wrecks that have taken place of late years have been occasioned by the dangers of the sea, we believe we shall not be within, but beyond the mark. The other two thirds, or more, have originated in artificial causes, of which the principal have been the erroneous system adopted by the underwriters in the classification of ships, and the incompetency of the masters. 1. Old System for classifying Ships.-To insure a ship on right principles, or in such a way that the premium shall be the fair equivalent of the risk, is no easy matter. The risk depends partly on the condition of the ship and the capacity of the master and crew; partly on the nature of the cargo she is to take on board; and partly on the voyage she has to perform. The last two circumstances disclose themselves, and their influence may be appreciated at least with sufficient accuracy for practical purposes, without any difficulty; but it is far otherwise with the condition of the ship, and the capacity of the master and crew. It is essential to the adjusting of an insurance on fair terms, that these should be known; and it is, at the same time, exceedingly difficult to acquire any accurate information with respect to them. It is plain that there is but one mode in which any thing satisfactory can be learnt with respect to the condition of ships, and that is, by the inspection and examination of persons of competent information as to such matters. To acquire a just character at first, a ship should be repeatedly surveyed while she is being built; and to learn her condition at any subsequent period, some of the planks should be taken off, and her hull and rigging subjected to a thorough examination. This is the only method to be followed if we wish to arrive at results that may be safely depended on. The age of a ship should not be altogether overlooked in estimating her condition; but it is not a criterion that, taken by itself, is worth almost any thing. There is the greatest possible difference in the materials of which different ships are built, in the way in which they are built, and in the wear and tear to which they are exposed. Some have been so very bad, that they have actually gone to pieces on their first voyage; others, with difficulty, last for 3, 4, or 7 years; and others, again, run for 10, 15, and even 20 years, and upwards, with but little repair. It may be presumed that the condition of ships built of similar materials, on the same plan, and employed in the same departments of trade, will depend materially on their ages: but a thousand circumstances conspire to defeat this presumption; and it would be ludicrous to suppose that it should apply at all in the case of ships constructed of different materials, and engaged in different lines. But notwithstanding the criterion of age is thus really worth less than nothing as a rule by which to judge of a ship's condition, it is almost the only one that has been referred to in this country. From about the year 1760, or perhaps earlier, down to 1834, ships were arranged, by the underwriters at Lloyd's, in classes marked by the letters A, E, I, and O, and the figures 1, 2, and 3; the former referring to the hull of the ship, and the latter to the rigging. A ship marked A 1. was in the highest class; that is, her hull and rigging were both declared to be in the best condition; ships marked E 1. were in the next class; those marked I 1. were in the lowest available class, or that formed of such as were fit only for carrying coals, or other goods not liable to sea damage along the coast; ships marked O were unseaworthy. But to get into the highest class, no examination of the ship, or none worthy of the name, was required. Unless some very flagrant defect were obvious in their construction, all ships were entitled, when new, to be marked in the highest class; and they were entitled, whatever might be their real condition, to stand in it for a certain number of years, varying from 6 to 12, according to the port in which they happened to be built! It is not easy to imagine that any thing can be more absurd than such a classification; but the whole extent of the injury arising from it is not immediately obvious. The great majority of merchants and underwriters have not, and could not be expected to have, any personal knowledge of different ships, and have nothing to trust to but the classified accounts. Suppose, that two ships were built at the same time in London or any other port; that one was constructed of the best materials, and in the best way, while the other was constructed of the worst materials, and in the most defective manner: these two ships were placed side by side in the class A 1.; the underwriters, seeing them there, were ready, without further inquiry, to insure them at the same premium, and the merchants were, for the same reason, quite as willing to employ the one as the other! A bounty was thus given on the construction of what have been called slop-built ships, or ships of an inferior class. For a half, or, at most, two thirds, of what would be required to construct a good and really sufficient ship, a shipowner got an inferior vessel of an equal burthen sent to sea; and, owing to the matchless absurdity of the system of classification, the inferior was placed in the same rank with the superior ship; enjoyed all the advantages such distinction could give; and was, in the public estimation, deemed quite as good and as deserving of employment as the other. This has been a more copious source of shipwreck than all the currents, rocks, and fogs that infest our seas; but it was not the only one. At the end of a certain number of years, depending (as already stated) on the port where the ship was built, both the vessels referred to above were degraded to the class E; and yet it might happen, that the superior ship was, when so degraded, better entitled to continue in the class A than the inferior ship was ever to be in it. But even this does not exhaust the whole absurdity of this preposterous scheme, VOL. II.