Lakes, and 11 on the rivers. But orders poured in faster than yards could be equipped to deal with them; it was obvious that if prices kept up and a sufficiency of steel and labor could be procured, the United States were in the way to become the largest builders of steel ships in the world. The orders from Norway alone ran up in value to 40

PHOTO BY N. Y. SHIPBUILDING CO.. FROM UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD. N. Y

This American ship was launched twenty-seven days after her keel was laid

millions sterling, and then late in 1916 and early in 1917, the British Government came in with offers to take every available slip anywhere for cargo-carriers. As against the output for 1915 of 122 mercantile steamers of 230,000 tons the United States launched during 1916 176 steamers (exclusive of small craft), measuring 531.000 tons. This, however, was just a beginning. By the end of June, 1917, the United

States had launched 326 steel steamers of 998,000 tons, and by the end of September expected to put into the water over 400 steamers of all classes totaling more than 1,400,000 tons. These figures applied only to mercantile building, for in addition to 47 yards, the United States possest eight Navy yards for building warships in Brooklyn, Boston, Portsmouth, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Charleston, New Orleans, and Puget Sound. If the war should last through 1918 it was seen that the United States in that year could scarcely fail to put afloat 2,000,000 tons of steel vessels, in addition to wooden craft which had been projected in vast numbers. As the United States had gone up as producers of mercantile tonnage, so the United Kingdom went down, since it had to build and repair for the Royal Navy, and yards when depleted of labor and of material could not do anything. In 1913 Great Britain launched 1,977,000 tons of merchant steamers; in 1914, 1,722,000 tons; in 1915, 649,000 tons, and in 1916, 582,000 tons.

It was found before the summer of 1917 was over that not much lumber fit for wooden ships could be promptly obtained. Indeed, it was doubtful whether contracts, already let for the construction of wooden ships, could produce results worth while before steam-vessels of much greater value would be turned out. The wooden ship industry was hardly alive any longer and could not be created anew on a worth-while scale in a hurry. Such wooden vessels as were under contract promised, however, to be turned out of the yards and put to sea in a few months, but there was no likelihood that the means of increasing their number could be extended. The energies of the nation were therefore directed to the building of steel ships on a vast scale. By the following summer their construction had reached a point where it was possible for them to replace any losses the submarines might inflict.

A remarkable achievement in American ship-building was commemorated on Decoration Day by the launching of the Agawam, the first of new "fabricated" American steel ships, at the Newark Bay shipyard of the Submarine Boat Corporation. It was expected that this new type of standardized ship would enable our ship-builders to overcome speedily the submarine menace by steadily increasing their output.

As the term implied, these ships were of standard construction, the parts being made at a number of different steel mills and quickly "assembled," or put together, at the shipyard. Thus the full manufacturing capacity of the country could be utilized. It was estimated that by 1919 our annual output of ships would equal or surpass the 5,000,000-ton mark. The launching of the Agawam marked a new era in the industry. It proved the practicability of building ships "wholesale" according to a standard design-just as a multitude of automobiles can be "assembled" when all are of the same model. This achievement was the more remarkable when we consider that only nine months before the site of the Newark Bay shipyard was an impassable swamp. Within these few months the land had been filled in and 28 shipways erected upon which an equal number of ships were being constructed. The launching of the Agawam was witnessed by several thousand people, who loudly cheered the first of the fabricated fleet as she slid gracefully into the water.

The name Agawam had been selected by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. Its literal translation was "Great Salt Meadows of the Atlantic Coast," an allusion to the spot where she was built. Approximately 27 steel mills, 56 fabricating plants, and 200 foundries, machine, pipe, joinery, and equipment shops were now engaged in the production of the parts to make up the finished steamship. The Agawam had a dead-weight carrying capacity of about 5,500 tons. The length of the vessel was 343 feet on deck. The maintained speed at sea fully loaded would be at least 10%1⁄2 knots per hour on a mean draught of approximately 23 feet. It was planned to launch two, and possibly three, ships a week at the Newark yard when in full operation. The complete fruition of the plans of the Emergency Fleet Corporation began a new epoch in the maritime history of the United States. It would enable the country again to assume its proper position as a great maritime power and to take over its share of the carrying trade of the world at the end of the war. What had been done at Newark was duplicated on a great scale at Hog Island, below Philadelphia, from which in time came astonishing figures of achievement.

The most spectacular immediate action of the Government was that by which the United States took charge of 91 German ships which under war conditions had been held in American ports. The tonnage of these ships was over 600,000 gross and they were said to be not far from $145,000,000 in value. Several were among the most famous and largest passenger-ships in the world, such as the Vaterland, then in New York, and the Kronprinzessin Cecile, then in Boston harbor. Eighteen German ships were taken over in New York harbor alone. The crews of the ships were handed over to the Immigrant authorities, and were placed in the position of alien people who have not yet the right to enter a country until immigration officials have granted it. The German ships were not actually confiscated at that time. Apparently the position of our Government for the present was that these vessels had been taken for our protection. It was known that in many cases the engines and machinery of the ships had been tampered with, but it was thought that a few months' work would put them in order. They could then appropriately be used for transporting troops, or for other necessary military purposes, leaving in suspense the question of compensation to their original owners. After Austria-Hungary, on April 9, severed diplomatic relations with us, the President ordered that Custom Guards be placed on Austrian vessels, fourteen in number, and said to be worth $26,000,000, and that the officers and crews be taken into custody.

Thus, at one stroke of the pen, a great fleet of merchant ships, liners and freighters, some of them among the finest in the world, came into possession of the United States. As dawn came on Friday, April 6, the Prussian eagle came down and the American eagle went up on nearly 100 German ships. Under orders from Washington, Dudley Field Malone, Collector of the Port of New York, at 3.45 o'clock directed the seizure of the 27 German ships in New York Harbor. By 6 o'clock all the vessels tied up in Hoboken, at 135th Street, New York, and at piers in Brooklyn docks, were in possession of the United States. All German ships in other American waters were also seized. No trouble from the crews was reported from any port except in Guam, where