R. A. Fletcher

“ No doubt that in a vessel double the size we may manage to carry coal for the whole distance to Port Phillip, but I apprehend that the delay of waiting for freight and passengers would more than balance the delay of coaling at the Cape. It must also be cheaper to send out coals in vessels adapted for the trade of carrying coal, than to occupy the valuable room in even a large vessel which ought to be appropriated to the carriage of that class of goods which will pay for rapid steam communication. ”

“ The Duke of Cornwall, added to the fleet in 1842, was, like the others, a little wooden paddle-steamer, and schooner-rigged; she was the last of the vessels of this type purchased by the company. Three years later, by which time the superiority of the screw for sea-going steamers had already compelled recognition, the company showed its enterprise by placing two auxiliary screw steamers, the Rose and Shamrock, on its London and Dublin service, each of them proving an unqualified success. That decade will ever be memorable for the introduction of iron vessels with screw propellers. ”

“ Her engines were of 800 horse-power and were built by Messrs. Maudslay and Field. She was equipped as a war vessel and carried an armament of two 84-pounder pivot guns, twelve 32-pounder broadside guns on the upper deck, and fourteen 32-pounders on the main deck. Like everything else that the Pasha indulged in, the Faid Gihaad illustrated his taste for luxury. Externally the vessel was painted white from the water-line, below which she was copper-coloured. The stern was ornamented with a gold scroll, and each paddle-box had a crescent and star in gold. ”

“ The theory that with an increase in speed the tendency of a ship is to rise, so that when travelling at a fast rate she will draw less water than when going slowly, and consequently will have less resistance and less skin friction, has attracted the attention of naval architects for many years. So far as theory is concerned, there is nothing to prevent a vessel being built on this principle, but when it comes to considering stability, it is another question altogether. ”

“ The “seven seas” must be crossed with speed and safety, in the interest of all nations that have a mile of sea coast; but the Anglo-Saxon race, as it has contributed—from [vi] either side of the Atlantic—most largely to the mechanical and structural development of the steam-ship, now depends most vitally upon the organisation of its naval and transportation systems. Napoleon said that the strength of an army lay in its feet; no less true is it that the strength of our Empire lies in her ships. ”

“ The project of connecting the west coast of Ireland with Newfoundland by a line of fast steamers has always had its attractions for those who are seeking to cut down the ocean voyage to a minimum, but so far as the passengers are concerned, the prospect of a long land journey from St. John’s or Halifax to New York has always militated against the scheme. There are also the no less serious drawbacks of a trip across the Irish Sea to Dublin or other Irish port, continued by a railway journey to Galway before finally embarking on the ocean voyage. ”

“ The type of engine with the beam below the crank axle is known as the side lever. It is a type peculiarly suitable to paddle-wheels, and this being the only method of propulsion adopted on this side of the Atlantic for many years, there was little change for a considerable period in the shape of the engines, which therefore attained to a high stage of perfection until the limit of their profitable employment was reached. When larger engines became necessary, in consequence of the rapidly increasing size of vessels, the great weight of the side-lever engines proved a serious drawback. ”

“ What seemed strange in the vessel was the substitution of a lofty and strange black smoke-pipe rising from the deck, instead of the gracefully tapered masts that commonly stood on the vessels navigating the stream, and, in place of the spars and rigging, the curious play of the working beam and piston, and the slow turning and splashing of the huge and naked paddle-wheels, met their astonished gaze. The dense [34] clouds of smoke, as they rose wave upon wave, added still more to the wonder of the rustics. This strange-looking craft was the Clermont on her trial trip to Albany ”

“ The American custom is to strengthen the bilges of their ironclads with strong bilge docking keels, forming, with the keel proper, a level bottom. No shores are required beyond those necessary to centre the vessel, and no great care is required in adjusting the berth, and one set of bilge blocks does for all sizes of vessels. The American plan affords a great saving in weight and quantity of shores, and, what is more important, a great saving in time, not only in the preparation of the berth and centreing of the ship, but also in the actual lifting. ”

