The next department, occupying the east _Modern shipbuilding and the men engaged in it

is that of shipbuilding. The shops of this department are fitted

up with all the newest machines for quick and efficient production

of work. It contains the largest graving dock on the coast, also

a very fine patent slip, fitted with hydraulic hauling gear. The

building slips are suitable for every kind of vessel up to 500 feet

in length, and are capable, with those in the Howdon branch of the

works on the opposite side of the river, of launching 70,000 tons

of shipping annually. There are nine building slips at Jarrow,

and six at Howdon. In the year 1882-83, June to June, 35 vessels

of the aggregate tonnage of 68,000 tons were built and delivered

to their owners. For transporting material throughout the works,

three steam travelling cranes and eleven locomotive engines are

employed. For discharging ore, two fixed and two travelling steam

cranes, also two hydraulic cranes, are in use. At the engine works

are sheer-legs 100 feet high, capable of lifting 100 tons—used for

lifting engines and boilers, and for masting the vessels.

The output of tonnage by Palmers’ Company for 1882 and that for

1883 were severally about double the amount turned out by any other

one firm in existence for these years. The following statement

of the yearly amount of tonnage turned out by the firm since the

commencement of iron shipbuilding on the Tyne in 1852, will be

interesting, as showing the gradual strides by which the firm have

risen from 920 tons thirty years ago to the wonderful return of

61,113 tons in 1883:—

+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+

+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+

| 1852, 920 | 1860, 4,653 | 1868, 15,842 | 1876, 8,635 |

| 1853, 3,539 | 1861, 4,751 | 1869, 11,900 | 1877, 16,235 |

| 1854, 7,469 | 1862, 21,493 | 1870, 26,129 | 1878, 23,470 |

| 1855, 5,169 | 1863, 17,096 | 1871, 19,267 | 1879, 36,080 |

| 1856, 7,531 | 1864, 22,896 | 1872, 12,810 | 1880, 38,117 |

| 1857, 6,816 | 1865, 31,111 | 1873, 21,017 | 1881, 50,192 |

| 1858, 7,625 | 1866, 18,973 | 1874, 25,057 | 1882, 60,379 |

| 1859, 11,804 | 1867, 16,555 | 1875, 15,819 | 1883, 61,113 |

+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+

The first screw-steamer built by the firm, namely, the “John

Bowes,” well known as the pioneer of water ballast steam colliers,

is still in existence, has recently had her engines renewed for the

third time, and is now busily employed in her customary service,

carrying coals from Newcastle to London.

The general manager of the gigantic works is Mr John Price,

formerly one of the surveyors and a leading spirit in the

Underwriter’s Registry for Iron Vessels. The following are the

other responsible officials:—Assistant general manager and manager

of rolling mills, Mr F. W. Stoker; secretary, Mr Hew Steele;

shipyard manager, Mr A. Adamson; engine works manager, Mr J. P.

Hall; blast furnaces manager, Mr P. A. Berkeley; blast furnaces

assistant manager, Mr H. T. Allison; mining engineer, Mr A. S.

Palmer.

SIR WM. ARMSTRONG, MITCHELL & CO.’S SHIPBUILDING WORKS,

LOW WALKER AND ELSWICK-ON-TYNE.

The Low Walker yard of this firm was commenced upwards of thirty

years ago by Messrs C. Mitchell & Co., who up to 1883 (when they

amalgamated with Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co., the notable firm of

engineers and artillerists), had built as many as 450 vessels, or

an average of 15 vessels per annum, the average tonnage produced

during the last ten years being 23,000 tons. The yard is situated

about four miles down the Tyne from Newcastle. It consists of

about fifteen acres of ground, and has nine launching berths, but

their arrangement is such that at times there have been as many as

fourteen vessels on the stocks. The establishment is laid out in a

most modern manner. The space occupied by the building slips has a

uniform gradient, and, being perfectly flat laterally, gives the

greatest facility in the movement of bogies. The yard is served by

two complete systems of railways, respectively on the 4 feet 8-in.

and 2 feet 3-in. gauge. The former is in connection with a siding

from the North Eastern Railway, whereby materials and goods can

be brought from all parts of the kingdom, and two locomotives are

constantly employed working the trucks into the yard, one of them

being of very special construction, on Brown’s patent principle,

manufactured by Messrs R. & W. Hawthorn, Newcastle. This locomotive

is combined with a steam crane, the jib of which acts as a lever

with fulcrum, thus dispensing with chains, and which readily swings

right round, depositing the plates on edge into racks arranged on

either side of the railway, from which they can be taken with great

facility by the workmen at the appropriate time.

The yard is divided in two by a building 250 feet long by 50 feet

wide, placed at right angles to the river, and which contains plate

furnaces, bolt-maker’s shop, plumber’s shop, rivet store, tool

stores, large bending rolls, straightening machine, and man-hole

punch, on the ground floor; and on the upper storey rigging loft,

sail loft, pattern stores, &c. Along the head of the building

berths in one half of the yard there is a line of machine shops

400 feet long by 70 feet wide, in one end of which are installed

frame furnaces, bending blocks, &c., as also a number of powerful

punching machines, planing machines, special machines for angle

cutting, and there has recently been added a powerful radial drill,

having four moveable arms arranged to drill holes in any part of

plate 16 feet by 4 feet without moving it. At the back of this

machine shop, and parallel with it, is a smith’s shop 180 feet

long by 50 feet wide, fitted up complete with steam hammers, &c.

For the other half of the yard there is a large building 200 feet

long, and of an average width of about 150 feet, which contains

furnace, with bending blocks, &c., several heavy punching machines,

planing machines, drilling and other machines; one portion about 80

feet by 60 feet being used as a fitting shop, containing powerful

lathes, radial, and other drilling machines on the ground floor,

and on the upper floor a lighter class of shaping, drilling, and

other machines. In this building are also constructed two drying

stoves, wherein the exhaust steam from the engine is used for

drying timber. At the upper end of this machine shop is another

blacksmiths’ shop 130 feet long by 50 feet wide, containing steam

hammer and drilling machines for special work. A separate building,

80 feet long by 50 feet, is used for the bending and welding of

beams, and is so placed that the beams can be lifted direct from

barges alongside quay, and laid in position, ready for use.

The smiths’, fitters’, and other similar shops are all conveniently

situated; and as the vessels lie alongside the quay to be finished

off after launching, the minimum of expense in this respect is

incurred. There are numerous steam cranes of 10 tons and under on

the quays for landing such portion of the material as comes by

water, and also to lift articles on board the vessels fitting out.

The sawmills, joiners’ shops, mould loft, &c., are situated at

the lower end of the yard, and the appliances for handling and

converting timber are most complete. The wood-cutting machinery

is very extensive, and embraces most of the newest labour-saving

machines. The establishment in full work employs 2,500 men, and has

turned out as much as 30,000 tons gross register of shipping in

a year, including almost every type of vessel for mercantile and

war purposes, which latter branch of work will now have a further

development since the amalgamation with the eminent gun-making firm

of Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co. For this purpose a new yard has been

laid out at Elswick, adjoining the Ordnance Works, which will be of

the most complete character.

The site of this new yard comprises about 20 acres, and at first

only half-a-dozen building berths will be laid out, but as the

frontage is about 2,000 feet, the number of these can be augmented

as required. The buildings already erected or in progress embrace

a brick built shop, 265 feet long by 60 feet wide, standing at the

western portion of the ground, and at right angles to the river.

This building is in three storeys, the lower portion being intended

for general stores, tool and rivet stores, fitting shop, &c.; the

second floor will be entirely used as a joiners’ shop, and fitted

up in the most complete manner with wood-working machinery of every

description. The upper floor will be used as a draughting loft and

model-room. Parallel to this building, and a little distance from

it, will be a blacksmith’s shop, 150 feet by 50 feet. Adjoining the

larger building above described, and at right angles to it, is the

office block, 120 feet by 45 feet. Along the head of the launching

berths stands a tool shed 420 feet long by 40 feet wide, containing

the ordinary punching, planing, drilling, and other shipbuilding

machines, all of the newest and most powerful type. Near the centre

of the site is a large shed 220 feet long, consisting of four

bays, each 50 feet wide, the whole carried on cast-iron columns,

which will comprise the plate and angle furnaces, bending blocks,

beam shop, angle smiths’ shop, plate rolls, large and small, also

keel plate bending machine, &c. The yard is served by a complete

system of railways, having a siding from the North Eastern Railway

Company’s system. Material can therefore be brought from all parts

of the kingdom and deposited in any part of the premises.

It is almost unnecessary further to give the particulars of

this establishment, suffice it to say that it is being laid out

on the experience gained up to date in existing shipyards, and

will therefore embrace the newest and most important tools in

all branches of work. The intention is that it shall be capable

of turning out every description of vessel up to the largest

iron-clad, and the construction of war vessels of all kinds will

be made a speciality, seeing that the Company can send them to sea

completely armed and equipped ready for service. Looking to the

magnitude of the establishment, it can be regarded as nothing less

than an arsenal, which in time of war would be invaluable to the

country. The present and prospective importance of this development

of the combined firms’ business may be inferred simply from the

fact of the services of so high an authority as Mr W. H. White,

late Chief Constructor of the Navy, having been secured as naval

adviser and manager.

DEPTFORD SHIPBUILDING YARD AND REPAIRING DOCKS, SUNDERLAND.

These works, established so far back as 1793, but greatly

transformed and extended to suit modern requirements, are owned

and presided over by Mr James Laing, son of Mr Philip Laing, their

founder. The yard consists of two general sections, situated one

on each side of the main road leading to the river Wear. One of

these, commonly termed the “Woodyard,” is where wood shipbuilding

was conducted in the early days, but which now of course, in common

with the other section, is used exclusively for iron shipbuilding.

The entire works, including offices, docks, brass foundry, and

other premises, cover an area of about thirty acres.

The yard embraces the various shops and sheds usually pertaining to

building operations in iron, such as iron-working sheds, smiths’

shop, joiners’ shop, upholsterers’ shop, bookmakers’ shop, &c.,

all well equipped with machine-tools and appliances, needful in

producing vessels for the most important shipping companies. The

two general sections of the yard are each worked by one compound

surface condensing engine, all machines being driven by belting

from main lines of shafting, no independent engines being fitted.

Scrive-boards, frame furnace, bending blocks, garboard bender,

and other machinery are fitted in each section. Gorman’s gas

furnaces are used for heating the material, and these, though

rather troublesome when first fitted, about twelve years ago, after

some alterations in the details, now give complete satisfaction,

and surpass in efficiency ordinary coal furnaces. The joiners’

shop is situated in the wood-yard, and the smith’s shop in the

other section. In the smith’s shop a separate engine is provided

to drive the blast, so that if it is desired the wood-yard can be

kept completely going without having the main engine in the other

section at work.

The berths of Deptford yard, have been occupied since the

commencement of iron shipbuilding there, over thirty years ago,

with vessels for home and foreign shipowners, amongst others for

such well known companies as the Peninsular and Oriental Company,

the Union Company, the Royal Mail Company, the West India and

Pacific Company, the Royal Netherlands Company, and the Hamburg

and South American Company. In 1882 the _Mexican_, of 4670 tons

gross measurement, the largest passenger vessel ever built on the

North-East Coast, and one of the finest of the Union Company’s

fleet of South African mail steamers, was launched from the stocks

of Deptford yard. Including the _Mexican_, the following is the

list of vessels launched by Mr Laing in the year named:—

Name. Material. Owners. Gross Tons.

S.S. Friary Iron, British, 2307

S.S. Mount Tabor do., do., 2302

S.S. Mexican do., do., 4669

S.S. Rhosina do., do., 2707

S.S. Govina do., do., 2221

S.S. Lero do., do., 2224

S.S. Dolcoath do., do., 1824

S.S. Ville de Strasbourg do., Foreign, 2372

S.S. Ville de Metz do., do., 2375

------

Total 23,004

At present Mr Laing is building his 301st iron vessel, which

represents the 460th vessel produced within the Deptford yard

since its commencement in 1793. The work presently on hand chiefly

consists of average size steam vessels, combining cargo-carrying

powers with high-class accommodation for passengers, several being

lighted throughout by electricity, and one being constructed of

steel, and having engines on the triple expansion principle.

Connected with the shipbuilding yard there are two graving docks

of 300 feet and 400 feet in length, one on each side of the river.

One of these is situated at the west side of the iron yard parallel

to the building berths, and therefore conveniently placed for

all kinds of alterations and repairs to vessels. This dock is

kept dry by means of pumps which act as circulating pumps for the

condensers of the yard engines. The pumps used for emptying

this dock, as well as the one on the other side of the river, after

a vessel has come in, are of the “Pulsometer” type of large size.

