576 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 
of working eXpehses in steamships. Fifty years ago from 4 to 5 Ib. of 
coal per indicated horse-power represented good practice in marine engineer- 
ing for screw steamships. At present, with quadruple expansion engines, 
high-steam pressures, and more efficient reciprocating engines, from 14 to 
14 lb. is common practice, and better results are claimed in some cases. 
A cargo steamer of the tramp type, carrying 6,500 tons dead-weight, can 
cover about 265 knots in twenty-four hours in fair weather for a coal con- 
sumption of 27 tons per day, representing an expenditure on fuel of 201. to 
251. A larger vessel carrying about 12,000 tons dead-weight, driven by 
engines of similar type, would consume about 45 tons in covering the same 
distance at the same speed. This increased economy in fuel per ton-mile 
is the result of an increase in dimensions from 365 feet length, 47 feet 
breadth, and 244 feet draught of water to a length of 470 feet, a breadth 
of 56 feet, and a draught of 274 feet. The first cost of cargo steamers is 
small in relation to their carrying capacity and possible earnings ; varying, 
of course, with the current demand for new steamships. In the present 
depressed condition of shipping, about 5/. 10s. per ton dead-weight is 
named as a current rate ; in busy times the price may be 40 to 45 per cent. 
higher ; even then it is small in proportion to earning power. Working 
expenses are kept down also by the use of efficient appliances for 
rapidly shipping or discharging cargoes, and so shortening the stay of 
ships in port. As an example a case may be mentioned when a ship of 
12,000 tons dead-weight and 800,000 cubic feet measurement capacity had 
her full cargo discharged at an average rate of 300 tons an hour, a fresh 
cargo put on board at the rate of 250 tons an hour, and 1,600 tons of coal 
shipped between 7 a.m. on Monday and noon on the following Friday— 
that is, in 101 hours. In another case a cargo weighing 11,000 tons was 
discharged in 66 hours. ‘Quick dispatch’ in dealing with cargo is now 
universally recognised as essential, and it has been asserted that a saving 
of one day in the time occupied in discharging or loading a tramp steamer 
when she finds full employment may involve an economy equal to one per 
cent. on her first cost. 
The ‘ intermediate’ type of steamer—in which large carrying capacity is 
combined with provision for a considerable number of passengers and mode- 
rate speed—is of comparatively recent date, but it has been developed rapidly 
and is subject to the universal laws to which all classes of shipping conform. 
Increase of size is adopted in order to favour economy in working and greater 
earning power, while increase in speed is made in some cases. Vessels like the 
Adriatic or Baltic of the White Star Line, the Carmania and Caronia of the 
Cunard Line, and the George Washington of the Hamburg-American Line 
illustrate this statement ; while its latest and greatest examples are found in 
the two steamers now building for the White Star Line by Messrs. Har- 
land and Wolff, which are said to be of 45,000 tons, to be intended to steam 
twenty to twenty-one knots, to provide accommodation for a great number of 
passengers, and to have large capacity for cargoes. In mail and passenger 
steamers of the highest speed increase in dimensions is devoted chiefly to 
provision for more powerful propelling apparatus and for a correspondingly 
large quantity of fuel, and the cargo-carrying capacity is relatively small ; 
but the law of increase in size and cost is obeyed, and will be followed up to 
the limit which may be fixed by the vast outlay necessary in order to provide 
suitable harbours and dock accommodation with an adequate depth of water, 
or by commercial considerations and the possibility of securing a suitable 
return on the large capital expenditure. Growth in dimensions of ships will 
not be determined by the nava’ architect and marine engineer finding it 
impossible to go further, for there are even now in view possibilities of 
further progress if the shipowner so desires. Invention and improvement 
have not reached their ultimate limits. 
The wonderful progress made during the last seventy years is well illus- 
trated by the history of shipping trading between Canada and Great Pritain, 
