410 



ruled for them. The main engines anil (toilers have 

 of coarse been under construction almost since the 

 date of the order, and with their erection and fitting 

 in the interior of the vessel, the responsibility de- 

 volving on the engineering department is more 

 accentuated. All is at last complete: the multi- 

 farious deck-fitting's, the furnishing of the saloons 

 and state moms, the fitting of the electric light 

 probably, the completion of the network of piping, 

 the fitting of the steering gear, the placing of the 

 compasses, and the thousand-and-one other items 

 which go towards the thorough equipment of the 

 vessel for sea. When at last thesteamerglidesout 

 of the dock of her builders and proceeds on her 

 trial trip, and to adjust compasses, there ensues 

 what is not infrequently a most anxious period for 

 the builders and engineers. In vessels where high 

 speed, together perhaps with carrying capability on 

 a given draught of water, is the regulating con- 

 dition of design, the stipulations as to speeif trials 

 are of ten most exacting. The ' measured mile' 

 i.e. the nautical mile of 6280 feet determined by 

 fixed marks on a straight length of coast-line 

 is usually the means by which a vessel's speed 

 capabilities are ascertained ; but in addition to 

 running the mile most of the higher class steamers 

 have to undergo tests of steaming continuously 

 over long distances. Two, four, and sometimc- 

 inore separate runs are made over the mile, half the 

 number with and half against the tide, the object 

 being to eliminate the tide's influence from the 

 results. The mean time taken to each double run 

 enables the builder to compute the rate of speed 

 per hour of which the vessel is capable. 



Scientific Qualities of Modern Steamships. Speed, 

 power, and dimensions almost of necessity imply 

 stability, strength, and safety, and these several 

 qualities are duly balanced in the magnificent ships 

 traversing the Atlantic and ot her important oceans ; 

 while in the paddle and screw steamers employed 

 in various other kinds of service such as river, 

 lake, and cross-channel passenger work practical 

 skill and scientific knowledge are equally exempli- 

 fied. In the case of purely cargo and freignt- 

 carrying vessels, while fundamentally the same 

 order of conditions obtains, there are other inlluences 

 and restrictions, due to the exigencies of com- 

 merce and of economic service, which interfere 

 with the balance of qualities. Speed, for in- 

 stance, may l>e subordinate to economic consumpt 

 of coal ; stability may he regulated less by the 

 ship's form and weight-distribution in the hull 

 structure than by the amount and distribution of 

 cargo when the shin is fully loaded ; and safety or 

 immunity from risk may be suhordinated to con- 

 venience of working. Tne functions of the present- 

 day designer of steamships are concerned not so 

 much with attaining great success in any one 

 direction at any cost as with fulfilling various and 

 conflicting conditions of service at moderate outlay. 



The attention of the shipping world has frequently 

 been called to novelties and so-called ' new depar- 

 tures ' in ship design and construction, but com- 

 mercial prudence and industrial caution have 

 hitherto kept their balance, and the ultimate effect 

 of most of these ' flashes in the pan ' lias been to 

 illumine and make clear the safest line of advance- 

 ment. The employment of electrical energy for 

 propulsive power which has already met with 

 considerable success in small craft, and for very 

 short runs naturally leads to speculation on the 

 possibility of it* being introduced into ocean- 

 going vessels. In the midst of such immense and 

 marvellous works achieved by this great force one 

 might be excused for such siieculations as to the 

 'ship of the future,' but we have the authority of 

 Enr/iiirrriii'i ( I >cc.-iiiber 4, 1891) for saying that 

 no one of the builders of the present-day Atlantic 



steamers entertains any belief in the probability 

 of electricity, or indeed! any other motive power, 

 superseding steam in ship-propulsion. 



tihiu-produring Countries and District*. With 

 the change from wood to iron, and the development 

 of propulsion by steam instead of sails in both 

 of which the United Kingdom took the initiative 

 and has maintained the lead the iron shipbuilding 

 industry not only chose to flourish in the country 

 which originated it.butbecamelocalisedand concen- 

 trated in the districts which, besides possessing the 

 sine qua nun of ready outlet to the vast ocean, are 

 specially favoured as being the repositories of great 

 natural wealth in the form of coal and ores. In 

 this way the valleys of the Clyde, Tyne, Wear, 

 and Tees have become the great centres of ship- 

 building, as have also the Thames and Mersey, 

 although the two latter rivers have for a con- 

 siderable number of years been overshadowed as 

 building centres bv the immensity of their ship- 

 ping. Belfast and Barrow-on-Furness are im- 

 portant ship-building centres, not alone because of 

 large annual output of tonnage, but by reason of 

 the number of high-class ocean steamships built 

 there. America apart, Britain has practically 

 done the world's shipbuilding for many years, and 

 even now, when in America and Europe iron ship- 

 building is being steadily developed and encour- 

 aged by government subsidies and otherwise, 

 British shipbuilders are still being requisitioned 

 by foreign shipowners. During 1891, for example, 

 vessels possessing a total tonnage of 16,000 tons 

 were constructed in Great Britain for Herman 

 account, the tonnage built in Germany itself being 

 28,000 tons. Notwithstanding this dependence on 

 foreign shipbuilders, Germany is the European 

 country which, after Great Britain, with its colossal 

 yearly tonnage of about 800,000, turns out the 

 largest number of new ships year by year ; Norway, 

 at one time mistress of the seas, occupying third 

 place. France, Italy, and America, which are 

 endowed with a wealth of shipbuilding timl>er, are 

 coming rapidly to the front with iron ships, and 

 largely depenu on home production. 



In the United States shipbuilding began with 

 fishing-boats, smaller and larger : the first ship 

 built was the Virginia, 60 feet long, at the mouth 

 of the Kennebec River in 1607. In 1640 a vessel of 

 300 tons was built at Salem ; and soon shipbuilding 

 was a prosperous industry in several New England 

 ports. In 1700 New York owned 124 vessels 

 and Boston 194, some of 300 tons. The revolu- 

 tionary war was fatal to the industry ; but from 

 1812 to 1850 wooden shipbuilding prospered exceed- 

 ingly, and the American sailing-vessel readied per- 

 fection. The first China clipper was built by \\ ebb 

 at New York in 1841 ; the first three-decker by the 

 same builder in 1849. The building of whalers, 

 once a great New England occupation, is almost 

 extinct. The share of the United States in t lie intro- 

 duction of steam-power has been already recorded, 

 as also the rivalry between the Collins Line and 

 the British Atlantic lines. In 1847 congress sub 

 sidised mail-steamers from New York toClia^ie-. 

 and from Panama to San Francisco. The 1'acilic 



Mail has sent stea rs to the Sandwich Islands, 



Japan, China, and Australia. In 1 830-61 New York, 

 Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore built eighty 

 sea-going steamers with an aggregate tonnage of 

 120,000 tons. America is specially famous for her 

 river and lake steamers, the first stern- wheel paddle- 

 lx>at being built by Fulton alld Livingston at 

 Pittsburgh in 1811. The first great lake steamer 

 was built at Sackett's Harbor in 1816; and the 

 first iron boat was built in Pennsylvania for service 

 on the Siuquehanna, New York soon took the lead 

 in this branch, and in 1836 produced a vessel of 

 600 tons. Webb was the great builder of wooden 