The capacity of these docks is such that in one year alone the

amount of shipping operated upon, either in the way of repairs,

alterations, or simple docking, has reached nearly 60,000 tons. A

large number of vessels have undergone the important process of

lengthening in these docks—a special and very important branch

of shipwork in which Mr Laing has been conspicuously successful.

The largest undertaking of this kind was the lengthening of the

Peninsular and Oriental Company’s screw-steamer _Poonah_ in 1874

from a length of 315 feet to that of 395, or an increase of 80

feet. The work was satisfactorily completed, and the results of

the vessel’s after-behaviour at sea were communicated, along with

an account of the work of lengthening, to the Institution of Naval

Architects by Mr Edwin De Russett, of the Peninsular and Oriental

Company, in 1877.

Adjacent to the shipyard are extensive brass and copper works,

employing about 300 hands, which, besides supplying all the brass

and plumber work required for vessels in the shipyard, undertake

similar work for other shipbuilders, also work for the Navy, such

as cast gun-metal rams and stern-posts for men-of-war, and brackets

for outer-bearings in twin-screws. All sorts of steam and other

fittings—Manchester goods—are also here manufactured and dispersed

to all parts of the world. Within the same premises are situated

the requisite machinery for effecting repairs to the engines and

boilers of vessels overhauled in the docks.

At present a large range of new Commercial and Drawing Offices

are being erected near the principal entrance to the yard. A

new joiner’s shop and sawmill will shortly be erected, and

other alterations in the internal economy of the shipyard are

contemplated. The new range of offices referred to, have a frontage

of about 300 feet, and comprise strong room for the preservation

of the firm’s books, drawings, &c.; model-room, 40 feet in length;

foremen’s room, 40 feet by 30 feet; general office, 42 feet by

41 feet; private offices for Mr Laing & Sons; drawing office, 45

feet by 40 feet; moulding loft, 78 feet by 40 feet; model-making

room, &c. An additional and somewhat noteworthy feature in the

new buildings will be a large dining hall for the use of those

workmen who have their meals brought to them at the yard. Also, a

commodious gymnasium for the benefit of the youth in the employ.

These are, in addition to the large “British Workman” already in

existence, built by Mr Laing for the use of his employés, and

for others who care to subscribe. This institution, comprising

dining room, game rooms, smoking room and library, is managed by a

committee of the employés, and is self-supporting, a contribution

of only one half-penny per week being the qualification for

membership, admitting subscriber to all the benefits of the

institution.

THE WORKS OF THE BARROW SHIPBUILDING COMPANY (LIMITED).

The Barrow Shipbuilding Company, Limited, was promoted in 1876 by

several gentlemen in Barrow connected with the Furness Railway,

the Docks, and Steel Works, chief among whom was Mr Ramsden (now

Sir James Ramsden) then managing director of the Furness Railway,

Mayor of Barrow, and leading spirit in its development generally.

The Duke of Devonshire, the largest proprietor in the district and

in the other public works mentioned, became the largest shareholder

and the chairman of the new shipbuilding company, which was then

formally constituted, with Mr Robert Duncan, shipbuilder of

Port-Glasgow, as managing director. Mr Duncan designed the whole

arrangement of the works as they now stand, and continued to act as

managing director till 1875, when he resigned, and was succeeded

by Sir James Ramsden, with Mr James Humphreys as manager, which

position the latter held till 1880, when he was succeeded by Mr

William John, of Lloyd’s Register, to whose talent as a naval

architect some tribute has been elsewhere passed in this work.

The total area of the plot of land on which these works stand

is 58 acres, with two water frontages, each 1050 feet long, one

towards Walney Channel, into which the ships are launched, the

other towards the docks where the ships are fitted out. The

Walney Channel is sufficiently wide to allow of the launching of

the largest vessels without risk, and the site is altogether an

exceptionably favourable one. The shipbuilding is carried on in

that part of the yard adjoining the Walney Channel, being divided

from the engine works by a road, under which is a sub-way, which

affords the required communication between the two departments.

Entering the shipbuilding department by the main gate-way in

this dividing road the visitor finds himself in a large square,

formed by substantial buildings; to the left hand on entering,

are the offices, and to the right some of the smaller shops. The

opposite side of the square is occupied by the machine shed and

smiths’ shops, whilst on the right-hand side of the square are

the frame-bending shed, and on the left the joiners’ shop and the

sawmill. Passing through the offices upstairs, the visitor enters

a very fine drawing office and model-room, 100 feet by 50 feet, in

which an efficient staff of designers are engaged. On the ground

floor are the counting-house, officials’ rooms, &c., and beyond

these the stores for the supply of everything required in building

and outfitting ships and machinery. From the stores, or by the

outside square, the moulding loft, 250 feet by 50 feet, is reached,

of which the joiners’ shop is a continuation. This department is

300 feet long by 60 feet wide, and is fitted with every modern

appliance in the way of tools to facilitate work. At the back of

this shop is an immense room, 600 ft. by 60 ft., occupied by a

sawmill, and used also for spar-making, boat-building, and rigging.

Above these rooms, in continuation of the drawing office and

model-room, from which it may be entered, is the cabinet-making

department, which necessarily requires a large amount of space in

an establishment where passenger and emigrant ships of the largest

types are equipped ready for sea. The iron-working machine shed,

360 ft. by 100 ft., and the frame-bending shed, 300 ft. by 180

ft., follow in order, occupying the whole of one, and most of the

other side of the square above described. Both of these sections

are fully equipped with the machinery necessary for the rapid

manipulation of material. The smiths’ shop, 200 ft. by 120 ft.,

contains one hundred fires and seven steam hammers, the former

being blown by a Schiele fan. Attached to the smiths’ shop are

shops for fitting smith-work and for galvanizing. All these shops

and sheds occupy less than one-third of the ground devoted to the

shipbuilding department.

Beyond the machine shop are the slip-ways, twelve in number, where

vessels of an aggregate tonnage of 40,000 tons have frequently

been seen at one time in various stages of construction. On these

slip-ways have been built the well-known mail steamer _City of

Rome_ and the steamship _Normandie_, the largest vessel of the

French mail service. Here also were built for the Anchor Line the

_Anchoria_, the _Devonia_, the _Circassia_, and the _Furnessia_;

for the Ducal Line, the _Duke of Devonshire_, the _Duke of

Buccleuch_, the _Duke of Lancaster_, the _Duke of Buckingham_, and

the _Duke of Westminster_. From these slip-ways also emanated the

_Ganges_ and the _Sutlej_ for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam

Navigation Company as well as the _Eden_ and the _Esk_ for the

Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. For the Isle of Man Steam Packet

Company, the _Ben my Chree_, the _Fenella_, and the _Peveril_.

For the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belge Américaine, the

s.s. _Belgenland_ and _Rhyhland_. For the Castle Line, the s.s.

_Pembroke Castle_, and for the Société Générale de Transports

Maritimes à Vapeur of Marseilles, the s.s. _Navarre_ and _Bearn_.

Here were also produced the _Kow Shing_ for the Indo-China Steam

Navigation Company, and the _Takapuna_ for the Union Steamship

Company of New Zealand, besides many other vessels well known

to the mercantile world. For the Admiralty this yard has turned

out seven gun-boats, namely, the _Foxhound_, the _Forward_, the

_Grappler_, the _Wrangler_, the _Wasp_, the _Banterer_, and the

_Espoir_, as well as four torpedo mooring ships.

Leaving the shipbuilding department, the visitor passes through

the afore-mentioned sub-way to the engine works, which occupies an

area of ground equal to that of the shipyard proper. To the left

may be noticed the coppersmith’s shop, the brass foundry, and the

engineer’s smithy. The Foundry has seven ordinary pot furnaces, and

one large reverberatory air furnace for castings of the heaviest

class. The smithy is well fitted up with hammers suitable for the

work. On the opposite side of the ground are two buildings, the

one to the left containing the iron foundry and boiler shop. The

foundry, 250 ft. by 150 ft., provided with overhead travellers,

is capable of turning out the largest castings required for the

monster marine engines of the present day. The boiler shop is

the same size, and possesses the most modern contrivances for

the skilful and economical execution of work, and it contains a

complete equipment of hydraulic riveting machines, both fixed and

portable, the largest having a gap of 10 feet and a pressure of

90-lbs.

In the space between the boiler shop and the machine shop there

are situated a well-arranged furnace for heating, and the vertical

rolls for bending the large plates forming the shells of the marine

boilers. In the furnace just mentioned the plates are heated

while standing on their edge, and as the top of the furnace is

level with the ground, they are readily lifted out by a portable

crane and deposited on the bed-plate adjoining the vertical

rolls. In this vacant space is also situated the water tower for

the accumulator for the 100-ton crane, constructed by Sir Wm. G.

Armstrong and erected at the side of the Devonshire Dock, where the

machinery is placed on board and fixed for new ships.

The engine shop, although 420 ft. long by 100 ft. wide, is scarcely

large enough for the pressure of work oftentimes concentrated

there. This shop is unsurpassed in the completeness of its fittings

and the perfection of its tools. It, like most of the other shops

in the establishment, is fitted up with the electric light.

* * * * *

The foregoing descriptive notes of individual yards may fittingly

be supplemented by the following table, which shows the number and

relative positions of firms throughout all the districts whose total

output of tonnage during the year 1883 exceeded 20,000 tons:—

+------------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------+

+------------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------+

| 1. Palmer Shipbuilding Co. | Tyne | 36 | 61,113 |

| 2. John Elder & Co. | Clyde | 13 | 40,115 |

| 3. Wm. Gray & Co. | Hartlepool | 21 | 37,597 |

| 4. Oswald, Mordaunt & Co. | Southampton | 15 | 33,981 |

| 5. Raylton, Dixon & Co. | Tees | 17 | 31,017 |

| 6. Harland & Wolff | Belfast | 13 | 30,714 |

| 7. Russell & Co. | Clyde | 28 | 30,610 |

| 8. Jos. L. Thomson & Sons | Wear | 16 | 30,520 |

| 9. Short Bros. | Wear | 14 | 25,531 |

| 10. R. Napier & Sons | Clyde | 6 | 23,877 |

| 11. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co.| Tyne | 17 | 23,584 |

| 12. A. Stephen & Sons | Clyde | 11 | 23,020 |

| 13. James Laing | Wear | 9 | 22,877 |

| 14. Pearse & Co. | Tees | 9 | 22,671 |

| 15. Wm. Denny & Bros. | Clyde | 10 | 22,240 |

| 16. Richardson, Duck & Co. | Tees | 12 | 21,413 |

| 17. Edward Withy & Co. | Hartlepool | 12 | 21,197 |

| 18. Swan & Hunter | Tyne | 15 | 20,080 |

+------------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------+

CHAPTER VII.

OUTPUT OF TONNAGE IN THE PRINCIPAL DISTRICTS.

With the change from wood to iron shipbuilding, and with the

development of propulsion by steam instead of sails, the shipbuilding

industry has become localised and concentrated in those districts

which, besides possessing the _sine qua non_ of ready outlet to

the vast ocean, are specially favoured in being the repositories

of immense natural wealth in the form of coal and ores. What may

now fairly be considered the great centres of shipbuilding are the

valleys of the Clyde, Tyne, Wear, and Tees, and also the Thames and

Mersey, although these latter rivers have for a considerable number

of years been overshadowed as building centres by the immensity of

their shipping. In several other districts, of course, shipbuilding

is carried on to a considerable extent, and some of these may

yet attain much greater importance than they at present possess.

Barrow-in-Furness, notwithstanding the remarkable progress of recent

years, is still advancing. Belfast occupies a prominent position, not

alone because of the large annual output of tonnage, but by reason

of the number of high-class ocean steamships which have been, and

continue to be, built there. Dundee, Leith, Hull, Southampton, and

other places throughout the United Kingdom, are not without claims to

recognition on account of the shipbuilding carried on.

The supremacy of one shipbuilding centre over another in the matter

of work accomplished, both with regard to its character and its

quantity, not infrequently forms the subject of comment in the

columns of journals circulating in the districts concerned. The

publication, by these journals, at the close of each year, of the

returns of new tonnage produced by the various firms, affords an

opportunity for vaunting on such matters, and it is, as a rule, taken

advantage of by the compilers of the statements, who are usually

members of the staff on the journals in question. These statements,

through the interesting nature of the statistics they contain, are

widely read, and the labour attaching to their preparation must

indeed be considerable. The figures are, as a rule, supplied by

the shipbuilders themselves, and from a summation of these the

compiler draws his conclusions. The accuracy of the returns and the

fairness of the comments based upon them, if not always completely

satisfactory, are thus seen to be matters for which the compiler is

not wholly responsible.

