The Mighty Deep 



British. — About sixty-seven tenths of an inch ; 

 or over six inches and a quarter. 



We hear a good deal of the rapid growth 

 of the German and American Merchant fleets, 

 and not so much of the growth of our own. 

 Yet certainly we have not stood still. 



According to the above comparison, which 

 is taken from an American, not a British report,^ 

 we have not held our own badly during recent 

 years. British transport has actually grown the 

 most. True, we have merely added sixteen 

 tenths to an already great length ; whereas, 

 in the same period, the German fleet, adding 

 three and a half tenths, has nearly doubled 

 itself, and the Japanese, adding about two-tenths, 

 has trebled itself. But a very small amount is 

 easily doubled or trebled ; and the nearest is still 

 a long way behind the British total. 



This should not be allowed to induce a spirit 

 of over-confidence, which might probably mean 

 in time the tortoises overtaking the hare. And 

 although our Merchant fleet is still almost the 

 double of all other Merchant fleets upon Earth 

 put together, yet the proportionate difference has 

 begun to grow less than it once was. Other 

 countries are straining every nerve in the race ; 



* Me7'chant Marine of Foreign Countries^ vol. xviii. 

 274 



