Forty Years On The Pacific/Classification-Tonnage

CAREFUL owners of ships submit their vessels to Lloyd's every four years for classification in order to obtain valuable recognition from the British Board of Trade, and with a view to intelligence.

"A-l at Lloyd's" is noticed in the classification of American, Canadian and British ships, and corresponds to the French rating in Bureau Veritas.

Great Britain, in describing her tonnage of mercantile marine, refers to gross tonnage of all the enclosed spaces on board the ship, which is the measurement inside the hull at one hundred cubic feet to the ton; that is, when loaded to the Plimsoll mark.

Registered tonnage is all the enclosed cargo spaces and it is on this tonnage that ships pay all claims, such as wharfage, pilotage, light and canal dues. But when describing the tonnage on her naval fleet, England measures displacement, that is, in terms the cubic feet of water the ship would displace.

American mercantile marine in giving tonnage, refers to the displacement which is equivalent to the cubic feet of water the ship displaces at the rate of one hundred cubic feet to the ton. The same method is observed by the American Naval Fleets.

Net tonnage means the dead weight of the ship at 2,000 pounds American, or 2,240 pounds British.

What surprises me most was the care taken in preserving the record of ships. I had heard something about the pedigree of stud books, English and American, which enabled the pedigrees of celebrated horses to be traced, but the marine world had them beaten.

On calling upon Captain Spinks, a Sydney marine adjuster, to obtain some information under this heading, Mr. Blacklock, a South Sea Island merchant, rang up to get the age of a wooden ship that was built many years ago in California, which he desired to purchase. Captain Spinks obtained a book from his library and in about three minutes told Mr. Blacklock where and when the ship was built, material of construction and classification.

Owing to the number of ships falling into her possession and the scarcity of American navigating officers, the United States Government in July, 1917, gave permission for qualified officers, subjects of any nation engaged in war against the Imperial German Government, to take charge of, and navigate, ships sailing under the American flag. Prior to this date the law prescribed that all watch officers should be citizens of the United States.

Shipbuilders on the Clyde are shrewd and surprise shipowners by their watchfulness, even after a ship leaves their yards. An instance came under my notice a few years ago of a big ship on the Pacific, which had a guarantee that she could travel seventeen knots—any repairs to be made good by the builders for a certain time. On one voyage, she broke one of her propellers, near Honolulu, and sent an account to the builders for repairs. The builders ignored the claim, pointing out that while the guarantee was for seventeen knots, the company had driven her nearly eighteen knots! This serves to show the watchfulness builders keep on their output.