Frequent exception has been taken by correspondents to discrepancies

in the tonnages of individual vessels given in these reports, as

compared with the tonnages measured by the Board of Trade officials,

and entered in their records. Attention was called to this matter

at the close of 1883 by a correspondent in _Engineering_, whose

assertions were afterwards corroborated in other journals. From

a careful checking of the returns made by the Glasgow press of

the shipbuilding on the Clyde for the three previous years this

correspondent maintained that the aggregate tonnage was overstated

to the extent of about 11,000 per year, or over 34,100 tons for the

period named. One very gross instance of the misstatement complained

of was given by a second correspondent writing to the _Glasgow

Herald_, who drew attention, along with the returns of other firms,

to that of a firm building the smaller class of vessels, who were

stated in the _Herald’s_ account to have produced 8,300 tons, when

by a careful comparison with the actual tonnages of the vessels as

recorded in Lloyd’s Register, their total output was found to fall

short of the figure given by as much as 2,172 tons, equivalent to 35

per cent. of the actual output. In commenting on these discrepancies

several obvious considerations suggested themselves to the critics:

such as possible misapprehension, caused by the existence of several

kinds of “tonnages,” and the difficulty of stating accurately the

tonnages of vessels recently launched. It was questioned, however,

after all such allowances were made, whether those furnishing the

figures could be exonerated from the sin of carelessness, or indeed,

of pure falsification with the view of figuring prominently in the

list. The accuracy of these criticisms has not in any way been

disproved, nor has any satisfactory explanation been offered.

While no attempt will here be made to solve the matter, it has been

felt that, in justice to the subject, these charges could not be

ignored when presenting statistics which are derived mainly from the

sources thus challenged. Indeed, in comparing for the present work

the statistics given by various journals—even in journals confined

to the same district—innumerable disparities have been met with, and

the agreement has only been _en grosse_. Such being the case, it may

be asked, could not other and more reliable sources be consulted?

The obvious alternative of using the authoritative returns of the

Board of Trade, or of Lloyd’s Register, at once suggests itself, but

objections to this are even more serious than to using the press

statistics. The returns issued annually by the Board of Trade only

relate to “Merchant Shipping” registered as such, whereas it is well

known that in the returns furnished by the shipbuilders all sorts

of vessels built by them are included, and that a very considerable

tonnage in war vessels and small vessels for military purposes, also

in light-draught river craft, both for our own and other countries,

is annually turned out from merchant shipyards. The same objections

apply to Lloyd’s Register Summary, although, strangely enough, the

figures there more nearly correspond with the builders’ than with the

Board of Trade returns, the information given in both cases being the

gross tonnage of merchant shipping built and registered in the United

Kingdom. Everything considered, the statistics compiled from press

returns more accurately represent the work accomplished throughout

the districts than those afforded by any of the sources named. In

the statistics which follow, therefore, the press returns have been

adopted, but to simplify matters for purposes of comparison—the

degree of unreliability warranting it—the terminal figures in large

quantities have been reduced or increased to hundredths, according

as they have chanced to be under or above fifty.

The fluctuation from year to year in the shipbuilding industry of

the principal districts over an extended period is exhibited in an

interesting manner by the diagram facing page 188, consisting of

curves set up on equidistant ordinates representing years, to the

scale shown on the right of the diagram. The figures from which

the curves have been constructed will be found to the left of the

diagram.[32]

It is matter of considerable regret to the author that his utmost

efforts to obtain statistics for the Tyne over a period corresponding

to that for which the Clyde figures are available have not been

rewarded with success. Many likely sources have been consulted, and

several gentlemen connected with the river and its industries have

been appealed to, but without any satisfactory result. No systematic

record of shipbuilding output has been kept by anyone officially

concerned with the river, although in every other respect its

progress has been abundantly and accurately chronicled. It is only so

recently as 1878 that the _Newcastle Chronicle_ begun the practice

of giving, in the systematic and complete manner for which it is now

justly noted, the returns of shipbuilding throughout the Kingdom. To

this journal the author is indebted for the figures of work done on

the Tyne during the years subsequent to 1878. The figures for the

Wear have been taken from an article descriptive of that district

appearing in the _Shipping World_ for June of the present year.

With regard to the Clyde, it is interesting to observe how in the

curve the periods of greatest activity, and consequent output, are

recurrent every tenth year. Thus at 1864, 1874, and, at all events,

1883, the curve forms decided crests as compared with the general

undulations over the intervening years.

During the seven years from 1846 to 1852 inclusive the number of

steam vessels built on the Clyde amounted to 14 with wood hulls,

233 with iron hulls—total, 247, of which 141 were paddle-steamers

and 106 screw-steamers. The tonnage of the wooden steamers amounted

to 18,330, and of the iron vessels to 129,270 tons; the horse-power

of the engines in the wooden hulls being 6,740, and in the iron

hulls 31,590. In 1851, or nearly a decade earlier than the year

at which the curve begins, the number of ships produced was 41,

with an aggregate tonnage of 25,320. In 1861, a decade later, 81

steamers were built, the tonnage of which amounted to 60,185, and the

horse-power of the engines, 12,493. The tonnage for both steamers

and ships, however, during that year was 66,800, as shown by the

diagram. During the seven years immediately prior to 1862 the extent

and progress of shipbuilding on the river were such that 636 vessels,

having an aggregate tonnage of 377,000 tons, were launched from the

yards of Glasgow, Greenock, and Dumbarton.

[Illustration: TONNAGE DIAGRAM.

CURVES SHOWING THE ANNUAL AGGREGATE TONNAGE OF NEW SHIPPING PRODUCED

IN THE PRINCIPAL SHIPBUILDING DISTRICTS SINCE 1860.]

+-------------------------------------+

| TABLE OF YEARLY TONNAGE |

+-------+---------+---------+---------+

+-------+---------+---------+---------+

| 1860 | 47,800 | | 40,200 |

| 1861 | 66,800 | | 46,800 |

| 1862 | 69,900 | | 56,900 |

| 1863 | 123,300 | | 70,000 |

| 1864 | 178,500 | | 72,000 |

| 1865 | 154,000 | | 73,100 |

| 1866 | 124,500 | | 62,700 |

| 1867 | 108,000 | | 52,200 |

| 1868 | 169,600 | | 70,300 |

| 1869 | 192,300 | | 72,400 |

| 1870 | 180,400 | | 70,100 |

| 1871 | 196,300 | | 81,900 |

| 1872 | 230,300 | | 131,800 |

| 1873 | 232,900 | | 99,400 |

| 1874 | 262,400 | | 88,000 |

| 1875 | 211,800 | | 79,900 |

| 1876 | 174,800 | | 54,100 |

| 1877 | 169,700 | | 87,600 |

| 1878 | 222,300 | 126,300 | 109,900 |

| 1879 | 174,800 | 139,800 | 92,200 |

| 1880 | 248,700 | 149,100 | 116,200 |

| 1881 | 341,000 | 177,200 | 148,000 |

| 1882 | 391,900 | 208,400 | 212,500 |

| 1883 | 419,600 | 216,600 | 212,300 |

+-------+---------+---------+---------+

With the year just spoken of a first and very considerable rise in

the tonnage output set in and continued till the year 1864, in which

year it amounted to 178,500 tons. Various causes of an exceptional

nature, or at least, causes apart from the natural progress due

to the growth of shipping, were at work in bringing about this

increase in the output. The most prominent of these was the necessity

which arose for filling up the gaps produced by the withdrawal of

many swift steamers from the river and coasting trade to meet the

requirements of individuals interested in running the blockade of

the ports of the Southern States of America. Between Aprils 1862-3

alone, as many as 30 vessels actively connected in some way with

the Clyde and coasting service, were sold for that purpose, and the

replacement of these vessels went a considerable way in occasioning

the briskness. Another and more abiding cause, however, was the

demand for vessels for the cotton-carrying trade. This arose chiefly

from the blockade of the American ports, causing cotton to come right

from the East Indies and China; and in consequence of the longer

voyage many more ships were necessary to carry on the trade. The fact

that more than an average number of wrecks had occurred during the

two previous winters, together with an increase of the trade between

Britain and France as the result of Mr Cobden’s commercial treaty,

were elements lending impetus to the briskness in the shipbuilding of

the time.

In 1865 the output of tonnage was lessened considerably through

what appears to have been but the natural course of commerce in

its reactionary stage. This lessened activity was much aggravated

when 1866 was reached, and in that year a serious interruption to

the trade was caused by a lock-out of the workmen consequent on a

partial strike made to enforce what the employers considered an

unreasonable demand on the part of the men. In 1867 the output was

as low as 108,000 tons, but thereafter it took an upward tendency,

its rise to the previous level being sudden, but thereafter very

gradual, and spread over a number of years. The output kept steadily

improving each year, outreaching former totals, until in 1874 the

curve, or, as it may be called, the output wave, formed a crest of

exceptional altitude. For that year the aggregate output reached

the unprecedented figure of 262,430 tons, a result which made

natural all subsequent references to 1874 as the “big year.” The

year 1875, although showing an increase in the number of vessels

built, yet fell considerably short of 1874 in the matter of tonnage,

thus giving to the output curve a decided downward turn. Matters

continued to grow worse during 1876, and many of the Clyde firms

had painful experiences of “bare poles” until about the beginning

of the year 1877, when a slightly improved state of matters set in.

Then there was a general desire amongst the workmen for an advance

in wages, which ultimately resulted in the great shipwright strike

of midsummer, 1877. This strike, it may be remembered, lasted

twenty-four weeks, and was one of the most determined struggles which

ever took place in this country, both parties having evidently made

up their minds to hold out to the last. The strike culminated in the

general lock-out of workmen in the autumn of the same year, which,

when withdrawn in favour of arbitration as regards the shipwrights,

settled down into a keen fight with the ironworkers. The shipwrights’

claim was settled by arbitration, the umpire (Lord Moncrieff)

deciding in favour of the employers, and the men accordingly resumed

work. The ironworkers’ dispute was likewise a difficult matter to

decide, but ultimately the men resumed work on the understanding that

their claim for an advance upon their wages of 10 per cent. would be

considered six months subsequently. The struggles were exceedingly

costly alike to masters and workmen, one of the results being seen

pretty distinctly in the diminished output of tonnage during 1877.

About the spring of 1878 matters had not improved in any very

material sense; and the ironworkers insisting on a settlement of

their former claim for an advance, were met by the employers with a

proposal to increase the working hours from 51 per week, as arranged

in 1872, to 54 hours per week, or to reduce the then rate of wages.

The men were not unnaturally averse to the increase of working hours,

and signified their opposition. Subsequently a reduction in wages

of 7½ per cent. was enforced, with the result that the ironworkers

came out on strike for a time. Ultimately in the spring of 1879 a

return to the 54 hours was made. The prevailing great depression

continued well on into the autumn of 1879. In October of that year

the shipbuilding industry experienced an unexpected but very welcome

revival, and an unusually large amount of work came to the Clyde.

The output which in 1879 had fallen to 174,800 tons, now took a

sudden and remarkable jump, the figure for 1880 amounting to no

less than 248,650 tons, affording ample grounds for the belief that

the impetus at the close of 1879 was no mere temporary spurt, but a

solid revival. Subsequent experience has more than justified this

belief. In 1881 the output reached the aggregate of 341,000 tons,

in 1882 it overstepped even this, and the output curve continued

in the ascendant until for the year 1883 the stupendous aggregate

of 419,600 tons was reached. Following the course which accepted

theories regarding industrial activity and depression suggest, and

which actual experience in the past exemplifies, the curve of output

ought still to be in the ascendant, reaching its maximum in 1884, and

thereafter declining. Although the close of the year is still some

distance off, there is already ample reason to believe that this will

not hold good for 1884. This result is after all only very natural

when the most exceptional activity of the past four years, coupled

with the present very unhealthy state of the shipping trade, are

taken into consideration.

* * * * *

The history of iron shipbuilding on the North-East Coast district

does not commence until the year 1840. In March of that year the

_John Garrow_, of Liverpool, a vessel of 800 tons burthen, the first

iron ship seen in the North-East Coast rivers, arrived at Shields,

and caused considerable excitement. A shipbuilding firm at Walker

commenced to use the new material almost immediately, and on the 23rd

of September, 1842, the iron steamer _Prince Albert_ glided from

Walker Slipway into the waters of the Tyne.

