The surveyors are required to report the number, size, length, fastenings, and mode of arrangement of the engine and boiler sleepers, and the description of timber of which they are composed, and whether diagonally trussed with wood or iron, and to what extent; the length, size, and fastenings of shelf-pieces and paddle beams; and whether the vessel be constructed with sponcings, and how they are formed; and to give the general length and shifting of the plank outside and inside. Materials and Stores.-The surveyors are to examine and report the number and description of the masts, sails, anchors, cables, hawsers, warps, and boats, as directed to be done for sailing vessels ; but the anchors and cables will not be required to exceed in number, weight, and length those of a sailing vessel of two thirds of the registered tonnage of the steam vessel. The surveyors are to be particular in examining and reporting the condition of the boats of all vessels employed in carrying passengers. FORM OF CERTIFICATE FOR VESSELS NAVIGATED BY STEAM. Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping.-Certificate for Vessels navigated by Steam. No one can question the advantages that will result from carrying a plan of this sort completely into execution. We confess, however, that we doubt much whether this can be done without the co-operation of government. It is invidious to impose on one set of merchants and ship-owners the task of deciding upon the condition of the ships or other property belonging to others; and, though we have every confidence in the integrity of the gentlemen composing the committee, the most honourable men are liable to be influenced by an esprit du corps, and by insensible biasses. We, therefore, cannot help thinking that the scheme would have a much better chance of success, and that the classification would be more likely to be correct, were it managed by individuals nowise connected with business. The surveyors, on whose capacity and honesty the whole scheme principally depends, ought to be quite independent of the good or ill will of those on whose property they have to report. But can that be said to be the case at present? and can it be fairly presumed that merchants or shipowners will deal by the property of their friends and neighbours as it might be dealt with by officers appointed by, and responsible only to, government? We apprehend that both those questions must be answered in the negative; and hence our conviction that this is a matter in which government should interfere. No one can doubt that it is bound to do every thing in its power to promote the safety of navigation, and to preserve the lives of our seamen. In this view it erects lighthouses, and prescribes regulations as to pilotage, &c. But, how indispensable soever, these are not more essential to the interests of navigation than a proper classification of ships; and, if other means should fail to effect this desirable purpose, government will certainly neglect a most important duty if it do not interpose.-(For a further discussion of this important question, see the article on the Frequency of Shipwrecks in the 122d number of the Edinburgh Review; see also the Report of the Commercial Committee of 1836, on Shipwreck.) 3. Incapacity of Masters.-Means by which it might be obviated.-But government will not do its duty if it do not go further than this. An erroneous classification of shipping has been a great, but not the only, cause of shipwreck. The ignorance and incapacity of the masters and officers is another, and hardly a less copious, source of disaster. Officers of the navy have to go through a course of discipline, and are obliged to submit to certain examinations as to their proficiency in seamanship. This, also, was the case with the officers of the East India Company's ships, which were exceedingly well navigated. Indeed, the Company trusted entirely for protection to the goodness of their ships, and the skill of their officers and men; it not being their practice ever to insure. But the masters and officers of ordinary merchant ships are not subjected to any specific training, or any regular examination. Every thing is left to mere individual investigation and selection; and this, as every one knows, depends almost wholly on accident; or, which is nearly equivalent to it, on the skill, industry, liberality, &c. of the shipowner. Every one must be satisfied that masters so chosen cannot fail of being, in many instances, very ill qualified for their business. Few, however, have any notion of the extent of the mischief thence arising; but we have been assured by gentlemen of undoubted information, and extensively connected with the business of insurance, that nearly half the losses at sea may be ascribed to the ignorance, incapacity, and carelessness of the masters and crews. Perhaps, there may be some exaggeration in this; but, supposing that only a third part, or that about 200 out of the 626 vessels wrecked in 1833, were lost through the circumstances referred to, is not that enough, not merely to justify government interfering to avert so great an evil, but to make such interference a positive duty? The interposition of government in a case of this sort, is not only absolutely just and necessary, but it is conformable to the highest authority. The famous French ordinance of 1681 has the following article:-" Aucun ne pourra ci-après être reçu capitaine, maître, ou patron de navire, qu'il n'ait navigué pendant cinq ans, et n'ait été examiné publiquement sur le fait de la navigation, et trouvé capable par deux anciens maitres, en présence des officiers