Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1917 — AMONG SHIP-BUILDERS. [ARTICLE]

AMONG SHIP-BUILDERS.

The lUireau of Navigation reports progress for th© •upbuilding of an American merchant-marine. Since July. 1914, the .tonnage under the Stars and Stripes has increased ;»51,114, although 201 vessels have been lost during that time through their transferral to a foreign register, Two Nhiindred and four ships in this, period wer© transferred to foreign flags, but the tonnage on the 204 that were, gained was 664,9271, while on the 405 ships lost it was only 215,811, ' American, ship owners are selling their smaller boats and buying larger ones. The revival of wopden ship building is also predicted. It is pointed out that wooden ships can be built in much less time than iron ones. In building a wooden ship no great yards are necessary, and in fact there is hardfy a place along the coast where it is impossible to put up ways and turn out a big sailing vessel, or one propelled by steam for that matter, in a short time. If this movement is really started nn a large scale it will be to the advantage of American lumbermen and laborers. A "standard plan of construction may be adopted and the knees and timber sawed out in great numbers and shipped east or west to the coast and there assembled. -As illustrating the quickness with which a wooden ship can be constructed, it is recalled that during the gold excitement in California good sized ships were turned out in ninety- days. These vessels were sent around Cape Horn and paid for their building in one or two voyages. When Commodore Macdonough was ready for battle with the English on Lake Champlain in 1812 the Brig Eagle of five hundred tons had been built in nineteen days and most of the ships which defeated the British at that time had been thrown together with timbers sawed from the forests on the borders of the lake.