-2 R now, for supposing that the superior ship had been so thoroughly repaired as to be as good as the day she came off the stocks, and that the inferior ship had got no repair at all, still they were both placed, side by side, in the class E! All the annals of all the maritime nations of the world, from the Phoenicians downwards, furnish no example of a more perverse, contradictory, and absurd regulation. That it should have existed amongst us for the greater part of a century, strikingly exemplifies the power of habit to procure toleration for the most destructive practices and errors. It may be said, perhaps, that, whatever system of classification is adopted, there must be great numbers of inferior vessels; for, though we did not, foreigners would build them; and, being consequently able to sail them cheaper, would drive us totally out of all trades in which they could come fairly into competition with us. This is true; but no one ever thought of proscribing inferior ships, or of dictating to the shipowner what sort of ships he should build, or to the merchant what sort he should employ. We do not object to inferior ships, but we do object to the same character being given to them that is given to superior ships. This is practising a gross fraud upon the public; and gives an unfair and unjust advantage to the owners of inferior vessels. The interests of navigation and of humanity imperatively require that ships should be correctly classified; that those that are not seaworthy should not be classed with those that are, but that the real state of each should be distinctly set forth in the register, and be made known to every one. If this be done, the merchant and the underwriter may be safely left to deal with them as they think fit. In consequence mainly of the laudable exertions of Mr. Marshall, the attention of the principal merchants, shipowners, underwriters, &c. of the metropolis was some years ago directed to this subject; and in 1824 a committee, consisting of representatives from these different bodies, was appointed to inquire into and report on it. The committee collected a great deal of valuable evidence; and laid an able report before a general meeting of mer chants, shipowners, &c., on the 1st of June, 1826. We subjoin an extract from this report, which more than bears out all that we have stated: "From the absence of all control on the original construction of ships while building, and the impos sibility of ascertaining by any inspection, after completion, their real quality, it appears to be indisputably proved, by an almost uniform concurrence of testimony, that the first character, or A 1., is indiscriminately extended to ships differing widely in strength, durability of materials, and all those qualities on which character ought to be dependent; that many ships to which the first class is assigned are decidedly inferior to others which are placed, from lapse of time alone, in a lower class; that many become totally unfit for the conveyance of dry cargoes, long before the expiration of the period during which they are entitled, according to the present system, to remain on the first letter, in which they are notwithstanding continued; that instances are on record of first class ships which have been unfit from their origin for the conveyance of dry cargoes; and some are declared to have been hardly fit, when new, to proceed to sea with safety. One case is even adduced, in which, from ill construction and insufficiency of fastening a new ship, her insecurity was predicted, and she actually foundered on her first voyage; and yet this identical vessel was ranked, according to the indiscriminate system pursued, in the first class. "Such, as respects new ships, appears by the evidence to be the practical results of a system which, assuming to designate by marks their intrinsic quality, provides no means of actually ascertaining that quality; but offers, in effect, a premium for the building of inferior and insufficient ships, by the inducement it holds forth to fraudulent construction, and by the equality of character it indiscriminately extends to the best and the worst ships built at the same port. "Nor, your committee regret to have to report, is the evidence of the errors, inconsistencies, and evils arising from the existing system, as applied to old ships, by any means less conclusive. By the refusal to restore character, in consequence of repairs, however extensive, the inducement to maintain ships in an efficient state is removed; whilst, from the absence of all regular provision for stated or periodical examination, their efficiency or inefficiency is rendered dependent