BAYLEY ' S TABLES OF THE SHIPPING INTEREST.

Tins is a well-arranged tabular exposition of facts connected with the mercantile marine of Britain, France, and America, compiled from official sources, and suggestive of some curious conclu- sions, so far as conclusions can be drawn from the inevitable un- certainty of such returns. The statist and the shipowner will pro- bably feel it advisable to possess themselves of the publication : for the general reader we will bring together a few of the broader facts connected with the subject, as he will feel but little interest in the tables, even if he could readily comprehend their use.

The true progress of our shipping-interest is not very easily ascertained, partly on account of changes in the law of registra- tion, partly from the impossibility of generalized facts of this kind containing the whole truth. When we look at the increase of our Colonial possessions and of the India and China trade, to- gether with the additions to our manufactures and our population, it does not seem to us so great as might have been expected. The total number of British vessels built and registered in Europe and the Colonies, in 1802, was 1,281, measuring according to the then mode 137,500 tons. In 1842, the number was 1,481 ships of 207,600 tons. In 1803, (there is no return for 1802,) the total number of vessels belonging to the British empire was 20,892, the tonnage 2,167,863; in 1842, the ships were 30,185, with 3,619,850 tons. The American returns are not so full as ours, being confined to tonnage : the ratio of increase is much greater. The amount in 1790 was 478,377 tons, which in 1834 had grown to 1,758,907 tons. This has uot, however, arisen from any supplanting of British ves- sels in the trade between Britain and America. In 1821, the total tonnage of British vessels entered in American ports was 76,900 tons : this had increased in 1834 to 240,700 tons ; the American ton- nage having also risen from 271,800 in the first period to 431,100 tons in the last. The carrying-trade between France and the United States we have lost altogether. In 1821, we had 27,300 tons ; which had fallen to 24,400 tons in 1822, and has since then virtually ceased. The French, as was to be expected, have increased some- what—from 4,700 tons in 1821 to 35,100 in 1834; but it does not say much for their nautical enterprise, that the American tonnage engaged in the trade has risen in the same period from 16,200 to 172,600 tons. Nor does the general account of the French marine exhibit a very favourable picture. The tonnage belonging to France was 694,100 tons in 1826, and in 1833 only 647,100, though the number of smaller vessels had increased. In 1827, the ships were 14,322 ; in 1833, they had risen to 15,025. It would be desirable to have the returns of a later date.

In a survey of the private marine of the empire steam must occupy a considerable position ; although we suspect that its addition to what may be called the commerce of the country is in- considerable. But the increase in this branch is very remarkable both as regards the gross and the details. In 1814, there was one steamer of 69 tons in the United Kingdom, and that belonged to Scotland. Next year, Great Britain had eight steamers—three English, five Scotch. In 1816, we had twelve—England five, Scotland seven. In 1817, Ireland made a beginning with one, and the total of the United Kingdom was fourteen. In 1818, the Southern Saxon shot ahead—having got ten steamers, Scotland eight, Ireland still sticking at one. The proportions of last year are 646 for England, 128 for Scotland, and 81 for Ireland. The following little table exhibits a connected view of the advance of British steam-navigation by periods of five years. We have no data for a comparison with foreign countries.

NUMBER OF STEAM-VESSELS BELONGING TO

E NOLA ND. SCOTLAND.

In 1814 0 1

1819 11 11 1824 80 29 1829 203 57

318834 301 77 39

1843 517 117 646 128

THE UNITED KINGDOM.

IRELAND. TOTAL.

0 1

2 24 5 114 27 287 46 424 86 720 81 855

Mr. BAYLEY'S position as Surveyor to Lloyd's Register naturally directed his attention to losses ; and one main reason of commen- cing his book was to test the statements that the loss of merchant- ships was annually increasing. This view he seems to doubt; but the statistics appear to us to contradict Isis opinion. Putting aside_ ships condemned, captured, and broken up, the vessels lost in the last five years is as follows.

In 1D9. 111 17 3 840. Ia 1341. To 1842. In 1843. 1,0 1,148 1,053 1,085 1,321 Among which, two modes of destruction fix attention, from the notion of carelessness that attaches to the loss—

Run down 33 50 46 35 45 Burnt 18 24 15 24 23

The vessels reported missing also strike the mind, from the anxious uncertainty of surviving friends. They were—

Missing... 91 57 56 59 80

The proportion of losses between British and Foreign vessels (in- sured in this country ?) is— British ... 911 804 750 808 979

Foreign... 292 321 347 339 440

The particulars relating to the crews are solely for the year 1843 ; and they give the crews saved of 1,011 vessels, of 157 part saved, and of 144 all lost.

These are some of the largest points embraced in Mr. BAYLEY'S' tables. A variety of lesser subjects have a curious or a local in- terest. Such are the comparative views of the number and tonnage of vessels at different ports ; more especially the fifteenth table, which brings into juxtaposition the years 1701 and 1829; London in the latter year having nearly double as many vessels as the whole of the United Kingdom in the former. Among the smaller topics, the lottery of the Greenland and Davis Straits whale-fisheries is one of the most singular. Thus, in 1828, 89 ships from a dozen ports caught 1,197 fish ; in 1829, the same number of ships captured but 871 fish ; and in 1830, 91 vessels only took 161 fish. The next year was better ; 88 vessels taking 454 fish ; in 1832, 81 ships got 1,563 fish ; and, crowning luck ! in 1833, 77 vessels took 1,695 fish.