“ Green illustrated the adaptation of steam as an aid to sailing vessels, which even then had not attained their full magnificence and power, but which showed continual improvement in speed as fresh ones were built. This improvement was partly forced upon sailing-ship builders by the opinion, universally held at that time, that steam could never supersede sail for long voyages, owing to the difficulty of carrying enough coal. The steamers designed for the North Atlantic trade, on the other hand, were only intended for a short voyage—short, that is, in comparison with those made by the Indiamen. ”

“ An ice-breaking ship, to perform its allotted task, must be both weighty and powerful, and capable of travelling at a speed sufficient to give her the required momentum so that she may break the ice by the sheer force of the blow she delivers when she rams it, and she must be strong enough to inflict and not sustain damage by the collision. Further, besides cracking the ice into fragments weighing a few score tons apiece, she must be able to slide upon the ice and crush it by sheer weight. ”

“ She was a two-masted vessel, carrying three square sails on the foremast, her aftermast being fore-and-aft rigged only. She had one funnel situated abaft the paddle-boxes, which were about amidships. A picture of the vessel is in existence which represents her as three-masted, and with her paddles rather far forward, but this is inaccurate. She was almost a new ship at this time, and it is not likely that a mast would have been taken out of her between her launch and her Atlantic voyage. Her schooner bows bore as figurehead a dog with a star between his front paws. ”

“ These vessels, of course, were of wood, but when iron steamers were introduced and paddles gave way to the screw propeller, the company was not slow to see the advantages of the innovations, and to adopt them for its services.
In modern times this company has distinguished itself by its zeal for self-improvement. Every important development in steam-ship construction and engineering has been marked by the company by an addition to its fleet, one of the most recent being the Kingfisher, the first steam turbine-driven passenger steamer on the Thames. ”

“ Even with a fairly heavy sea running, a damaged and leaking vessel can be brought upon the dock where its weight, added to that of the dock itself, makes the combined structure additionally stiff, so that the necessary repairs can be undertaken in safety as soon as the vessel is lifted, and with as much ease as if the dock and its burden were in still water. Floating docks also can be used at any state of the tide, but he would be a rash man who attempted to warp a vessel into an ordinary dry dock with the tide running past the entrance with any degree of strength. ”

“ Great Britain, though a large builder and the principal designer of floating docks, does not possess very many; possibly the number and excellence of the dry docks scattered round her coasts may be the explanation. But as dry docks are costly to make or alter, the British Admiralty has ordered the construction at Wallsend of a floating dock which will take the largest battleship afloat or likely to be built for some years to come. In anticipation of the possible needs of the mercantile marine, plans have been prepared for a floating dock with a lifting power of 45,000 tons. ”

“ Whether in the sailing days or since, the crossing of the Channel between Dover and Calais has been attended with an amount of misery altogether disproportionate to the shortness of the voyage. It is therefore not surprising that inventors have at one time and another attempted to design vessels which should give the maximum of speed and comfort and the minimum of sea-sickness. The English Channel Steamship Company, Limited, was formed in 1872 to adopt the plan of a steam-ship designed by Captain Dicey, and construct the steam-ship Castalia. ”

“ To him large dimensions caused no fear. ‘The use of iron,’ he remarks, ‘removes all difficulty in the construction,’ and experience of several years has proved that size in a ship is an element of speed, strength, and safety, and of greater relative economy, instead of a disadvantage, and that it is limited only by the extent of demand for freight, and by the circumstances of the ports to be frequented. ”

“ This was particularly the case during the Civil War, when all sorts of steamers, from excursion boats to tugs, were pressed into service, and many gave an exceedingly good account of themselves. A remarkable vessel which was expected to revolutionise naval warfare was the Destroyer, in which a special make of dynamite gun was fixed, but it was hopelessly outranged by other guns. The opposition to steam in the Navy was as bitter in America as in this country when the innovation was first proposed. ”

