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a THE MARINE RECORD. AUGUST 22, I9O0I. nnn SHIPS REGISTER AND CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES.* Although societies for the classification of vessels as at present constituted are of comparatively modern origin, it is safe to assume that marine insurance clubs of a local character existed in very early days. We read that the Romans, in A. D. 533, passed a law restricting the rate of usury to 6 per cent, but made a special exemption in favor of nautical insurance. The Italian republics in the Middle Ages regulated by law the depth beyond which vessels should not be loaded, and Shakespeare points out the ne- cessity of insurance in the “Merchant of Venice,” where Bassanio exclaims: “Hath all his ventures failed? From Tripolis, from Mexico, and England, From Lisbon, Barbary, and India? And not one vessel scape the dreadful touch, Of merchant marring rocks?” The earliest vessel of which we have any written record is the Ark. This vessel is stated to have been a three- decker, strongly built of gophir wood. The principal di- mensions reduced to English measurement show that she was of about 130,000 cubic. feet capacity, tonnage about 18,000.0n 27 ft. draught. No means of propulsion were provided, and consequently she does not come within the scope of this paper, except as showing how very meagre is our information regarding the ships built in the early ages of the world’s history. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to suppose that at a subsequent date, trading nations with a degree Chinese, Greeks, Pheenicians, etc., would have not only staunch vessels, but some means of guarding them- selves against the risks of maritime enterprise, whilst people of a more warlike temperament, such as the Vikings, would naturally dispense with all schemes which might tend to check their freedom to seize by force that which they might not have obtained by barter. As: far as can be ascertained locally, the Chinese have had a system of private insurance in, vogue from time im- memorial. -Only about ten years ago there died at Canton - one Wong Tak Sing, who acquired great riches by insur- ing junks. He was a native of Amoy, and owned about fifteen vessels, but took risks on others according to’ his discretion. He knew the Formosa Channel, knew the strength and quality of the junks he had to deal with, and knew the pilots in charge. His rates varied accordingly : For Formosa, were often 35 per cent for the voyage; to Amoy or Swatow at the same season 25 per cent, the ships and ‘crews assumed to be equal. ‘Another underwriter of the same type was Lam Wei Yuen, of Formosa, who is said to have died worth five million dollars, all made by insuring native craft. j The invasion of the steamship and opening of ports in China have improved away the old styles of individual or mutual insurance, and we now have the Chi-On, the Yee- On, the Man-On, the Po-On, and other societies, which take risks on native craft on lines more or less copied from the methods of foreign companies. Reverting to European history, when the practice of in- suring ships and their cargoes became prevalent, the ne- cessity naturally arose of adopting means to ascertain whether the vessels were seaworthy. No doubt in the early’ period each venture was taken on its own merits. Underwriters would know something of their local craft, their owners, captains, and crews, and the rate would be adjusted in a manner similar to the Chinese cases already cited. But with the expansion of the world’s commerce, a more general system of collecting information regarding ships became a necessity. ‘In the 17th century, there existed in London a number of coffee houses which were resorts of captdins and others interested in shipping, where they used to meet to discuss business, atrange freight, and so forth. One favorite house was owned or managed by a Mr. Edward Lloyd, and to him occurred the idea of compiling a Shipping and Commercial Chronicle for the use and benefit of those subscribing. This was founded in 1696. After a run of a few months, it was discontinued; but was subsequently resuscitated under the name of Lloyd’s List, and continues to the present day, being the second oldest newspaper in éxistence. The Lists as pub- lished gave the age and build of vessels, voyage engaged in, *From a paper read before the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders of Hong-Kong by W. G. Winterburn, managing director, Victoria’ Foundry, Hong-Kong. name of owner and captain, and other information useful for the guidance of insurers and merchants. Surveyors were appointed, and each vessel inspected was given a class according to her qualities, which was donated by Roman capital letters. When, therefore, the particulars. of any vessel. were required it was only necessary to turn to Lloyd’s List instead of making individual inquiries as hith- erto. The advantages to a vessel of having the magic letters after her name being so apparent, applications for survey became more and more numerous, and in 1770. the- principal and underwriters and brokers, who had: for so long made Lloyd’s Coffee House their meeting place, found it necessary to form themselves into an association, bound together by some system of membership. This was the nucleus: of the great organization known as Lloyd’s. The society from time to time extended its scope; intelligence agents were appointed and signal stations established all over the world, enabling vessels proceeding to any port to be reported as they passed certain points.: Business is thus facilitated, as for example, a tramp steamer loads grain in India, bound to Port Said for orders; at Port Said the captain recéives instructions to discharge at Rouen; she is signalled as having passed Malta, and at Gibraltar, where she takes in bunker coal, the destination is changed to, say, Dunkirk. But’ the cargo is again sold during the passage, and when the pilot comes on board at Dungeness he brings orders to proceed to Hull. This is only a suppositious case, but is one which often happens and illustrates the value to a merchant of being a member or subscriber to Lloyd’s. Lloyd’s Register is distinct from the above society, although it is an off-shoot from it. The underwriters published a Register of Shipping which was founded in 1760, being the immediate successor of the original Lloyd’s List, and in 1799 the merchants published a similar book. These were amalgamated in 1834, and the portly volume known as Lloyd’s Register is the outcome. This huge tome is a veritable encyclopedia of shipping intelligence. In it one can find particulars of almost every vessel afloat of over 100 tons. Information regarding all the principal docks and harbors; addresses of shipbuilders and marine engineers, with names and numbers of vessels they have built, their telegraphic address; and also that of shipowners, coal merchants, insurance agents, and