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ON THE MAXIMUM DIMENSIONS OF SHIPS. 25 
tons. They were made 10,500 tons, and no one was court martialed for exceeding 
that particular limit. We were told these ships had to be produced on a draught 
of 22 feet, and we have built others of deeper draught, and the wisdom which has 
been forced upon the country by the building of these vessels, has provided the 
necessary docks for these deeper vessels; and if the wisdom of those who control 
the naval policy of this country in the future calls for greater depth of battleships, 
you will find the people of this country will rise to the necessities of the case and 
give the necessary facilities for docking and repairing. Notwithstanding the fact 
that some of the docks of to-day cannot take the larger ships, many are convinced 
that nothing should stand in the way of getting the best; if the best is hindered 
by the necessary facilities as to docks and arrangements for repair, absent at the 
present time, in my opinion they will be fully provided as the necessity occurs. 
As regards the Mauretania and Lusitania, last November I crossed in the 
Mauretania, and one day we slowed down to 19 knots. I was in the chart house 
with the captain and inquired the reason for slowing down, and he pointed out 
a dent made in the thick plate in front of the chart house by a wave on the previous 
voyage which had struck nearly 70 feet above the water line. 
Now, the author of the paper says that it is a question of regularity of passage 
which has been the first consideration in the production of these ships. That is 
true. They do make fairly regular passages, but so do smaller boats, they make 
regular passage, but regularity of passage is not all that we must consider. Of 
course, battleships are made to fight, and storms do not blow for the maximum 
part of the time. We may have moderate weather and perfectly calm weather, 
but steamships must go on their course regardless of waves or conditions, and make 
speed. With a great ship of the size of the Mauretania, under what was a fairly 
moderate gale, we had to slow down, and that is a very good index of what the 
naval architect must come to; in other words, if you will take the small ship of 
fifty years ago, or even twenty years ago, and then take the newer ships, you will 
not see much difference in the general appearance of these ships. If to drive ships 
through the water at 25 knots an hour leads to the possibility of carrying away 
some parts of the equipment, due to the character of its construction, or due to 
the shape of the ship, then let us find some means by which we shall apply to the 
upperworks of the ship such elements of construction as will make it possible to 
drive the ship under all conditions of stress and storm, without running the risk 
of disaster of any kind. 
I quite agree that possibly we may have to go to a very much larger size of 
ship in order to do this, and it is possible that to go through what would be con- 
sidered the average storm conditions of the North Atlantic sea during the month 
of November, and not have the speed fall below 25 knots, will require ships of very 
much increased length. This was impressed on me when I made this passage to 
which I have referred. I know at that time, when I crossed in November, for 
two days there were only about ten persons in the dining room, so you can under- 
stand there was a fairly heavy sea, and yet one which I would not call a gale in. 
any sense of the word. 