“ The system of condensation of steam, which it would take too much space to describe in detail, is also a matter of great importance in determining the power of the engine, but the principle upon which the condensation is effected is well known, and the various methods of condensation can easily be ascertained from the numerous handbooks on engineering. ”

“ Nowadays sailing ships are few in number and are becoming fewer, and steamers seldom require aid. They enter and leave port under their own steam and even at times dispense with a tug when passing through the dock entrance, their own steam or a steam capstan ashore being found sufficient.
But a certain amount of towing has still to be done, and the tug is then able to prove herself indispensable. She has often to tow a ship from one coast port to another, while for rescue work on the coast their services mean all the difference between success and failure. ”

“ In the light of future events it is worthy of note that up to this time it was thought that the twin-screw would be useful for smaller vessels and gunboats carrying six guns or less; whereas the Flora, as representative of ships capable of carrying large armaments of guns, with considerable engine-power, and a light draught of water, and with a power of manœuvring such as could not be possessed by a single-screw vessel, marked a step forward in the march of improvement which was destined to have far-reaching results, both in the Navy and the Mercantile Marine. ”

“ Even before the advent of the steamers, the Isle of Man had become a favourite place at which to spend the summer, especially among the people of the north and west counties. If affection for the island could induce so many hundreds of people to brave the discomforts of a voyage from the Mersey to Douglas and back again in the small sailing packets which then were the means of communication, it is little wonder that the advent of the steamers, restricted in dimensions as they were, poor in accommodation, and slow travellers, should have increased her popularity. ”

“ Should it be deemed prudent to carry a reserve stock, coal for an additional 1500 miles would still not seriously interfere with the carrying properties of a large vessel, while it would obviate the necessity of having any stoppage but the Cape between Great Britain and Port Phillip. A vessel of 2000 tons builders’ measurement will carry at least 2000 tons dead weight, over and above her own weight of ship and machinery. Presuming that she takes coal for 9000 miles, or 750 tons, we still have a balance of 1250 tons for cargo and, in a well-arranged vessel, room for 350 passengers. ”

“ The White Star Line has always been the line of big ships. In its sailing-ship days it owned some of the finest wooden clippers afloat, famous alike for their size and speed. When Mr. T. H. Ismay in 1867 took over the management of the line and formed with some friends [252] the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, there were already in existence the Cunard, Inman, Guion, and National Lines, which had secured such control of the Atlantic trade that it seemed almost rashness for the new line to venture to compete with them. “Nothing venture, nothing win” ”

“ It is an interesting fact that naval engineers fix the amount of tonnage required in a steam vessel designed for any particular voyage by a very simple standard; they consider that one ton of burden is needed for every mile to be traversed; hence it is that this vast steam-ship has been made capable of carrying 25,000 tons. ”

“ A favourite standard of comparison in shipping is the leviathan of Brunel, the Great Eastern, the mammoth steamer, which, born before its time, yet solved in her construction many of the most difficult problems with which the modern builders of big ships have to grapple ”

“ None of these drawbacks apply to the floating dock. These immense modern structures of [354] steel and iron can receive vessels longer than themselves, and in the case of the off-shore docks, can receive vessels wider than themselves.
Should a vessel be heavily down by the head or stern, a floating dock can be tilted to lift it, and should the vessel be heeling over, the dock itself can be inclined so that it shall receive it without difficulty. Yet another advantage is that the floating dock can be used in any kind of ordinary weather. Lying at its moorings it is head on to wind and sea. ”

“ On the Mississippi River and its tributaries a type of large shallow steamers, propelled by immense side or stern paddle-wheels, was developed. These vessels were noted for their high superstructures and towering funnels. Racing was frequent among them.
In April 1838 the Mississippi River steamer Moselle, crowded from stem to stern with passengers for St. Louis, blew up. She had gone a little way up the river from Cincinnati for the purpose of exhibiting herself and of coming back past the city “a-flying.” As she stopped to turn, the boilers exploded, blowing the ship to fragments. ”