Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-07-04
The Ships Built and the Ships Lost In
1882.

The Ships Built and the Ships Lost In
1889.
Last year was the most active and
prosperous in the history of English
shipbuilding. The yards on the Clyde
alone turned out during 1882 no fewer
than 297 vessels, with total gross
tonnage of S95,149 tons. There are
now over forty shipbuilding firms on
that river, which is famous throughout
the world as the chief seat of ship
construction, especially steamers. The
year 1881 was remarkable for its pros
perity there, but 54,326 more tons
were built on the Clyde in 1882 than
in 1881, and the tonnage of the new
vessels launched last year was more
than double the total for 1879.
The shipyards on the northeast
coast of England, including those Of
the Tyne, Wear, Tees, and Humber,
were not less prosperous. They turn
ed out gross total of 1888 vessels in
1882 Of an aggregate tonnage of 553,-
985 tons. The Wear has now attain
ed the second rank among the ship
building ports of the world, though it
is still far behind the Clyde, having
produced in 1882 only 1913 vessels of
tonnage of 212,464 tons to the
Clyde's 297 vessels of tonnage of
375, 149 tons. Twenty-Five years ago
Sunderland on the Wear was at the
head of the list, with New York run
ming it close race. But when iron
began to supercede wood for shipbuild-
ing, New York dropped into compar-
alive insignifcance, and the Clyde
outstripped the Wear, with the Tyne
in the second place, which now, as we
have seen, has been seized by the
Wear.
1t has been the substitution of iron
for wood as the material for ships
which has given the greatest impulse
to the English yards. They are bet
ter prepared to satisfy the new de-
mand, and can meet it, owing to their
proximity to iron and coal mines,
their cheaper labor, and their vast
capital investment in the requisite
plant, as none of their rivals can do
at present, especially our own ship
builders. The extraordinary prosper
ity the English yards have enjoyed
for the past two years, and which
promises to be exceeded in 1888, has
of course, strengthened their hold OH
the industry. On the Clyde alone
10000 workmen were engaged in the
various yards last year, and yet We
are told that the builders experienced
great difficulty in procuring labor,
though the ironworkers, riveters, calk-
ers, and filters are by far the best paid
operatives in England.
When wood was the material fol
ships, the advantages which the Eng
lish yards now enjoy with respect tc
iron were very decidedly ours. The
wood was handy and comparatively
cheap, and our supply of workmen
skilled in its use was large. But now
wood has been almost entirely super
ceded. At the four shipbuilding ports
in the northeast of England, for in.
stance, hoppers and barges excepted
only one wooden vessel was built in
1882. Steel also is coming to the
front as the shosen material for large
and superior steamers. On the Clyde
the tonnage of steel-built vessels was
only $4,000 tons in 1879, while last
year GO steel vessels of an aggregate
tonnage of 10S,254 tons were built
| there.
The tendency to build steam vessels
to the exclusion of sailers continues
at the northeastern ports, where Of
the 1888 ships built last year only II
were sailing vessels. So great is the
demand for marine engines that all
the machine shops have prospered ex-
ceedingly, and at Wallsend, in North
cumberland, the largest works in the
world for the construction of steam
machinery have been established.
On the Clyde, however, there has
been a marked increase in the demand
for sailing ships, from which we may
infer that the time when they will be
driven from the ocean is yet much
longer way than the prophets declar-
ed a few years ago. Forty-four sail
ing ships of iron or steel were built
on the Clyde in 1882, against "a in
1881, and the increase in the amount
of tonnage launched last year was
largely due to numerous sailing YES
sells turned out. The average tonnage
of these vessels also showed a very
considerable incrnnsn II heinz 1 40