Wireless Telegraphy At Sea. (FRPor A CORBESPONDENT.) Repeated announcements in the Press on the sub- ject and the recent statement of the Postmaster- Oeneral that wireless telegraphy is rmaking consider able strides at the present moment have directed attention to the use of this modern method of corn- aunication on ships at sea. Although its commercial practicability had been previously shown, wireless telegraphy, or, to use its scientific name, radio- telegraphy, made anything but rapid progress up to a year or twvo ago. Since then, however, its growth has been general and substantial. This expansion was no doubt encouraged early this year by a practical demonstration of its utility to vessels in- distress, and it has again been brought into prominence by the great use made of it 'when the Cunard liner Slavonia was wrecked at the Azores. The large number of installations that have been made in vessels belonging to firms which had previously not seen their way to adopt it, and the fact that several countries are at present contemplating legislation to comnpel vessels of a certain class to carry an efficient radio-telegraph installation, show that it has come to be regarded in many quarters as an important part of a passenger vessel's safety equipment. As a rough indication of the progress that has recently been made in the use of " wireless " at sea. it, may be said that the number of merchant ships carrying 3Iarconi apparatus alone has increased by more than 40 per cent. in eleven months, and the number is being added to almost daily. On the other hand, the total number of warships in the navies of nine countries fitted with "wireless" is nearly 500. Indeed, it appears that it is only a question of time, presumably short if the present rate of increase is maintained, when the use of radio-telegraphio means of communication by ocean-going passenger steamers wilU literally be universal. Meanwhile its adoption seeams likely to be hastened by legislation in the United'States and Canada, and possibly also in France and Great Britain. So far as shipowners are con- cerned, it may be observed that while it is true that ocean transport has been rendered more secure than formerly, yet its inherent dangers cause it to be generally regarded as a hazardous kind of travel, and bearing in mind the tendency to travel more, aany- thing which contributes to better security may fairlv be said to encourage sea travel. The advantages also of being able to keep in touch with other vessels and. the shore, especially in the case of a sudden outbreak of war, are obvious. TEE MERc.a'Nm MrRnm-. Although an installation was carried on the St. Paul for one trip in 1899, the credit of being the pioneers in the use of wireless telegraphy on the ocean belongs to the North-German Lloyd and Cunard Companies. The fist vessel fitted was the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, and the lead of the Germans was immediately foDowed by the English company. Both vessels were fitted by the Marconi Company, which has the distinction of being the first company to equip vessels on a com- mercial basis. It may be supposed that the North Atlantic, the experimental waters of much that has revolutlonized rmodern ocean travel, should have seen the first vessel equipped with " wireless " was appro- I priate enough, but this.is explained by the fact that in the early stages of "wireless" the only coast stations were those situated on the North Atlantic seaboards, which likewise explains the apparent tardiness of its adoption by the big steamship lines engaged in other than the North Transatlantic trade. According to a list, the latest available, prepared by the Buresau of Equipment, United States Navy be-partmenit, the total number of merchant vessels which bad been fitted with "i reless " up to October I last 4's 2965, of which 126 were fitted with a composite system and 113 wvith the Marconi system. The re- mainder was divided among other systems as follows: -25 Massie, 15 Telefunken, ten Teishinsho, three Clark, jnd one De Forest; in two cases the systems were unknown. The various lists of radio-telegraph installations Issued by the Bureau International de L'Union Td1sgraplquc, Berne, up to May 1 last show that 61 vessels, other than those included iu the American Ist,have been fitted with "wireless "; of these 27 were equipped with the Marconi apparatus, five with the Branly-Popp system, five with the Teale- funken, six with the Iodge-Mluirhead, one with the Teishinsho. and one by the Anglo-American Tele- I graph Company. The other six were fitted with a composite system. The combined lists thus show a total - of 346 ocean-going steamers fitted with wireless." but this by no means represents the total at the present day, for, as is shown below, the I Marconi Company alone has up to the present fitted nearly 200 merchant ships, whie the United Wireess Telegraph Company has fitted nearly 170 ships. I The following list shows the number of merchant ships carrying Marconi apparatus in June, 1908, and the increase up to May last:- 1- *-Pom this list it Will be been that the Hamburg- America LAne leads with 19 and in addition has four ve sels fitted.with the Telefunken system. The Canadian Pacific Rllw,y comes next. with 18, I > besides one fitted by the Un'Itegd Wis Tele_ phe, aOo=&w. *ad tXe Vofth.GezMU Lloyd=43i with 17, besides wlhich the company has two vessels fitted with .the Telefunken apparatus. All .those bonts of the NVhite Star, Cunard, and Belgian Royal Mail Services which are equipped with " wireless " are fitted with the MIarcon! system, the numbers being 16, 14, and 10 respectively. The Royal 31a1 Steam Packet Company has recently had five vessels of the " A " class fitted with the Marconi apparatus, while seven others, the Tagus, Trent, Atrato, Orinoco, Iagda ena, Nile. and Clyde, are fitted with the De Forest system. Five Rumanian vessels are fitted With the Branly-Popp system. The Wilson Line and the Bowring Line have each recently installed a "wireless" apparatus in two of their vessels, but the most interesting developments of late were the announcements that three P. and 0. vessels and the five-new steamers which are being built for the Orient Companv for use in the Australian Mail Service were to be equipped. VESsrarS ox Viuxous RouTr's. 