SUBMARINES AND COAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 169, 6 April 1918, Page 10

SUBMARINES AND COAL

THE FUEL FAMINE IN N'EW YORK. The severe coal shortage experienced, throughout the Uirted States rowar-k the end of "last winter was, it is somewhat' strange lo learn, indirectly the outcome of the German U-boat campaign. This coal shortage, it _ will be remembered, was responsible lor a. considerable amount ot suffering in particular in New York, where chfeio was experienced at the time exceptionally severe weather. The reasons .lor this coal shortage in a country possessing some of the largest and 1 best-worked coalfields in the world fre interestingly analysed by Harrington Emerson in the American "Review of Reviews." The great supplies of coal for-the Atlantic States, Mr. Emerson . avs, come from the coalfields of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The- coal hauled over seven:.great railroads to tidewater at' Newport Baltimore, and New York. On. arrival at tl.o great coal docks at these termini, th© coal ! s then loaded into barges; strings of these barges are then taken in tow by ocean-going tags hound tor northern cities, Greater Ne\v_ J" l '*! all along the Sound, and up tae Mew. England coast as far as Maine. It may be asked: In what fashion the TJ-boat war affected the distribution of United States coal tlis United States consumer? The explanation* is that when the oonvoy system (of shipp'ng between the T T i''»t«l States and Europe) began the u-boat, even if it found itself in the path of a convoy, no longer dared to rise. From' a less conspicuous periscope it had to risk a single torpedo *1 ot, then dive ' as fast as possible. Even if the vessel was struck it ,waa often only crippled, propeller damaged, engine .stopped, or some compartment leaking. It was perceived that if these cripples could be towed to port they and their freight would be saved, "we aro now getting nearer to the cause of the coal shortage in New York. To tow the cripples to port ocean tugs wore needed. Ocean tugs called from our Atlantic coast became part of the convoy. ... So to save crippled ships American ocean tugs were called to the other side;.they became part of the convoys; they were the stretcherbearers of tiie sen, Vessel after vessel was saved: U-boat losses, were diminished week by week." The obvious result of this wholeeala withdrawal from service of the coalhauling tugs was, of course, the almost total suspension of the distribution of coal by water-carriage. The trade, was consequently diverged to the already he'avily congested railroads. Coal hod ■to be oarried over long hauls to distant cities; terminals became congested, and loaded cars blocked all the sidings. "Thus were the German U-boats the cause' of our discomfort." concludes Mr. Emerson. "They will rejoice tha.t it is so, but we rejoice that if fre have been inconvenienced ,it is because our tugs are helping overcome the U-boat menace which was to bring the world to ■ its Vnees, ■ before Germany, last summer."