502 



SHIP-BUILDING. 



hundred and fifty tons of bolt iron are nseil in her 

 fastenings. Shi' baa nine carpi hatches, _."> feet 

 across. The most striking point alxnit this great 

 schooner is her rig of live towering niasU, desig- 

 nated respectively the foremast, mainmast, uiizzen- 

 most, jiggerma-st, and spaukermast. The five lower- 

 ma-sts are oach 115 feet long and 30 inches in di- 

 ameter. The topmasts are 56 feet in height. The 

 jibhoom is 75 feet long and 22 inches in diameter 

 at the bowsprit-cap. She will spread 03,000 square 

 feet of canvas. 



The building of whaling vessels, now almost dis- 

 continued, was once a great industry in New Eng- 

 land. These vessels were not large, as a rule nut 

 exceeding 400 tons register. The largest whaler 

 was the George Washington, of 600 tons. The 

 earlier whalers, built for use and not for show, wero 

 elum-iv to look at above water, but under water the 

 model was usually very good, being sharp on floor 

 and ends, deep, and with the greatest beam forward 

 of amidships. Of late lighter sterns and more 

 sliapely bows have been introduced, and the whaler 

 looks at neat as any of her sister vessels of the mer- 

 chant fleet. No material except the very best, and 

 that without flaw of any kind, was put into a whaler 

 by the builders of New Bedford, New London, and 

 Sag Harbor. Every detail was carefully looked out 

 for with a care not known in any other branch of 

 ship-building. Especial care was taken in calking 

 the seams, and the vessel was often hauled down on 

 one side to open the seams on the other for calk- 

 ing. The Qeorga Howland and the Roman, calked 

 in this way, sailed for eighteen years without re- 

 calking. The result of careful building i.s shown 

 in thoir longevity, vessels being serviceable seventy- 

 five years after building. The scantlings and fas- 

 tenings of whalers are in the main heavier than are 

 required by underwriters for insurance iu the mer- 

 chant navy. 



Steam-whalers have lately come into use. In 

 1879 the Mary and Helen was launched at Bath, 

 Maine. She is 138 feet long, 30J feet beam, regis- 

 ters 420, carries a full spread of canvas, and has a 

 screw engine capable of driving her from C to 8 

 miles an hoar. She is built of oak, yellow pine, and 

 hackmatack, and cost 865,000. Since then several 

 others have been built. 



The sailing fishing fleet of the United States i.s 

 large, and many different classes of vessels are used, 

 which cannot all be described here. The rig and 

 B|IUIK> of boat is such as is bast adapted to the pe- 

 culiar conditions of service required, ranging from 

 the Chesapeake Buy canoe and bug-eye to the fish- 

 ing schooners of the North. 



Sleum Nivig'ilion. After the invention of the 

 steam-engine, efforts were made to use it for locomo- 

 tion on hrid and sea. The greatest need at that time 

 was to tow vessels when entering or leaving harbors, 

 an 1 to propel boats on canals and against river cur- 

 rents. Jonathan Hulls patented a stern-wheel boat in 

 England in 17. Hi to bo used for harbor towing. In 

 America John Fitch built a vessel to run on the Del- 

 aware in 1783-87. This was fitted with banks of 

 vertical oars on each side, a l>eam carrying the oars 

 being attached to a crank from the engine situated 

 in the boat, dipping the oars in the water, moving 

 them aft, lifting them out and forward, to repeat the 

 first motion. This was America's first steam -boat, 

 and a speed of from 4 to 7 miles was obtained. 

 James Rnmsey tried forcing a current of water from 

 n pipe at the stern by steam-power. Fitch in IT'.l.'i 

 raodn the first experiment with the screw pm|..-ll. i . 

 Tli.- boat used was abont 18 feet long by 6 feet wide, 

 with a screw wheel at the stern, worked by a' hori- 

 zontal, walking beam engine with a wooden cylinder 

 at each (Mid "f the beam. The cylinders were made 

 like barrels and the boiler was only an iron pot with 



a wooden lid. A speed of C miles an hour was ob- 

 tained. 