upon the varying views, the caprices, or the interests of the proprietors. Hence, though the second character, or E, is declared by the rules of the system to be the designation of ships which, having lost the first character from age, are kept in perfect repair, and appear, on survey, to have no defects, and to be completely calculated to carry dry cargoes with safety, the whole body of evidence distinctly proves that character to be, in very numerous instances, assigned to ships which, from original defect or want of requisite repairs, are utterly unfit and unsafe for dry cargoes; while others, which, from sound constitution or efficient reparation, are found to be pronounced in the evidence to be superior to many new ships, are indiscriminately classed with the actually worthless and unseaworthy. Hence, too, the employment of ships, after they have passed the period prescribed by a fallacious standard of classification, becomes uncertain, precarious, and difficult; the shipowner is injured; the shipper and underwriter misled; the building of superior ships, capable of long service, is discouraged, and direct inducement is held out to the construction of those of an inferior description; the general character of our mercantile marine is degraded; and it is to be feared that, could the system be traced to its ultimate results, it would be productive of a lamentable loss of property and life." It may have seemed surprising that, despite the continued complaints of the lowness of freights, and the want of employment for shipping, so many new ships should be annually built. But this was, to a considerable extent at least, occasioned by the system of classifi cation now described. Hitherto, instead of building a really good and durable ship, the principal object has been to construct one that should, at farthest, be, as the phrase is, run off her legs in about ten years or thereby. The reason is, that, whatever might be a ship's condition, she was then degraded from the class A 1., and that it was hardly possible, in most departments of trade, to find a merchant to employ, on any thing like reasonable terms, a ship to which these symbols of imaginary excellence were not attached. Hence, the ship owner, instead of repairing his 10-years-old ship, sold her for what she would fetch, and built a new one. But the person who purchased the ship degraded to E 1. forced her, though at an enormous reduction, into business; so that there were two bad or inferior ships in the field; whereas, under a reasonable system of classification, there would have been only one good ship. The injury that this has done to the shipping interest is too obvious to require to be pointed out. It has been infinitely more hostile to it than all those reciprocity treaties, and that foreign competition, about which there has been so much unfounded clamour. "If the system of classification were founded on the principle of intrinsic merit, if the real efficiency of the ship formed the basis on which character was given, the consequence, in numerous instances, would be, that, instead of supplying the place of those ships that at present lapse from age only into the second class with new ones, the owners would effectually repair the existing ships; so that there would speedily be not only a material improvement in the construction of ships, but a material increase in the amount of tonnage, and a corresponding increase in the rate of freight.-(Marshall's Statements, p. 19.) The conclusive report and exposition referred to above, did not produce the consequences that might have been anticipated. Government seems, for reasons known only to itself, to have concluded that this was not a subject with which it should interfere; and it was laid aside for some years more. But the still-increasing amount of shipwreck, and the frightful loss of life and property consequent thereon, again roused the public attention to the subject: and we are glad to have to announce, that the principal merchants, shipowners, and underwriters have at last succeeded in setting on foot machinery by which it is believed that a classified account of shipping will be obtained, founded on correct principles. Should this anticipation prove well founded, the public will owe much to the able and intelligent individuals who have imposed on themselves this difficult and important task. They will have done more than any other set of men to improve the character of our mercantile marine, and to lessen the disasters incident to a seafaring life. 2. New system of Classification.