The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-17

shipbuilding interests. Recently the re
port of Mr.. Gastrell, British commercial
attache here, to his Government on tn
whole topic has occasioned much common
in the English and American press, ant
several reports of American Consuls IL
Germany also have attracted attention
But from the mass Of statistical or othel
evidence thus adduced piecemeal 1t il
next to impossible to obtain picture a
once tolerably accurate, comprehensive
and connected of the remarkable rise o.
the Germany of 1900.
AT present there are 80 shipyards il
Germany. employing altogether nearly
$4,000 men, and together they constructed
last year, 1899, 52S vessels Of all kinds
for the navy, the merchant marine, and
for river traffic OF the larger description
| In 1899 some 200. 900 tons of iron wefs
used in shipbuilding over and above what
was used for that purpose in 1898. OF
these thirty-nine yards only Ave are thus
| far used for the construction of naval YES
sells, viz. the Vulcan Works. in Stettin,
| whose capacity is seven Of the largest
! ships simultaneously, with total OF
81 600 tons and corps of $500 workers;
| the yard of Blohm & Voss, in Hamburg.
who employ 5000 men, and are capable
| of building at once six of the largest
ships, of $4,000 tons; the Germania
| (Krupp's) yard, In Kiel, which is being
enlarged, and will. by 1904, have ca
pacity for building twenty of the largest
| ships simultaneously. with twelve tor
! pedo destroyers; the schichau Works, in
| ,.,;tH ifyy f,f
seven of the largest vessels, ten torpedo
destroyers. and twenty torpedo boats;
and the Bremen Vulcan, the smallest as
| yet, with capacity of about half that of
| Schichau's Just now the different yards
| In Stettin alone are constructing thirty
| large vessels, including the Deutschland
| Completely, 5000 tons; fast steamer
for the North German Lloyd. 1i,S00; and
three other passenger steamers OF 11,eoo
tons each.
The increase in German maritime COM
merce is on a par with that Of her ship
building. For the past year the official
statistics show that the German ports
were visited by 10000 vessels, whose
combined tonnage was 10000, 900. Ham
burg alone shows 1890 vessels arriving
and departing, with tonnage Of $780, 600.
Thus Liverpool even has been beaten by
Hamburg, and but twenty-five short years
back Liverpool could show figures double
those of Hamburg 1t must, however, be
taken into consideration that German yes
sells do an increasing amount Of foreign
coastwise trade, notably along the far
Asiatic and the South American coasts.
In some parts of far Asia this trade has
recently been monopolized by Germany, as.
fer instance, in the waters Of the Ma
layan Archipelago where during 1899 some
twenty-seven English vessels passed into
the possession Of German traffic compa-
MES, besides q not inconsiderable addition
to these lines of new ships Of German
build This trade along foreign coasts is
of increasing Importance for Germany. A
few years ago it was not heard OF.
In 1873 Germany had 4,311 sailing ves-
sells and PIG steamers. In 1899 she had
2,3lS sailing vessels only. but 1,223 steam
ers, and her tonnage had risen to 100000
for her steamers and 54S.C00 for sailing
vessels, making a total Of 1,i14,C00 tons.
This makes her the second maritime power
in the world (for though the figures OF
the United States are apparently higher
than those of Germany, they include the
lake traffic as welD, with France bad
fourth. Great Britain is. however, still
far ahead with her 9,420, 900 tons. all told,
or nearly skiold the tonnage Of Germany.
On September 80 last Great Britain had
1.347. 900 tons of commercial ships in con-
struction, against Germany's $4,000 tons.
From 1873 to 1894 the total carrying ca
pacity of the German merchant sea fleet
increased by 139 per cent; there was a
further increase in this respect until 1899
of 80 per cent. During 1899 the German
merchant marine gained 105 vessels (T3
steamers and 80 sailing vessels), and with
this increase has come an average en-
largement Of the vessels, SO that whereas
hl 81, to- tt.r
tons 1t is now $40. Germany possesses
now a merchant feet of twenty two |
steamers of over 10000 tons each. The |
increase in the carrying capacity of the |
German merchant marine has increased |
since 1884 four times as fast as that OF |
Great Britain France or the United |
States, and the percentage she now holds |
OF the entire carrying trade of the world |
has risen from to 8. Within the past |
three years alone the money value Of her |
merchant fleet has gained &C per cent. 1t
is given today at about 500 600. 600 marks,
while about 225. 100000 marks of vessels |
are under construction. In the quality Of |
material used, too, the German merchant !
marine has gained greatly.
striking instance OF the inroads into
the trade of harbors where the German
nag less than generation ago was prac-
tically unknown is afforded by Genoa. In
1875 Germany had but 1.6 per cent Of the
trade OF that port. In 1898 she had ac-
quired nearly II per cent of it. and during
the same time English trade there showed |
a not inconsiderable absolute decrease.
The same story, though in somewhat
slighter degree, holds good for all the
ports. whose German traf-
fic has more than quadrupled since the
beginning Of the seventies,
The two largest shipping companies in
the world are also Germans.sviz., the North
German Lloyd and the Hamburg America
Line, with the British-India Line and the
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navga-
ton Company third and fourth, respect
vely. Both these German companies have
had to largely increase. their capital. and
the combined German navigation compa-
ME, have had to raise their capital since
1879! from S247 10000 to S345, 900, 600. Iron
las superseded wood in the German mer
liant marine to a larger extent than in
any other country Even the new Ger.
nan sailing vessels are nearly all of iron,
rhe Potosi. belonging to the firm Of Leist
n Hamburg, which is the largest sailing
raft in the void built of iron, 40
metres long. with five masts, 5000 tons
apacity. and $500 square metres of sails.
S the champion of that class Of vessels
ron has been found much more durable
md requires no such bulk as wood.
Another advantage has been found in the
act that these iron vessels in cases of COL
sion show a much greater resistance than
he Old-fashioned wooden vessels. Follow
ng the loss of the EIbe in the English ;
'hanael few years ago the German au'
horities and the German seamen's organi
atoms both took the matter in hand, and
ow the system of water-tight compart
lents, which is compulsory In the con-
truction of new vessels here, has grown
, sucb nerfection flat tho dangers result | !