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24 IMPORTANT ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF MANA- GERS OF THE LAKE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION. (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21.) lake, where the association is now maintaining private lights in Canada. The principal difficulty in securing addi- tional gas buoys has been the lack of lighthouse tender facilities on the lakes, and the committee has therefore taken up that matter with Senators Hanna and McMillan -in the hope that provision may be made at this session of Congress for an additional tender or supply vessel, and that in connection therewith a vessel may be temporarily char- tered by the lighthouse authorities so that the additional gas buoys may be provided and properly cared for before the completion of the new tender. The matter is receiving careful consideration, and the Committee on_Aids to Navi- gation expects, with the assistance of the Senators above named, to be successful in its efforts. : Early in the fall the Executive Committee of the asso- ciation held a meeting in Cleveland and adopted a resolu- tion requesting the Light-House Board to leave the aids to navigation in service as long as possible. The exceptional weather conditions that prevailed at the close of the season and the high freights combined to keep boats in commis- sion longer than usual. Most of the necessary lights, how- ever, were kept in operation until the fleet was generally in winter quarters. There were some exceptions to this, however, and some lights were removed when a large number of vessels were still coming down the lakes and when the weather conditions did not appear to necessitate haste in their removal. The question of putting lights out of commission in the fall of the year has long been a troublesome one to deal with, both from the government point of view and the point of view of the vessel owners. All that can be reported in this regard is a gradual im- provement, and the general disposition on the part of the officers in charge to*do the best in their power to meet the requirements of the vessels. In an editorial of Tue Marine Recorp of June 22d, 1899, the formation of a Great Lakes Shipwreck and Humane Society was urged for the purpose of recognizing and en- couraging acts of personal heroism in efforts to save life or property on the lakes. The President of the association has taken a lively interest in this question, and he suggests that the following action be taken by the association : That local committees at the different lake ports be or- ganized inside the association whose duty it will be to take notice of and investigate cases of personal heroism occur- ing in their distrets, such sob-commttees to report such cases to the Secretary of the association, and he in turn to submit them to the Committee on Legislation for decision as to whether or not application shall be made by the as- sociation to the United States Life Saving Service Depart- ment for the issue of gold or silver medals or bars, such as are granted by the United States government for acts of personal heroism in saving life. The President also suggests that the Committee on Leg- islation should prepare a form of engraved certificate, to be signed and sealed by the officers of the association and given together with the United States medal, presentation to be made in some suitable public way, preferably under _ the auspices of the sub-committee of the association orig- inating the investigation and reporting the case. It is believed that such public recognition of cases of ex- ceptional merit will encourage to save life and property subject to the hazards of navigation, with benefit to the en- tire service on the Great Lakes. In conclusion the Board of Managers congratulates the members of the association upon the prosperous condition of the association’s affairs, and the generally satisfactory conditions prevailing in the lake carrying business. It is particularly gratifying to note that the prosperity that has attended the lake trade during the past season, and which promises to continue during the coming season, has been widely distributed, so that the smaller as well as the larger vessels have alike enjoyed it. ; Respectfully submitted, BOARD OF MANAGERS, By Frank J. Firth, President. Charles H. Keep, Secretary. ——_— oo MARINE PATENTS. Patents on marine inventions issued January 9, 1900. Re- ported specially for the MarINK RECORD, complete copies of patents furnished at the rate of ten cents each. fae Dredging machine, J. H. Gray, San Francisco, al. 640,836. Ship’s rudder, T. V. Trew, London, England. 640,901. Wind and wave motor, R. KE. Hardaway, Austin, ‘ex. 640,946. Air-ejecting apparatus for vessels, Gustave Quanonne, Houden-Goegnies, Belgium. 