STATISTICS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



463 



fleet of all Europe, and, including the colonial shipping, more than a third of 

 that of the whole world.* This enormous fleet, manned by over 200,000 sailors, 

 keeps increasing from year to year in tonnage and efficiency, if not in the number 

 of vessels. The tonnage of the steam- vessels is steadily becoming greater, and a 

 time can be foreseen when it will equal or surpass that of the sailing vessels.f 



Fig. 227. — SxoKNowAY : Eetukn of the Fishing Fleet. 



The British marine is far too large to find employment in the commerce of the 

 United Kingdom, vast though that commerce be. It puts in an appearance in 



* Number and tonnage of vessels belonging to the United Kingdom : — 



Year. Sailing Vessels. Tons. 



1S65 . . . 26,069 4,936,776 



1870 . . . 23,189 4,577,8.5.5 



187.5 . . . 21,291 4,206,897 



1879 . . . 20,538 4,068,742 



t Tonnage of sailing vessels built and registered in 1871—75, 629,003; of steam-vessels, 1,431,343; 

 the same for 1876—79, 649,628 and 929,605 tons. 