During the next eight or ten years very little progress was made, the

vessels mostly in demand being colliers, in the construction of which

no one thought of applying iron. About the year 1850, the carriage of

coal by railway began seriously to affect the sale of north country

coal in the London market, and it became essential, in the interest

of the coal-owners and others, to devise some means of conveying the

staple produce of the North Country to London in an expeditious,

regular, and, at the same time, economical manner. To accomplish this

object, Mr C. M. Palmer caused an iron screw-steamer to be designed

in such a manner as to secure the greatest possible capacity, with

engines only sufficiently powerful to ensure her making her voyages

with regularity. This vessel (the _John Bowes_), the first screw

collier, was built to carry 650 tons, and to steam about nine

miles an hour. On her first voyage, she was laden with 650 tons of

coals in four hours; in forty-eight hours she arrived in London;

in twenty-four hours she discharged her cargo; and in forty-eight

hours more she was again in the Tyne; so that, in five days, she

performed successfully an amount of work that would have taken two

average-sized sailing colliers upwards of a month to accomplish. To

the success of this experiment may be attributed, in great measure,

the subsequent and rapid development of iron shipbuilding in the

Tyne and East Coast district. The district has maintained by far the

largest share—almost amounting to a monopoly—in the production of the

heavy-carrying, slow-speed type of cargo steamers, of which the _John

Bowes_ may be said to have been the prototype.

Statistics for the Tyne, as already explained, are not available to

any extent until within recent years,[33] but from a paper on “The

Construction of Iron Ships and the Progress of Iron Shipbuilding on

the Tyne, Wear, and Tees,” written by Mr C. M. Palmer, and forming

part of the work, “The Industrial Resources of the Tyne, Wear, and

Tees,” published in connection with the British Association’s visit

to Newcastle in 1863, it appears that the tonnage of iron ships

launched from the Tyne during 1862 amounted to 32,175 tons, and

during 1863, to 51,236 tons. Comparing this with the output for

1883—twenty years later—it is found that the figures are more than

quadrupled, for in that year the output of the Tyne reached as much

as 216,600 tons.

In the year following the launch of the _John Bowes_, namely,

in 1853, the first iron vessel built on the Wear, was released

from its blocks. The Tees followed the example with great energy

and considerable success, and on both these rivers trade in iron

shipbuilding has been correspondingly developed.

What may be described, however, as the opening of the age of iron

on the Wear did not begin till the year 1863. During that year

17,720 tons of iron shipping were launched, and from that time the

declension of wood shipbuilding, which had long made the Wear a

distinguished shipbuilding port in the United Kingdom, proceeded

apace. The causes of fluctuation in the trade throughout the

subsequent years cannot be traced with any circumstantiality, but

the general progress made can be readily gathered from the subjoined

tabular record of the number of ships built yearly, with their

aggregate and average tonnage. Wood vessels, it may be stated, formed

part of the aggregate till the year 1878, when wood dropped out of

the arena altogether:—

+-------+--------+-------------+---------+

| | No. | | |

+-------+--------+-------------+---------+

| 1860 | 112 | 40,200 | 359 |

| 1861 | 126 | 46,778 | 371 |

| 1862 | 160 | 56,920 | 356 |

| 1863 | 171 | 70,040 | 410 |

| 1864 | 153 | 71,987 | 470 |

| 1865 | 172 | 73,134 | 425 |

| 1866 | 145 | 62,719 | 432 |

| 1867 | 128 | 52,249 | 408 |

| 1868 | 138 | 70,302 | 510 |

| 1869 | 122 | 72,420 | 594 |

| 1870 | 103 | 70,084 | 681 |

| 1871 | 97 | 81,903 | 844 |

| 1872 | 122 | 131,825 | 1081 |

| 1873 | 95 | 99,371 | 1046 |

| 1874 | 88 | 88,022 | 1000 |

| 1875 | 91 | 79,904 | 878 |

| 1876 | 60 | 54,041 | 901 |

| 1877 | 75 | 87,578 | 1168 |

| 1878 | 85 | 109,900 | 1293 |

| 1879 | 65 | 92,200 | 1418 |

| 1880 | 77 | 116,200 | 1509 |

| 1881 | 88 | 148,000 | 1681 |

| 1882 | 123 | 212,500 | 1727 |

| 1883 | 126 | 212,300 | 1685 |

+-------+--------+-------------+---------+

During the years 1871, 1872, and 1873 the output from the Clyde yards

averaged 50 per cent. of the total shipping produced throughout the

United Kingdom. That high proportion fell for the years 1874, 1875,

and 1876 to as low as 37½ per cent. In 1882 the Clyde’s contribution

to the grand total did not exceed 32½ per cent., so that in one

decade the premier shipbuilding centre has fallen from the proud

position of producing half the total shipping built within the United

Kingdom to that of turning out less than one-third. Mr William

Denny, dealing with this subject in a paper on the “Industries of

Scotland,” read before the Philosophical Society of Dumbarton, in

December, 1878, attributed the then condition of affairs with regard

to the tonnage output of the Clyde to the keen competition of the

builders on the North-East Coast of England, who managed to produce

their favourite type of heavy-carrying, slow-speed steamers at very

much less cost than could be done on the Clyde. Their success in this

he attributed to four causes—1st, to the enterprise of the small

shipowners and the general public on the North-East Coast of England

in supplying capital for steamers of this kind; 2nd, to the great

cheapness of iron in that district; 3rd, to the long hours worked,

enabling the shipbuilding plant to be more profitably employed, and

to the great development of piece-work; 4th, to the fact that all

the builders being engaged upon work of the same class, the price of

which could be measured per ton of dead-weight carried, or per ton

gross, and per nominal horse-power, they were able easily to compare

the efficiency of each other’s yard in point of production, and by

that means a keen competition was produced amongst each other. On the

Clyde the great variety and frequent speciality of the work prevented

any such common measure of prices existing. This way of accounting

for the altered relative positions of the chief shipbuilding centres

was doubtless at that time the correct one, and to a large extent it

still holds true. The productiveness of the North-East Coast ports

has in no way declined since, notwithstanding that a larger number

of the higher class passenger ships which have long been so much a

Clyde speciality are now being constructed there. But the number of

yards everywhere have increased in a higher ratio than on the Clyde,

and consequently the aggregate of new shipping produced annually

in the United Kingdom is made up of a greater number of separate

contributions. That this is mainly the reason of the present position

of the Clyde relatively to the whole United Kingdom is proved by the

figures contained in the accompanying table, which show, amongst

other things, that the ratio of tonnage produced by each of the

principal districts to the total produced by the whole of them, has

not very much altered during the past six years, or since Mr Denny

spoke on the subject. If anything, indeed, the Clyde shows in this

respect an advance over its northern rivals: although the advance of

the Wear during the past two years is equally marked.

_Table giving the Number and Tonnage of Vessels Built on the Clyde,

Tyne, Wear, and Tees, during the Years 1878-83 inclusive; also

showing the Average Tonnage of the Vessels and the Ratio which the

Tonnage produced in each District bears to the Total Tonnage_:

+----------+----------------------------++----------------------------+

| | 1878. || 1879. |

| +----+--------+-------+------++----+--------+-------+------+

|Districts.| | |Av’rage|Ratio || | |Av’rage|Ratio |

| | No.| Tons. |Ton’ge.| to || No.| Tons. |Ton’ge.| to |

| | | | |Total.|| | | |Total.|

+----------+----+--------+-------+------++----+--------+-------+------+

|Clyde | 254| 222,300| 875 | 43·5 || 191| 174,800| 915 | 39·8|

|Tyne | 115| 126,300| 1096 | 24·7 || 130| 139,800| 1075 | 32·0|

|Wear | 85| 109,900| 1293 | 21·5 || 65| 92,200| 1418 | 21·0|

|Tees | 37| 52,500| 1419 | 10·3 || 25| 31,800| 1272 | 7·2|

| +----+--------+ +------++----+--------+ +------+

|Totals | 491| 511,000| |100·0 || 411| 438,600| | 100·0|

+----------+----+--------+-------+------++----+--------+-------+------+

|Districts.| 1880. || 1881. |

+----------+----+--------+-------+------++----+--------+-------+------+

|Clyde | 209| 248,700| 1189 | 44·2 || 261| 341,000| 1306 | 47·0|

|Tyne | 109| 149,100| 1367 | 26·5 || 123| 177,200| 1440 | 24·5|

|Wear | 77| 116,200| 1509 | 20·6 || 88| 148,000| 1681 | 20·4|

|Tees | 38| 48,500| 1279 | 8·7 || 34| 58,600| 1723 | 8·1|

| +----+--------+ +------++----+--------+ +------+

|Totals | 433| 562,500| |100·0 || 506| 724,800| | 100·0|

+----------+----+--------+-------+------++----+--------+-------+------+

|Districts.| 1882. || 1883. |

+----------+----+--------+-------+------++----+--------+-------+------+

|Clyde | 297| 391,900| 1319 | 44·6 || 329| 419,700| 1276 | 45·1|

|Tyne | 132| 208,400| 1578 | 23·8 || 159| 216,600| 1362 | 23·3|

|Wear | 123| 212,500| 1727 | 24·2 || 126| 212,300| 1685 | 23·0|

|Tees | 40| 65,000| 1625 | 7·4 || 44| 81,800| 1859 | 8·6|

+----------+----+--------+ +------++----+--------+ +------+

|Totals | 592| 877,800| |100·0 || 658| 930,400| | 100·0|

+----------+----+--------+-------+------++----+--------+-------+------+

With respect to the progress of shipbuilding in steel, little

requires to be added to the general account given in Chapter I.

The tonnage annually produced in steel is a constantly-increasing

quantity. Hitherto the Clyde has contributed quite three-fourths of

the tonnage of steel vessels, owing chiefly to the vigorous way in

which certain of the shipbuilders there have adopted the practice,

and also to the openness of the local field for the extensive

manufacture of the new material. The North-East Coast, however, bids

fair, in the immediate future, to become as productive in steel

tonnage as the Clyde district. Recently-discovered processes by

which the vast stores of Cleveland ironstone may be made profitably

available in steel manufacture are working great changes in the way

of modifying old and causing the erection of new works.

The extraordinary growth of steel shipbuilding since its commencement

in 1878 is well illustrated by the accompanying tables, which are

taken from a paper by Mr W. John, on “Recent Improvements in Iron

and Steel Shipbuilding,” read at the meetings of the Iron and Steel

Institute in May of the present year. The figures relating to steel

may be taken, where any divergence occurs, as more authoritative

than those occurring in the general account of work in steel in

Chapter I. The tables, however, partake of the imperfections already

fully alluded to in the present chapter. With regard to them, Mr

John says:—“Unfortunately, neither of these tables show the actual

amount of shipping, either steel or iron, built in this country,

because there would have to be a small percentage, perhaps between

ten and twenty, to be added to those classed at Lloyds on Table I.

for unclassed ships, and there would be a certain proportion, which

I am unable to ascertain, to be added to the figures on Table II.

for ships built for foreign owners in this country, and not entered

upon the British register. However, the figures in themselves are

sufficiently significant of the enormous growth of steel shipbuilding

within the last six years, and it will be seen at once, as I

have said before, that steel as a material for shipbuilding has

passed entirely out of the experimental stage, and must be judged

henceforth by the results of its working in the shipyards, and by

the results of the performances of the ships already afloat, both

as profit-earning machines for their owners, by their general wear

and tear, for their safety against strains at sea, and in cases of

collision and stranding.”

