PROGRESS IN MARINE CONSTRUCTION — GRACIE. 703 



Comparison of fuel consumption and weight of machinery, 1893-1913. 

 [For the same effective horsepower.] 



Comfort on shipboard has vastly improved during the past 20 

 years. Spring mattresses and brass bedsteads have replaced the old 

 wooden bunks, improved systems of heating and ventilation have 

 been introduced, sanitary arrangements are greatly superior both in 

 quantity and in quality, while the furnishings of the public 

 apartments and the attractions of the dining saloon vie with those of 

 the finest hotels on shore. Third-class passengers have now separate 

 cabins for four, six, or eight persons each, in place of large open 

 'tween-deck spaces filled with tiers of iron beds and accommodating 

 hundreds. In place of benches and tables along the sides of the 

 sleeping quarters, separate dining saloons, smoke rooms, and music 

 rooms are provided. 



Antirolling devices have been greatly developed. The use of free- 

 water chambers, first suggested by Sir Philip Watts in 1875, and 

 adopted in H. M. S. Inflexible and the City of Parts, has been rein- 

 troduced on an exact scientific basis by Mr. Frahm, while Mr. Schlick 

 in Germany, and Mr. Sperry in America, have successfully applied 

 the gyroscope to the reduction of rolling motions. 



Wireless telegraphy, introduced in 1896, is now fitted in over 1,800 

 ships and 270 shore stations. By its agency each steamer can keep 

 in direct touch with her sisters or with the shore. Already this 

 power of communication over long distance has proved of inestimable 

 value to vessels in distress by enabling them to summon immediate 

 assistance. Wireless telegraphy is probably the greatest boon ever 

 given to those in peril at sea. 



