THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 171 



transmits the power from the engine to 

 the propeller) must he run (its position 

 fixed) between n o'clock in the morn- 

 ing and 2 o'clock in the afternoon ; other- 

 wise the expansion of the metal caused 

 by the heat of the sun's rays shining on 

 one side of the vessel more than the other 

 would deflect the line from the correct 

 position, resulting in disaster to the ma- 

 chinery on the trial trip. 



the: fabricated ship 



The widely heralded fabricated steel 

 ship has been the source of much popular 

 confusion. It is generally assumed that 

 the steel plates are cut to a pattern by the 

 hundreds, like the parts of ready-made 

 clothing. After a fashion, this is true, 

 for scores of steel mills and machine 

 shops and 1,000 auxiliary plants, scattered 

 throughout the country and employing a 

 million men, are manufacturing the parts 

 which go to make up our standardized 

 fabricated steel ships, including their en- 

 gines and boilers. But this does not mean 

 that the thousands of parts which go to 

 make up each vessel can be transported 

 to the seacoast, fitted to pattern like a jig- 

 saw puzzle, pinned together with a few 

 rivets, and pushed out into deep water, 

 a completed cargo-carrier. 



The intricacy of "putting together" a 

 fabricated steel ship cannot be more 

 forcefully suggested than to review the 

 groups of men employed in the under- 

 taking. 



The erectors and their helpers, with 

 the aid of steam cranes, swing the massive 

 keel, plates, and beams in place. The 

 riveters, with their gangs — the men who 

 heat the rivets to the exact temperature 

 required, the men who pass these rivets 

 from the forges to the riveters lying 

 prone upon their backs between the inner 

 and outer "skin" of the ship, or perched 

 high upon a scaffold at bow or stern, and 

 the "buckers-up" (those who with ham- 

 mer or counter pneumatic machine press 

 down upon and brad the glowing steel 

 pins which the riveters drive into place 

 with their rivet-guns, striking more than 

 a thousand 95-pound blows to the min- 

 ute) — bind the plates together. It is the 

 riveter's responsibility if the hull is not 

 watertight or if his rivets are unable to 

 resist the constant buffet of waves and 



the throb of mighty engines urging the 

 laden craft through heavy seas. 



The task of the drillers and reamers 

 is to alter the holes in the plates when 

 they fail to match. Even the tailor-made 

 suit needs a touch here and a stitch there 

 at the first try-on, so it is not to be won- 

 dered at that the parts of a steel ship, 

 made in many sections of the country, out 

 of material which is seldom uniform, and 

 under varying conditions of temperature, 

 do not always fit. Where the holes are 

 uneven they are made perfectly cylindri- 

 cal by reaming, in order that the rivets 

 may completely fill the space and thus 

 avoid both a dangerous play of parts and 

 subsequent leakage. 



With both hand and pneumatic tools, 

 the busy chippers trim off and smooth 

 the edges of plates and castings, and 

 when this work is done the calkers turn 

 their attention to the edges of plates, 

 angles, and rivet heads. Water must be 

 kept out not only because of the immediate 

 danger of ruining the cargo and sinking 

 the ship, but also to avoid the insidious 

 danger of small leaks that corrode the 

 metal and in time cause serious structural 

 weakness. 



When the metal workers have com- 

 pleted their tasks the shipwrights install 

 the wood decks, the wood foundations 

 for capstans, winches, guns, and other 

 parts. Theirs is the responsibility also 

 for wooden masts, cargo booms and 

 spars, and for launching ways. To join- 

 ers is intrusted the interior woodwork 

 and state-room fittings. 



Shrouds, stays, lifts, bracings for masts 

 and funnels, life-lines, and all other wire 

 and hemp rope rigging are installed by 

 the "human flies" of the shipbuilding 

 profession — the riggers. 



Besides these experts employed on the 

 ships themselves, there is a hurrying 

 group of machine shop and foundry 

 men — sheet-metal workers, plumbers, 

 machinists, blacksmiths, drop forgers, 

 electricians, and acetylene burners. 



the: aristocrats of labor 



The coppersmiths deserve a paragraph 

 to themselves, for they are among the 

 aristocracy, the "400" of labor. Their 

 number in America has been variously 

 estimated at from 1,200 to 1,800. At the 