_Table I.—Statement showing the Number and Tonnage of Steel and Iron

Vessels Classed by Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping

during the Years 1878 to 1883, both inclusive._

+-----+-------------------------+-------------------------+

| | Steel. | Iron. |

| +------------+-----------+------------+------------+

| +---+--------+---+-------+---+--------+---+--------+

| |No.|Tonnage.|No.|Ton’ge.|No.|Tonnage.|No.|Tonnage.|

+-----+---+--------+---+-------+---+--------+---+--------+

|1878 | 7| 4,470| | |329| 406,196|106| 111,496|

|1879 | 8| 14,300| 1| 1,700|318| 436,339| 30| 34,630|

|1880 | 21| 34,031| 2| 1,342|324| 422,622| 31| 37,372|

|1881 | 20| 39,240| 3| 3,167|401| 622,440| 51| 74,284|

|1882 | 55| 113,364| 8| 12,477|457| 742,244| 68| 108,831|

|1883 | 94| 150,725| 15| 15,703|576| 817,584| 68| 116,190|

+-----+---+--------+---+-------+---+--------+---+--------+

+-----+-------------------------+---------------------------+

| | Total. | Percentage. |

| +------------+------------+-------------+-------------+

| +---+--------+---+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+

| |No.|Tonnage.|No.|Tonnage.| No. |Ton’ge.| No. |Ton’ge.|

+-----+---+--------+---+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+

|1878 | 7| 4,470|435| 517,692| 1·6 | 0·85 |98·4 | 99·15 |

|1879 | 9| 16,000|348| 470,969| 2·52| 3·28 |97·48| 96·72 |

|1880 | 23| 35,373|355| 459,994| 6·1 | 7·14 |93·9 | 92·86 |

|1881 | 23| 42,407|452| 696,724| 4·8 | 5·74 |95·2 | 94·26 |

|1882 | 63| 125,841|525| 851,075|10·7 | 12·9 |89·3 | 87·1 |

|1883 |109| 166,428|644| 933,774|14·47| 15·12 |85·53| 84·88 |

+-----+---+--------+---+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+

_Table II.—Statement showing the Number and Tonnage of Steel and Iron

Vessels Built in the United Kingdom and Registered therein during the

Years 1879 to 1883, both inclusive._

+-----+------------------------+-------------------------+

| | Steel. | Iron. |

| +------------+-----------+------------+------------+

| +---+--------+---+-------+---+--------+---+--------+

| |No.|Tonnage.|No.|Ton’ge.|No.|Tonnage.|No.|Tonnage.|

+-----+---+--------+---+-------+---+--------+---+--------+

|1879 | 22| 19,522| 1| 1,700|337| 428,082| 33| 35,332|

|1880 | 26| 36,493| 4| 1,671|362| 447,389| 39| 40,015|

|1881 | 34| 68,366| 3| 3,167|411| 590,503| 50| 68,650|

|1882 | 65| 115,449| 8| 12,478|446| 672,740| 83| 112,852|

|1883 | 92| 141,552| 11| 14,193|548| 742,292| 72| 114,698|

+-----+---+--------+---+-------+---+--------+---+--------+

+-----+-------------------------+---------------------------+

| | Total. | Percentage. |

| +------------+------------+-------------+-------------+

| +---+--------+---+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+

| |No.|Tonnage |No.|Tonnage.| No. |Ton’ge.| No. |Ton’ge.|

+-----+---+--------+---+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+

|1879 | 23| 21,222|370| 463,414| 5·83| 4·38|94·15| 95·62 |

|1880 | 30| 38,164|401| 487,404| 6·96| 7·26|93·04| 92·74 |

|1881 | 37| 71,533|461| 659,153| 7·43| 9·79|92·57| 90·21 |

|1882 | 73| 127,927|529| 785,592|12·14| 14·0 |87·86| 86·0 |

|1883 |103| 155,745|620| 856,990|14·24| 15·37|85·76| 84·63 |

+-----+---+--------+---+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+

CHAPTER VIII.

THE PRODUCTION OF LARGE STEAMSHIPS.

Apart from the enormous aggregates, no feature of the annual output

of new tonnage during recent years has been more remarkable than the

great number of full-powered and capacious steamships built for the

various ocean-trading companies. The very general interest with which

what has been termed “the race for big ships” was regarded two or

three years ago has now settled down into the complacent indifference

with which matter-of-fact, every-day things are treated. The number

of vessels above 4000 tons gross register built during the year 1881

alone was over two-thirds of the whole number produced during the

ten years immediately preceding, and was exactly double the number

built during the previous five years. From these general facts it

may be understood why the constant additions made to the “leviathans

of the deep” excite comparatively so little interest, except where

matters of dimension or mere bulk are supplemented by questions of

exceptional speed or novel construction.

The subjoined table of steamships above 4000 tons gross register

presently afloat or being constructed affords information interesting

from several such standpoints; and shows in what years the product of

big ships has been greatest, as well as what proportion of individual

credit falls to the various centres engaged in their production.

The vessels are arranged in the order of their tonnages, which in

every case available is the gross register tonnage. While most of

the information conveyed in the table is such as may be gathered

separately from the registries, the form in which it has been

compiled, and the fact of the moulded in place of the registered

dimensions being given, makes it valuable for reference. Except in a

few instances, where it was impossible to obtain them, the dimensions

of the vessels have been supplied by the respective builders.

Before presenting the table, several of the most noteworthy features

of the information it conveys may be pointed to. The list comprises

no fewer than 138 vessels, 50 of which are constructed of steel. The

year 1881 occurs twenty-six times in the subjoined table, that number

of vessels over 4000 tons having been turned out within the year. As

already stated, this number is over two-thirds the total number for

the ten years immediately preceding 1881, and is exactly double the

number for the preceding five years. The year 1882 occurs twenty-four

times, the year 1883 fifteen times, and the present year—although, of

course, subject to possible additions—twenty-one times.

The following summary gives the number of vessels of the “leviathan”

order launched in each year since 1858—the year which witnessed the

production of the _Great Eastern_—an achievement as regards size

which has not hitherto been equalled:—

1858 1 | 1865 6 | 1872 3 | 1879 4

1859 0 | 1866 0 | 1873 9 | 1880 3

1860 0 | 1867 2 | 1874 9 | 1881 26

1861 0 | 1868 0 | 1875 3 | 1882 24

1862 1 | 1869 0 | 1876 0 | 1883 15

1863 3 | 1870 2 | 1877 1 | 1884 21

1864 2 | 1871 1 | 1878 2 |

The column giving the districts in which the vessels have been built,

shows—what doubtless is already well recognised—that the Clyde is

supreme in this quantitative aspect of steamship production. That

river occurs seventy-nine times in the table, a number equivalent

to 57 per cent. of the total of all the centres put together.

Barrow follows next in order, but with the relatively insignificant

contribution of twelve—although it is worthy of note that this

contribution is entirely made up by the vessels of one firm: _i.e._,

the Barrow Shipbuilding Company—the Mersey contributes eleven, the

Tyne ten, and the other districts correspondingly lower numbers.

_List of Steamships above 4000 Tons Gross Register presently Afloat

(or at one time in existence) or Under Construction, arranged in

the order of their tonnage, and showing Builders’ Dimensions,

Material employed in Construction, Names of Owners and of Builders,

Date of Building, and Where Built._

PART 1 of 3

+---+-------------------+--------+--------------------+---------+

| | | | | |

+---+-------------------+--------+--------------------+---------+

| 26|Ems, | 5,129 |430 by 46′10″ by 36¼| Iron |

+---+-------------------+--------+--------------------+---------+

PART 2 of 3

+---+-----------------------------------+-------------------------------+

| | | |

|No.| Owners or Managing Companies. | Builders. |

| | | |

+---+-----------------------------------+-------------------------------+

| 1|Great Eastern Steamship Coy. |J. Scott Russell & Coy. |

| 2|Barrow Steamship Coy. |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

| 3|Cunard Steamship Coy. |John Elder & Co. |

| 4|Cunard Steamship Coy. |John Elder & Co. |

| 5|Cunard Steamship Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 6|S.B. Guion & Coy., Guion Line |John Elder & Co. |

| 7|Cunard Steamship Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 8|Guion & Co., Guion Line |John Elder & Co. |

| 9|National Steamship Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 10|Compagnie General Transatlantique |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

| 11|Soc. Anon. de. Nav. Belg. Amer. |Laird Brothers |

| 12|Mississippi and Dominion Coy. |Chas. Connell & Coy. |

| 13|Inman Steamship Coy. |Charles Connell & Co. |

| 14|Orient Steam Navigation Coy. |John Elder & Co. |

| 15|Cunard Steamship Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 16|Cunard Steamship Coy. |Laird Brothers |

| 17|Barrow Steamship Coy. |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

| 18|Inman Steamship Coy. |Caird & Co. |

| 19|Orient Steam Navigation Coy. |John Elder & Co. |

| 20|J. & A. Allan, Allan Line |R. Napier & Sons |

| 21|George Warren & Coy. |Charles Connell & Co. |

| 22|Soc. Anon. de Nav. Belge. Amer. |Laird Brothers |

| 28|Guion & Co., Guion Line |John Elder & Co. |

| 24|George Warren & Coy. |Charles Connell & Co. |

| 25|North German Lloyds |John Elder & Coy. |

| 26|North German Lloyds |John Elder & Coy. |

| 27|North German Lloyds |John Elder & Co. |

| 28|North German Lloyds |John Elder & Co. |

| 29|T. R. Oswald |Oswald, Mordaunt & Coy. |

| 30|Pacific Mail Steamship Coy. |John Roach & Son |

| 31|Pacific Mail Steamship Coy. |John Roach & Son |

| 32|Pacific Mail Steamship Coy. |John Roach & Son |

| 33|Shaw, Saville & Albion Coy. |Wm. Denny & Brothers |

| 34|Shaw, Saville & Albion Coy. |Wm. Denny & Brothers |

| 35|Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

| 36|Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

| 37|Oceanic Steam Navigation Coy. |Harland & Wolff |

| 38|Oceanic Steam Navigation Coy. |Harland & Wolff |

| 39|Henderson Brothers—Anchor Line |D. & W. Henderson |

| 40|Ind. Rub. & Telegraph Works Coy. |C. Mitchell & Coy. |

| 41|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

| 42|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

| 43|Siemens Brothers |Chas. Mitchell & Coy. |

| 44|National Steam Navigation Coy. |Palmer Shipbuilding Coy. |

| 45|North German Lloyd’s |John Elder & Coy. |

| 46|Cunard Steamship Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 47|Cunard Steamship Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 48|Inman Steamship Coy. |Tod & M‘Gregor |

| 49|Inman Steamship Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

| 50|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

| 51|Oceanic Steam Navigation Coy. |Harland & Wolff |

| 52|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

| 53|Soc. Anon. de Navig. Belg. Amer. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 54|Oceanic Steam Navigation Coy. |Harland & Wolff |

| 55|John Glynn & Sons |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

| 56|Pacific Steam Navigation Coy. |J. Elder & Coy. |

| 57|National Steam Navigation Coy. |Liverpool Shipbuilding Coy. |

| 58|Union Steamship Coy. |James Laing |

| 59|Telegraph Conveyance & Main. Coy. |R. Napier & Sons |

| 60|Pacific Steam Navigation Coy. |J. Elder & Coy. |

| 61|Compagnie General Transatlantique |Cie. Gen. Transatlantique |

| 62|Compagnie General Transatlantique |Scott & Coy. |

| 63|National Steam Navigation Coy. |Palmer Brothers & Coy. |

| 64|Compagnie General Transatlantique |Scott & Coy. |

| 65|National Steam Navigation Coy. |Palmer Brothers & Coy. |

| 66|Cunard Steamship Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 67|Messageries Gen. Italiana |Palmer & Coy. |

| 68|Cunard Steamship Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 69|National Steam Navigation Coy. |Laird Brothers |

| 70|Messageries Gen. Italiana |Palmer & Coy. |

| 71|Inman Steamship Coy. |Tod & M‘Gregor |

| 72|British and North Atlantic Coy. |Laird Brothers |

| 73|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

| 74|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

| 75|Rankin, Gilmour & Coy. |Earles’ Ship. & Eng. Coy. |

| 76|New Zealand Shipping Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

| 77|New Zealand Shipping Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

| 78|National Steam Navigation Coy. |Laird Brothers |

| 79|Oceanic Steam Navigation Coy. |Harland & Wolff. |

| 80|Thomas Skinner & Coy. |J. Elder & Coy. |

| 81|British & North Atlantic S.N. Coy. |Laird Brothers |

| 82|J. & A. Allan |Steele & Coy. |

| 83|Oceanic Steam Navigation Coy. |Harland & Wolff |

| 84|Royal Exchange Shipping Coy. |Earles Ship. & Eng. Coy. |

| 85|Union Steamship Coy. |Aitken & Mansel |

| 86|George Warren & Coy. |R. & J. Evans & Coy. |

| 87|National Steam Navigation Coy. |Palmer Brothers & Coy. |

| 88|National Steam Navigation Coy. |T. Royden & Sons |

| 89|Donald Currie & Coy. |Barclay, Curle, & Coy. |

| 90|National Steam Navigation Coy. |Palmer Brothers & Coy. |

| 91|Barrow Steamship Coy. |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

| 92|Barrow Steamship Coy. |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

| 93|Cie. Gen. de Tobacas de Filipinas |Oswald, Mordaunt & Co. |

| 94|Hamburg American S.P. Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

| 95|Donald Currie & Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

| 96|Donald Currie & Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

| 97|W. H. Nott & Coy. |H. Murray & Coy. |

| 98|Pacific Steam Navigation Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

| 99|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

|100|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

|101|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |Harland & Wolff |

|102|Cie. Bordelaise de Nav. à Vap. |Chant. de la Gironde |

|103|Cie. Bordelaise de Nav. à Vap. |Chant. de la Gironde |

|104|National Steam Navigation Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

