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The Progressive Nation in the Building Up a Merchant Marine—Ship N ‘ARTICLE appearing in the A special Japanese section of the London Times shows the ina- fluence of the war and recent tendencies in Japanese ship building. Dealing with merchant ships, the article, which is con- tributed by Professors F. P. Purvis and S. Terano of the Tokio Imperial Uni- versity, Says: “In these days steamers necessarily at- tract paramount interest in Japan as in other parts of the world. Sailing ves- sels of the junk class are, of course, still built, and in large numbers, but since 1910 these numbers appear to have been slowly declining; sailing ships of modern construction again are holding their own; indeed, are increasing in number and aggregate tonnage about as rapidly as steamers; but they are essentially small in size, the register of the coun- try containing one only which exceeds 500 tons gross. Restricting attention then to steamers, and to steamers ex- ceeding 100 tons gross, the growth in number and aggregate tonnage during the past few years is as follows: JAPANESE STEAMERS OVER 100 TONS Built in Japan. No. Gross tons. No. Gross tons. LOO Zi cateen si 848 1,066,432 REA Sera 0970) 1,335;498" 0 Sorter TOG coke sin lee 1,096 1,557,757 667 600,182 — “Of the 1,096 steamers at present on the register, 66 have a gross tonnage exceeding 5,000 and six a gross tonnage exceeding 10,000. The 22 largest ships on the register were all built in Japan. Compared with other countries of the world Japan ranks sixth in aggregate tonnage; France and Norway stand ahead of her, but by a small lead only. ‘During many years past the growth of her home built tonnage has been fairly steady, while in purchasing from abroad periods of marked activity have alternated with slacker times. The third - year after the Chinese war (1897) and the actual time of the Russian war were such periods of activity. Again in 1911 special circumstances prevailed and many - ships were bought from abroad. Taking characteristic years the following table is interesting: STEAMERS ADDED TO THE REGISTER IN VARIOUS YEARS : 1897 1900 1904 No. Tons. No. Tons. No. Tons. Built at home 57 10,698 53 15,308 114 27,500 Purchased from abroad. 22 67,454 13 28,492 72 177,298 1907 1911 1915 No. Tons. No. Tons. No. Tons. Built athome 79 29,898 137 43,817 73 78,918 Purchased from abroad. 34 32,009 49 129,454 11 28,081 “At the present time construction at home is very active, indeed, and the larine 1s Far East is Molking Be Gable Strides in Yards Are Working at Full Capacity number of steamers in hand exceeding 100 tons gross is 132, with an aggregate: tonnage of 593,000 tons. “The companies and owners holding the largest fleets (20,000 tons and more) are as follows, the last column indi- cating the subsidized routes upon which some of their principal vessels are em- ployed: Companies and owners—Principal subsidized routes. No. Tons. Nippon Yusen Kaisha —_ Europe, North America, Australia, Bom- bay, Calcutta and some parts of China, etc. .....eeeeeeec eee eree 92 424,090 Toyo Kisen Kaisha—South Amer- ica, North America, Hong Kong. 10 384,918 Osaka Shosen Kaisha—North Amer- ica, Bombay, domestic, some parts of China, eteh oe. tie ce esi 56 152,594 Nisshin Kisen Kaisha—Inter China ports, especially about Shanghai and the Yangtse river.........- 125°.29,823 Okazaki Kisen Kaisha............. 9 23,124 Mitsui Bussan Kaisha............- 9 28,761 Kishimoto Shokwai .....-..+-+ee> 12 46,595 Gy aN aan ta ose) here aly eae enim tv scoiace 9 24,548 Bie Plachi-uimia, i ieee eles sein eee e's 8 20,826 “The present subsidy law provides for transportation by companies whose share- holders are all Japanese subjects; the amounts paid in subsidy are based upon mileage actually completed, and upon tonnage, speed, and age; the steamers endowed must be of steel, of gross ton- nage not less than 3,000, speed not less than 12 knots, and age not above 15 years; necessarily, they must also be upon the Japanese register. In 1915 the subsidies and bounties received by the various companies amounted to 7,129,204 yen; in 1914, 11,230,579 yen. Some time ago the Nippon Yusen Kaisha started running steamers through the Panama canal; leaving Yokohama, they took the Suez route to New York, and came back by the American canal. Interrupted for the time by the stoppage of transit the route will certainly be reopened later on. It is hoped that a government subsidy will be obtained for this Panama route; the competition upon it is so great that in normal times it is most difficult to make receipts balance expenditures there. Financial assistance in the matter of building is provided by another law; this was first promulgated in 1896, and by it a direct subsidy is given for the building of both hulls and engines. “A subsidy that would about cover the extra cost of material in Japan as com- pared with Europe was aimed at and has been steadily maintained. Eleven to 22 yen per gross ton (according to type) and 5 yen per indicated horsepower de- veloped on trial are the present figures for subsidy put in. their crudest form; the granting of subsidies is qualified by some rather stringent regulations, which must be complied with by the works 400 4, q which entitle themselves to earn them, The law as last amended in 1910 has a period of life of 10 years from that date; under the amendment the mini- mum tonnage admitted to subsidy is 1,000 gross. From 1897 to the end of 1915 143 steamers, with an aggregate ton- nage of 496,000, took advantage of these ship building encouragement laws; all the steamers now building are to benefit by the same means. The smallest ton- nage of any ship participating was 727, the. largest 13,400. “The principal ship yards throughout the country are shown in the table be- low; this gives the number of steamers each has in hand at the present time and their aggregate gross tonnage: Steamers No. Gross tons, Mitsu Bishi Dockyard & Engine Works Nagasaki 70,000 Mitsu Bishi Dockyard & Engine ~ Works, Kobe Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Kobe... 24 139,000 Osaka Tron “W OLkS: wi. c'jc ce cere 44 201,000 Dragva Dock Cow ak oe uve cies were 15 61,000 Fujinagata Shipyard, Osaka..... 7 15,000 Ono Shipyard, Osaka........... 5 9,000 Ishikawajima Shipyard, Tokio... 6 / 13,000 Yokohama Shipbuilding Coz; (newly Started) .......s00e0 6 47,000 Other ‘ship: yards ...0. tsetse 7 14,000 New American Built Steamer Sunk The new Dutch steamer ANTWERPEN of 11,300 tons gross was sunk in the North Sea on Sept. 13. She was built at Newport News, Va.,by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. She belonged to the American Petro- leum Co., Rotterdam, Holland, and left Newport News in ballast on _ her maiden voyage for New York Aug. 24 and’ sailed Aug. 31 from Bayonne, N. J., for London on her first trip across the Atlantic. : ANTWERPEN, which was the first for- eign ship ever built at Newport News, was in command of Capt. Herman Segebarth, who formerly commanded the oil tanker American. She was 460 feet long, had a 60-foot beam, and was 30 feet in depth. The steamer was af oil burner and carried wireless appa- ratus. After the vessel was completed she was placed under American registry for 24 hours so that she could pass the steamboat inspection service require- ments and get her papers. The fol- lowing day the American flag was lowered and the steamship was trams ferred to Dutch registry. Ships of Canadian register in Canada in the last fiscal year numbered. 7,157, of which 4,132 are steamers. .