178 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



ic Information 



MARKING OUT A PLATE WITH 



© Committee 



A TEMPLATE PREPARATORY TO PUNCHING 

 RIVET HOLES 



The pattern from which a ship's steel plates are cut and the rivet holes punched is called 

 a template; upon the care with which it is made depends the speed with which the thousands 

 of parts of a fabricated ship can be assembled. 



and practice ; but there is one case on 

 record where a class of three men learned 

 the art in 20 working hours of schooling. 



While the riveter pupil is in the school 

 the shipyard pays him 50 cents an hour. 

 Something of an anomaly, this plan of 

 paying a man for the privilege which is 

 given him to learn a trade and equip him- 

 self for greater earning capacity ! How- 

 ever, no inducement which can be offered 

 is too great, provided the requisite num- 

 ber of competent workmen is obtained to 

 accomplish the end in view. 



WOMEN WORKERS IN THE SHIPYARDS 



In surveying the varied activities of the 

 ever-increasing army of men engaged in 

 shipbuilding, the observer or correspond- 

 ent making a tour of the firing lines of 

 industry is apt to think of woman's share 

 in the vast undertaking as purely decora- 

 tive, her presence being essential only 



when the bottle of christening wine is to 

 be broken upon the vessel's bow as 



"She starts — she moves — she seems to feel 

 The thrill of life along her keel, 

 And spurning with her foot the ground, 

 With one exulting, joyous bound, 

 She leaps into the ocean's arms." 



Before this war that was woman's sole 

 prerogative in the shipyard — sponsorship 

 at a launching. But in these days pa- 

 triotic service knows no distinction of 

 sex, and wherever woman can help she 

 is to be found by man's side sharing his 

 burdens and responsibilities. The ship- 

 yard is no exception. 



Among the clerical forces in the ad- 

 ministration buildings arid as nurses in 

 the hospitals of the 203 shipyards, the 

 women workers are finding their most 

 abundant opportunities to lend a hand in 

 the construction of the "bridge of ships" 

 across the Atlantic ; but they are to be 



