With respect to the progress of shipbuilding in steel, little requires to be added to the general account given in Chapter I. The tonnage annually produced in steel is a constantly-increasing quantity. Hitherto the Clyde has contributed quite three-fourths of the tonnage of steel vessels, owing chiefly to the vigorous way in which certain of the shipbuilders there have adopted the practice, and also to the openness of the local field for the extensive manufacture of the new material. The North-East Coast, however, bids fair, in the immediate future, to become as productive in steel tonnage as the Clyde district. Recently-discovered processes by which the vast stores of Cleveland ironstone may be made profitably available in steel manufacture are working great changes in the way of modifying old and causing the erection of new works. The extraordinary growth of steel shipbuilding since its commencement in 1878 is well illustrated by the accompanying tables, which are taken from a paper by Mr W. John, on “Recent Improvements in Iron and Steel Shipbuilding,” read at the meetings of the Iron and Steel Institute in May of the present year. The figures relating to steel may be taken, where any divergence occurs, as more authoritative than those occurring in the general account of work in steel in Chapter I. The tables, however, partake of the imperfections already fully alluded to in the present chapter. With regard to them, Mr John says:—“Unfortunately, neither of these tables show the actual amount of shipping, either steel or iron, built in this country, because there would have to be a small percentage, perhaps between ten and twenty, to be added to those classed at Lloyds on Table I. for unclassed ships, and there would be a certain proportion, which I am unable to ascertain, to be added to the figures on Table II. for ships built for foreign owners in this country, and not entered upon the British register. However, the figures in themselves are sufficiently significant of the enormous growth of steel shipbuilding within the last six years, and it will be seen at once, as I have said before, that steel as a material for shipbuilding has passed entirely out of the experimental stage, and must be judged henceforth by the results of its working in the shipyards, and by the results of the performances of the ships already afloat, both as profit-earning machines for their owners, by their general wear and tear, for their safety against strains at sea, and in cases of collision and stranding.” _Table I.—Statement showing the Number and Tonnage of Steel and Iron Vessels Classed by Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping during the Years 1878 to 1883, both inclusive._