640,982. Water motor, H. A. Wise, Luxora, Ark. selene. Life preserver, Henry Aylmer, Richmond, Can- magere: Sail fastening device, A. G. Rupfel, New Vork, 641,154. Steering apparatus, J. P. Serve, Caluire et Cuire, 641 180. Swimming apparatus Guerneville, Cal. hobs : __ 641,192. Steering mechanism, Jorgen Christensen, San Fancisco, Cal. ‘ J. S. Bartholomew, * THE MARINE RECORD. MARITIME PROGRESS OF GERMANY. (Special Consular report.) In the whole record of German progress and develop- ment during the past thirty years, no chapter is more strik- ing than that which describes the growth and improvement of its commercial marine, which now ranks second among European nations to that of Great Britain. The two larg- est, wealthiest, and most powerful steamship companies in the world are German and and are located at Hamburg and Bremen, and the whole merchant marine of Germany included, on January 1, 1898 (the date of the last published official statistics), 2,522 sailing vessels of 585,571 tons net measurement, manned by 14,162 sailors, and 1,171 seagoing steamers of 960,800 tons and crews numbering 28,266 men, a total of 3,603 seagoing vessels of 1,555,371 net tons and manned by 42,428 men. The process of development has been, here as elsewhere, an increase in the size of vessels, the elimination of sailing ships and their substitution by steam craft, and a steady decrease in the number of men employed in proportion to the tonnage under steam and sail. Thus, on January 1, 1871, the German merchant fleet included 4,372 sailing ves- sels with a tonnage of 900,301 and manned by 34,739 men. During the intervening twenty-nine years the sailing ves- sels fell away to the extent of 1,820 ships, 314,730 tons, and 20,577 men. Of the 2,552 sailing vessels now under the German flag, 1,986 are of wood; but they are mainly small, so that the remaining 566 modern steel and iron sailers comprise more than two-thirds of the entire tonnage of the sailing fleet. The whole seagoing steam merchant marine of Germany is of iron and steel and comprises a relatively large num ber of the largest, fastest, and most powerful steamships in the world. The growth of this branch of the merchant service has been almost phenomenal and vindicates the active and liberal governmental policy by which it has been fostered. In 1871, Germany had in her ocean service only 147 steamers, with a tonnage of 81,904 and 4,736 men, the average capacity of the ships being only 558 tons. The sta- tistics for 1898 show an increase of 1,024 steamers, 887,906 tons, and 23,530 men. The average tonnage per vessel increased from 558 to 828 and the average crew decreased from 32 men to 24. A forcible illustration of the growth and importance of the German merchant marine is furnished by the statistics of the single port of Hamburg. During the year 1808, there were in operation from that port 112 regular lines of steam- ers, of which 61 flew the German flag. These lines oper- ated 792 steamers, of which 495 were of German register. They made a total of 6,247 voyages and carried 4,500,000 tons of freight, as compared with 4,683 voyages and 3,500,- 000 tons carried in 1890. Germany has today 27 regular lines of steamships to European ports and 34 to the rest of the world—the Americas, Africa, Australasia, Asia, and every island of the sea that offers a present or promises a future trade with the Fatherland. Of the entire tonnage carried by these lines last year, 1,793,742 tons were for European ports and 2,663,407 tons were for countries out- side of Europe. The two greatest German steamship companies, viz., the North German Lloyd and the Hamburg-American com- pany, have their home ports respectively at Bremen and Hamburg. The North German Lloyd company was founded vith 3,000,000 florins capital in 1857, just ten years after the Washington had made the first steamship voyage from New York to the mouth of the Weser. The Lloyd has risen in forty-two years to a foremost position among all organi- zations of its class, with an active capital of more than 100,000,000 marks ($23,800,000) and 73 steamships in actual service which aggregate 237,550 h. p. and 266,138 gross tons register. At the head of this fleet stands the Kaiser Wil- helm der Grosse, with engines of 28,000 horse-power, 14,349 tons register, and the blue ribbon for speed in successive trans-Atlantic voyages. On the 25th of April last the company had under con- struction 10 steamships, of which 1, the Grosser Kurfurst, is of 12,500 tons, 4 others of 10,000 tons each, 3 of 7,500, and 2 of 5,000 tons each, the whole aggregating 51,000 h. p. A notable feature in the management of this company has been its readiness to spend large sums