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Reviews of Late Books The American Merchant Marine; cloth, 164 pages, 8% x 5% inches, numerous illustrations, maps and dia- grams, issued by the American Bu- reau of Shipping, in co-operation with the American Steamship Owners as- sociation, the National Council of American Shipbuilders and the United States Shipping Board, supplied by MARINE Review for $1 plus 15 cents postage, and in Europe by the Penton Publishing Co. Ltd., Caxton House, London. This publication is undoubtedly the most pretentious effort yet made to present in compact form all of the essential facts concerning the foreign trade, ocean and coastwise shipping, shipbuilding and ship repairing of the United States. Its preparation was prompted by the belief that there is need for such information in concise form and that it would be of value to those inter- ested in the many phases of merchant marine activities. The book opens with quotations of the opinions of the country’s eminent statesmen, past and present, regarding the American mer- chant marine. Pertinent information is given concerning American ship- ping legislation. The following chapter headings will give a good idea of the contents of this interesting book. 'These chapter headings are: United States Shipping Board; Post Office Department and the Merchant Marine; Merchant Ma- rine and National Defense; Merchant Marine and Foreign Trade; Manufac- ture and the American Merchant Ma- rine; Chamber of Commerce of the United States; American Bureau of Shipping;:Ocean Shipping; The Ship- building Industry; Insurance; and Foreign Competition. In addition there ar2 three ap- pendices covering opinions of other eminent statesmen relating to the American merchant marine; historica! background of our shipping legisla- tion and a definition of shipping terms. Anyone interested in accurate in- formation concerning the American merchant marine will find this book invaluable. Rhyme of the Marie Celeste; by Hamish MacHuisdean; paper, 16 pages, 8 x 5 inches; published by Fraser, Edward & Co., Glasgow, sup- plied by Marine Review for 25 cents plus postage, and in England by the Penton Publishing Co. Ltd., Caxton House, London. This is a most unusual document. It records in well written rhyme the strange story of the greatest of sea mysteries—what happened to the crew of the American vessel MArie CELESTE? The Marie Crrestre, a brigantine 36 built at Bath, Me., cleared from Hell Gate, N. Y., Nov. 7, 1872, for Genoa. She carried 13 all told when she sailed. Included in this number were Capt. Benjamin S. Briggs of Marion, Mass., his wife and little girl. The MARIEc CELESTE was picked up on Dec. 5, 17 degrees, 15 minutes west and 38 degrees, 20 minutes north, with sails set and quietly heading for Setu- bal, Portugal, and at that time 444 miles west of this port. Not a sign of any human being was found on board and to this day the mystery is unsolved. This little rhyme of the Marie Creveste is a striking account of this strange affair. It is supplemented by an appendix in which is given a factual account of all the circum- stances of the incident. Employment is Reduced in American Shipyards The National Council of American Shipbuilders through its president, H. Gerrish Smith, on May 23 issued a statement on employment in private American shipyards. It is pointed out in this statement that employ- ment in the shipbuilding industry of United States is now at the lowest point since the war. On May 1, there was not a sin- gle seagoing merchant vessel under construction in American shipyards. The only commercial work under way at that time was the construction of a few small craft for bay and harbor service. Not only in tonnage, but in money value of unfinished con- tracts and in the number of men em- ployed is the situation now ‘worse than at any time in recent years. A small volume of naval work, six vessels in all consisting one airplane carrier, one cruiser, two destroyers and one submarine—all well advanced toward completion and one cruiser just begun, together with the small miscellaneous merchant craft men- tioned constitute the sum total work in process in the private shipyards. In its appearance before the house committee on the merchant marine and fisheries early in 1928 in con- nection with the merchant marine legislation then pending the National Council of American Shipbuilders pointed out the importance of ship- yards to the United States: 1. As a basis for our merchant ma- rine. 2. AS an essential factor in our na- tional security. To be able to perform these func- tions in an emergency, requires the MARINE REVIEwW—July, 1933 continuous operation of the private shipyards at all times. This require- ment is just as important today as it was then. What is true in the construction of new vessels is equally true in the ship repair industry where the vol- ume of work has been greatly re- duced owing to the large amount of idle tonnage and to deferred repairs to ships in operation. Unemployment in the ship repair yards is also very great. The age of our merchant vessels will, in time, bring about a renewal of shipyard activity, but the general depression in business that now pre- vails, which extends to shipping, will retard the return of prosperity to the shipbuilding and ship repair indus- tries and the future outlook fox pri- vate merchant shipbuilding construc- tion will not in any way relieve the present situation in unemployment, which is acute. The only relief is a hope in a_ substantial participation in the building of any naval vessels that may be ordered. (This relief is now definitely here and work will soon commence on the navy program authorized in the bill recently passed. Editor’s note). Immediate relief to unemployment would be provided as orders for the material for the construction of new vessels would go out immediately to a large number of industries well dis- tributed throughout the country. The private shipbuilding industry when working at normal capacity em- ploys many thousand of skilled arti- sans. The shipyards, together with the industries allied to it, are pri- vately owned, and, therefore, pay _ taxes to the cities, counties, states and federal government. Bremen Makes New Record A new eastbound record of four days, 17 hours and 42 minutes was established by the Bremen, of the North German Lloyd, during June. On her record run she was in com- mand of Commodore Leopold Ziegen- bein. Incidentally this is the exact time in which the BREMEN broke all previous transatlantic records on her maiden voyage westbound in July, 1929. The BREMEN’ passed Cherbourg breakwater June 14 at 1:30 a. m. She left New York on June 9 passing Am- brose Lightship at 2:49 a. m. daylight saving time, and covered the long course of 3199 miles at an average speed of 28.14 knots. The former record for the _ east- bound crossing was made by the BREMEN in February, 1930, when she crossed between Ambrose Lightship and Cherbourg breakwater in 4 days, 18 hours, flat, at an average speed of 27.81 knots, over the short course of 3114 miles,