428 REPORT— 1856. 



marine nominal horse-power varies from two indicated horse-power to four 

 indicated horse-power, that is from 66,000 lbs. to 132,000 lbs. raised one foot 

 high per minute, it is submitted that tlie unit of marine horse-power would 

 now be most conveniently fixed at 100,000 lbs. raised one foot high per 

 minute. Until, however, some definite measure of the unit be legally 

 recognized, it is considered advisable in matters of scientific inquiry liiie the 

 present to adhere to the measure of the unit originally proposed by Watt, 

 namely, 33,000 lbs. raised one foot high per minute, designating this scale 

 of measurement as the "indicated horse-power," thus: — Ind. h.p. ; and such 

 will be the unit referred to when horse-power is spoken of in the following 

 pages of this paper. 



Now, as to the measure of the unit of tonnage by which the sizes of ships 

 are to be spoken of and compared, we have already observed that under the 

 Merchant Shipping Act passed in the year 1854-, the unit of tonnage is based 

 on the internal roomage of ships available for cargo ; that all ships built since 

 May 1855, are registered under this Act; but the re-measurement and 

 re-registration of ships built previously to 1855 is not made compulsory. 

 Shipowners have the privilege of re-registering, under the Act of 1854, such 

 vessels as they may select for that purpose; consequently, our present regis- 

 tration is mixed, and the various units of tonnage-measurement thus embraced 

 under our present tonnage-registration have no definite ratio to each other, 

 or to the tons weight of cargo that ships will carry. The comparative merits 

 or demerits of these various systems of registration for fiscal purposes need 

 not be here discussed. Suffice it to say, that in none of these systems has 

 any notice whatever been taken of the measurements which constitute dis- 

 placement ; and as displacement is an essential element in any scientific in- 

 vestigation as to the locomotive performance of steam-ships with reference 

 to the power employed and speed attained, it follows that our present regis- 

 tration of shipping, even under the Act of 1854, does not afford statistical 

 data of such a character as to be available for science in the matter of com- 

 paring the merits, in a locomotive or dynamic point of view, of the various 

 models or types of form by which steam-ships have been constructed. It is 

 submitted for the consideration of the British Association, that national ad- 

 vancement in maritime aft'airs, especially in regard to transport economy, 

 would be promoted by our public registration of shipping in general, and of 

 steam shipping in particular, being so systematized as to embrace not only 

 the roomage measurement required for fiscal purposes, but also, in addition, 

 those details of displacement, which in combination with the data of speed 

 and power derived from the actual performances of ships, are necessary to 

 scientific investigation in determining the relative dynamic merits of different 

 types of form of steam-ships. It must be borne in mind, that it is the public, 

 the consumers of merchandise, who must ultimately bear all the expenses 

 connected with the transport and delivery of merchandise, whether well or 

 ill performed. Bad ships individually enhance the average cost of imported 

 corn and all other consumable merchandise. Bad ships also enhance the 

 price of cotton and all other similar raw material imported for the production 

 of export manufactures. This enhanced price restricts demand, thus curtailing 

 the sources of employment ; so that every bad ship, whether employed in the 

 import or export trade, is, of itself, a public nuisance : a prevalent bad type 

 of ships would be a public calamity, and progressive improvement would be 

 a public benefit. It has been said that the interests of shipowners is in 

 itself a sufficient guarantee for ensuring the adoption of the type of ships 

 best adapted for mercantile steam transport economy. It is scarcely fair 

 to base any argument on interested motives, but as that argument has 