|105|Barrow Steamship Coy. |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

|106|Messageries Maritimes |Messageries Maritimes. |

|107|New Zealand Steam Shipping Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

|108|New Zealand Steam Shipping Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

|109|New Zealand Steam Shipping Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

|110|W. H. Nott & Coy. |Dobie & Coy. |

|111|Pacific Steam Navigation Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

|112|Cie. Gen. de Tobacas de Filipinas |Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

|113|Soc. Gen. de Trans. Marit. à Vapeur|Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

|114|Fred. Leyland & Coy. |Palmer & Coy. |

|115|Soc. Gen. de Trans. Marit. à Vapeur|Barrow Shipbuilding Coy. |

|116|Campania Transatlantica Mexicana R.|Napier & Sons |

|118|Campania Transatlantica Mexicana R.|Napier & Sons |

|119|Pacific Steam Navigation Coy. |Laird Brothers |

|120|Peninsular and Oriental S. N. Coy. |Wm. Denny & Brothers |

|121|Pacific Steam Navigation Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

|122|British India Steam Navigation Coy.|Wm. Denny & Brothers |

|123|Peninsular and Oriental S.N. Coy. |J. & G. Thomson |

|124|Sun Shipping Coy. |Charles Connell & Coy. |

|125|Fred. Leyland & Coy. |Palmer & Coy. |

|126|British India Steam Navigation Coy.|Wm. Denny & Brothers |

|127|Pacific Steam Navigation Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

|128|Compagnie General Transatlantique |Cie. Gen. Transatlantique |

|129|Barrow Steamship Coy. |Robert Duncan & Coy. |

|130|Sun Shipping Coy. |Gourlay Brothers & Coy. |

|131|Canada Shipping Coy. |Lon. & Glas. E. & I. Ship. Coy.|

|132|Pacific Steam Navigation Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

|133|Peninsular and Oriental S. N. Coy. |Caird & Coy. |

|134|Pacific Steam Navigation Coy. |Dobie & Coy. |

|135|W. H. Nott & Coy. |John Elder & Coy. |

|136|British India Association |A. & J. Inglis |

|137|J. & A. Allan |Wm. Denny & Brothers |

|138|Barrow Steamship Coy. |A. Stephen & Son |

+---+-----------------------------------+-------------------------------+

PART 3 of 3

+---+-------------------+---------+------+

|No.| Name of Vessel. | Built. | of |

+---+-------------------+---------+------+

| 1|Great Eastern, |Thames | 1858 |

| 2|City of Rome, |Barrow | 1881 |

| 3|Etruria, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 4|Umbria, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 5|Servia, |Clyde | 1881 |

| 6|Oregon, |Clyde | 1883 |

| 7|Aurania, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 8|Alaska, |Clyde | 1881 |

| 9|America, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 10|Normandie, |Barrow | 1882 |

| 11|Westernland, |Mersey | 1883 |

| 12|Vancouver, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 13|City of Chicago, |Clyde | 1883 |

| 14|Austral, |Clyde | 1881 |

| 15|Pavonia, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 16|Cephalonia, |Mersey | 1882 |

| 17|Furnessia, |Barrow | 1880 |

| 18|City of Berlin, |Clyde | 1875 |

| 19|Orient, |Clyde | 1879 |

| 20|Parisian, |Clyde | 1881 |

| 21|Kansas, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 22|Noordland, |Mersey | 1884 |

| 28|Arizona, |Clyde | 1879 |

| 24|Missouri, |Clyde | 1881 |

| 25|Eider, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 26|Ems, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 27|Fulda, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 28|Werra, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 29|Bitterne, |S’ampt’n | 1883 |

| 30|City of Pekin, |U. States| 1874 |

| 31|City of Tokio, |U. States| 1874 |

| 32|City of Yeddo, |U. States| 1874 |

| 33|Arawa, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 34|Tainui, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 35|Rome, |Clyde | 1881 |

| 36|Carthage, |Clyde | 1881 |

| 37|Germanic, |Belfast | 1874 |

| 38|Britannic, |Belfast | 1874 |

| 39|Belgravia, |Clyde | 1873 |

| 40|Silvertown, |Tyne | 1884 |

| 41|Valetta, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 42|Massilia, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 43|Faraday, |Tyne | 1874 |

| 44|England, |Tyne | 1865 |

| 45|Elbe, |Clyde | 1881 |

| 46|Catalonia, |Clyde | 1880 |

| 47|Gallia, |Clyde | 1879 |

| 48|City of Richmond, |Clyde | 1873 |

| 49|City of Chester, |Clyde | 1873 |

| 50|Paramatta, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 51|Ionic, |Belfast | 1883 |

| 52|Ballarat, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 53|Waesland, |Clyde | 1867 |

| 54|Doric, |Belfast | 1883 |

| 55|Borderer, |Barrow | 1884 |

| 56|Iberia, |Clyde | 1863 |

| 57|Egypt, |Mersey | 1871 |

| 58|Mexican, |Wear | 1882 |

| 59|Scotia, |Clyde | 1862 |

| 60|Liguria, |Clyde | 1874 |

| 61|France, |S.Nazaire| 1865 |

| 62|Labrador, |S.Nazaire| 1865 |

| 63|Helvetia, |Tyne | 1864 |

| 64|Amerique, |S.Nazaire| 1865 |

| 65|Erin, |Tyne | 1864 |

| 66|Scythia, |Clyde | 1875 |

| 67|Raffaele Rubattino,|Tyne | 1882 |

| 68|Bothnia, |Clyde | 1874 |

| 69|Spain, |Mersey | 1881 |

| 70|China, |Tyne | 1882 |

| 71|City of Montreal, |Clyde | 1872 |

| 72|Roman, |Mersey | 1884 |

| 73|Tasmania, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 74|Chusan, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 75|St. Ronans, |Hull | 1884 |

| 76|Kaikoura, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 77|Kimutaka, |Clyde | 1884 |

| 78|The Queen, |Mersey | 1865 |

| 79|Coptic, |Belfast | 1881 |

| 80|Stirling Castle, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 81|Norseman, |Mersey | 1882 |

| 82|Sardinian, |Clyde | 1874 |

| 83|Arabic, |Belfast | 1881 |

| 84|Grecian Monarch |Hull | 1882 |

| 85|Tartar, |Clyde | 1883 |

| 86|Iowa, |Mersey | 1879 |

| 87|Greece, |Tyne | 1863 |

| 88|France, |Mersey | 1867 |

| 89|Roslin Castle, |Clyde | 1883 |

| 90|Canada, |Tyne | 1863 |

| 91|Circassia, |Barrow | 1878 |

| 92|Devonia, |Barrow | 1877 |

| 93|Isla de Luzen, |S’amptn | 1882 |

| 94|Hammonia, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 95|Hawarden Castle, |Clyde | 1883 |

| 96|Norham Castle, |Clyde | 1883 |

| 97|Richmond Hill, |Clyde | 1882 |

| 98|Potosi, |Clyde | 1873 |

| 99|Ganges, |Barrow | 1881 |

|100|Sutlej, |Barrow | 1881 |

|101|Shannon, |Belfast | 1881 |

|102|Chateau Margaux, |Bordeaux | 1884 |

|103|Chateau Yquan, |Bordeaux | 1884 |

|104|Italy, |Clyde | 1870 |

|105|Anchoria, |Barrow | 1875 |

|106|Sydney, |La Ciotat| 1882 |

|107|Tongariro, |Clyde | 1883 |

|108|Aorangi, |Clyde | 1883 |

|109|Ruapehu, |Clyde | 1883 |

|110|Ludgate Hill, |Clyde | 1881 |

|111|John Elder, |Clyde | 1870 |

|112|Isla de Mindanao, |Barrow | 1881 |

|113|Navarre, |Barrow | 1881 |

|114|Venetian, |Tyne | 1882 |

|115|Bearn, |Barrow | 1881 |

|116|Mexico, |Clyde | 1883 |

|118|Oaxaca, |Clyde | 1883 |

|119|Brittania, |Mersey | 1873 |

|120|Clyde, |Clyde | 1881 |

|121|Aconcagua, |Clyde | 1872 |

|122|Goorkha, |Clyde | 1882 |

|123|Thames, |Clyde | 1881 |

|124|Werneth Hall, |Clyde | 1882 |

|125|Virginian, |Tyne | 1881 |

|126|India, |Clyde | 1881 |

|127|Sorato, |Clyde | 1872 |

|128|Canada, |S.Nazaire| 1865 |

|129|Bolivia, |Clyde | 1873 |

|130|Merton Hall, |Dundee | 1881 |

|131|Lake Huron, |Clyde | 1881 |

|132|Cotopasi, |Clyde | 1873 |

|133|Kaiser-i-Hind, |Clyde | 1878 |

|134|Illimania, |Clyde | 1881 |

|135|Tower Hill, |Clyde | 1873 |

|136|Rewa, |Clyde | 1882 |

|137|Buenos Ayrean, |Clyde | 1880 |

|138|Ethiopia, |Clyde | 1873 |

+---+-------------------+---------+------+

APPENDIX.

CALCULATING INSTRUMENTS.

The instruments to which references are made in Chapter IV. as

having come into use in some of our leading mercantile shipyards by

which the calculations undertaken there are rendered greatly more

simple, and are more expeditiously made, seem not to be generally

known amongst shipbuilders, and as they undoubtedly save much

of the labour and time of calculation, without any sacrifice of

accuracy, illustrations of them are here given, together with brief

notes of their construction and use. For anything, however, like a

satisfactory account of the mathematical principles on which these

several instruments are based, readers must consult the authoritative

sources to which references will be made.

Assuming that the reader appreciates the advantages of shortened

calculation, due to the slide rule, or the use of logarithms, the

first instrument that may be noticed is one embodying an application

of the principle of the slide rule in a remarkably handy and compact

form. This is the calculating slide rule invented by Professor

Fuller, of Queen’s College, Belfast, equivalent to a straight slide

rule 83 feet 4 inches long, or a circular rule 13 feet 3 inches in

diameter. From the illustration given it may be seen that the rule

consists of a cylinder which can be moved up and down upon, and

turned round, an axis, which is held by a handle. Upon this cylinder

is wound spirally a single logarithmic scale. Fixed to the handle of

the instrument is an index. Two other indices, whose distance apart

is the axial length of the complete spiral, are fixed to an inner

cylinder, which slides in like a telescope tube, and thus enables the

operator to place these indices in any required position relative to

the outer cylinder containing the logarithmic scale. Two stops—one

on the fixed and the other on the outer or movable cylinder—are so

placed that when they are brought in contact the index points to the

commencement of the scale.

[Illustration: FIG. 24.

FULLER’S RULE.]

Regarding the manner of using the instrument a few general notes

may be given. As in the ordinary slide rule the operations of

multiplication and division are performed by the addition or

subtraction of the parts of the scale that represent in length the

logarithm of the numbers involved in the operations.

For example, suppose the following calculation is to be worked out

(6248 × 5936 × 4217)/(7963 × 4851) = 4049

To do this in the ordinary way would keep the smartest arithmetician

busy for a considerable time, whereas by means of the instrument

under notice the result is attained in little over one minute’s time.

The motions in the operation are as follows:—Hold the rule by the

handle in one hand and move the scale cylinder by the other until the

number 6248 is opposite the index attached to the handle portion.

Now, move the inner cylinder (by the top) until one or other of the

indices (according to the distance of the number from the bottom of

the instrument) on the index arm is opposite the number 7963. The

scale cylinder is again moved till the number 5936 is opposite one

of the indices just referred to, and the inner cylinder carrying the

index arm is then moved till one or other of the indices is opposite

4851. Finally, the scale cylinder is moved till the number 4217 is

opposite one of the indices on the arm; and the result of the whole

operation—4049—is found opposite the index first-mentioned, _i.e._,

that attached to the handle portion of the instrument.

It may be further explained that the sliding of the scale cylinder

until the new number is opposite the index point really involves two

operations: one sliding it till the end of the scale is opposite

the index point—which subtracts the logarithm of the divisor; and

the other sliding it till the next multiplier is opposite the index

point—which adds its logarithm to the previous result. Hence, when

the operations end with division the scale cylinder must be moved

till the end of the scale is opposite the index point.

The second scientific instrument to be noticed is the Polar

Planimeter, invented by M. J. Amsler-Laffon, Schaffhausen,

Switzerland, the object of which is to find the area of any figure by

simply tracing the outline with a pointer, the instrument—of which

the pointer is a part—doing all the rest; the results read off from

it having to undergo only a very simple and elementary calculation to

attain the desired result.

