Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-23
SHIP BUILDING.
An Industry Almost Ex.
tinct in this Country.
AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE.
what Ought to be Done to Secure a
Steamship Line to Brazil-and
Commerce with that Land.


Ehcts," ON the Both ultimo, with much
5nterest. and fully appreciate your very
eimely suggestion that "We really do
nssd something in the way of coast de-
fonse." Mr.. Tilden made that very
clear In his letter of December l, 1885,
- Speaker Carlisle, and the subject has
been mentioned in congressional debates.
bat nothing has as yet been done-all of
which is much to be regretted.
In the matter of American ship-build-
Ing, on the other hand, which you also
mention, there does not really appear to
~ much cause for regret, if the subject
y closely examined. Excepting the
nonsser steamships on the Atlantic OF
The Cunard type. which carry very
nmall percentage of the worlds ocean
freight, and which oui capitalists do not
for very excellent reasons care to invest
il, and heavy iron.clads, which Congress
nppropriates no money for, the American
ahip-builders are doing q fair business,
both for home and foreign account.
Steel and iron steam vessels of any
class, from the ocean steamship down to
the modern steel barge that will soon
be placed on the Mississippi, can be and
are built in this country III direct compe-
tition with the best builders in Europe.
The Delaware can hold its own with the
Clyde, though it does not build so many
vessels.
The Pusey & Jones Company, of Will
nipgton, Del, represented by the writer,
/ has built over one hundred steel and iron
steamers for Mexico, Central and South
America and West Indies during the
past twenty five years. Of this number
thirty seven wers built for and are now
n the service of the Amazon alone. Not
long since we sold two steamers to an
English company in London. We have
built engines and gunboats for our own
government and the governments of Bra.
nj, Venezuela and Colombia-all the
1Atter in direct competition with English
builders. At the same time We have
had fair share of home work. We
built ali of the steamers of the Cromwell
line, between New Orleans and New
OkAs cACcDt OlCs 4aClC ahs OOSh oOAiO
Improvement in steamship building since
they were built. but they are good YES
aels now. We have also built the United
States steamship Albatross, the first
ocean steamship ever built and equipped
expressly for scientific exploration of
1he sea, and whichis pronounced by com.
petent judges to be superior to the En-.
Nliah steamship Challenger, which was
6tted out for the same servive.
The New York Herald of May IA,
1883, notes the fact that the vessels of
four nationalities-United States, Bra
nj, Venezuela and Mexico-were on
she stocks in our yard at Wilmington,
Deleware, at that time. Those vessels
sailed away from our works, when lin.
ished, under the flags of their res pective
xntionalities.
Mention is made of thirty.seven of
oar steamers in service on the River ANA
zon. Oh pages 81 and 81 in the Brazilian
oficial publication, complied by Acting
Secretary Conner, of the Brazilian Lega.
tion at Washington, with "view of
promoting the commerce, immigration
and internal improvements of he EN-.
-s,ss:.e;" and published by order of the
Minister OF Agriculture, Comm rec and
Public Works, for circu ,ation In this
country. Iquote:
''Brazil has four great rivers--the
Amszon, Tccanjrs, Parana and S. Fran.
CISCO -zAi,asides numerous smaller ones
Mat are also navigable for large steam.
boats.
1.-The Amazon, rizing in Peru, .offers a
channel OF steam communication across
the widest part of the continent from
the Atlantic Ocean to within a few hun.
dred miles Of the Pacific; and with the
TOcantins. serves as a means of COM
munication between the Provinces of
Peru, Amazons and Goyaz. part of the
Province of Maranho and Matto Crosse,
and the Republics of Venezuela, Colum.
bia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The
Amazon and its tributaries offer, on Bra
lillian territory alone, a length of 27 900
miles navigable for large river steam.
boats.
"a large number of enterprising
steam navigation companies and firms
are engaged in the navigation of all the
principal rivers of the Empire. Among
them may be named the "Campanhia
Fluvial Paranese;" the "Companhia
Fiuvial do Alto Amazonas the "Ama-
zon Steam Navigation Company, Limit
ed;" Telxeira aud Ruiz; Jean Cleval
ante de Albuquerque Torres; "Compan-
hia Navagacao Vapor Manaos;" and
the 'Companhia Navagacao Para ANA
zonas." Thiriy-seven OF the steel and
iron steamers used by these companies
were built in the United States expressly
for Brazilian river and coastwise services
by the pusey & Jones Company, of VIII.
miDgton, Del"
The above, it should be borne in
mind, is from d Brazilian official publi-
cation. Turning to the official record of
our own government it will be seen by
reference to the report of the Secretary
Of the Navy, transmitted to Congress by
the President. with his annual message,
in 1879, that Commodore Thomas o.
Selfrdge, United States Navy, made a
survey OF the Amazon and Madeira
rivers on board the United States steam
ship Enterprise in 1878, and in his re-
port incidentally mentions his expert.
ence on board one of our steamers on
the Amazon and other matters of inter-
eat, as follows:
''The survey of the Madeira being
completed so far as it could be per-
formed by the Enterprise, awaited the
first river steamt oat to ascend the river
and Join the steam launch in the sur.
yey of the remaining portion of the
Falls of San Antonio; and, on July 4,
went on board the sidewheel steamboat
Canuman, Alberto Moraes, captain,
bound or San Antonio. The Gamma
u an American.built iron sidewheel
boa, drawing about seven feet loaded,
and constructed sitter the pattern of our
Western river boats, with separate en-
gines. This American type. not found
in any steamers of English build, is the
great favorite among steamboat owners
and pilots Of the Amazon and its tribu.
taries. and / doubt if any more steam.
-. Cor r,var mn vtoation ara nrIaral L.,