyds List, who believes that the construction of a large fleet of such vessels will enor- mously help the allies. The article, which is interesting as viewing the’ ship- ping board’s proposals from a British standpoint, says, in part: “The principal work of the American navy, in the event of war, would be the guarding of trade routes, and the over- coming of the German submarine cam- paign, and that work would resolve itself into an extensive system of convoy for merchant ships, and patrol of routes and coasts. For this work far more light cruisers and destroyers would be re- quired than America now has, as well as the largest possible numbers of those mystery vessels to which inadvertent reference was made in congress recently, and which are understood to be very fast, motor submarine chasers, capable of being carried on board larger ships, and launched quickly whenever neces- sary. “This would mean greatly increased activity in American shipyards, and a slackening off in thé construction of steel merchant vessels. America would be in the position which Great Britain occu- pied during the latter half of 1914 and most of 1915, when mercantile ship building was considered of only second- ary importance. No Practical Objection “In these circumstances, the question has been asked, why not revive on a large scale the construction of wooden ships? As America is scarcely likely to ‘be troubled by the question of man power, there seems to be no practicable objection to such a revival, from the ship building point of view. In normal circumstances there would be economic objection, as the steel cargo steamer has reached such a stage of perfection that nothing can compete with it in ordinary trading. Steel has superseded wood, be- cause it permits of larger vessels being itis! THE MARINE REVIEW ment to assembling points could be car- ried further to advantage. In summing up, Mr. Plummer, from Maine, pointed out that there were at least 30 existing ship yards in Maine now in operation which would average at least two ships per yard, and that if a force of men familiar with woodwork- ing could be provided from _ other sources of the country to expand exist- ing forces of laborers, he felt that he would be conservative in stating that (Maine could then easily build at least constructed, but also because, size for size, it is a more efficient and economical material. “Circumstances might introduce new conditions and compel the United States to consider the question of encouraging its wooden-ship building industry. If this were found feasible the yards where steel ships are built would be relieved of much of the pressure which. they would otherwise have to meet, and so would be more at liberty to devote themselves to naval work, and to the construction of those steel vessels which they might have on order or might find it necessary to undertake. No Other Country Could “In any such scheme as this the United States would be in a position totally different from that of any other country making a similar attempt. In- deed, no other country could make such an attempt with any hope of success, be- cause no other country has the necessary industrial conditions. Nowhere else are there the materials, ship yards and labor that could be combined so as to produce wooden ships in numbers worth consider- ing seriously. “The peculiar position of America in this respect renders the new proposals far less a matter for surprise than they would have seemed a year or two ago. They are quite serious proposals, and will almost certainly be carried out if the country does come in. “Reference has been made to the ques- tion of man power. In the aggregate there is such an enormous number of workers in America that no calls for military service would be likely to affect essential industries. But the point mean- time is that there are still plenty of men accustomed to the construction of wooden vessels, as well as a large num- ber of well-equipped establishments. Behind all these there are the practically inexhaustible forests of America and Canada, all of which could be drawn upon without utilizing sea-carriage to any extent whatever. In wooden-ship building the country is self-contained. May, 1917 50 ships of the largest size at one time. A ship builder from one of the Gulf states explained that few of the gulf yards were represented at the meeting and that he was convinced that this sec- tion, because of its proximity to tim- ber and iron supplies could be counted on to produce a large number of hulls. He stated that while the vessels now building were mostly smaller than 3,000 tons, deadweight capacity, he was con- fident that the yards could soon expand to build the largest vessels. The industry has survived longer in America than anywhere else, partly be- cause of these favorable conditions, and partly because wooden vessels could be operated economically in the lumber and general coasting trades of the Pacific and Atlantic seaboards. In these trades speed and timetables count for little, but large carrying capacity on low operating cost counts for a great deal, while low first cost counts for even more. In many cases the fact that a wooden vessel can be run up locally in a very short time, and at a low cost, means everything. “So it comes about that the United States as a country is in a position to introduce a new factor. It can throw wooden-ship building into the balance, without making itself any the weaker in fighting along other lines. This is an ‘extra’ peculiar to itself, and one which may quite well be of considerable value —especially when the internal combus- tion motor is remembered. The fact that there is an industry to mobilize is sig- nificant, for no such mobilization would be possible in any other country.” Canada to Test Plan A ship building plant with a capital of $1,000,000 is in process of organi- zation in St. John, New Brunswick, and its successful completion is prac- tically assured. The company is known as the St. John Ship Building Co. and will operate under a domin- ion charter. It proposes building at first wooden ships with all sail, or with auxiliary oil-burning engines as power. The ships will be built on the principle that obtained in the old days when St. John was. celebrated for its ship building industry, sep- arate companies being formed for the building of each vessel, the owners to sell or operate the vessels as they may determine, the, parent company to build the ships at cost plus 10 per cent and turn them over to the own- ers at that figure.

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