[Illustration: FIG. 25.

AMSLER’S POLAR PLANIMETER—(FIXED SCALE).]

Planimeters are made of several forms, the two kinds illustrated by

Figs. 25 and 26 being the most usual.[34] The planimeter shown by

Fig. 25 represents the instrument as made to one scale only, for

square inches of actual measurement. By its means the areas of, say,

cross sections of ship’s hull can be ascertained in an extremely

short time and with almost perfect accuracy, the readings taken

from the instrument having simply to be multiplied by a multiplier

consisting of the square of the number of units to the inch,

corresponding to the scale on which the sections are drawn, as 4 for

½-inch scale, 16 for ¼-inch, 64 for ⅛-inch, etc.

[Illustration: FIG. 26.

AMSLER’S PLANIMETER—(VARIOUS SCALES).]

The Planimeter shown by Fig. 26 is the instrument in a form adaptable

to various scales, but does not possess any very marked advantages

over the simpler form for the purposes of the naval architect or

marine engineer, so that notice of it must be brief. In this form

of the instrument the unit can be changed by altering the length of

the arm which carries the tracer to any of the scales for which the

instrument may be made available, and which are found divided upon

the variable arm. The scales which are usually provided for are as

follows:—

10 sq. in. = 10 square inches }

0·1 sq. f. = 0·1 square foot }

1 sq. dcm. = one square decimetre } Every total

0·5 sq. dcm. = 0·5 square decimetre } rotation of

2000 sq. m. } = 2000 square metres on a } the roller.

1 : 500 } scale 1 : 500 }

1000 sq. m. } = 1000 square metres }

1 : 500 } scale 1 : 500 }

Describing the simple planimeter more in detail, and referring to

Fig. 25, it may be said the outline of the figure to be dealt with is

travelled round by a pointer attached to a bar moving on a vertical

axis carried by another bar, which latter turns on a needle point

slightly pressed into the drawing surface. The bar with the pointer

is provided with a revolving drum having a graduated circumference

and a disc counting its revolutions. The drum is divided into 100

parts, reading into a vernier, which gives the reading of the drum’s

revolution to the 1/1000 part of its circumference. Upon the same

axis as the drum an endless screw is cut, working into a worm wheel

of ten teeth connected with the counting disc, which records the

revolutions of the drum.

To use the planimeter, place the instrument upon the paper so that

the tracing point, roller, and needle point, all touch the surface

at any convenient position. Press the needle point down gently, so

that it just enters the paper, and place the small weight supplied

with the instrument over it. Make a mark at any part of the outline

of the figure to be computed, and set the tracing point to it. Before

commencing read off the counting wheel and the index roller. Suppose

the counting wheel marks 2, the roller index 91, and the vernier 5,

then, the unit in this case being 10 sq. ins., write this down 29·15

(for the proportional or variable-scale planimeter this reading

would be 2·915.) Follow with the tracing point exactly the outline

of the figure to be measured in the direction of the movement of the

hands of a watch, until you arrive at the starting point; now read

the instrument. Suppose this reading to be 47·67, then by deducting

the first reading (29·15) the remainder (18·52) indicates that the

measured area contains 18·52 units—i.e., square inches—which is the

final result, so far as the instrument is concerned. To obtain the

actual area in feet, however, this result must be multiplied by the

number before explained corresponding to the scale on which the

figure that has been measured is drawn.[35] Assuming the scale to

have been ¼-inch per foot, then 18·52 inches multiplied by 16—the

appropriate multiplier for that scale—gives 296·32 square feet, the

exact area.

Several important points remain to be noticed in connection with

the use of the instrument. As a rule, the areas to be measured in

connection with ship designing are on a small scale, and the fixed or

needle point about which the instrument moves can always be placed

_outside_ the figure measured, in which case the process remains as

above stated. It should be mentioned, however, that by placing the

needle point _inside_ the figure, in such a position as to enable the

operator to follow its contour a larger figure can be measured at one

operation—the reading, however, being less than the true area by a

constant number which varies slightly with the construction of each

instrument, and which is found engraved on the small weight already

referred to (on the top of the bar in the proportional planimeter).

Adding this constant number to any reading taken by the instrument

placed as described, gives the true area.

The counting disc may go through more than one revolution forwards

or backwards. If the needle point be _outside_ the figure traversed

the counting disc can only move _forwards_ (as 9, 0, 1, 2, &c.): that

is, provided the figure has been traced in the manner directed—in

the direction of the hands of a watch. Then as many times as the

zero mark passes the index line add 10·000 to the _second_ reading.

If the needle point be _inside_ the figure, the disc can move either

forwards or backwards. If moving backwards, as 2, 1, 0, 9, &c., then

add 10·000 to the _first_ reading.

Before passing from the subject of the planimeter it may be both

interesting and useful to give an example of a calculation involving

its use. Subjoined is a specimen displacement and longitudinal centre

of buoyancy calculation, and any one familiar with the prodigious

array of columns and figures pertaining to a “displacement sheet”

of the ordinary kind cannot fail to appreciate the advantages of

the specimen, both with respect to simplicity of arrangement and

curtailment of the amount of calculation ordinarily involved:—

EXAMPLE OF SHIP DISPLACEMENT, WORKED OUT BY PLANIMETER.

+--------+----------------------+------+---------+-------+---------+

|Sections+----------------------+ Simpson’s |pliers | Moments |

| for |Successive |Difference| Multipliers. | for | for |

+--------+-----------+----------+------+---------+-------+---------+

| | 52·73 | | | | | |

| 1 | 52·73 | 0·0 | 1 | 0·0 | 0 | 0·00 |

| 2 | 54·55 | 1·82 | 4 | 7·28 | 1 | 7·28 |

| 3 | 58·98 | 4·43 | 2 | 8·86 | 2 | 17·72 |

| 4 | 64·61 | 5·63 | 4 | 22·25 | 3 | 67·56 |

| 5 | 70·73 | 6·12 | 2 | 12·24 | 4 | 48·96 |

| 6 | 77·05 | 6·32 | 4 | 25·28 | 5 | 126·40 |

| 7 | 83·37 | 6·32 | 2 | 12·64 | 6 | 75·84 |

| 8 | 89·64 | 6·27 | 4 | 25·08 | 7 | 175·56 |

| 9 | 95·75 | 6·11 | 2 | 12·22 | 8 | 97·76 |

| 10 | 01·45 | 5·7 | 4 | 22·8 | 9 | 205·20 |

| 11 | 06·09 | 4·64 | 2 | 9·28 | 10 | 92·80 |

| 12 | 08·57 | 2·48 | 4 | 9·92 | 11 | 109·12 |

| 13 | 08·57 | 0·0 | 1 | 0·0 | 12 | 0·00 |

+--------+-----------+----------+------+---------+-------+---------+

| (mult. for) } |

| (Com. int.) (¼th scale) (both sides) } 168·12 168·12) 1024·20 |

| 28·6 × 16 × 2 } = 8·716 ) ------- |

| ------------------------------------ } ------ 6·09*|

| (Simpson’s Mult.) (cub. ft. to ton.) } 100872 |

| 3 × 35 16812 |

| 117684 |

| *6·09 × 28·6 (Com. Int.) 134496 |

| = 174·2 Centre of Buoy. --------- |

| forward of No. 1 Ordinate. 1465·33392 tons m’l’d dis’p’t.|

+------------------------------------------------------------------+

The integrator, another and still more ingenious instrument, by

M. J. Amsler-Laffon, was invented theoretically shortly after

the planimeter just described (in the year 1855), but was first

constructed for practical use in the year 1867, the first instrument

made being exhibited in the Paris International Exhibition in

the year named. It was not introduced into England till the year

1878, and although adapted for other uses than those involved in

scientific calculations connected with shipbuilding it was in this

connection that attention was first seriously directed towards it.

In 1880 the late Mr C. W. Merrifield described the instrument, and

traced the mathematical principles upon which it is based, before

the Institution of Naval Architects, and in 1882, before the same

body, Mr J. H. Biles, naval architect for the firm of Messrs J. &

G. Thomson, called attention to the usefulness of the instrument in

stability investigations, showing by specimen calculations and other

particulars its great adaptability to this class of work, even in the

hands of youthful and untrained operators. A still more recent and

exhaustive paper devoted to the claims of the integrator upon naval

architects was read before the same Institution by Dr A. Amsler, the

son of the inventor, at its last meeting. This paper was chiefly

concerned with demonstrating the advantages of the integrator in

respect of time saved, as well as in respect of its great accuracy.

[Illustration: FIG. 27.

AMSLER’S MECHANICAL INTEGRATOR.]

The object of the integrator is to find at one operation the area,

the statical moment, and the moment of inertia of any closed curve

or figure by simply tracing out the curve with a pointer, the

results being read off directly from the instrument, as in the

case of the planimeter, and with a correspondingly small amount

of after calculation. As shown by Fig. 25, the essential parts of

the integrator are a rail =L=, having groove with which to guide

the wheels _p_ and _q_ of a carriage provided with rollers =D_{1}=

=D_{2}= =D_{3}= moving on the surface of the drawing. The contour

of the figure to be dealt with is traced—in the direction of the

movement of the hands of a watch—by the pointer =F=, this pointer

being attached to an arm moving on the vertical centre of the

instrument while the whole mechanism runs to and fro on the rail =L=.

Under these conditions the rollers =D_{1}= =D_{2}= =D_{3}= execute

movements partly rolling, partly sliding, and by readings taken from

the divisions engraved upon their circumferences at the beginning

and the end of the whole movement, together with simple arithmetical

processes, the nature of which may be inferred from the explanations

given of the planimeter readings, the three quantities sought are

arrived at.

In a valuable appendix to the paper read by Dr Amsler, before the

Institution of Naval Architects, specimen sheets are given of several

calculations, of a vessel of about 4000 tons, the forms in which the

figures are entered being so arranged as to avoid all unnecessary

trouble in measuring and calculating, and to contain at the same

time a check on the results. The accuracy and the speed of working

depend, of course, to a considerable extent on the person using the

integrator, but as showing what can be obtained with the instrument

after some practice, the specimens given in the paper referred to are

certainly remarkable. For the calculations of the data necessary for

the construction of the curves of displacement and vertical position

of centre of buoyancy, the complete integrator and arithmetical

work took only two hours; for the data requisite for the curve of

displacement per inch immersion, and transverse metacentre one hour

was taken; and for the complete calculation, affording data to

construct a stability curve, the time taken was only eight hours.

A similar calculation done in the ordinary arithmetical method,

and giving results far less reliable, would have taken as many

days. All the work, it should be added, was done without the aid

of an assistant. Amongst other calculations besides displacement

and stability in connection with which the integrator is greatly

advantageous, are those concerned with the strength of vessels and

with the longitudinal strains to which they are subject at sea

through unequal distributions of weight and buoyancy, already fully

referred to in the chapter on scientific progress.

BENNETT & THOMSON, PRINTERS.

PORTRAIT

AND

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

JOHN BURNS.

JOHN BURNS, F.R.A.S., F.R.G.S.

CHAIRMAN OF THE CUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY.

Born at Glasgow and educated at the University in that city. At an

early age became a partner in the firm of G. & J. Burns, which was

founded in 1824 by George Burns (his father) and James (his uncle),

also in the Cunard Steamship Company, of which gigantic concern, as

is well known, his father, with Samuel Cunard and David M‘Iver, were

the founders in 1839. From the first Mr BURNS earnestly addressed

himself to the responsibilities of his important position, and

finding able coadjutors in his other partners in the Cunard Company,

has carried on the concerns of that great Steamship Line so as to

enhance its reputation and maintain first place in the Atlantic Mail

Service. In 1880, forty years after its formation, the Company was

transformed into a public corporation, with Mr BURNS as chairman. The

fleet now consists of 37 steamers, representing over 110,000 tons,

or a money equivalent of nearly £3,000,000, and giving employment

to an enormous number of persons. While everything is done on board

to ensure speed and comfort, the main consideration, to which all

others are made subservient, is _safety_. First-class vessels,

unstinted equipment, carefully-selected officers and men, combined

with close personal supervision, are the means used to attain this

end, and that it is attained marvellously is matter of world-wide

fame. Apart from his able management of the Cunard fleet, Mr BURNS

has not allowed the affairs of his Home Services between this

country and Ireland and elsewhere, to suffer in any particular, but

in his hands these concerns have flourished and the trade greatly

increased. The services are conducted by a splendid fleet of mail

steamers, now belonging exclusively to Mr BURNS, quite irrespective

of the Cunard fleet, and which, for speed, safety, and unfailing

regularity of departure and arrival, are probably unsurpassed. As

representing the Cunard Company, and also as a private shipowner,

Mr BURNS has taken frequent and conspicuous part in the discussion

of those great matters which concern the maritime interests of

this country. Has often been called upon to give evidence before

Select Committees of the House of Commons on shipping affairs. Was

amongst the first to recommend to Government the desirability of

fitting merchant steamships so as to be available in times of war.