de l'Amirauté et du Professeur de l'Hydrographie, s'il y en a dans le lieu." (Liv. ii. tit. 1. § 1.) A similar article has been inserted in the Code de Commerce; and, in 1825, the French government issued an ordinance specifying, in detail, the qualifications that are necessary before any one can obtain a certificate of his fitness to command a ship, either on a foreign or coasting voyage; the persons who are to examine candidates; and the rules that are to be observed in the examination. Some similar ordeal should certainly be established in this country. The authority of the master is so very great, and the trust reposed in him, including not merely the ship and goods of his employers, but the lives of the crew and passengers, so very extensive, that it is the bounden duty of the public to provide that it be not committed to ignorant or incapable hands. Perhaps it would, at first, be enough to enact, that no ship, which cleared out for an oversea voyage, should be deemed a British ship, unless the master and the second in command had received a certificate of fitness from the proper authorities. This would leave it to the owners to take whom they pleased as masters of coasting vessels; but we believe that the better way would be to enact that all masters of vessels, above a specified tonnage, should be selected from among certificated persons. We do hope that the next time we may have to notice this subject will be to announce that the measure now suggested, or one of a like import, has been carried into effect.-(Edinburgh Review, loc. cit.) 4. Disorderly Conduct of the Crews.—Means by which it might be obviated.—Nothing, we are well assured, would do so much to obviate the disorderly bad conduct so frequently complained of, on the part of seamen, as the enforcing of sobriety on board ships. However disgraceful, there can be no doubt of the fact, that some very bad cases of shipwreck have been mainly occasioned by the drunkenness of the crew. The Americans have seen the advantage that would arise from a reform in this particular; and large numbers of American ships, especially those engaged in long voyages, are now sent to sea, in which the use of spirits is strictly prohibited, unless when prescribed by the surgeon as a cordial or medicine. In these ships the conditions of agreement, signed by the men, have at their head the words "No GROG ALLOWED," printed in large capitals. Instead of it, the seamen are liberally supplied with coffee, cocoa, &c.; and it is said that the crews of the ships fitted out on this plan are not only more orderly, but that they are more vigorous, and able to endure greater fatigue. But, to establish the superiority of this practice, it is enough to mention that the American insurance offices have, for some time past, insured "temperance ships" at a decidedly lower premium than others! We are convinced that nothing would do half so much to improve the character of our common seamen, as the introduction of a similar system into our merchant-service. And, notwithstanding the prejudices against it, we are glad to have it to state, that some ships, fitted out on this plan, have sailed from London and Liverpool, and that (even in this its incipient stage) it has been found to answer exceedingly well. 5. Improper Built of Ships.-We have elsewhere noticed (Supplement, article ToxNAGE) the act 5 and 6 Will. 4. c. 56., passed in 1835, for ascertaining the tonnage of ships. In the old system, the tonnage was determined by reference only to a ship's length and breadth; which led to vessels being built of a disproportionate depth, in order that their registered tonnage, and, consequently, the charges depending on it, might be diminished as much as possible. The faulty construction of ships thence arising has, no doubt, contributed, in some degree, to occasion losses; but the act referred to, by making the tonnage be fairly determined according to the capacity of the ship, whatever the form may be, will completely obviate this source of defective construction and loss. 1. An Account of the Number and Tonnage of Vessels, with the Number of their Crews, belonging to the British Empire, on the 31st December, 1835, 1836, and 1837, respectively. II. Statement of the Shipping employed in the Trade of the United Kingdom, in the Year 1837, exhibiting the Number and Tonnage of Vessels that Entered Inwards and cleared Outwards (including their repeated Voyages), with the Number of their Crews, separating British from Foreign Vessels, and distinguishing the Trade with each Country. 15,155 2,617,165 146,319 7,343 1,005,940 56,778 14,567 2,547,227 145,632| 7,461 1,036,738 57,971 Sup.) [The following tables, relating to the shipping of the United States, are from official reports made to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury. Number and Class of Vessels built, and the Tonnage thereof, in each State and Territory of the United States, for the Year ending on the 30th September, 1839. Statement of the Tonnage entered each State and Territory of the United States, commencing on the 1st day of October, 1838, and ending on the 30th day of September, 1839. Total 8,336 1,491,279 6,922 2,614 4,105) 624,814 34,277 834 12,441 2,116,093 103,199 3,448 Statement of the Tonnage cleared from each State and Territory of the United States, commencing on the 1st day of October, 1833, and ending on the 30th day of September, 1839. Total 8,312 1,477,928 68,931 2,421 4,036 611,839 34,388 49312,348 2,089,767| 103,319 2,911 A Comparative View of the registered, enrolled, and licensed Tonnage of the United States, from 1815 to 1839, inclusive. |