The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-18
10 VESSELS SOLD
BY SHIPPING BOARD
Wooden Ships Bought by Ma
cirema Steamship Co. for
S850,00O Each.
PRICE OF S145 PER TON
This Is Only $40 Below Cost
Further Sales to New
Workers Likely.

wAsHINoroN, April IT, Fifteen
wooden ships Of the feet Of the Shipping
Board have been sold to a private COM
.pany. and many moro sales are In pros
,pect, the board announced officially to-
day. The ships were sold to the Ma
cirema Steamship Company Of New York
for ss.7so.ooo. q price of ssso.ooo for
each vessel. about S145 per deadweisht
ton.
The ships are to be operated By the
Brooks Steamship Company. also OF
New York, in the transatlantic service.
Both the purchasing and operating COM
panics are American concerns, and the
ships will be under American registry.
Five OF the vessels will operate out OF
New York. five out Of New Orleans and
the other i've out Of Havana
=, II was announced that the same pur-
chasing company IL negotiating for the
purchase Of fifteen additional ships, and
has made known its intention Of seeking
to take over still another fifteen ships
at q later date.
Tho vessels sold vary from 1000 to
400 tons and all were built on the
T
Il It was announced also that bids are
to be opened here on May 8 for selling
twenty-five wooden ships averaging
$500 deadweight tons each. These ships.
II was said. are entirely suitable for the
transatlantic or transpacinc trade. hav-
Ing fuel consumption OF about twenty
four tons a day when making nire knots
nm hour.l Purchasers will be permitted to
transfer THESE vessels to foreign registry
u they choose.
The price at which the board sold
the ships is not greatly below that paid
for their construction by the Govern
rnent. Although official figures were
not available to-day IL is understood that
they cost somewhere near s165 a dead
weight ton, and Il has been the an
fiounced policy Of the board to write of
some OF the original cost when disposing
Of the ships built in war times SO that
American purchasers may be able to
meet the lower costs of foreign built
vessels.
iOfflcials Of the board would not dis
cuss tonight the question Of the dispo-
sttlon Of steel ships. but It Is understood
that for the present none OF them will
BE- allowed to get out OF Government
hands. The boards future policy will
be determined on how Congress looks
upon the continuance Of Government
OPERATION OF SHIPS, question tnAt prom
ably will become an issue soon after
Congress meets again.
In announcing the sale Of the fifteen
ships the board said the operating COM
pany had notified II that cargoes for all
fifteen have been booked and that con-
tracts have b IN made for future voy-
ages. It Is understood the purchasers
obtained insurance rates Of from "
to an per cent, where underwriters
originally demanded from Q to z per
cent on this type OF vessel.
The board originally contracted for
7os ships OF the wooden type. but 2l4 Of
these contracts have been cancelled. It's
last tabulation showed 115 wooden ships
In service
In connection with its first sale q
ships the board also announced tonight
that a report from Its sea service bureau
for March shows that during the month
OF a total of 6.ss5 men placed on Ameri-
can ships so per cent were young Amer
icans who were fitted for service on
training ships maintained by the board
and that 30 per cent of the officers on
American vessels are Americans.