" Down to the Sea in Ships " 



of collisions. When two vessels meet, each must 

 steer "to the right." All ships have to carry, 

 after dark, two powerful lights : a green one on 

 the starboard or right side ; a red one on the 

 port or left side ; and in the case of steamers, 

 a white light also must be seen upon the 

 mast. 



The gradual development of ships, in the 

 course of centuries, from rude skin -covered 

 coracles to top-heavy mediaeval vessels ; from 

 them to the stately Wooden Walls of Old 

 England, and, lastly, to the massive Ironclads 

 of the Empire; is full of interest. By far the 

 more rapid part of this development was wit- 

 nessed in the years of the Nineteenth Century. 



Perhaps a slight comparison between past and 

 present sizes of ships may be worth giving. 



To begin with Passenger Vessels. 



In 1829 the Cunard wooden paddle steamers, 

 of about two hundred tons, perhaps from one to 

 two hundred feet in length, carrying sails as well 

 as using steam, and able to advance at the rate of 

 eight knots an hour, were counted good enough 

 for the Atlantic. 



By about the middle of the century the same 

 Line had taken to screw-steamers, built of iron, 

 some three hundred and forty feet in length, of 



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