The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-10-08
TIE OLD SQUARE RIGGER'
VIRTUALLY CEASED TO BE A PRO-
DUCT OF AMERICAN SHIPYARDS.

Commissioner of fNavigation-Total Doc
umented Tonnage of the Year the Largest
for Twenty-one Years Except In 1S93--
More Steam ana Fewer Sailing Vessels.
Washington, Oct. THE annual re-
port of Mr.. Chamberlain, the commits
sioner of navigation, which has just
been submitted to the secretary of the
treasury, shows that the total docu-
mented tonnage of the United States on
June 80, 1897, 4,O07, ,42O tons, is the largest
for twenty-one years except 1898, when
it was 4,S20,071 tons. Our largest docu-
umented tonnage was 5,539.S13 tons on
June 80, 1861. Considering the speed
and number of trips of steam vessels
compared with sailing vessels, our
merchant fleet has never been so eff
cient as this year.
The steam tonnage amounts to 1885,
553 tons; sail tonnage, including barges
and canal boats, 2,410,402 TONS Con-
struction thus far indicates that at the
end Of the current fiscal year the steam
tory will exceed the combined tonnage
of documented sailing vessels, barges
and canal boats. By act of congress in
| 1874, about 100000 tons of canal boats
and barges were exempted from docu-
ments and are no longer carried on the
government books.
| The total construction for the year,
801 vessels of 232,233 gross tons, is the
largest annual output since 1891, The
square rigged sailing vessel has virtu-
ally ceased to be a product Of American
shipyards. No ships or barks were built
in the United States during the past
fiscal year and only one barkentine.
Fhe great lakes region for the first
time in our history has built more tom
mage than all the rest of the country,
12O vessels of 11O,937 TONS compared
with III vessels of only 115,206 TONS
Our increase in tonnage for the past
decade has been almost wholly attribut-
able to grown on the great lakes. In
1877 of a total tonnage of 4,271, ,226 gross
tons, 3,1S1,SO4 were salt water tonnage
documented on the Atlantic, Pacific
and gulf coasts, and LOGS, ,434 fresh water
documented on the great lakes, Missis-
SIppl dIlu ll1UuldllcS. LII lcSt VI q IOLdl
of 4,769, ,020 tons, 3,0S68O8 tons were doc
umented on the seaboard and 1,682,212
on fresh water, the tonnage Of the great
lakes increasing from 733,069 tons in
1887 to 1,410103 in 1897. The American
tonnage sold to foreigners amounted to
S,243 tons, the smallest since 1874.
During the past four years 3S,838 tons
of foreign built vessels have been ad-
mitted to American registry compared
with 64,77S tons for the previous four
years.
The governments average annual ex-
penditures for maritime purposes, in
cluding river and harbor improvements,
amounted to $21 100000 towards which
foreign shipping, through conducting
three-fourths of our foreign carrying
trade, contributed last year $660,000.
Fully 20 per cent of the foreign tom
mage enters the United States in bal
last and clears with cargo.
The tonnage registered for foreign
trade amounted to 792,845 gross tons,
the lowest since 1910. The greatest was
2,496,S94 tons in 1851. One "St Louis
of nearly 10000 tons now is equal, how
ever, annually as carrier to over
twenty of our ships before the war.
The whale fisheries employed 12,714
tons compared with the maximum, 1885,
594 tons in 1855 About 10000 men are
employed in deep sea fisheries Of whom
$500 are citizens of the United States.