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‘THE MARINE RECORD SHIPBUILDING IN EUROPE IN 1896. When one speaks of shipbuilding, England assumes a prominent position. The tonnage which is yearly set in the water from the shipyards of that country far surpasses the tonnage which in the same space of time is built at all the other shipyards in the world. The year 1806 has been unusually godd for English shipbuilding, for, with the exception of 1889, it has never before reached such a great tonnage. To form an idea of its fluctuations for a long period, we give below the tonnage built in England for the last sixteen years: ‘*Translated from Dansk Sofartstidende, January 7, 1897, by Robert J. Kirk, consul, Copenhagen. Year, Tons. Vear: Tons. REBOI pin AEA SO. St I,000,000]| 1889.%...... I, 332,889 DOS rece. HF 2OO, OOO! =TOOO ea ce oes he | 1,279,077 POOse ce ee Tree ene, OOO ogi cst ee nee T, 209,904 LISS) ae oe WEOIOOO!| | E502, eee 1,194,784 POOR Cac 8 4B.O00!| 1803. ae 878,000 TOS, %,. 5 As aS 473,675|| 1894... ..%. SB Se8 1,080, 419 ESO Je a Ris Se Be a 578,068|| 1805 4..5..5 .5.... 1,074,890 OOO ss aie c Maa ge QOA O87. LOGON Feu. wes 1,316,906 It will be seen from the above that the production at the beginning of the sixteen years was on the increase, and thereafter that it decreased greatly for the next three years, until the minimum was reached in 1886. Then comes a three-years’ rise, followed by a decrease for four years, and then an increase for the last three years, of which 1896 far surpassed the other two. The conditions in 1896 were still more favorable than given, when one takes into consideration that in several private shipyards, men-of- war were built during the course of the year, only a part of which are included in the tonnage total. The increase of tonnage in 1896 was about 240,000 tons, which has been almost equally divided among the greater shipyards. On the east coast, those of Blyth, Tyne, Wear, West Hartlepool, Tees, and Whitney built 150,000 tons more than last year; the Clyde, 60,000 tons; and Belfast, 18,000 tons. Districts. Tons TURES Se lp IC RS re tg tigre or ee ree 246, 882 let ad sl ae ER ee ae een ae | 3,363 TNS Co SSS Aen AO ieee Ea Ne 218,350 West Hartlepool Bea Re 83,299 BOS iri ee. Om UE TT DSO. SA IP GS T10,314 DWaMCDY . sslade tnt a. ofectit etl eadd he mincdisace 5,819 COUN GES SSIES AOR Seip err Oo a oe Greta on err 420,841 RRR ne ER is pote oo ans cule sg sc tisg 119,656 abrow itl MATHeSSr: Sees okt chet ce eee te 14,654 Aberdeen and Dundee;:..36005. ec. eee oe 9,433 HAIN DEE cece. Sh awe Cas ee any on oaee 27,734 PBST OL MOL eee os Gee ann Sa cs oo vie 8,650 TESTE ESSE sg RSS ee ee pe ee 16,601 NLS eth vite 2B I ADS ed Bra hea Se mea ei ere aaa 19,266 Maryport and Workington haa SPOS UNERE : F 5,554 Various BR eee aa Sac eis hee oho eta guute sig) oust a isigi'er oe 6,590 GEOL stasigence Soak Aiki Ss Ge eis tls eens 1,316,906 In former years, the firm of W. Gray & Co., stood at ‘the head of thelist, with 63,086 tons, which this year is far surpassed by Messrs. Harland & Wolff, with 81,316 tons. Of the ships built on the Clyde, 280 were steamers, with 374,027 tons, and 97 sailing ships, with 46,814 tons. ~ Besides several new types, as, for example, the trunk steamers, shipbuilding in 1896 has been marked by a con- tinuation of the increase in the size of ships, begun in former years. As an example, we can name -the firm of Harland & Wolff, Belfast, which has built 12 new steam- ers, of which II were over 4,500 tons each and the most of thém over 5,000 tons; one of them, the Pennsylvania, reached even the size of 13,700 tons, gross register, The figures for some of the other countries of Europe, ‘as well as for the United States, in 1896, are the following: GERMANY. Flensburg Schiffsbau Gesellschaft, Flensburg—21,604 “gross registered tons, with 8,050 indicated horsepower; on the ways, 13,600 gross registered tons, with 5,775 indi- cated horsepower. * Vulcan Shipyards, Stettin—two steamships, each of 10,535 gross registered tons, with 7,000 indicated horse- power. Reiherstieg Shipyard, Hamburg—4,819 gross registered tons, with 2,400 indicated horsepower. J. G. Tecklenborg, Geestemunde—3,010 gross registered tons, with 2,100 indicated. horsepower: Henry Koch, Lubeck—3,572 gross registered tons, with 1,780- indicated horsepower. Total for Germany, 54,075 gross registered tons, with 28,330 indicated horsepower. NORWAY. Bergens Mechanical Workshops—Victoria, steel screw ship, 965 gross registered tons, with 550 indicated horse- power; Rio, steel screw ship, 501 gross registered tons, with 400 indicated horsepower; Hafnia, steel screw ship, 966 gross registered tons, with 550 indicated horsepower. Total, 2,522 gross registered tons, with 1,500 indicated horsepower. DENMARK. Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen—Sleipner, steel screw ship 1,000 gross registered tons, with 2,300 indicated horse- power; Livonia, steel screw ship, 2,030 gross registered tons, with 800 indicated horsepower; Standart, stcel screw ship, 4,200 gross registered tons, with 11,000 indicated - horsepower. Total, 7,230 gross registered tons, with 14,100 indicated horsepower. Helsingor Shipyards, Helsingor—Atlas, steel screw ship, 987 gross registered tons, with 400 indicated horse- power; Pronto, steel screw ship, 1,363 gross registered tons,, with 600 indicated horsepower; Gunther, steel screw ship, 1,447 gross registered tons, with 600 indicated horse- power; Regina, steel screw ship, 2,163 gross registered tons, with 750 indicated horsepower. Total, 5,960 gross registered tons, with 2,350 indicated horsepower. Total for Denmark, 13,190 gross registered tons, with 16,450 indicated horsepower. All ships built in Helsingor were for foreigners. > AUSTRIA. Gross registered tons, 6,686; indicated horsepower, 11,960. i : UNITED STATES. Gross registered tons, 50,817; indicated horsepower, 48,847. Prices, however, have increased along the increase in shipbuilding in 1896, especially in the last half of the year. One of the main reasons for this must be sought in the many orders for new ships, which the great rise in freights occasioned. Materials have thus become about 12s. 6d. dearer per ton than they were a year ago, and at the same time wages have risen. For boats of medium size, one firm now demands. £7 ($34.06) per ton, instead of £6 ($29.20) per ton a year ago; a second firm gives the rise per ton, for a steamer of 4,000 to 5,000 tons, at I2s. ($2.91); and from a third, we have heard it said that the ship which, at the beginning of 1896, could be built for £29,000 ($141,138), at the close of the year would cost £32,000 ($155,730). OO OO OD RECOVERED. The fishing tug Boss, which disappeared frcm Two Rivers, Wis., on the night of January 17, 1885, was found about four miles out from that port, sunk in twenty feet of water, by two divers at work this week. The tug is in good condition, and will be raised as soon as the weather permits. The Boss was owned by Allie and Lafond, and valued at $3,000. rr or or RECEIVER OF WRECKS. A special from Alpena says: The cargo of the sunken steamer Florida is pPoving a rich harvest to the islanders off this place. The city’s small hookers are now engaged ‘in picking up flour, whisky, syrup and other merchandise with which the steamer was loaded. Capt. Persons, of Thunder Bay Island life-saving station, has succeeded in getting together 50 barrels of flour, a full barrel of whisky and some other stuff. The wind is now driving the wreck- age over towards the Canada shore, and the Canadians will have a chance to lay in summer provisions. The foregoing is about the most barefaced admission of thieving and robbery that we have ever seen in type. Where, in the name of goodness, is the receiver of wrecks, and why does he not exercise his authority at least in so far as to tell these people that the wrecked goods are not theirs?’ The next thing we will be hearing that the above people are teaching their children the Cornish boy’s pray- er: “God bless mammy, God bless daddy, and send a ship ashore before morning.” We had thought that ‘this barbarous spirit had died out and that the peoplé would no longer rifle the pockets of drowned sailors, although stealing cargo is the next thing to it. LAKE FREIGHTS. During the week we have had an example of how it must feel to march up the hill-and then march down again, without having. accomplished anything except consu- ming time and becoming wearied in doing so. Several of the largest boats were chartered at the tail end of last week to carry a block of ore from Lake Superior to Ohio ports at 60 cents, so far so good, it took some of the big- gest carriers off the market and gave the medium-sized, outside craft a chance to secure something in the future, however, through a mistake in the transmitting of ot reading a telegram or some such a circumstance the deal was declared off early this week and this alone had a tendency to shade freights 10 cents per ton, so that charters could have ‘been made at 50 cents, as there is any quantity of tonnage on the market with a light movement of cargoes, in fact, no ore charters from the head of Lake Superior can be quoted for the week, arid what is being carried from Marquette or Escanaba on the Ohio port rate is accepted at the same figures for Buffalo, 50 cents and 4o cents respectively. ‘The Chicago grain market is none too firm at 1 1-8 cents on corn or oats to Buffalo, and from Duluth only I 1-4 cents is offered on wheat, though the elevators have recently received some large consignments. This is a slump of 1-4 cent from last week. Coal charters have been dull all week with an all round rate of 20 cents from Buffalo or Ohio ports to Lakes Mich- igan or Superior. There are of course better rates to in- termediate and ‘shoal water ports where only ‘small ton- nage can reach and whose detention for a few days in dis- charging will not incur for demurrage as for instance Cleveland to Victoria Harbor, 40 cents; Ashtabula to Al- gonac, 35 cents, etc. As noted in our last week’s report, the greatest activity is found in the lumber charters and a large number of ves- sels of the class that suits that trade are as busy as they can be with more tonnage wanted. FLORIDA SUNK THROUGH COLLISION. The wooden steamer Florida, 2,103 tons, built at Buf- falo in 1889 and chartered by the Lackawanna Line, was sunk on Thursday last through collision with the wooden steamer George W. Roby, 1,843 tons, built at West Bay City in 1889 and owned by the W. H. Mack estate, Cleve- land. The Florida was bound from Chicago for Buffalo ‘ithe a general cargo and the Roby was bound up light, having the schooner Becker in tow. At about 9 a. m.,:when between Presque Isle and Middle Island, the vessels: ex- changed passing signals, the weather being foggy, but be- fore their way could be stopped they collided, the Roby striking the Florida nearly amidships on. the starboard. side, when the latter vssel sunk in from 30 to 40 fathoms within a few minutes. The Roby rescued the crew of the sinking vessel and returned to Port Huron, where after repairs were made to her stem, she was ready for business again. The Florida was valued at $100,000; insured for $80,000 with the new syndicate at Chicago; estimated value of cargo $60,000. About $5,000 will cover the damage to the Roby; insured with lake companies through Smith, Davis & Co., Buffalo, the policy also containing the usual col- lision clause. SS ee AUTOMATIC RELEASING HOOKS. Capt. James R. Raymond, manager of the Standard Automatic Releasing Hook Co., an appliance for the low- er block of boat davit tackles, has just received a very com- plimentary testimonial of the efficiency of the patent hooks from Capt. H. C. Daggett, master of the City of Augusta, owned by the New England & Savannah Steamship Co. It appears that the Mallory Line steamer Leona re- cently took fire at sea, the City of Augusta sighting her, bore down and on lowering her boats to rescue the _Pas- sengers, found the automatic releasing hooks to work like a charm, while on the other hand the Leona, fitted with the old-fashioned purchase, had much difficulty in getting her boats clear of the davit tackles. After this practical demonstration of the efficiency of the Standard Automatic releasing hook, it is not improbable that the Mallory Line will have their boats equipped with the device, which rendered such worthy service to their burn- ing steamer. Among scores of others, in addition to the siiGial gov- ernment departments, Capt. Daggett highly recommends the patent automatic hooks, his boats being fully equipped with them,