'More than 150 vessels ehznged on Nort.h Trans- atlantic routes carry "wireless "andthelargemajoritY are fitted with the Marconi system. In tbe South Atlantic there are in addition to the five Royal Mail " A " steamers, the Booth liner Antonv; six Mamburg South American liners, thie Royal )olland lAoyd steamers Hollandia and Frisla, and others. There are also a large number of United States vessels, engaged in the Gulf and South American trade which are equipped. Onlv two vessels engaged on the route to South Africa are fitted with "wireless" 'and these are the Aberdeen liners Inanda and Inkosi, botb being fitted . with the 'Marconi long distance apparatus. |But with the increase of sbore stations on that route Messrs. Rennie's lead is almost sure to be followed by other passenger lines. Of the vessels which trade in tbe Indian and F3ar Eastern seas there are i 1 Toyo Kisen Kaisha vesses, three Canadian Pacific Railway steamers running between Vancouver and Japan, &c., three Russian East Asiatic steamers, and one Volun- teer Fleet steamer, besides three P. and 0. vessels, and eventuallv the five Orient steamers. There are no fewer than 2s vessels crossing the NorthScafitted with! "iv.reless." the number being made up as follovs:- Belgium Royal Mail Service, ten (MIarconi) Zeeland Lin-, s;x ;composite); Great Eastern -Railway, five (Lodge-Muirhead); and the Batavia line, four (Marconi). In the Irish Sea the 'Midland lKaihway Company's steamer Londonderrv is fitted vith the. Lodge-'Nuirhead system, while tl.e Isle of Man Steam Packet Company have their vessel Empress Queen equipped with the MIarconi apparatus. A verv large number of vessels engaged in the coasting trade of America and on the Great Lakes are fitted vith wire- less telegraphy; tlle American list shows that' 133 vessels ere eqiuipped, while a statement issued by the United Wireless Telegraph CompanY snowvs a11 otner vessels to have been fitted upto April ;, besides l5 Great Lake steamers either fitted or in Course of equipment. 3Jany of them carrv a composite .ystem and several others the Massie apparats Twvo privately-owned yachts are fitted, the Lysistrata (owned by MIr. J. G. Bemnett) with the De Forest, and the I6landa with the Marconi, system. PRosPECTIvE LEGISL.TIOTo. In spite of the recognition by manv shipowners of the advantages of wireless communication as shown by its substmntial extent and particularly its recenti growth, two legislatures, at least, have before them measures to compel passenger vessels and cargo vessels over a certain tonnage to earrv wireles installations. In February last the I3nited State.s House of Representatives -passed a Bill providing that. " every ocean passenger steamer certidfed to carry 50 passengers or more, before being granted ii clearance for a foreign or domestic port 100 miles or more distant from the port of her departure from the United States, shaU be equipped vith an efficient radio-telegraph installation, and shall have in her employ and on board an efficient radio-telegrapher." The Bill also provides " that the owner or agent of any ocean passenger steamer required by this Act to carry a radio-telegraphic installation and a radio- telegrapher shall be liable to a penalty of 51,000 for any violation of t.his Act." The Bill, it is umderstood, will be considered by the Senate in the autumn, and wil it is thought be passed after it has undergone some slight modification. Following the example of the tlinited States Congress a Bill has been intro- duced iff the' C`iadian H-ouse of Commons -which proposes to enact as follows: " Every sea-going and coasting passenger ship over 400 tons gross tonnage, registered in Canada, and every sea-going and coasting freight ship over 1,200 tons gross tonnage, registere.d in Canada, shall he equipped wvith an apparatus for wireless tele- graphy." Also that " Everv owner of any such ship who neglects to equip it vith the said apparatus shall be cuilty of an offence, punishable on summary conviction or on indictment, and be liable to a penaltv of Dot less than 100 dollars and not exceeding 1,000 dollars. or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both fine and imprisonment." An Italian Royal Decree dated March 14 last provides that all vessels of whatever nationalitv clearing from ltalian ports with emigrants shall carrv a wireless installation. So far as this countrv is concerned no legislative action is likely to tal;e place, at least for the present. The voluntarv efforts of British shipowners in the |matter are being carefully followed by the Board of Trade, who are being informed from time to time of what is taking place abroad. 'Wa,sms EQUIPPED. -Nearly 500 warships belonging to. nine different countries have been fitted, or are in course of equip- ment, with radio-telegraphy. According to the American list the United States Navy has been foremost among the navies of the world in the use of " wireless." On October 1 last 173 United States warships were fitted with various systems. The Borne lists, issued up to May 1 last, show Gre.t Britain to have 157 vessels equipped Germany 80, Netherlands 11, Denmark 9, and Spain b. All the German, Dutch, Danish, and Spanish vessels were equipped wsith the Teeefunken apparatus, while aU the British warships are fitted with the Marconi system. About 30 Italian warships have been fitted, all with the Mcarconi system, whule Brazil has 17 warships either equipped or about to be equipped with the ;Marconi apparatus. There are understood to be nine Chilian warships fitted with the Marconi system. Four Canadian small cruisers are fitted with the Marconi system. The American list shows 18 United States revenue cutters to have been fitted. and another has since been equipped. An interesting development is a proposal initiated by certain members of the fishing industry at Hul and Gr(imsby to control supplies to the is markets by n6eans of wireless telegraphy between trawlers and the land, in order to make the supply and prices less variable. The recent growth of the use of radio-telegraphy augurs well for its future progress. It seems clear that its use on vessels, already fairly wide, will have the effect of minimizing the results of disasters at sea; and the further extension of its use on land may eventually justify' the belief of those who think that " wireless ' may play an important part in the solution of cheaper overseas comnmuni- cation,'. WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY AT SEA.