—This new classification is conducted under the direction and superintendence of a committee of merchants, shipowners, and underwriters established in 1834. The committee establish rules for classifying ships, and appoint, control, and dismiss the surveyors by whom they are inspected and examined. A classified register is annually published, which will be gradually made more and more complete; and the expenses attending the institution are defrayed, partly by the fees charged on making an entry in the register, partly by the profits on the sale of the register or book, and partly from voluntary sources. But, as the subject is of the utmost importance to every one interested in commerce and navigation, we think we shall do an acceptable service to our readers, by laying before them the statement prefixed by the society to their register. It fully explains their objects, the principles on which they are proceeding, and the means they have adopted for carrying their views into effect. CLASSIFICATION OF SHIPS. After announcing the formation of the committee, the official statement goes on to say, that the following resolutions, rules, and regulations, have been adopted; viz. : That a society has been established for obtaining a faithful and accurate classification of the mercantile marine of the United Kingdom, and of the foreign vessels trading thereto, for whose government the following rules and by-laws have been adopted : That a book containing a register of such classification be annually printed, to be called Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping; and that all persons subscribing the sum of three guineas annually (or such other sum as may be fixed by the committee), shall be members of the Society, and entitled (for their own use) to a copy of the register book. That the price at which the register book be issued to public establishments, not being marine insurance companies, be 101. 10s. That the register book shall be periodically posted throughout the year. That, for the convenience of members not resident in London, a monthly supplement, containing the additions and corrections to the register book, be printed in such convenient form as will admit of. its transmission by post, that those parties may be furnished with the latest and most correct information; but for which an additional charge of 14. 1s. per annum will be made. Superintendence of the Society.-That the superintendence of the affairs of this society be under the direction of a committee in London, composed of 24 members, consisting of an equal proportion of merchants, shipowners, and underwriters; and that, in addition, the chairman of the committee for managing the affairs of Lloyd's, and the chairman of the General Ship Owners' Society for the time being, shall. ex officio, be meinbers of the committee. Six of the members, namely, 2 of each of the constituent parts of the committee, shall go out annually by rotation, but be eligible to be re-elected. The vacancies so arising shall be filled up by the election of 2 shipowners and 1 merchant, by the committee of the General Shipowners' Society; and 2 underwriters and 1 merchant by the committee for managing the affairs of Lloyd's. The committee shall appoint from their own body, annually, a chairman and deputy chairman. The secretary, clerks, and servants of the society, and the surveyors for London and the outports, shall be appointed by and be under the direction of the committee. The committee shall meet for the despatch of business every Thursday or on such other day as they may appoint, at 11 o'clock precisely, and 5 members of the committee shall be a quorum. Special meetings of the committee may be convened by order of the chairman, the deputy chairman, or any 3 members. All elections and appointments whatever shall be made by ballot. The committee are empowered to make such by-laws for their own government and proceedings as they may deem requisite, not being inconsistent with the original rules and regulations under which the society is established; but no new rule or by-law shall be introduced, nor any rule or by-law altered, without special notice being given for that purpose at the meeting of the committee next pre ceding the one at which any such motion is intended to be made; which notice shall be inserted in the summons convening that meeting. Surveyors.-There shall be appointed for the port of London, and other ports of the United Kingdom, such number of shipwright and nautical surveyors as from time to time may appear expedient to the committee to be requisite for the objects and purposes of the society. No surveyor will be permitted, without the special sanction of the committee, to receive any fee, gratuity, or reward whatsoever, to his own use and benefit, for any service performed by him in his capacity of surveyor to this society, on pain of immediate dismission. The surveyors to the society will be directed to attend on special surveys of ships under damage or repairs for restoration, when required by merchants, shipowners, and underwriters; the charge for which will be regulated according to the nature and extent of the service performed. Funds. The funds will be under the authority and control of the committee, and a statement of the receipts and expenditures will be annually printed for the information of the subscribers. The following fees will be charged to the owners of ships surveyed, prior to their being classed and registered in the book: The following rules and regulations for the classification of ships have been adopted after much labour and mature consideration, assisted by the valuable information and practical knowledge of the committee of the General Ship Owners' Society. The characters to be assigned to ships shall be, as nearly as circumstances will permit, a correct indication of their real and intrinsic qualities; and the same shall no longer be regulated by the uncertain standard of the port of building, nor by the uncontrolled decision of surveyors, but will, in all cases, be finally fixed by the committee, after due consideration of the reports of the surveyors and the documents which may be submitted to the committee. FIRST CLASS SHIPS.