OCR Text |
Show ST .RUSSIA'S FLEET. m Voluntoor Steamships Built by Pri- M vato Subscription. ifs 1 EngagoU In Cumiuorclul 'l'uraulta Hut fl Intended (or War Purpose In the H ' Kvcut of International DU- fl 1 turbuncoit. U ' The origin of this peculiar orgunlza- fl ' tiou if! interesting. In the lust war be- V -; , tweeu lliussiu ami Turkey tite. former's 9 "' " - navy was recognized to be weak, and K( aomc patriotic subjects of the czar re-H re-H aolvwl to create "by private effort a H force of auxiliary cruiser.s that might H be useful in east: a navul power should K" intervene on the side of Turkey. Sub-H Sub-H scrlptioits were started hi the chief ffl "towns, and in a few months about y.OOO.OOl) roubles were collected. With these tihe Alsatin., the Lotbaringiu, and I two other steamers belonging to the JeTorth (icrnian Lloyds were purchased. Js'ot'very long afterward iiciiee was 9f ' concluded, so that (he work of the four H vessels proved to have consisted chief-n chief-n ly of convoying the sick and the wound-ft wound-ft ed and transporting troopn from San K Stefnno to the Dlaok sea ports. jVv, lu casting about for a new sphere of m ' duty for the vahintcer fleet, it was de- elded to have uheni pl betw.ui JIu.s-1 JIu.s-1 Bin's European ports and Vladivostpck. j But. the first operations of the iliM.it fl ns a commercial venture, were, not r encourag-ing. There were no profit prof-it its, and there was talk of turning them k" ovor to tlie IMaclc sea trade, However, the direction of them was transferred v to the minister of -marine, and present- f ly an era of prosperity for the fleet lf lx.'gan. The numbers increased, and ' 11 no"w, tho fleet, is ninjuigrcd by a commit- ' H tee representing the treasury, war. HH , navy and audit oftlces, the president, lf who is generally nn admiral, being se- , lV IccU-'d by the minister of marine. The I II cUiu executive, officer Is known as the ' II inspector, and the present incumbent LU of the otlice is Col. Linden, who for a FIB long time had boon. 11. ntuvil attache in !m , Jlnglnnd, representing the Russian gov- m ernment. At present the volunteer fleet pos- Jm sesscs l.'t large steamers, each capable jf of carrying from :i,000 to .1,000 tons of eunjro, exclusive of bunker eoal. Thov uro the Kherson, I'etersburg, Sttra.toft', 1 Orel, Vladimir, VoroneJ, Iviuv, IOkuier- H inoslav, Tambov, Yaroslaval, Kostroma, Tfijni-Xovgorod and Khabarov.sk. The I iirst four can make 1!) knots and the. H others 13 knots. All of them have been If built in Kngland, where a.lso two other HI vessels are to be constructed. Theorig-H Theorig-H iiiui, iC(iuired in Germany, have been m given up and turned over to the iwlniir- nlty as training ships. m Odtvssa is the princl(n.l port, from iBftv which the steamers of the tlect sturt. V They pns tJirough the Sue, en nail, ntid H i reach Vladivostoek in about -10 day. On the way they call at Tont i'nid. B m I'erim, or Aden, Colombo, Singapore H m SU1 Nagasaki n.s the principal ports. ft Only two or tihm yirs ago no more I 'Jj than seven or eight, voyages were inmle each year, but, under the present inaii- i ngement, no fevcr than sa voyaged I n. are carried out within tlie year. Thut. I Ml Vladivostoe.k has tncreaed in impor-timw, impor-timw, and the volunteer fleet has rendered ren-dered a great service in buildi:-:,' up the Asiatic shoreM of Riifsia. Th- fliMit is also used in transporting umtfruils for the Siberian railway, and's" adds largely to its earnings, whiL- bo I up of public serviwi in that. way. It aJso carriers car-riers out inumiigranTs aud convicts the latter being sent out to t-he Island of Sahalien, not far from Vhtdhostsk. It tnkes buck to Odessa soldiers whose terms have expired; teas from Hankow, the tea tnidelwing entirely in its hands, and no less than 35,000 tons being carried car-ried last year: copra, castor seeds and other produce. It is also worthy of note that "the freezing oT Vkulivostook harbor is not now an insuperable obstacle in the passing pass-ing of ships. Last winter vessels entered en-tered the port even when the frozen 1 surface had reached u tihickness of 12 inches. A eAii.il through the id- four miles long was cutout by sawing, the huge frozen masses being crushed or towed away by the government vessel Siloeh. The operations were micccss-fnl, micccss-fnl, but. in order to do the work still more etlicieintly in future, an ice breaker break-er is being constructed at. Copenhagen." Altogether, Engineering concludes that, uV.hnugh. the volunteer fleet still has at Odessa guns ready to lie mount ed for war purposes, yet its chief functions func-tions are commercial, and that the building up of Asiatic Russia may help Rritish manufacturers. In any event, so long as all the ships of the fleet come from ICngHsh yards, the latter cannot complain. London Engineering. |