270 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF PASSENGER STEAMERS. 



In the opening sentences of this paper, reference was made to the magnitude of the 

 task. In order not to unduly lengthen the paper, ocean-going ships will be primarily con- 

 sidered, such being the field to which our attention is mainly directed; other types, however, 

 will not be neglected. 



OCEAN PASSENGER VESSELS. 



The great problem of today is to design and build ships that can be made economically 

 satisfactory ; first costs of two and one-half to three times prewar figures, soaring passage 

 rates, people taxed to the limit and otherwise hard hit by the greatest calamity of all times, 

 unrest and strikes, fleets sunk or in bad shape due to the war, all combine to make a real 

 problem for owner and builder. 



There is no doubt that the strike habit, recently, if not now prevalent in the premier ship- 

 building coimtry of the world, is driving away repair work and holding up new construction to 

 a point where the premiership is coming within measurable distance of transfer; the fact 

 that the strike habit is no monopoly of any one country helps to hold matters more in a state 

 of balance and in statu quo. 



Whatever may be true of cargo ships — for it is true that the general falling off of 

 trade is as much responsible for the lines of tied-up ships as the end of the war and the 

 completion of war-building programs — is not true of passenger ships. We are still short 

 of these vessels; the lack of new orders and holding up of old ones is solely due to economic 

 conditions, high first costs and inability to pay the rates necessarily asked, chiefly the 

 former. 



As is shown later, ocean passenger ship design is being influenced profoundly by causes 

 arising from the war. 



The economics of general cargo ships have lately formed the subject of several able 

 papers. Mr. Robertson recently has contributed two to our Society and four or five such 

 papers have been recently read in England and Scotland. With these as a guide, backed up 

 by experience — which is always invaluable — it is hard to justify a poor result in the field 

 covered. When it comes to passenger carrying we have an extension of the same problems. 

 Speed in cargo carrying above 11 knots is not easy of justification in normal cases; it be- 

 comes of the essence in passenger ships. 



The method of solution adopted by Mr. Anderson in his 1918 and 1920 papers before 

 the London institution can be used in association with detailed knowledge of the passenger 

 trade on any given route. In practice, the selection of dimensions and speeds narrows down 

 to within close limits in average cases. 



The large number of our recently completed passenger ships which have gone or are 

 about to go into Pacific Ocean trade calls for comment. Of the sixteen 535 footers and the 

 seven 522 footers, representing a gross tonnage of some 300,000, twelve of the larger and 

 three of the smaller have gone into service on the Pacific ; of the larger, two are still to be 

 allocated, which indicates that the fleets to which allocations have been made are tempo- 

 rarily satisfied. The Pacific thus gets 67 per cent of the tonnage, and there are other in- 

 dications that our Pacific trade will be large — our interest in China and its development, our 

 nearness to her markets compared with Europe. The Philippine and the Hawaiian Islands 

 make for commerce with the Pacific coast ; our Australian and Japanese trade also calls for 

 passenger and freight services. 



Then, too. South American trade presents an opportunity awaiting revived foreign 