of money in keeping its fleet up to the highest standard of efficiency, sacrificing vessels while still capable of fairly good service, and replacing them with others of a larger, faster, costlier, and more modern type. Of its whole active fleet, only two JANUARY 18, I900 steamships remain which were in service in 1886. Since that time, the company has sold 26 steamers and built or bought 51. It carried in 1808, 161,963 passengers, of whom 114,268 were between Europe and North America. At the close of last year, the North German Lloyd had carried on transoceanic voyages 3,700,980 passengers, and during that one year transported 1,983,482 cubic meters of freight. Its principal lines are from Bremen direct to and from New York, Baltimore, Galveston, South America, eastern Asia (China and Japan), and Australia, besides a regular line between Genoa and New York. The company has sold during the past year three steam- ers—the Fulda, Havel, and Werra—which would have been considered first-class vessels five or six years ago, and re- jected the Kaiser Friedrich, a new vessel of 12,431 tons and 25,000 h. p., becattse she did not fulfill the contract speci- fications as to speed. The Hamburg-American Steamship Company was found- ed in 1847, with 465,000 marks ($106,950) capital, and began business with two large sailing ships, which in that year carried 168 passengers between Hamburg and New York. . For more than fifty years, the company has grown and de- veloped along the same lines as its great rival in Bremen, until at the beginning of 1897 it had in service 64 ocean steamers with 241,507 tons register and 164,255 indicated h. p. These included steamships like the Furst Bismarck, Normannia, Augusta Victoria, and Columbia, of more than 8,000 tons and up to 16,400 h. p., two of which were sold to Spain because they no longer fulfilled the requirements of the company’s trans-Atlantic service. At the same date (January, 1897). it had in construction 4 ships—the Pre- toria. Brasilia, Belgia, and Patricia—3 of 10,000 tons each and 1 of 13,500 tons, which have since been completed and put into service. Of all the vessels which carried the flag of the Hamburg-American ‘Company in 1886, but 3 were on its active list in 1806, and it had meanwhile lost 1 steamer, sold 32, and built or purchased 72. Its capital has grown to 78,000,000 marks ($18,564,000), and. together with the North German Lloyd, it controls more than one-half of the entire steam merchant fleet of Germany. During the period from 1830 to 1850, the wooden sailing vessels which constituted Germany’s merchant fleet were built mainly at shipyards on the Elbe, the Weser, and along the coast of the North Sea, all of which were at that time in a highly flourishing condition. In those days. master shipbuilders had usually taken a course of study at the © shipbuilding school in Copenhagen and served a subsequent apprenticeship in some American shipyard, where they studied the art of building those famous clipper ships which held the record for speed and weatherly qualities. Ham- burg and Bremen had meanwhile started private schools to teach young workmen the rudiments of ship construction, and about 1836, the Prussian government founded near Stettin a technical high school in which there was a pre- paratory course in higher mathematics and a full course of study in theory and ship construction. All this, however, related to wooden vessels, and the effect of such instruction was seen in the fine, large, clipper-built sailers that went out between 1850 and 1860 from Bremen and Hamburg, carrying the steadily growing throng of emigrants who swarmed to ‘those ports for passage to the United States— for it was the emigrant trade that laid the keels, so to speak, of the two great German steamship companies of today. Then came the period when Great Britain—which had first built ocean steamships—substituted iron for wood in shipbuilding and took the lead in the new era of construc- tion. Germany was handicapped in the start by want of re- sources and experience in iron working and still more by a general lack of confidence—even on part of German shipowners—that the ship yards of this country could turn out iron vessels comparable in quality and price with those produced by British constructors. The managers of the Lloyd and Hamburg companies shared this distrust, and down to as late a date as 1880, their steamers were practi- cally all built on the Clyde and the Mersey. aes ee just before the mem- pers vation Cae ee government had estab- tion and repair of oe ‘ om oa ieee eer to done almost ie f ae Lpeeee made it imperative for ‘ihe ss aes eS Ree a or the newly consolidated German a he ic quip a navy in its own shipyards and possible moment. The government yards