Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/138

* SHIPPING SUBSIDIES. 106 SHIP'S PAPERS. amendments the measure passed the United States Senate, March 17. 1002. The bill as passed consisted of four titles : ( 1 ) Ocean Mail steamers, which jjrovided for mail iKiyments on the basis of speed and tonnage of vessels, and not for service. Oeau mail steamers were divided into seven classes, according to speed and ton- nage. Compensation for 100 miles sailed w^as: lor the first class, 2.7 cents per gross ton : second class, 2.5 cents ; third class, 2.3 cents ; fourth class, 2.1 cents; fifth class, 1.9 cents; sixth class, 1.7 cents; and seventh class, 1.5 cents. (2) Gen- eral Siihsidii. This section was intended to give a bounty of 1 cent per gross ton for every 100 nautical miles sailed to all vessels not receiving mail subsidy. Tliis was intended as an ofTset to the alleged greater cost of construction and nayi- gation of American sliips. (3) Deep-Sea Fislt- eries. Under this title it was proposed to grant $2 per gross ton annually as a bounty on Amer- ican vessels engaged at least three months in the deep-sea fisheries, and .$1 per month to every American sailor employed on such vessel. The purpose of tliis part of the bill was to encourage an industry which would, it was alleged, serve as a training school for the United States Navy. The fourth title contained only general provi- sions of no special importance. The measure came before the House in the last session of the Fifty-seventh Congress, but was reported ad- versely Ijy the committee having it in charge. SHIP RAILWAY. A railway on which ships are transported either in a cradle running on wheels, or in the water in a tank carried on a wheeled truck or car. Such railways are de- signed to connect two navigable bodies of water separated by an isthmus, and thus save a long detour around the intervening land. They are of very ancient origin. A railway capable of transporting vessels 149 feet long, 16 feet wide, and drawing 8^^ feet of water is said to have been in operation across the Isthmus of Corinth as early as B.C. 427. The Greeks in a.d. 831, the Venetians in 1483 at Lake Garda^. and the Turks at Constantinople, used tramways for the conveyance of vessels across intervening land. Coming nearer to modern times, there are various canal inclines and portage railways built in England and in the United States in the early part of the last century. The railway for large vessels was an extension of the canal inclines, and several very ambitious attempts have been made to construct such thoroughfares at various times. None, however, has ever been carried to completion. One of the earliest propositions for a ship railway to carry ocean vessels was the plan submitted to De Lesseps in 1860 for cross- ing the Isthmus of Suez. This plan was rejected by the famous Frenchman, who afterwards built the Suez Canal. The plan for the Suez .ship railway called for a level track with 10 lines of rails. The ships were to be carried in cradles running on this track at a speed of 20 miles an hour. The promoters estimated the cost of this line to be about one-seventh the cost of a canal. In 1872 a similar railway across Honduras was proposed to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but the project failed for lack of money. In 1879 Cajitain .James B. Eads proposed a ship railway across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Various plans were proposed by Ca]itain Eads for this structure, the earliest being for ships 350 feet long, of 6000 tons, carried in cradles running on 1380 wheels. The length of the road across the isthmus was about 150 miles, and it was ))lanned to run it at a speed of from si.x to ten miles an hour. An attempt was made to get Congress to grant financial support to this project, but it failed, and, after a year or two of precarious existence, the project died a nat- ural death. The most important project ever developed for a ship railway was that known as the Chignecto Ship Railway in Nova Scotia. . neck of land only 15 miles wide separates Chig- necto Bay, an inlet from the Bay of Fundy, from Bale Verte, leading through Northumberland Strait into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It was proposed to construct a ship railway across this neck to enable coasting vessels of 1000 tons register and 2000 tons displacement to avoid a stormy detour of 500 miles around the coast of Nova Scotia. The line proposed was 17 miles long and nearly straight throughout. It was level for half its length, and on the remainder the grades did not exceed 1 in 350. The vessels, 235 feet long. 56 feet beam, and 15 feet draught, after being raised out of water by hydraulic runs, were to be conveyed on steel cradles in sec- tions 75 feet long, running on 04 solid three-foot wheels on two lines of track of standard gauge spaced 11 feet apart, and laid with 110-pound rails, at a speed not exceeding 10 miles an hour. The construction of this road was begun in 1888, and was al^out three-quarters completed in 1891, when work was abandoned for lack of funds. Since the Chignecto railway, no ship railway has been seriousl}' considered, though many individual plans for such roads have been proposed. The literature on ship railways is scattered through the proceedings of the engi- neering societies and the volumes of the various engineering periodicals. SHIP'S COMPANY. The ship's company is the ci'cw of the ship. It is organized in accord- ance with the requirements of the rig. In large, full-rigged ships the crew is divided into fore- castlemen. foretopmen, maintopnien, mizzentop- nien, and afterguard. Owing to the increase in mechanical means of handling sails these divisions are now less common than formerly. In modern men-of-war the organization of the ship's company is based on the battery and engines, little or no sail being carried. The men are stationed at the guns, auimunition rooms, boilers, and engines, according to the various needs. SHIP'S MAGNETISM. See Compass. SHIPS OF WAR. See Frigate; Ram; Stiip, Armoueo ; etc. SHIP'S PAPERS. A merchant vessel is required to carry certain documents which are termed the "ship's papers." These consist of: (1) Jycgister, sometimes replaced or accompanied by (a) Certificate of enrollment (if employed in United States coasting trade), (b) Passport is- sued by the sovereign authority, (e) Sea letter issued by the local authorities of the port of de- parture. (2) Charter party (q.v. ) if chartered. (3) Log-book (q.v.). (4) Bills of lading (q.v.), or duplicate receipts of cargo from the master to shippers. (5) Invoices, or detailed statements of separate lots of goods. (6) Manifest (q.v.), or general statement of cargo. (7) Clearance