t>RESENT STATUS OF THE CONCRETE SHIP. 197 



Another series which can be quoted as on record in our transactions, and in the transac- 

 tions of kindred societies, is that of numerous metallurgical papers, all of which are open to 

 the use of the present day shipbuilder. 



There is another sentence on page 194 to which I should like to draw attention. Mr. Wig 

 states that except for a single test recorded by Sir John Biles there is no record of any attempt 

 to establish experimentally a basis for scientific analysis of hull stresses. In this statement 

 also a substantial injustice is involved. Investigation of stresses in ship structures at sea is a 

 subject which can well be extended, but it is a fact that a great deal has been accomplished by 

 the unostentatious and sometimes expensive experiences of shipowners and classification sur- 

 veyors. The records of the classification societies are full of the results attending the opera- 

 tion at sea of countless ships. To cover in only a small measure the available data on the 

 subject, I may refer to the transactions of this Society for 1913 and of the Institution of 

 Naval Architects for 1905, 1906, 1911, 1913, 1914 and 1917. By this I do not mean to say that 

 all these investigations were undertaken exclusively at sea ; they include also the record of 

 laboratory and other tests carried out from time to time, and which are fully as important as 

 sea tests. In mentioning these few instances I do not pretend in any way to adequately cover 

 the field. 



The Society is to be congratulated on having this paper presented to it, which forms an 

 interesting counterpart to several papers on the same subject recently contributed to the trans- 

 actions of kindred societies. 



The President: — Is there any further discussion? Mr. Wig, do you care to say any- 

 thing in reply ? 



Mr. Wig : — I think I can clear up the statement of the previous speaker. The English 

 in the last sentence on the first page of my paper is poor — it was not intended to convey 

 the meaning that investigations have not been made, and are not being made, on steel ships. 

 We not only recognize that they have been made, but we have used many of the investiga- 

 tions to which the speaker referred, and the meaning intended to be conveyed in my paper is 

 that we make in the design of concrete ships many calculations which are not made in steel 

 ship design, under ordinary conditions, such, for example, as complete analysis of frames. It 

 is not intended to convey the idea that this is original with us, but rather that steel ship de- 

 sigTiers do not commonly make complete investigations and calculations of their structural 

 members. 



The President : — If there is no further discussion, I will tender to Mr. Wig, in your 

 behalf, the sincere thanks of the Society for his very valuable paper. We will now pass to 

 paper No. 13, entitled, "The Application of Electric Welding to Ship Construction," which 

 will be presented by^ Mr. H. Jasper Cox, Member. 



Mr. Cox presented the paper. 