Is Deputy-Lieutenant of Lanarkshire, and Magistrate for the counties

of Lanark and Renfrew. Evinces unbounded interest in the commercial

and social well-being of his native city, numerous benevolent

institutions in great measure owing their existence to his hearty

munificence. His residence of Castle Wemyss, on the Clyde, is

frequently the abode of the famous of this and other countries.

[Illustration: John Burns (signature)

INK-PHOTO, SPRAGUE & C^o. LONDON.]

PORTRAIT

AND

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

NATHANIEL DUNLOP.

MEMBER OF THE GLASGOW PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY; MEMBER OF THE CLYDE

NAVIGATION TRUST; AND TRUSTEE OF ANDERSON’S UNIVERSITY, GLASGOW.

Born at Campbeltown, Argyleshire, in 1830, and educated at the

Grammar School of that town. In 1845 removed to Glasgow, and in

1847 entered the counting-house of Mr George Gillespie, where he

was chiefly employed in connection with the Allan Line service

of clipper ships between Glasgow and Canada, for which trade Mr

Gillespie was then agent. In 1853 transferred his services to the

Allan Line firm, where, for several years, was principal clerk and

cashier, subsequently becoming partner. During the year 1853 the

Messrs Allan resolved to add a fleet of steamers to their already

well-known line of clipper ships, and contracted for the building of

four screw vessels, the first of which—the _Canadian_—was launched in

July, 1854. The growth of the business may be inferred from the fact

that the Allan fleet at the present time consists of twenty-eight

steamers, of 87,078 tons, and fifteen sailing vessels, of 21,225

tons. Mr DUNLOP, since joining the firm, has taken an active part,

along with Mr Alexander Allan, its senior member, in the building

arrangements of the Allan Line. When mild steel was beginning to

take the place of iron in the construction of steamers, and before

any of the Atlantic companies had ventured on its use, Mr DUNLOP and

his partners evinced ready confidence in the new material, their

adoption of it being elsewhere referred to in this work. From an

early period Mr DUNLOP has taken an active interest in shipping

legislation. In 1874 gave evidence before the Select Committee of

the House of Commons upon the Measurement of Tonnage Bill, and again

in 1882 before the Royal Commission on the same subject. During the

Plimsoll agitation, and the consideration of the proposed legislation

resulting from it, was a witness before the Select Committee of the

House. In 1879 was deputed by the Shipowners Association of Glasgow

to give evidence before the Select Committee upon the Merchant Seamen

Bill then before the House. In connection with Mr Chamberlain’s

recent efforts at legislation on Merchant Shipping, issued a pamphlet

which very fully discussed the questions raised, and exhibited an

analysis of the losses of life in merchant shipping. Gave evidence

during the present year before the Load Line Committee, on which

body Mr DUNLOP had been invited to serve; business duties, however,

preventing him accepting.

[Illustration: Yours faithfully Nath^l Dunlop (signature)

INK-PHOTO, SPRAGUE & C^o. LONDON.]

PORTRAIT

AND

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

THOMAS HENDERSON.

THOMAS HENDERSON,

CHAIRMAN OF THE GLASGOW SHIPOWNERS’ ASSOCIATION; OF THE LOCAL MARINE

BOARD OF THE PORT OF GLASGOW AND OF THE CLYDE LIGHTHOUSE TRUST;

DIRECTOR OF THE GLASGOW CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND OF THE CHAMBER OF

SHIPPING OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Mr Thomas Henderson, senior member of the firm of Henderson Bros.,

managing owners of the Anchor Line of Steamships, is a native of

Fifeshire, but was educated in Glasgow. He entered, at an early

age, the mercantile marine service as an apprentice, and rapidly

rose through the different grades of the profession to the command

of various sailing ships and steamers belonging to the port of

Glasgow. In 1853 he was admitted a partner in the shipping firm

of Handyside, & Co., which, five years afterwards, was changed to

Handyside & Henderson. Some years later, on the retirement of the

Messrs Handyside and the assumption of Mr John Henderson and other

partners into the business, the firm became Henderson Brothers, under

which designation the greater part of the steam shipping business

now carried on by the Anchor Line steamships has been developed

and extended. The fleet as now constituted consists of forty-five

steamships of an aggregate measurement of over 124,000 tons, with

an engine power of above 25,000 horses nominal. These vessels are

employed severally in the Transatlantic, Indian, and Mediterranean

services, in all of which they are well known and appreciated by

the public as in all respects first-class, and second to no other

competing line for safety, speed, comfort to passengers, and careful

delivery of goods carried. One branch of the extensive services of

the Anchor steamships, specially noteworthy as forming one of the

modern “express” lines which have given such impetus to ocean travel,

is the express service between Liverpool and New York, in which the

magnificent steamships _City of Rome_ and _Austral_ are engaged. In

connection with their head office in Glasgow, Messrs Henderson Bros.

have established branch offices of their own in London, Liverpool,

Manchester, Barrow-in-Furness, Queenstown, Londonderry, Dundee,

New York, Boston, Chicago, Paris, Marseilles, and Palermo, at all

of which the agency business of the several lines of steamers is

attended to by their own employees. In addition to his responsible

share in the concerns of the Anchor Line, Mr HENDERSON is a partner

in the extensive shipbuilding and engineering works of D. & W.

Henderson & Co., at Meadowside, Partick, and Finnieston Quay,

Glasgow. The estimation in which Mr HENDERSON is held as a shipping

and commercial authority may be inferred from the enumeration of

important offices at the head of this note; most of which he has

worthily occupied for many years.

[Illustration: Very truly yours Thomas Henderson (signature)

INK-PHOTO, SPRAGUE & C^o. LONDON.]

PORTRAIT

AND

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

WILLIAM PEARCE.

WILLIAM PEARCE,

MEMBER OF COUNCIL OF THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS; MEMBER OF

THE IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE, AND OF THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS AND

SHIPBUILDERS IN SCOTLAND.

Born at Brompton, in Kent, in the year 1835. Learned practical

shipbuilding in Her Majesty’s Dockyard at Chatham, and was at

the same time engaged in the office of the master shipwright

there, the late celebrated Mr Oliver Lang. When the Government in

1861 determined upon the construction of iron ships in the Royal

Dockyards, was the first officer selected to carry on that work,

and superintended the building of H.M. _Achilles_ in the dockyard

at Chatham. In 1863 left the Government service to become a

Surveyor to Lloyd’s Registry in the Clyde district, and in 1864 was

appointed General Manager in Messrs R. Napier & Sons’ shipbuilding

establishment, where, in 1865, his ability as a naval architect

was first brought into prominence through the designing of the

_Pereire_ and _Ville De Paris_, built for the Compagnie General

Transatlantique, which vessels maintained for several years a

foremost place amongst the fast ships on the Atlantic. After the

death of Mr John Elder, in 1869, joined by request the late Messrs

John Ure and J. L. K. Jamieson in carrying on and extending the

gigantic shipbuilding and engineering business at Fairfield, under

the title of John Elder & Co. In 1878 Mr Ure and Mr Jamieson retired

from the firm, and Mr PEARCE became sole partner, which position he

has occupied up to the present time. Has constructed many steamships

that are amongst the most celebrated in existence, of which it may

suffice simply to name the _Arizona_, _Alaska_, and _Oregon_; the

_Orient_, _Austral_, and _Stirling Castle_; also the _Umbria_ and

_Etruria_, just being completed for the Cunard Steamship Company.

Another vessel built by Mr PEARCE, the construction of which excited,

perhaps, a greater amount of interest than any of the above named,

was the yacht _Livadia_, for the late Emperor of Russia. The design,

which was a fantastic one, was by Admiral Popoff. Mr PEARCE’S

enterprize has not been confined to shipbuilding and engineering,

having projected or become largely interested in several lines of

steamers, amongst which are, the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.; the

New Zealand Shipping Company; the Guion Line; and the China Line of

the Scottish Oriental Steamship Company. In 1880 Mr PEARCE gave the

opening lecture in the course delivered in connection with the Marine

Exhibition held in the Corporation Buildings, Glasgow. In 1881 was

appointed a member of the Royal Commission on Tonnage, and in October

of the present year was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on

Merchant Shipping.

[Illustration: Yours faithfully W. Pearce (signature)

INK-PHOTO, SPRAGUE & C^o. LONDON.]

PORTRAIT

AND

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

JAMES ANDERSON.

JAMES ANDERSON, F.R.G.S.

CHAIRMAN OF THE ORIENT STEAM NAVIGATION COY., LIMITED; CHAIRMAN OF

THE LONDON BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE SCOTTISH PROVINCIAL INSURANCE

COY.; DIRECTOR OF THE HOME AND COLONIAL INSURANCE COY., DIRECTOR OF

THE BANK OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, ETC.

Born at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, on 17th May, 1811, his family then

being—and having been since 1780—extensively engaged in shipowning

and shipbuilding there. Removed to London in 1831, and entered the

counting-house of Mr James Thomson, a considerable shipowner, whose

vessels were principally engaged in the West Indian trade. Assumed

partnership with Mr Thomson in 1847, carrying on business as James

Thomson & Co., a connection which, unfortunately, was soon thereafter

broken, in the removal by death of Mr Thomson. In 1849 the business

was extended to the Australian trade, by the commencement of a

line of sailing vessels to Adelaide, which soon became well-known

and favourite traders. Some time after Mr Thomson’s death, the

name of the firm was changed to Anderson, Thomson & Co., and in

1869 it underwent a second change to Anderson, Anderson & Co., its

present designation. In 1876 the feasibility of running a direct

line of steamships to Australia occurred to Mr ANDERSON and his

partners, and was practically tested at their sole risk in that year.

Notwithstanding the predictions that severe loss would result, the

experiments encouraged Messrs Anderson, Anderson & Co. to promote

the formation of a company to work such a service. Early in 1877,

Messrs F. Green & Co. joined Messrs Anderson, Anderson & Co. in the

enterprize, and on the 7th March, 1878, the steamer _Garonne_ left

England for Australia, flying the flag of the ORIENT STEAM NAVIGATION

CO., LIMITED, the designation “Orient” having been adopted through

the high reputation of the clipper ship of that name belonging

to Messrs Anderson, Anderson & Co. Anticipations were at first

confined to the hope that sufficient trade might be found to justify

monthly sailings, but almost at once it was seen that a fortnightly

service was requisite. At the outset four steamers—the _Chimborazo_,

_Lusitania_, _Cuzco_, and _Garonne_—were purchased by the Company,

and one—the _Orient_—built. In January, 1880, the Pacific Steam

Navigation Company entered, as it were, into partnership, by

supplying, in ready and admirable working order, the additional

vessels required. The further additions to the fleet, and the nature

of the service done, are referred to elsewhere in this work.

[Illustration: James Anderson (signature)

INK-PHOTO, SPRAGUE & C^o. LONDON.]

PORTRAIT

AND

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

ALEXANDER C. KIRK.

ALEXANDER C. KIRK, M.I.C.E.

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS; OF THE INSTITUTION

OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, AND OF THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS AND

SHIPBUILDERS IN SCOTLAND.

Born in the year 1830, at the Manse of Barry, Forfarshire, of which

parish his father was minister. Received his education at the Burgh

School of Arbroath, and subsequently at the University of Edinburgh.

After serving the customary term of apprenticeship, as an engineer,

with Mr Robert Napier of the Vulcan Foundry, Glasgow, was for several

years in the drawing office of Messrs Maudsley Sons & Field, London.

Removed from London to Bathgate as manager of Young’s Parafin Oil

Works, first at Bathgate and then at West Calder, during which period

he introduced many improvements in the apparatus employed, notably in

shale breaking and cooling machinery. About 1870 became manager of

the Engineering Department in the works of Messrs John Elder & Co.,

Glasgow, a post which he held till 1877, when, along with his present

partners, he purchased the celebrated Shipbuilding & Engineering

Works, Govan, established and so long carried on by the Napier

family, and still conducted under the old designation of Robert

Napier & Sons. While with Messrs Elder & Co., Mr KIRK introduced the

principle of triple expansion in marine engines, a departure which

has since been followed with notable success in several of the larger

vessels turned out by Messrs R. Napier & Sons, fuller reference to

which is made in the body of this work.

The next department, occupying the east end of the Company’s works,