The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-07-30
The STEAM MARIhB UF ENGLAND.


Number Of English steamers Employed
~ Trade.
The mercantile steam marine Of England is
Increasing with great iapidty, and now consists,
OF 2277 vessels with a gross tonnage Of SS3, ,034|
tons, or latter deducting engine room and sptc9
Of the registered tonnage Of 59l ,4]i tons. 1
recent Parliamentary return which gives thu
figures alfo furnishes a number of facts whR
are condensed A. tJllOVs:- =
few ears ago iron hrst hegan 10 be intro.
duced as material for the construction of
steamers, and air, ady the iron stcamcrs In the
Brush mtTcantile marine are more numerous
than those constructed Of wood there being
1891 built Of iron iu thu total of 2277 steamers.
Auo her new muteTia is coming into use in the
BUILDING uf steamers, namely steel The numo9r
OF vessels formed ut steel NJ present Ouy
amounts to four or i've; but IL is thought pro-
hsble that the number Of vessels coustruc.ed Of
this material vii increusc--u much sfr .iier
quantity uf steel liuuced, roy more than one
ba % btiug required 20 give the me amount Of
4 enpth in resisting sh Hck- and uws than Is re.
Quuod OF ron. In one case there Is a comOna-
tiun ~ 81 tl plat With iron he ms. a..H
IL is also only q few years since the first screw
steamer WIS CoustTuC cd IN England, and already
considerably more than Ouc-tuird Of the s'eamersi
| IN the mtrCaut le marine Of TINS country are pfo-
pelh q bv the screw. According tO the return just
! punished, the plumber oi scrcg Gamers at the
ht ginning OF the " eseut year was seven hundred
| aud niuety.two. The size Of tue steamers em-
| p Dyed IN the trade Of England varies from 80
ioi 10 1876 tOns-the last being, Of course, the
| tonnage of he Great Eastern.
Nearly the whoe c of the trade bet veen Great
Britain aud Ireland, and Il very considerable pOr-
tiOn Of the trade or und the coasts OF the three
kir gdoms is now carried ON by means 4 steamers
| The number of steam-vesselN employed In these
| branches Of trade may br taken a. something like
| 1900. There should also he included under this
! head nearly the whole of the steamers employed
in The trade with France, BE gum, and Holland,
NM Al mot inn ~ mi al tlH la
! with the Atlantic ports of The Peninsula, and In
| the trace with Germany, DeumarN, and the
| BRuc
The number If steamers employed in what
may be called ocean traffic announced 70 four
| HUNDRED and seven'N-Seveu ~ the commence
/ ment OF the present year, and NAV Oe safely
! taken az upwards ut tive hunured at the present
| tine. These vessels may he dvited into four
! classes, according tn their tonnage The first Of
! these classes consists Of vesse Of from five hum
| dred to une Thousand tons. These amounted at
! the beginning OF the present year G. two hundred
and siXtN EIGHT. and include Urge portion of
| tie team ers empioN ed In he uade with the
Me dit, rronean, the Auria &c, the b ack Sea, the
Baltic, al the Hanse Towns of Germany.
The vessels which may be considered ocean
steHmG rs, in the strict of the term are vess
tes nf between 1000 AID 1000 TINS. The steam
| ers of this elias, from 1000 t. 20)0 tons burthen
amounted 10 1853. In this number were a few of
| the Slesm' RS employed In the trade with Ame-
ca. When that trade commenced. vessels of
lhut was the size o. the steamers In the original
| Cunsrd contract. But the steamers employed in
| the trade with America have increased IN magui-
| tude every three or four years, and there are now
| so vessels Of upwrd, OF 20O0 tons employed in
! keeping up the communication for the m ills and
| irst-Cass paSseDEr rs between Europe and Ame-
| Tica. The number of vessels ut from 2O00 10
1900 tons Is stated in the return to be 48; and
the lumber above 5000 tons il stated to he z. But
| this class of vessels is increasing rapidly, and
thee figures fall considerably short Of the real
| number of steamers of this class now on the
ocean.
The Great Eastern is still far ahead of all
other vessels, her tonnage being not less than
1875 tons. But she has been too unfortunate a
a commercial speculation To give rise tn any imi
tatiuns The largest claSs of seamers that hsve
hitherto been employed with profit and advau'
tage scarcely rise TO the magnitude Ot 1000 tons
In the warlike marine of SE gaud or two
vessels have been constructed Of the magnitude
of 5000 TINS.
An English paper adds that "it is nipossiblt
10 consider the above facts without coming u
the conclusion thit the introducti n ut scan
nav CATION followed, as it has been, by the appi
cation OF iron 10 the purposes Of building
and the introduction OF the screw IN the plls VI
the paddle wheel, have given fresh impulse anC
an additional sec uritv for the naval r-atness o.
the country. Iron steamers re in Ia urs t0 ruiz
the o. can in the place Of iho.e vessels built o.
hCart OF oak, in which Nelson aud Blake gained
their victories; and the country which carries
the BUILDING OF iron vessels 10 the greatest perfec
ticn will be he country that wi rule the seas
IL is even doubtful, since the power of artillery
has been so much increased, whether swiftues
Will not become as great an cement of nava
power as ST. ength, AID whether ID hu nation will
not possess the command of the sea, which ha
the greatest number of swift iron steamers cApa
bic u CARRY ing one or two heavy guns apiece
Sbould il come 10 this, the iron teimers OF IN,
British mercantile marine may have as mucl
influence in pr serving the naval power of Eng
land as The wooden merchant vessel Of our an
CestUrs had In creating it,