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10 DEVOTED TO NAVIGATION, COMMERCE, ENGINEERING ; AND SCIENCE. ESTABLISHED 1878. PusLIsHED Every THURSDAY BY THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO. Incorporated. Be Ie RAGIN co bois civic eisisa cies + Ss v= eles siaveye -Manager Capt. Jonn SWAINSON.......... Joana ies ootiniees HGItOr CLEVELAND, CHICAGO. Vestern Reserve Building. Royal Insurance Building. OSU SS eee eee ee ee ee SUBSCRIPTION. One copy, one vear, postage paid.........-..+++++se: $2.00 One copy, one year, to foreign countries........-.-. . $3.00 Invariably in advance. ADVERTISING. Rates given on application. EE ee ee All communications should Re addressed to the Cleveland office, THE MARINE RECORD PUBLISHING CO; Western Reserve Building, Cleveland, O. Entered at Cleveland Postofiice as second-class mail matter. No attention is paid to anonymous communications, but the wishes of contributors as to the use of their names will be scrupulously regarded. CLEVELAND, O., MAY 22, 1902. UNITED ST4TES—BRITISH SHIPPING. With the consolidation, or merging of the several trans- Atlantic shipping lines, and the unparalleled activity in the shipbuilding interests of the United States, the impres- sion may become a popular fallacy that we are bounding away ahead of all maritime powers in both naval and mer- cantile ownership and construction. Such, however, is not the case, for, if we but give a passing attention to the tonnage of our most formidable rival (the United King- dom) it will be found from comparisons that we have a few decades of still greater activity in the shipbuilding and shipowning industry to go before we can equal the work now being done by the British. In the last annual report of the Commissioners of Navi- gation, June 30, 1900, the total lake tonnage is given as 1,565,587 gross tons, and a total of 3,167 bottoms. This shows a mean of 404 tons to each craft. From figures now before us, it is learned that on the 31st of December, 1900, the Glasgow owned tonnage amounted to 1,582,229 net tons carried in 1605 bottoms, having a mean tonnage of 986, or in other words, 1562 vessels less than all kinds of documented vessels on the lakes, and carrying an excess’ of 15,642 tons, also with the difference of gross tons given for the lakes and net tons for Glasgow. Now, to carry these figures a little further, we may take the combined net tonnage owned in Liverpool, London, and Glasgow, as follows: Liverpool 2,091 vessels, of 2,328,474 tons, London 2,905 vessels of 1,716,616 tons, Glasgow 1,605 vessels of 1,582,229 tons, showing a total of 6,601 vessels of | 5,627,319 tons, or a surplus of 462,480 tons over the entire merchant marine of the United States, which is placed at 23,333. vessels having a gross tonnage of 5,164,830, or a mean of 221 tons as against a mean of 853 tons for the ports of Liverpool, London and Glasgow. The Liverpool owned tonnage of 2,091 vessels having a mean tonnage of 1,113. Glasgow 1605 vessels of 924 tons, and London 2,905 vessels of 501 tons. . Should we take the gross tonnage owned on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined, we find that it only exceeds the net tonnage of Liverpool by 399,418 tons, and, in taking the three divisions of Pacific coast, lakes and western rivers combined, the aggregate gross tonnage is only in excess of that owned in Liverpool by 96,781, reckoning net tons for the latter port. THE MARINE RECORD. MAy 22, 1902 eee ee a yer wo5ouowr°r WRECK CCURT OF INQUIRY. he Recorp has persistently, and we also hope consist- ently, advocated the adoption of rules governing inquiries cn wrecks, collisions, strandings and other casualties of an extensive nature, involving loss of life or property. As a tule, vessels go poking ashore here and there, and time after time, without any apparent cause or effort being made to place them there, unless the action of the screw or side-wheel is taken into account. We are prone te admit that some slight advance has been made in this matter during the past year or two, by the local inspectors of steamboats, but they seem to have been unwilling actors, forced into an unenjoyable position and kept keyed up to the inquiry point solely through the voice of popular clamor or intense local feeling. Judging from the lack of results where a so-called wreck or casualty inquiry has taken place, as also from the numercus cases passed over, or slighted, it would ap- pear as if this portion of the duties of local inspectors of steamboats ought to be placed in other hands. The local inspectors inspect a steamer’s equipment and issue licenses to officers after they undergo a voluntary, competitive examination, their duties are varied and multitudinous, such as they are, but that they should be loaded down to carry out judiciously, judicial decisions involving frequently, as they do, their own previous acts and judgment, requires a procedure, and capability, that by training and educa- tion they are totally unfitted for. In a word, there is quite a step from the tar pot or fire hold, to donning the judicial ermine. The question, therefore, rests. nominally. or eventually and altogether with the Secretary of the Treasury, for whether it is taken up by the Commissioner of Navigation, or the Supervising Inspection General of the Steamboat Inspection Service through his board of Supervising Inspectors in annual session assembled, or other- wise, every change of any moment requires the con- sent and signature of the Secretary of the Treasury irrespec- tive of the origin or author of a desired or required change or innovation bearing upon former rules, custom or practice. Considering the foregoing views, it is quite within the province of the Martneé Recorp, in seeking the welfare of a majority of the lake marine and kindred interests, to point out the present lack of important information which might be brought forward through the medium of a prop- erly constituted “Wreck Court of Inquiry.” We may safely leave for further premeditation and dis- cussion, the personnel of such a Court, letting our argu- ment suffice for the moment, by stating that the lack of wreck inquiries on the lakes is fast sapping away the last vestige of technical skill and ability so needful for the creditable up-bringing of the present and coming genera- tion. As a more lucid method of stating our advocacy in this connection, we may take a case in point regarding a stranded vessel, and, after the full evidence has been offer- ed, permit the Court to submit to the experts (nautical as- sessors) a series of questions, more or less, and according to circumstances similar to the following. 