SHIPBUILDING 



401 



nd elegant merchantman known on every sea. 

 At the present day, however, wood shipbuilding 

 in Great Britain has so fallen into desuetude as to 

 have become mainly a matter of historic interest. 

 It is a thing entirely of the past in the royal dock- 

 yards, and is of the smallest importance in British 

 mercantile shipyards, though at 

 a few minor ports a little wood 

 shipbuilding is still carried on 

 (see table on page 411). In 

 Canada and the United States, 

 on the other hand, the great 

 bulk of new shipping still con- 

 sists of wood. Wood is even 

 being employed in the construc- 

 tion of steamships of consider- 

 able size, and of sailing-ships 

 of dimensions never before at- 

 tempted in America. 



\\ hile wood has thus largely 

 been supplanted by iron and 

 steel in the construction of 

 ships, no such sweeping change 

 has taken place in the means 

 for their propulsion. Steam- 

 ships have undoubtedly made a 

 wonderful transformation, but 

 spread of sail and 'unbought 

 wind' are still potent factors 

 in the speeding of ships across 

 the ocean. Indeed within recent 

 years the size of sailing-ships 

 and the extent of their ng 

 have enormously increasedT 

 Full-rigged ships formerly had only three masts, 

 but four and even five-masted vessels have become 

 not uncommon. Fig. 2 shows a three-masted ship, 



size of hull and the great spread and intricacy of 

 rigging in the colossal ships of modern times. 

 Another and still larger vessel, the Marie Rickmers, 

 built by Messrs Russell & Co. of Port-Glasgow in 

 1891-92 for Messrs Rickmers & Co. of Bremen, has 

 no less than 56,500 square feet of sail area ; 21,300 



Fig. 2. Diagram of Ship : 



Span, <c. A, mast ; B, topmast ; C, topgallant-mast ; D, royal- 

 inant; E, yard; f, topsail-yard ; G, topgallantsail-yard ; H, 

 royal-yard; J, bowsprit; K, jib-boom; L, flying jib-boom; 

 M, martingale; X, chains; O, top; P, crosstrees ; Q, gaff; 

 R, upanker-booir. 



Sails. \, course; 2, topsail; 8, topgallantaail ; 4, royal; 6, 

 panker; 6, fore-topmast-staysall ; 7, jib; 8, flying-jib. 



Standing Rigging. i. shrouds ; n. topmast shrouds ; in. top- 

 gallant shrouds ; iv. stay ; v. topmast stay ; vi. topgallant- 

 mast stay; vn. royal stay; Till, backstays; ix. martingale 

 stays. 



Running Rigging. a, lifts; b, topsail lifts; c, topgallantsail 

 lift* ; d, royal lifts ; e, braces ; /, topsail braces ; g, top- 

 gallant braces ; H, royal braces ; t, sheet ; fc, jib-stay ; I, Hying 

 Jib-stay ; m, peak halyards ; n, signal halyards ; o, vangs ; p, 



1v|,]iM,_- lifti. 



A'ok. The corresponding rigging, Ac. on the different masts 

 have the same names, prefaced by the name of the mast; 

 such as Fore-topsail-yard, Jfain-topsail-yard, JVfizren-topsail- 

 yard, *c. See also SAIL*. 



with its riggine, spars, and sails.. In all substantial 

 points the ngof each mastisthesame; totinderstand 

 one consequently is to understand all. The illustra- 

 tion of I.tt France (fig. 3), a five-master of 3784 tons, 

 built in 1890-91, gives evidence of the increased 

 MSI 



Fig. 3. La France. 

 (Prom a Photograph by Messrs Adamson & Son, Rotheaay.) 



lineal feet, or over 4 miles, of steel wire in the form 

 of shrouds, stays, &c. ; and 31,000 lineal feet, or 

 approaching 6 miles, of running cordage. The com- 

 bined height of the maats is 960 feet, and the com- 

 bined length of the spars yards, booms, and gaffs, 

 by which the spread of sau is suspended no less 

 than 2000 lineal feet. Not only are the sailing- 

 ships of to-day on the whole much larger and better 

 fitted than those which made for themselves great 

 reputations and earned for their owners large for- 

 tunes about the middle of the 19th century, but 

 steam appliances for managing the sails, anchor, 

 &c. at sea, and for dealing with cargo in port, are 

 now no inconsiderable part of their equipment. 

 In ponderously- rigged vessels like La France and 

 Marie Rickmers, intended for long voyages, the 

 need for such appliances is of course almost im- 

 perative. In the case of the latter, steam is also 

 employed as an auxiliary to the sail-power for pro- 

 pulsion. The utter incapacity of sailing vessels to 

 make progress in a calm is one of their greatest 

 defects a defect increased tenfold in the case of 

 very large vessels. The use of auxiliary steam- 

 engines is not an innovation, as many of the 

 larger vessels of 1850-60 were so fitted. Proving 

 too expensive an item in the equipment of the com- 

 paratively small vessels of those days, the auxil- 

 iary engine was generally abandoned. Most of 

 the conditions at that time unfavourable are now, 

 however, entirely changed. The weight of engine 

 and coal to be carried for a given power developed 

 and length of voyage undertaken has been marvel- 

 lously diminished, as also the space occupied. 

 There is now, perhaps, some danger of owners 

 and builders overdoing matters by saddling large 

 sailing-vessels with more powerful engines, and 

 consequently more dead-weight, than the needs of 

 the case warrant. The provision of power sufficient 

 to propel a vessel out of calms at the rate of 

 5 or 6 knots, or in stormy weather to take her 

 from dangerous proximity to a lee shore, is all 

 that should be aimed at. The Marie Rickmers is 

 fitted with triple-expansion engines of about 600 

 indicated horse-power (i.h.p.), capable, it is esti- 