-There shall be two denominations of ships of the first class, to be distinguished as "First Description of the First Class," and "Second Description of the First Class." 1. First Description of the First Class-will comprise all ships which have not passed a prescribed age, and which are kept in the highest state of repair and efficiency; these will be designated by the letter A. The period for the continuance of ships on this class shall be limited. The extent of that period will be determined by reference to the original construction and quality of the vessel, the materials employed, and the mode of building; but it is desirable, on grounds of national policy and of individual justice, that after the expiration of the prescribed period, ships shall be permitted to remain the First Description of the First Class, or to be restored thereto for a further limited period, under certain defined regulations. 2. Second Description of the First Class-will comprise all ships which have passed the prescribed age (but not having undergone the repairs that would entitle them to be continued in or restored to the first description), or which shall have been restored, and the period assigned for such restoration having expired, are still in a condition for the safe conveyance of dry and perishable cargoes: these will be designated by the diphthong E. SECOND CLASS SHIPS.-This class will comprise all ships which shall be found, on survey, unfit for carrying dry cargoes, but perfectly safe for the conveyance of cargoes not in their nature liable to sea damage, to all parts of the world: these will be designated by the letter E. THIRD CLASS SHIPS-will comprise such ships as are good in constitution, and which shall be found on survey fit for the conveyance, on short voyages (not out of Europe), of cargoes in their nature not liable to sea damage: these will be designated by the letter I. SHIPS' ANCHORS, CABLES, AND STORES -The efficient state and condition of ships' "Anchors, Cables, and Stores," will continue to be designated by the figure 1; and where the same are found insufficient in quantity or defective in quality, by the figure 2. GENERAL REMARKS. All reports of survey shall be made in writing by the surveyors to this society, and submitted to the consideration of the committee, or of the sub-committee of classification; but the character assigned by the latter shall be subject to confirmation by the general committee. In assigning character to the existing tonnage, and especially in restoration to the first description of the first class of ships that have been built without a view to such a privilege, the greatest caution will be exercised, but with a rigid attention to render ample justice to the shipowner. No member of the committee shall be permitted to vote in the decision of the classification of any ship of which he is an owner, or directly or indirectly interested. The reports of surveyors, and all documents and proceedings relating to the classification of ships, will be carefully preserved, and those parties proving themselves to be interested therein may have access thereto under certain regulations. In all cases where the ships are proposed to be removed to an inferior class, notice shall be given, in writing to the owner, master, or agent, with an intimation that, if the alteration be objected to, the committee are ready to direct a special survey, on the owner, master, or agent agreeing to pay the expenses attending the same; provided it shall, upon the re-survey, appear that there has been sufficient ground for such removal. In classing foreign ships, and ships built in the British possessions abroad, after survey on their arrival in England, a due regard will be had to their having been exempted from that supervision while building to which all British ships are to be subjected, and characters will be assigned to them according to their intrinsic quality, and from the best information that can be obtained. FIRST CLASS SHIPS. First Description of First Class Ships.-New ships are required to have been surveyed while building by the surveyor to this society, in the following three stages of their progress: First, when the frame be completed. Second,-when the beams be in, but before the decks be laid, and with at least two strakes of the plank of the ceiling, between the lower deck and the bilge, unwrought, to admit of an examination of the inner surface of the plank of the bottom. Third,-when completed, and, if possible, before the plank be painted or payed. A full statement, agreeably to a schedule prepared for the purpose, of the dimensions, scantlings, &c. of all new ships, verified by the builder, shall be transmitted by the surveyor, and will be kept as a record in the office of the society. In building ships, to entitle them to be ranked in the longest period of this class, the following rules are to be observed: Timbering. The whole of the timbering to be of English, African, or live oak, or teak, of good quality; the stem, stern-post, beams, transoms, aprons, knight heads, hawse timbers, and kelson, to be entirely free from all defects; the frame to be well squared from first foothook heads upwards, and free from sap, and also below unless the timber is