others connected with shipping in all ports of the world; the signal letters for every known vessel and statistics of all kinds relating to the merchant navies of all nations. Besides this publication, Lloyd’s issue a Register of Yachts. This hand- some volume contains particulars of all yachts belonging to the recognized clubs; the names of vessel and owner, rat- ing, flag, builder, dimensions, rig, list of designers, and a beautiful series of colored illustrations of the flags of the Yacht Clubs, British and foreign, and the racing flags of the vessels.. There is still another book emanating from Lloyd’s, and to shipbuilders the most important of all. This is Lloyd’s Rules and Regulations, which is issued con- comitantly with the Register. This valuable work supplies tables and data whereby every part of a ship and its equip- ment may be calculated, so that the resultant vessel will satisfy the requirements of the insurance societies. When ships were first “classed,” age was the principal consideration taken into account. The merit of appreciat- ing how deceptive this principle was belongs to the Bureau Veritas, an association on similar lines to Lloyd’s, which came into existence at Antwerp in the year 1828, but ow- ing to the bombardment of that city, in 1832, its head- quarters were removed to Paris, where they are still lo- cated. This society got out tables of scantlings, and took cognizance of the quality of the materials, general upkeep, and other factors which were of as much, and perhaps more, importance than merely the age of the vessels. Num- erous other classification societies have since been estab- lished. These all belong to foreign countries, except the newest born, and their scope seems to be limited to vessels of their own nationality. The following is a list of all the principal societies and their headquarters: Lloyd’s Register Bureau Veritas Germanischer Lloyd Bremen. Norderlansche Vereeniging van Assuradeuren. Amsterdam. Norske Veritas Christiania. Record of American and Foreign Shipping ....New York. a Y Ce ee Repistro Italiano: rok ees Pes Gee BS, Genoa. Veritas pAnistnas Unganicoy Mise eaeal ieek oRies Gee, Trieste. British Corporations iio ene eo sexi pais hae oss ».. Glasgow. (CONTINUED IN NEXT ISSUE.) ADMIRAL. MELVILLE ON MODERN WARSHIPS. Rear Admiral Melville, Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, U. S. Navy, in reply to questions from the representative of the Army and Navy Journal, gives the following very clear and complete statement of his views on the’ subject of armor and armament and the equipment of modern war vessels with the triple screw system of mo- tive power. From time to time paragraphs have appeared in the daily prints crediting to him various opinions on this’ important problem, most of which were erroneous and none of them embodying his ideas in full. Hence the following, taken verbatim, is of exceptional value: i “What, in your judgment, Admiral, is the most impor- tant advance in naval construction that has been made dur- ing the past ten years?” - : “One of the most important advances, certainly in. im- proving the fighting qualities. of the warship, has been in the direction of securing a better arrangement and distri- bution of armor and armament, It is now recognized by all naval authorities that, with a given displacement of hull, the efficiency of the vessel will-be greatly influenced by the character and distribution of the battery and armor protec- tion. Upon this subject the members of the Board on Con- struction have held widely divergent views, and to reach. the best decision the Secretary of the Navy has sought the opinion of many naval experts. Numerous boards have been organized, to which the question has been referred, but al- most invariably it has been found that the Chief of the Bu- reau of Ordnance has been sustained in his original recom- mendation. It is because the question is ome that can be best comprehended in its fullness by a specialist who has made a’ study of the problem thatthe views of the ordnance expert have generally been followed, : “The same impelling reasons that have caused the De- partment to regard the Bureau of Ordnance as best qualified to determine this question of battery and armor, should be equally powerful’ in causing the Department to regard the Bureau of Steam Engineering as the primal authority in determining the best arrangement and distribution of the motive power. It is unreasonable to believe that the ma- rine engineer should not in many respects be the profes- sional expert best qualified to solve the problem of advan- tageously and efficiently distributing this power. Respon- sible as he is for the design, workmanship, care and oper- ation of the propelling engines, it is to be presumed that he has given most study and thought as to the manner in which the motive power should be installed and distributed. “Even before the attention of naval students had been called to the importance of securing an efficient distribu- tion of armor and armament, the question of the best ar- rangement and distribution of the motive power had been studied by distinguished naval architects and marine en- gineers.” ‘What is your opinion as to triple screw engines?” “The ‘utility of twin screws had been shown by the ma- rine engineer to be a necessity for constructive reasons be- fore the importance of the tactical advantages had eveu been thought of by the naval strategist. The standardiza- tion of auxiliaries had been urged for engineering reasons long before the necessity of doing so had been recommended by those who realized that speed construction of warships could be advanced and the efficiency of the engineer de- partment increased by using appliances that were of stand- ard pattern. , The passing of the Scotch boiler from the war- ship was apparent to the marine engineer long before its successor, the water tube type, was perfected and installed. “The necessity for triple screws became manifest to the marine engineer as he contemplated the fact that with each succeeding year a progressive demand arose for increased speed both in the battleship and in the armored cruiser. It must be admitted that structural reasons first caused at- tention to be directed to such a design for distributing the motive power. It was on account of structural reasons, also, that the first twin screws were installed in warships. Experience showed, however, that there were tactical ad- vantages in using two propellers. It is now quite signifi- cant that experiments with triple screw vessels in compar- ison with twin screw vessels of the German Navy have con- vinced the Admiralty of Berlin. that the tactical advantages in the case of triple screws are even greater than the structural. § ste »“It is my firm belief that the logical development of the design of naval machinery for high-powered vessels will” be in the direction of triple screw engines. Any hesitancy ? eA ig saponin yee PO ey