246 



The Review of Reviews. 



Star liner Britannic seemed to renew her youth and 

 erhpsed all her previous records. The Oceanic, among 

 other vessels, only put on her best speed after standing 

 the wear and tear of a dozen years in constant serv'ice. 



" THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP." 



Longfellow's " The Building of the Ship " needs to 

 be rewritten to suit the age of steel, but its spirit lives 

 in Harland and Wolff's shipyard : — 



" Build Die straight, O worthy Master ! 

 St.iunch and strong, a goodly vessel 

 That shall laugh at all disaster. 



And with wave and whirlwind wrestle," 



The merchant's word 



D'jlighted the Master heard ; 



For his heart was in his work, and the heart 



Giveth grace unto every Art. 



And with a voice that was full of glee 

 He answered, " Ere long we will launch 

 A vessel as goodly, and strong and staunch, 

 As ever weathered a wintry sea." 



Longfellow's words were more literally fulfilled at 

 Queen's Island than in the shipyard vihere they used 

 cedar of Maine and Georgia pine. This day and every 

 day may be seen at Belfast how — 



Day by day the vessel grew . . . 

 Till after many a week, at length. 

 Wonderful for form and strength 

 Sublime in its enormous bulk. 

 Loomed aloft the shadowy hulk 1 



When Sir Edward Harland began in 1859 — for the 

 firm of Harland and Wolff only came into existence 

 in 1862, when Mr. G. W. Wolff was taken into partner- 

 ship — they built small ships of 2,000 tons. The first 

 order they booked was for three steamers of the Bibby 

 Line, 270 feet long, 34 feet wide^, and 22 feet 9 inches 

 deep. Their latest ships are 45,000 tons, 880 feet long, 

 92 feet wide, and 64 feet deep. 



SIR EDWARD HARLAND. 



Edward J. Harland was not an Irishman. He was 

 the son of a Scarborough doctor, who served his 

 apprenticeship as an engineer in the Stephenson Works 

 at Newcastle-on-Tyne. He worked as a journe}man 

 at a pound a week at J. and G. Thomson's shipyard 

 on the ("lyde, and got his first chance as manager of 

 Thomas Toward's shipj'ard on the Tyne. When 

 only twenty-three years old he applied for and 

 obtained the post of manager of the Queen's Island 

 shipyard, then doing business on a small settle under 

 K. Hickson and Co. No sooner was he installed than 

 he was confronted by a strike. He broke it by import- 

 ing blacklegs from the Clyde, who worked for a time, 

 ;ind then, under the persuasion of peticeful picketing, 

 withdrew. His best friends advised him to throw up 

 the job. Hickson had to compound with his creditors, 

 and Harland had himself to guarantee the wages of 

 the faithful few who stuck to him. If the strikers had 

 won there would have been no Harland and Wolff to- 

 day. ]{ut Harland was a man of mettle " 1 have 

 mounted a resti\e horse," he said, " and I will ride 



him to the stable." He persevered, got the Bank of 

 Ireland to back him, imported more blacklegs from 

 the 'I'yne, and finally triumphed. Three years later 

 Hickson sold out, and Harland came into possession, 

 when onl)' twenty-si.K, of the Queen's Islanci shipyard. 



WHAT HE DID FOR SHIPBUILDING. 



Professor Oldhsm, in his interesting lecture on 

 " The History of Belfast Shipbuilding," attributes 

 the success of the Queen's Island firm, first, to its 

 proximity to Liverpool — " the Lagan has been the ship- 

 yard of the Mersey " — and, secondly, to the initiative, 

 energy and genius of Sir Edward Harland. He early 

 grasped the idea that the fish was the finest design for 

 a vessel, but as a ship must float, the art and mystery 

 of shipbuilding lay in hitting upon the happy medium 

 of velocity and stability. Professor Oldham says : — 



Mr. E. Harland was the first shipbuilder to perceive that an 

 iron ship need not be kept to the lines that were most suitable for 

 wooden vessels. He had early conceived his theory that if an 

 iron ship were increased in h.-ngth without a corresponding 

 increase of beam, the carrying power botli for cargo and 

 passengers would lie much greater, that the ships would show- 

 improved qualities in a sea-way, and that (notwithstanding the 

 increased accommodation) the same speed with the same power 

 would be obtained by only a slight increase in the first "capital 

 cost." This idea was original with him, .and is the reason 

 why Belfast has become especially the place for building very 

 large ships. He was confident that length could be fully 

 compensated for by making the upper deck entirely of iron. 

 " In this way," to quote Mr. Harland's own words, "the hull 

 of the ship was converted into a box girder of immensely 

 increased strength, and was, I believe, the first ocean steamer 

 ever so constructed." He persuaded the Bibby firm to apply 

 this theory to the two ships for their second order, which were 

 made 310 feet long. These new vessels were nicknamed 

 " Bibby's coffins," by the old sailors, but they inaugurated a 

 new era in ship construction, " partly because of the greater 

 cargoes which they carried, hut principally from the regularity 

 with which they made their voyages with such surprisingly small 

 consumption of coal." 



The firm h.as ever continued to apply new ideas in the design 

 of their vessels. A few of their novelties may be mentioned as 

 illustrations. The shaipness of their fish-like hull conduced to 

 steadiness in a pitching sea, .as the ship went through the crest 

 of the waves — " it was not (mly easier for the vessel, but the 

 shortest road "—the bow bearing a turtle-back covering to 

 throw off the shipped waters. The perpendicular stem formed 

 by cutting the forefoot and figurehead away was an artistic 

 sacrifice to efficiency, for when combined with a new powerful 

 steering gear, worked amidships, it allowed the extremely long 

 ships to be easily handled and swung round in narrow channels 

 of navigation. To give large carrying capacity, they gave to 

 their ships "flatness of bottom and squareness of bilge," and 

 the " Belfast bottom," as it is technically known, h.as since been 

 generally imitated. Finding it impossible to combine satis- 

 factorily wood with iron (the two materials being so differently 

 affected by temperature and moisture), they filled in the sp.aces 

 between frames, etc., with I'Drtland cement instead of chocks 

 of wood. 



They were also pioneers in the introduction of marine 

 engines and were early advocates of the surface condenser. 

 Messrs. Harland and Wolff have been identified with all the 

 steps in the perfecting of the reciprocating engine— from the 

 simple engine to the compound, the triple-expansion, and 

 especially the tpiadruplc expansion on the balanced iirinciple, 

 which not only increased the efficiency and economy of the 

 machinery, but also greatly added to the comfort of passengers 

 by eliminating vibration. 



