other war vessels built during the year, is proper to fix attention on the work done by American shipbuilders for the Navy Department.

During the year work on the St. Louis and St. Paul, the new American Line steamships, has so far progressed at the shipyard of William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, as to insure during the current fiscal year the addition to the American merchant marine of these two steel steamships, the largest, most powerful, and most costly vessels ever built in this country. In gross tonnage these two vessels will rank next to the two great "Cunarders," and in speed a performance equal or surpassing that of the Campania and Lucania is possible. The gross tonnage of the St. Louis and St. Paul will be 11,000 tons each; that of the Lucania and Campania is 13,000 tons each; of the New York and Paris, 10,800 tons each, and of the Teutonic, 10,000.

The first American steel ship, the Dirigo, was launched February 10, at the yards of the owner, Arthur Sewall & Co., Bath, Me. The ship is 312 feet long, of 3,000 gross tons, and spreads about 12,000 yards of canvas. The construction of this vessel marks the beginning of a new industry in this country. The ship of the future is to be of steel, and the introduction of that material is necessary to the maintenance for foreign trade of a fleet of large sailing vessels. The increase in the construction of steel ships is a notable feature in the world's marine construction. In 1890 Lloyds noted 248 such vessels, of 348,653 gross tons, while in 1894 there were noted 759, of 1,142,750 gross tons-a greater percentage of increase than is shown in any other form of shipbuilding.

The largest and most luxurious steamboat thus far constructed in any country, the Priscilla, built for the Old Colony Steamboat Company by the Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding Works, Chester, Pa., was put into operation during the year. The vessel is 423 feet in length, of 5,300 gross tons, and is undoubtedly the best type of this kind of marine construction afloat.

The largest passenger steamer on the Great Lakes, the North West, 386 feet long and of 4,200 gross tons, was completed during the year by the Globe Ironworks, Cleveland, Ohio, and put into operation.

The construction of six small steam vessels by Neafie & Levy, Philadelphia, for Cuban owners, is a sign of progress, though the Bureau is informed that cost price was not considered by the purchasers.

The annual docking and overhauling of the American Line steamship New York was performed by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company, and though the cost is understood to have been larger than for the same work abroad, the novelty of the undertaking was a factor in cost, and it is believed that with experience this kind of marine work can be done in this country as economically as elsewhere.

As further evidence of progress in American shipbuilding it is noted that the distinctive lake type, the "whaleback," has been imitated by British builders, the first of that type in British yards having been constructed during the year.

At the close of the fiscal year the construction for the merchant marine in progress at Philadelphia (William Cramp & Sons), according to Lloyds' return, was greater than the construction under way in all the yards of any foreign country, except Great Britain and Germany; greater than that in any one German yard, but still only one-tenth of that under way at all the Clyde yards.