The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-01

! fund, ESQ 900. Naturally the dividend fig
! ures are more complicated than the 'B.
! L. the preferred shares reaping per
| cent, and the deferred 10 per cent, with
a bonus of per cent. while the average
dividend on the deferred for the last five
years has been II per cent No wonder the
f1G0 deferred shares ere worth f235.
J Then we come 10 a company that has
made some giant strides of late years
Messrs. Elder Dempster & Co., who own
nnety-two ships of 24612 tons and an
IaVerage per ship of 3 003 In 1884 the fleet
of this company numbered 80 ships of 49,
000 ON average of 1853 tons per ship.
The White Star Line, which holds the
next position in magnitude, is in many
respects the most extraordinary progress
sive steamship company we can boast of.
This company possesses tVventy-three ves-
sells, aggregating 1875 2C9 tons. which gives
the enormous average of S.46 tons per
ship! Fifteen years ago this company
owned twenty ships, but their average
tonnage was 2,S9l
Messrs. Wilson of Hull come next,
| private company of enormous importance
and usefulness. but owing to the exigen-
cies of their trade their vessels run small.
eighty-four ships tOtaling 167, 039 an aver
age Of 1883 tons per ship. Here too,
the growth In 1ftene years has been great
an increase of % ships, $1,000 tons and
600 tons in average size.
for the China carrying trade-the Ocoen
Steamship Company-comes next. All sail
ors know these ships as alfred Holts,"
or the "blue funnel boats" although their
classic names, mostly those of Greek he
roes, are often a puzzling mouthful. It is
a fine fleet of thirty-six ships. of 100 COL
tons, an average Of 4,4i4 tons per ship.
Growth in fifteen years, ships only, but
100 900 tons. and rise in the average tom
age from LIP.
Another line that in spite of fierce COM
petition has built up a big business is the
"Clan" Company, which now owns for
ty-five ships OF 1881 25 tons and an aver
age Of 3,737. Messrs. Lamport & Holt,
company of Liverpool shipowners, al
ways supposed by seafarers to have some
affinity TO Alfred Hollis line, probably be-
cause of the name and the same distin-
gushing marh-a blue funnel-run their
ships to South America. They cannot
here be dealt with. however, since many of
| the vessels are chartered Messrs. Ley
land own thirty-five ships of lao. $50 tons,
| having tripled their tonnage and doubled
| their average size in fifteen years while
paying an average dividend of II per
| cent.
! The Cunard Company has had hard
| fight The number of vessels owned by it
has dwindled down from thirty-three to
twenty-five III fifteen years, although the
az erage size of the ships has nearly dou-
bled and there is an increase of % 900
| tons in the gross total But the aver
age dividend for the last five years has
| been only 124 per cent.
| Owing to the amalgama ton promised,
the Union and Castle Companies, although
now coming well down the list with twen-
" ships each, will take a high place.
Their combined tonnage is now 221 ,293,
with an average tonnage per ship of 5,5S2.
| Both these well-managed companies have
! made strides in the 1aGt fftapn
| years, having increase their gross totals
of tonnage and average size of ships-the
| Union from 40 1854 tons and 1903 average to
| 4.407 and 5.720. and the Castle from
1885 and 1902 to 1os,SS6 and 5.314. The
average dividend for the last five years
has been between and 5 per cent
Now, although out of the 21.5OO COO tons
OF steam shipping I'm the world 10000 0C0
| tons are under the British flag. the fact
cannot be lost sight of that there art two
| foreign companies, In the Hamburg
American Line and the Norddeutscher
Lioyds. who own respectively Alp ,14S tons
and S5S.OO0 tons of steamships their fleet
being seventy-fve and seoenty-three. The
| former company has just made a deter
mined effort to wrest the blue ribbon of
the Atlantic from the latter-who hold
by the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse-by
launching the Deutschland of $500 tons.
These two companies. however, carefully
nursed and subsidized as they are alone
succeed in topping the fleets of our larg-
est companies After them come the VI.
NJ. (Messageries Maritimes de France),
with sixty-six ships and $4,000 tons; the
Japan Mail Steamship Company nippon
Tusen Kaisha). with seventy vessels of
600 tons; and the Navigazione Gen
eral Italiana, with ninety-eight ships of
| 900 tons. But these big companies
stand almost clone in their respective
countries. The supporting vertebrae of
companies owning over $4,000 tons of ship
ping each, of which we possess such a
number are elsewhere entirely absent.