122 THE CALL OF THE SEA 



The Modern Steamship -v^ <::> 



(From The Opal Sea) 



T)UT however much of actual beauty cUngs to a 

 sail, and however much of traditional rever- 

 ence bids us scorn an innovation, is there not 

 something to be said for the grim, fire-spitting 

 ocean steamer? In common with all steam de- 

 vices the steamship has come in for a fair share of 

 denunciation ; but as a machine, as a resistless 

 force, is there not something here to stir the 

 pulses ? As she sweeps down the harbour and 

 out over the bar, flags streaming, black smoke 

 trailing, wide wake rolling, what could be finer ! 

 She sits low down aft, she rises up keen and clean 

 forward, her cutwater is as eager as a headsman's 

 axe, her smoke-stacks have a slant astern as 

 though ready for any wind or wave. What a 

 sense of power is there ! What can stop the pas- 

 sage of that dark conqueror ! And she moves 

 with no apparent effort. The source of power is 

 not disclosed to the eye. Nor can the ear detect 

 the beat of engines. The steel mass seems to be 

 driven by a force as invisible as resistless. 



No prayers to Oceanus, the parent of the gods, 

 go up, when the ocean liner puts to sea. y€i^olus is 

 not invoked for favourable winds, nor are the 



