The Hawaiian gazette., 1875-05-26
nus slcrchan, Nn,lc- er,he Nrerla,


FSc-a ~ lau NAL eNse,te
I Accounting 10 a resent publication Of the Bu-
rcaa veriias, the sea-gOing merchant navies Of
the world conSis, Of s6,9Se sailing vessels.
measuring ll,S9S,eso tons, and sseS steamers,
Of capacity Of s,oSi,SS1 tons. The figures
here given do net correspond with the official
r,urus of the several Countries included in this
publication; bu; the difference is explained bv
the fact that the Bureau Noyitas reckons only
On sea-gOiug vessels over loo tons bur.hea.
The sroas superiority Of the British Empire at
sea appears very clearly from this compilation.
Thus, q the sailing ships Of the whole world,
over Sc per cent. Of the number and 81 Per
cent Of the tonnage belong to the British En-
pirc; whether as regaris number or capacity
that is, England and her dependencies own
considerably more than one-third Of all the
sailing ships that navigate the seas and oceans
Of the globe In steaul-veSsels, again, this su-
peTiority Is far more striking stil. the British
proportion being over - per. cent. Of the num-
her and nearly 50 per cent of the toanagc. 1,
is strength in steamers that now ensures su-
prenacy at sca. Tho figures jus, cited show
how promptly English ship-owners perceived
this fact. and how e:secipally they acted upon
It, The British sea-sOiug steam merchant ua-
w Is now oonsiierably grea;er than the Sea-
c0ins steam merchant uavies Of all the nest Of
the world combined. 1t would seem. indeed,
thSt the resent great rise in the price of irOu
ani oOal almost put stop to the increase Of
the steam skipping Of many foreign countries.
In England it may have caused the increase to
have been les rapid than i, otherwise would
have bcen, but It did not in the slightest de
gree cheek the rapidity Of increase previously
As compared with 1859. the Brit /
ish steam tonnage last year had augmented 76 /
per cent. In sailing vessels the United States I
rank next after cur own country. but the inter- I
val Is very long ose. In number the Ameri- /
csn vessels are little more than oae-third Of the I
British, and in tonnage only 10 per cent In 1
steamers the disparity is still more marked. I
The United States, it is true, occupy the second .
place in these also, hut the American steamers
number little more than one-Sixth Of the Brit
Sh. and their cspscity is not one-fourth. It's
% he remembered. however, that the United
states poSSeSs large number Of both steam
rs and sailing vessels exclusively engaged On
he great lakes and rivers. and in the ooastins
rade, which are noi here included. With re-
and 70 steamers France occupies the third
,l2ce. with slightly more than half the number
nd tonnage Of the United States. Then come
n order Germany. Spain, Russia, Sweden and
Norway. Holland. Italy, and Austria This
-,ier Is according to tonnage; It would he
onewhat different were we TO arrange accori-
Y TO number Of ships. In sailing vessels,
rhe.her As regards number OF tonnage, Nor
,sy. t2kea by Itself. occupies the thini place,
Immediately after the United States. Then
ONES ItAly, then Germany; while France,
-hioh was third in respect to steamers, ranks
ere only sixth, immediately after her great l
wal. Holland, again, once the greatest Of
-aritiue Powers, Is nov, 50 far IS sailing YES
sls are concerned, beaten by Spain and Greece,
nd only Just takes precedence Of Sweden with I
II Norway. The decline Of Holland Is, in
eed, no; less marked than the prominence Of
nslani and the increasing importance Of Ger
auy IS maritime nation. Holland, as we
aye seen. IS only eighth in steam tonnsge,
mixing below Spain, Russia, and even Sweden
ai Norway: while IN sailing tonnage she is
lly ninth, being inferior 10 both Spain and
reeoe- Germany, On the other hand, as we
.0wei BY figures quoted from the Berlin Bor-
11eitung, is alrssiy fourth in steam tonnage,
j IN sailing tOunase sic has actually beaten :
rance. though she Is still inferior to Norway ,
j Italy.