proportionably larger than the scantling hereafter described; every alternate set of timbers to be framed and bolted together to the gunwale. The butts of the timbers to be close, and not to be less in thickness than one third of the entire moulding at that place, and to be well chocked, with a butt at each end of the chock. of 4 feet may be allowed; and no butt to be on the same timber, un- For ships Outside. Bilge to wales not less than Bilge planks. Bilge to keel. Wales (average) Top sides 5 First foothooks, sided, if square, at floor beads. Shear strake - Inside. Ceiling below the hold beams - 500 Inches. For ships 7 9 5 61-2 7 10 Upper deck. Those at the after end of the ship to be reduced in proportion to their length. Those at the after end of the ship to be reduced in proportion to . Deck. Fastenings.-The treenails to be all of good English or African oak, locust, or other hard wood; but in no case Baltic or American oak to be used; and all planks above 9 inches in width are to be treenailed double and single, except bolts intervene; and if below that width, then to be treenailed single, and at least one half of the treenails used are required to go through the ceiling. All ships of this description of the first class are required to be copper fastened below their wales. their length. Heel, knee, and dead wood abaft 13 Keel, moulded below the rabbet not less than 7 10 0 7-8ths 11-2 in No. 8. bolts of S 1 1-8th Main kelson to be sided The scarphs of kelson, where only 1 kelson, to be 5 ft. 7 ft. Plank.-1. The outside plank, above the light-water mark, to be 2. The planks below the light water mark to be good white oak, elm, or beech; but the elm er beech not to be wrought higher than the first foothook heads; or if wrought higher, then 1 year will be deducted from the period that would otherwise be assigned. 3. The clamps, spirkettings, shelf pieces, and ceiling, to be English or African oak, or leak. The outside plank to be clear of all defects; the inside to be free of all foxy, druxy, or decayed planks, and the whole to be properly shifted and fastened. No butts to be nearer than 5 feet to each other, unless there be a strake wrought between them, and then a distance 03-4ths 0 7-8ths 11-8th 1 The beams to be sufficient in number, and securely fastened at the sides, with either iron or wood knees, or both, or with shelf pieces and knees; the same to be well and sufficiently bolted; and it is required that I bolt in each butt below the wales, and the bolts in the bilges, shall be through and clenched. In all cases where the butt and bilge bolts are not through and clenched, 1 year will be deducted froin the period that would otherwise be assigned in the classification or the vessel; but this rule shall not be applied to ships built previously to the promulgation of the regulations of this society, although the rule will be rigidly enforced in the case of all vessels built since that period. General Remarks.-The scantlings and dimensions of all intermediate-sized vessels to be proportionately regulated agreeably to a scale adopted by the society, a copy of which is in the hands of each of the surveyors; and it is to be clearly understood, that smaller dimensions will not entitle the ship to be placed in the longest period of this class. 1. All ships so constructed, and having the whole of the workmanship generally performed in the best manner, will be marked in the book thus, "12 A"; thereby denoting that they are ships of the first quality, and will remain in the first description of the first class 12 years, provided they be kept in a state of efficient repair. 2. Ships surveyed while building, as before mentioned, in which while some of the requisites for a 12 years' ship may have been fulfilled, others have been omitted; but in which all the requisites for a 10 years' ship shall have been complied with, will be marked in the book thus, "11 A"; denoting they are to remain in the first description of the first class 11 years, provided they be kept in a state of efficient repair. 3. Ships surveyed while building, as before mentioned, the scantling of timber, thickness of plank, and size of fastenings of which shall be in no respect less than those in the foregoing specifications, but which may not be framed, nor chocked, nor the timbers so well squared, as in the manner before described, or in which live oak and red cedar alternately may have been used in the framing, or in which good foreign white oak may have been used for ceiling, shelf-pieces, and clamps, will be marked in the book thus, "10 A"; denoting that they are to remain in the first description of the first class 10 years, provided they be kept in a state of efficient repair. 4. Ships surveyed while building as before mentioned, but in the frame of which foreign oak timber shall be used for kelsons or for floors and first foothooks only, or in which good white Dantzic oak plank shall be used below the wales outside, whilst in other respects they are constructed in the manner set forth in the preceding descriptions, will be marked in the book thus, "9 A"; denoting that they are to remain in the first description of the first class 9 years, provided they be kept in a state of efficient repair. 5. Ships surveyed while building, as before mentioned, and framed, fastened, and constructed in the 2 R 2 60 |