The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-09-30
The Merchant Navles OF the World.

Those who recall how large a share Of the
| worlds carrying trade we had before the
| civil war; and how small share OF 1t we
possess at present. are apt to underrate the
rank OF the United States among maritime
nations SO enormous Is our coasting trade.
| all OF which is transacted under our own
flag. that it lifts us to the second place as
regards sailing vessels. and to the fourth
place in respect OF steam tonnage. That is
one OF the interesting facts brought out In n
review OF the commercial navies Of the world
prepared by Lloyd's Register for the year
1892. There is no higher authority upon the
subject than that under whose sanction the
following statistics have been published.
To begin with steam fleets. it appears
that. last year. the United Kingdom had
6.035 steam vessels. with an aggregate
capacity OF s6O1.679 tons. Germany stood
next. the figures for that country being
S46. with a total tonnage Of 1.0SS,S30. 1t
will surprise many persons to learn that. In
respect OF numbers. the British colonies
own steam fleet exactly equal to that Of
Germany; the gross tonnage, however. is
less than half as great, being only 515.2O4
As regards tonnage. France ranks next to
Germany, her 532 steam vessels having an
aggregate tonnage Of $50. 799. In tonnage. the
United States. as we have said. occupy the
fourth place. their steam shipping having
total capacity of 572.252 tons. Spain follows
with 1876 925 tons; next comes Norway with
1856 SAT tons. and then Italy with 317, 1877 tons.
SO much for the steam fleets of the principal
nations; it Is scarcely worth while to quote
figures with regard to countries having less
than SOC. 600 gross tons Of steam shipping.
Passing to sailing vessels we find the
United Kingdom still at the head. but by
no means maintaining the great superiority
which she DOS sesses with regard to steam
vessels. Promising that the term sailing
marine does not for the purpose Of these
statistics include small craft Of under 100
tons, we may mention that in 1892
Great Britain and Ireland had 8.255 sailing
vessels possessing an aggregate capacity
of over two and q half million tons. The
United States came next. being pretty close
In respect OF numbers. though not in that
Of aggregate capacity; we owned last year
1896 sailing craft with tonnage Of 1884,
174. Norway was directly at our heels. the
figures being 2.SlS ships. with a tonnage Of
1.346212 The fourth place Is occupied not
by any European power. but by the British
colonies. which owned 1859 sailing vessels.
having total capacity OF 7s2.s21 tons.
Then came Germany. with 1.005 vessels OF
614.9 1924 tons; Italy. with 1.173. possessing a
gross tonnage Of sol. 649; Sweden. with 9GO
vessels Of 2Ss.751 tons; Russia. with 947. of
276.7O6 tons; and lastly. France. which
possesses only 67s sailing vessels. with
gross tonnage OF 2o3.9O9. The sailing ma
rines OF Spain and Holland. which were once
the largest In the world, are no longer
worth mentioning.
AS regards the waste OF shipping during
the last year. the returns published by
LIQUIDS Register are less favorable to the
United States than to three other of the
chief maritime nations. Comprehending
both steam and sailing ships In the calcu-
lation. we find that. In 1892. the percentage
of vessels lost by the United Kingdom was
2.59; by Italy. 2.79. and by Germay 3.46.
The percentage OF vessels lost by the
United States was 3.s2; by the British colo
MES. 3.ss: by Norway. 4.47. and by France
$40. For a better exhibition than that
made by the United Kingdom we have to
go to the smaller maritime powers, among
which we observe that Russia lost but 1.25
OF her vessels. and Spain only 1872. The re-
markable immunity Of Russian ships from
loss is due apparently to the fact that a
considerable number Of Russian ports are
closed during the winter. which Is conspic-
uousy the wreck season.