The men, however, who made steam-navigation a 

 success were John Fulton, with his partner L 

 Bton, and John Cox Stevens, of Hoboken. Fulton 

 and Livingston made their first experiments on the 

 Seine, at Paris, building two small boats iu 1803 and 

 satisfying themselves as to the feasibility of steam- 

 propulsion. 



Stevens worked on screw propulsion for thirteen 

 years, and in 18(4 built a boat, the Phoenix, 15 

 feet long, driven by a Watt's engine and screw, ob- 

 tained a speed of 4 miles an hour, and finally took 

 I the vessel by sea from Hoboken to the Delaware, 

 the first ocean steam-voyage. 



Fulton bought a 20 horse-power engine in 1806, 

 and came to America to start steam-navigation, his 

 original idea being to build boats for the V 

 rivers; butwhi n lie, with Livingston, obtained exclu- 

 | sive rights for steam-vessels on the Hudson, nil their 

 ctlorts wero then made in that diiection. tlis l.i ;it, 

 1 the Clermont, was built on the East River, in 

 1807, by Charles Brown. She \as at first 133 

 long, 10i feet wide, and 7 feet deep, but wan after- 

 ward mode 141 feet long by 22 feet \ ide. She had 

 a flat bottom, straight sides, a full Low, and a 

 straight stem. A bottom was laid of 1 j inch yd], w 

 pine, toogned and grooved and set with white- lead, 

 and floors laid across this, 24 in< lies opart, made of 

 j oak of 8-inch square section nnder the machine! y, 

 luit at the ends of spruce, 4 by 8 inches in section. 

 The bout was decked only at the ends, nnd the boilers 

 were in full view. The ] uddh-u heels were 15 feet 

 in diameter, with buckets 4 feet long and with 24 

 I inches dip. The shaft was of east iron, 4J inches in 

 diameter. A heavy fly-wheel was at first carried, 10 

 feet in diameter, but as this extended down into the 

 water it was inconvenient in shallow water, and was 

 afterward removed. 



The boiler was 20 feet lonp, 7 feet deep, and 8 feet 

 wide. The engine cylinder w us 24 inches in diameter 

 by 4 feet stroke. Ihe beat drew 28 inches of water. 



On the first trip 110 miles were made in 24 hours, 

 and 150 miles in 32 hours ; or, deducting stops, in 

 28) hours, an avciage of 5 miles per hour. 



While the first trial of this vessel was looked npi n 

 with the greatest interest, the satisfactory introduc- 

 tion of steam-navigation brought about the en- 

 mity of the numerous packet lines canying the 

 freight and passenger tinffic. Slo< ps would moke 

 the trip from New York to Albany in 27 hcuis, the 

 passenger fare being $5, and they lost no oppor- 

 tunity to annoy the ('Iriniont, even going KO far 

 as to wilfully run against her to smash the paddli - 

 wheels. However, after being lengthened, in 1810, 

 as stated above, she made many successful trips, al- 

 ways running full of passengers. In 18C8 Chaihs 

 Brown built the Raritan and the Cur of Neptune. 

 In 1812 a ferry-boat wns built to run to the Jeisey 

 shore. The double-ended fcny-boat, drooping at 

 each end, so familiar to the American travelling 

 public, was designed by Fulton and has been but 

 little modified since. 



Steam-boats quickly sprang into existence in other 

 parts of the world, afier being proven a success by 

 l-'ulton. One was built on the St. Lawrence in 1809, 

 and another in 1811. The British built their first 

 .steam boat at Glasgow in 1811, and boats were soon 

 building all over the kingdom. Builders were en- 

 abled to put in the necessary plant to build niaiino 

 engines on account of contracts for steam men-of- 

 war, and by 1830 England had 96 such vessels. 



The war of 1812 did not interfere with the devel- 

 opment of the steum-boat in this country. Fulton 

 ed to the government to build a steam war- 

 ship, the first in tho world, to steam at 4 knots per 

 hour and to carry guns pointing iu every direction. 