1. What number of compasses had the vessel; were they in good order and sufficient for the safe navigation of the vessel? 2. Were proper measures -taken to ascertain and verify the position of the vessel at or about ; and from date); and was a safe and proper course thereafter steered; and was due and proper allowance made for current or leeway? 3. Were proper measures taken to ascertain and. verify the position of the vessel at or about 3; was a safe and proper alteration then made in the course; and was due and proper allowance made for currents or devi- ation and leeway? 4. Were proper measures taken to ascertain and verify the position of the vessel at or about ; and from time to time thereafter? 5. Was a safe and proper alteration made in the course at or about (give hour and date), and was due and proper allowance made for any aberration in the audibility of sound signals in fog? 6. Was the lead used with sufficeint care and frequency previous to stranding? ; 7. Was a good and proper lookout kept? 8. Where did the vessel strand, and was she seriously damaged through such strandings? : 9. What was the cause of the casualty? 10. Was the vessel navigated with proper and seaman- like care? 11, Was serious damage to the vessel caused by the wrongful act or default of the master, pilot, second officer, or any of them? A series of questions so altered as to suit the occasion is equally applicable in the case of collision, loss by, fire, abandonment, loss of life or other casualty entering, into, the circumstances of the case. Rae We venture to afarm that with clear, concise, intellig- gent answers to the foregoing interrogatories, there would be less strandings on the north shore of Lake Superior and elsewhere. : ans Shipbuilders are not averse to taking in hand a good. heavy job of hull repairs, even to an entire re-construction of the original if so desired. Underwriters, if we are to believe some of the experts, rather glory in a big whole- some general average claim as being a conspicuously ad- vantageous advertisement for their, business, and rightly so, too, for when there are no losses there are no claims but numerous losses calls for more policies and premiums, and needless to state the latter stage is preferable to the former. We have endeavored to convey in the foregoing, the primal fact, born of sheer necessity in the requirement of the times, viz. that the lakes ought to have a properly constituted Wreck Court of Inauiry,” and as common parlance would have it, the question regarding the person- nel of such a Court is up to the Secretary of the Treas- ury. —— $e ee Messrs. C. S. Swan & Hun’ter, Newcastle, Eng. have launched a pontoon, which is intended for the British naval station at Bermuda. It measures 545 feet over all, with an inside width of 100 feet, while its -lifting power is 17,500 tons, so that it will dry-dock the largest war vessel in the British North Atlantic squadron. The dock it will replace was built in 1869, and has a length of 381 feet, an inside width of 84 feet and a lifting power of 8,000 tons. ‘This new dock is larger than the Havanna and Stettin docks, of which so much was heard when they were built. Needless to say the towage of so large and weighty a structure across the Atlantic will be no easy task, though the pontcon will be made as ship-shape as possible for the trip. AYvTENTION is called to the Treasury Decision regarding the carrying of lights gn naphtha Jaunches contained in the current issue of the Rrcorp. Tue Custom Housr rummager and searcher is no longer authorized to manhandle trunks, parcels and contents like a railroad baggage smasher. Hon. Leslie M. Shaw, Secre- tary of the Treasury, scotched an abuse right there and we trust that his instructions will be followed out to the letter. Ordinary every day baggage searchers had be- come too autocratic and were fast bringing that portion of the Customs service into disrepute, ridicule and general disfavor of departmental practice. 2. __ AN INCENIOUS diagram is published by the American Lumberman, showing the sawed lumber product of the states and territories of the United States during 1899, as compiled from the preliminary report of the census of 1900, and also the value of the product in millions of dol- lars. Wisconsin comes first with a production of 3,400,- 000,000 feet of sawed lumber, valued at $41,000,000. ‘The. second on the list is Michigan, with a production of 3,000,- 000,000 feet, valued at $36,000,000. Minnesota and Penn- sylvania are practically tied for third place, with a slight advantage in favor of Minnesota, whose production is given at 2,300,000,000 feet, valued at $29,000,000. ‘These are the leading states in the lumber business, and there is a long gap between Pennsylvania and the fifth state, Arkansas, whose product was 1,600,000,000 feet, valued at $17,000,000. —_— ar oo Ture American Bureau of Shipping occupies in the United States, the same position which the Lloyds hold in: England. This company, which is the standard American company, classifies and registers shipping. ~ A yearly book is published by this firm and is known as the “Record of _ American & Foreign Shipping.” It is indispensable in all shipping offices. ‘The bureau supervises the construction of new vessels, approves plans and issues certificates which enables vessels to insure cargoes at the lowest rates. Of — American classification societies it is by far the greatest.