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Jury 20, 1899. LLOYD'S REGISTER SHIPBUILDING RETURNS. (For the Quarter ended June 30, 1899. ) From the returns compiled by Lloyd’s Register of Ship- ping, it appears that, excluding warships, there were 568 vessels of 1,386,367 tons gross under construction in the United Kingdom at the close of the quarter ended June 30, 1899. Theparticulars of the vessels in question are as fol- lows, similar details being given for the corresponding period in 1898 for the purpose of comparison : June 30, 1859. June 30, 1898. DESCRIPTION. No. |Gross Tonnage} No. |Gross Tonnage STEAM Sha al A a eee aa 482 | 1,372,166 | 507 1,311,402 MIRON cciis sc ses ts se 58 10,619 52 8,665 Wood and composite.:| I 100 3 214 Motali sects Se tek 541 | 1,382,885 | 562 1,320,281 SAIL, RECON ise ee ies es H 1,176 2 340 OM peer aie es a etose ere Been eee anand Ss serie ein a stacanc ~ Wood and ‘composite. . 20 2,306 16 1,447 PROLAL rc bon sok sce 27 3,482 18 1,787 Total steam and sail. 568 | 1,386,367 | 580 t: 322,068 The present returns show very little falling off from the unprecedently high figures which were reported at the end of 1898. The decrease amounts to about 15,000 tons, or little more than 1 per cent. of the work then in hand. Of the vessels under construction in the United Kingdom at the end of June, 486 of 1,089,851 tons are under the supervision of the surveyors of Lloyd’s Register with a view to classification by the society. In addition, 52 vessels of 146,272 tons are building abroad with a view to classifica- tion. The total building at the present time under the supervision of Lloyd’s Register is, thus, 538 vessels of 1,236,123 tons. Details of this total follow : Gross No. Tonnage. Building in the United Kingdom for home account, for sale, etc. .....-...+....--- 431 971,413 Building in the United ea a for foreign andcolonial accounts. ..% (ee. oaks 55 118,438 Building abroad.......-....-.... 52 146,272 Total building on June 30 for classification per in Lloyd’s Register Book.......... ..... 538 1,236,123 OTHER DETAILS. (WARSHIPS EXCLUDED). The following details concerning the shipbuilding work of the United Kingdom during the past three months may be added : Steam. Sail. DURING pleases ENDED aie oe meee Gross Gross No. Tonnage No. Tonnage Vessels commenced ......... 168 | 345,719] 7 730 Vessels previously commenced, } but on which no further prog- ress has been made... ..... 5 800} 3 215 Vessels launched........ .... |185 | 340,009} 6 933 ' The British warships under construction in the United Kingdom show that 18 vessels of 166,970 tons displacement are building at the Royal dockyards and 4o warships of 450,200 tons displacement are building at private yards. For foreign account, 27 warships of 101,875 tons displace- ment are under construction at British shipyards, making a total of 67 vessels of 285,105 tons being built in private yards and an aggregate of 85 vessels of 452,075 tons dis- placement at all yards. a oe own . HEROISM IN SHIPWRECK. _ In the terrible story of the sinking of the great British warship Victoria, the only gleam of brightness is the hero- ism displayed by members of the doomed vessel’s crew. It is always inspiring to read how brave men face death. “The newspaper dispatches told us that the Victoria’s sailors maintained rigid discipline up to the moment when their _ ship sank into the deep Mediterranean. Even after they had been ordered to save themselves they persisted in their attempt to fix the ‘collision mat’’ over the huge breach in ~ the vessel’s side. Their commander set them a noble exam- ple. When it became evident that nothing could be done x to save the ship, he stood motionless and with folded arms THE MARINE RECORD at his post on the bridge. A seaman ran up with a life belt and offered it to him, but the officer would not permit the sailor to sacrifice his life, and told him to seek his own safety. Admiral Tryon’s heroism recalls that of Captain Craven of the Tecumseh in our own civil war. The Tecumseh was one of the monitors that took part in Farragut’s famous fight in Mobile Bay. As she entered the harbor where the enemy’s fleet was waiting to receive the attack, there was an explosion under her quarter, She had struck a submarine mine, The captain was with the pilot when he felt the shock. He knew what it meant. There was little chance of escape from a monitor floating almost submerged. He ran to the narrow door of the pilot-house; so did the pilot. There was not room for two to pass through. Captain Craven drew back, saying; “After you, pilot.’’ It meant only the difference of a moment, but it was the moment between life and death. The pilot passed through and was saved. The captain went down with his ship. or oo oo FUELING PORTS. Except in the Pacific, supplies of coal are now scattered so widely over the world that usually a vessel requires only a few days’ sailing or steaming to reach some port where she may replenish her bunkers. Suppose, for instance, that one MR. ROBERT LOGAN, CLEVELAND. Consulting engineer and expert in vessel construction. The majority of steel vessels built on the lakes during the past several years have been under his supervision. Also one of the appraisers of the shipyards, plants and dry docks for the consolidation of interests now known as The American Ship Building Co., superintendent of construction for the fleet of 500-foot steel steamers now being built, etc. of our steam whalers in the Arctic, after a season north of Behring Strait should run short of coal she has only to go south as far as Unalaska, inthe Aleutian Archipelago, to