INTRODUCTORY PROCEEDINGS 



Twenty-First General Meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine 



Engineers. 



Thursday Morning, December 11, 1913. 



The Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine En- 

 gineers was held in the Engineering Societies Building, New York City, on Thursday and 

 Friday, December 11 and 12, 1913. 



In the absence of the President, Mr. Robert M. Thompson, the meeting was called to 

 order by the Vice-President, Mr. Walter M. McFarland, at 10:15 o'clock. 



The Chairman : — The President of the Society, Colonel Thompson, is unfortunately 

 absent. The Secretary has a communication from him which he will now read. 



The Secretary read the following communication : 



December 5, 1913. 



Fellow Members of the Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Society: 



I greatly regret that I cannot be present with you at your annual meeting and banquet, 



but a stony-hearted doctor has sent me to Florida and denied me permission to return in 



time to be with you. 



I sincerely regret the lost opportunity of meeting so many good fellows and men who 



are doing so much to advance the prosperity of the nation. 

 ********* ******** 



Your President was in London during the past summer, and, as representing you, was 

 invited to the memorial services held in Westminster Abbey to the memory of Lord Kelvin, 

 and our sister society, the Institution of Naval Architects of Great Britain, gave a compli- 

 mentary dinner to your President. As both of these compliments were paid, not to the indi- 

 vidual but to the representative of your Society, it is fitting that a note should be made 

 of it and that these courtesies should be borne in mind so that they may be returned in kind 

 if opportunity offer. 



Thanking all and each of you for the honor that you conferred upon me by selecting 

 me as your President, and regretting that I have not been able to do more to advance the 

 interests of the Society, and with assurances that no one has the interests of the Society more 

 at heart than has 



ROBERT M. THOMPSON, 



President. 



The Chairman : — The next business in order is the report of the Secretary-Treasurer. 



The Secretary : — ^The report has been distributed to all the members as usual. It will 

 not be read in detail, but certain points will be called to your attention. 



