SHIP 



5356 



SHIP 



bottom is flat and the sides are almost verti- 

 cal, so the cargo can be lifted with great scoops 

 in about ten hours. 



Sailing Ships. The sailing ship had devel- 

 oped many distinct types before the era of 

 steam, the chief of which was the full-rigged 

 ship with at least three masts supporting square 

 sails. Vessels of the schooner type are fore- 

 and-aft rigged, and all sailing vessels may be 

 divided into fore-and-aft rigged and square- 

 rigged or some combination of the two. In 

 spite of the competition of steam, sailing ships 

 still keep the seas, crawling to all the ends of 

 the earth with their cargoes. These surviving 

 "wind-jammers" cannot be compared in grace 



gan to lay down the fastest ships afloat. Their 

 famous clipper ships had sharp bows and a 

 deep stern; they were long and low in the 

 water, and carried slender spars with a great 

 spread of canvas. 



Battleship. See WARSHIP. 



History. The earliest known builders of ships 

 were the Egyptians, but it is believed that they 

 derived their knowledge from neighboring peo- 

 ples whose records have been lost. The Phoe- 

 nicians were the greatest builders of antiquity. 

 They were colonists and bold navigators, who 

 developed the "long" fighting ship, propelled 

 by three banks of oars. The Romans also used 

 long vessels with several banks of oars, the 



A WINTER DAY ON THE ATLANTIC 



This is a map such as newspapers publish to sjiow the daily progress of ships on their way across 

 the ocean. Each circle on such a map is given a number in daily reports so that any boat can be 

 identified. The day of which this is a record was early in 1914, before the War of the Nations in- 

 terrupted regular sailings. The map does not show the separate east and west lanes, but it illus- 

 trates the fact that in winter and spring the boats keep to the south when near the American coast, 

 in order to avoid icebergs. The shorter summer route to England from the United States passes 

 close to the Grand Banks. From about August 24 to January 14 westbound steamers travel 2,856 

 miles between the last light on the English coast and New York ; eastbound boats have a course 30 

 miles longer. About January 15 ships begin to use the southern route, which is 2,953 miles in the 

 westbound lane and 2,996 miles in the eastbound lane. When it is stated that only vessels that 

 carry passengers are reported on these maps a good idea is obtained of the extent of sea travel. 



of line or speed with the smart clipper ships of 

 former days. 



Between the fifteenth century and the appli- 

 cation, of steam, the sailing ship went through 

 a long evolution. The fifteenth century ship 

 was clumsy and unseaworthy, but the discov- 

 ery of America gave great impetus to maritime 

 development, and the lines of sailing craft were 

 steadily bettered. Spain took the lead, yield- 

 ing later to France and Holland and finally to 

 England. Such ships as the Sovereign of the 

 Seas, the first three-decker, cost England about 

 $1,500,000, in the seventeenth century. It was 

 168 feet long and forty-eight feet in the beam 

 and mounted 100 guns. American ship carpen- 

 ters were cunning workmen and were among 

 the first to avail themselves of the investiga- 

 tions of Scott Russell into the principles of 

 construction. Russell announced his principles 

 in 1832; shortly afterwards, the Americans be- 



trireme having been probably from 100 to 160 

 feet in length. War galleys Had one or two 

 masts with square sails bent to yards. Among 

 the barbarian peoples of the North, the great 

 builders were the old Norse sea rovers, who 

 understood the art of building ships that were 

 quite seaworthy. 



Disasters at Sea. In spite of improved con- 

 struction and the use of steel, the greatest ves- 

 sels 'that man can build are not beyond the 

 reach of peril. Of late years there have been 

 several appalling wrecks, in which hundreds 

 have lost their lives. The sinking of the Ti- 

 tanic by an iceberg in April, 1912, with a loss 

 of over 1,500 lives, was one of the worst of re- 

 cent disasters. In May, 1914, the Empress of 

 Ireland sank in the Saint Lawrence River as 

 the result of a collision, carrying over a thou- 

 sand passengers to the bottom. When the 

 Lusitania was torpedoed at sea in May, 1915, 