buy all she needs. Outside of Europe coal is specially kept for sale to steamers at eight ports on the north coast of Africa; at thirteen ports of West Africa, including the Cape Verde Islands and the Canaries; at fourteen ports along the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea: at twenty-four ports of the West Indies; at twenty-two ports of North America, as far south as the Gulf of Mexico; at five islands of the Atlantic; atnine ports of East Africa; at eighteen ports of South Asia; at six islands of the Indian Ocean; at twenty-six ports of the East Indies and Philippines; at fourteen ports of theeast Asian coast; at five ports of Japan, Sachalin and Kamschatka; at ten ports of Australia; at seven ports of New Zealand; at nineteen ports on the west of North Ameriea; at ten ports on the west coast of South America; at Honolulu and Hilo in the north Pacific, and at four islands in the south Pacific. NOTES. AN abstract of traffic kept’ by the lightships at the entrance to Liverpool, England, showed a total number of passages of 42,928 for the year ended April 1895. ‘The full average daily traffic in and out of the port of Liverpool for the entire year was 118 vessels. The total number of ves- sels passing Detroit during the season of 1898 was 22,004. THE immensity of the universe is aptly illustrated by Astronomer Newcomb in a current magazine. We refer to it because it is one of the most comprehensible illustrations that we have seen. He says that if an express train run- ning 60 miles an hour day and night without stopping kept it up for 350 years it would just about complete the diameter of the circle made by the earth in its yearly journey around the sun. Now let this immense circle be represented by a lady’s finger ring, and taking that as a standard of measure- ment, the nearest fixed star would be a mile distant and the furthest visible through the telescope at least 20 miles. THE first steamer built by the Cunard Company was the Britannia, which was launched February 5th 1840. She was built of wood, by Robert Duncan, at Port Glasgow, her length being 207 feet; beam 34%; depth, 22% feet; tonnage 1,156: Passengers carried, 115; cargo 224 tons. The engines, by Robert Napier, were side levers, with two cylinders, 72 in. diameter by 82 in. stroke of piston, driving paddle wheels 28% ft. diameter. Steam of 20 lb. pressure was pro- vided by four flue boilers with twelve furnaces, which con- sumed 30 tons of coal per diem. The speed of the vessel was 8% knots, with the engine developing 710 indicated horse power; coal consumption, over 5 lb. per indicated horse power; time in making voyage, fourteen days. THE rather startling statement comes from Europe that the signaling across the channel by Marconi’s apparatus may have caused shipwrecks. It is suggested that the Hertz waves as they pass through space may act on the compasses of vessels and cause the helmsman to alter his course unwittingly. A ship recently lost in the channel was so badly out of her course as to make her position diffi- cult to account for as being due solely to an error of the captain. The wreck took place just at the time when sig- nals were being sent from the coast of Calais with Marconi’s apparatus. It is stated also that the captain of the Ibis, a boat belonging to the French navy, made some observations with a view to determining what effect the signals had on his ship’s compass, and that he reached the conclusion that the effect was noticeable. Mr. PLUMSTEAD severely criticises the Arctic explorer, Dr. Nansen, in an article in the June number of the London Nautical Magazine. He asks the doctor to explain the fact that he wasin 95° E. and 89° 30’ E. at the same moment ; to reconcile the statements that at the same moment his chronometer was right, and yet 25 minutes wrong; and to explain the paradox that he was (by observation and dead reckoning) on, say August 13th, in 52° E,and that he began to look for Rawlinson Sound, which Payer had placed in 60° E., and not seeing it came to the conclusion that it did not exist. Mr. Plumstead contends that in the present day a very few miles of distance have an enormous importance in modern polar exploration. A few miles may constitute the difference between success and failure. In the Nansen expedition they constitute the difference be- tween the immortality of Nansen and that of the captain of the Fram. THE report of progress of ships building for the navy prepared by Admiral Hichborn, the chief constructor, shows that two battleships, Kearsarge and Kentucky, are within less than 10 per cent. of completion, and the Alabama, of another class, is but 2 per cent. behind, although contracted for one year later. The former ships are building at New- port News and the latter at Cramps, where the Maine is also under way, having been advanced 9 per cent. in the last few months when her first keel plates were laid down. The Illinois and Wisconsin, of the Alabama class, are progress- ing rapidly and each is due for service within a year. The Missouri and Ohio, authorized last summer, are just begin- ning to take shape. Little progress is reported on the four monitors which are just about begun. The large number of destroyers and torpedo boats building all indicate that the contractors are pushing ahead and will probably have the vessels delivered within the specified time. More of this class are on the stocks than the total number in service. The Chesapeake, the practice vessel, is practically com- pleted, while the submarine boat plunger, building at Balti- more, has apparently not advanced any in three years. es 4