Ocean Steamships / A popular account of their construction, development, management and appliances

It may well be asked how what seemed to be an impossibility in 1876 has been achieved so successfully in 1890, and it is perhaps less interesting to note the changed conditions than the causes that have produced them. In the very early days of steam navigation the engines were substantially those used for pumping and other purposes on land. Had the genius of Trevithick exerted itself in the direction of improvements in ship propulsion as much as it did in abortive efforts to make the locomotive a success, there is no doubt we should have had fast passenger steamers before we had railway trains; and had not the prejudice of Watt hung over the engineering world as a cloud which obscured the clear light of science, some other engineer would have accomplished the same result. It is disappointing to find that a man of Watt’s genius and reputation should have attempted to damp the ardor of men like Symington and Miller by predicting failure for an engine when applied to marine propulsion, and by threatening the pains and penalties of the law for infringement of patent should those enterprising geniuses disprove his predictions. There can be no doubt that the statement from a man of his position, that Trevithick and others who were experimenting, as well as working, with steam of high pressure deserved hanging for their diabolical inventions, would have great effect on the engineering world, then in its infancy; and the few accidents that in later years occurred on steamboats, through the crass ignorance or the reckless negligence of those placed in charge, recalled to the mind of another generation the words of Watt, and made them doubly impressive as well as deterrent to further progress. Even in our own days the use of steam at such pressures as have enabled the present wonderful monuments of mechanical skill to be commercial successes has been animadverted upon, and prophesied about, and openly denounced, and it is only those who are engaged in this pioneer warfare who know how depressing and discouraging such language is, or who appreciate the great responsibility taken in advancing into the unknown—that is, unknown to the world at large. Moreover, the body of every nation is more or less conservative and slow to comprehend, much less to appreciate, new inventions or new forms of old inventions. Hence, no doubt, it was that an enterprising company like that presided over by Sir Samuel Cunard should refrain from building its ships of the superior material, iron, and adhere to the inferior propeller, the paddle.

The paddle-wheel was obviously the first instrument accepted by the early engineers as a means of propulsion. Long after the experiment of H. B. M. S. Rattler had demonstrated the contrary, the public faith in the visible wheel was greater in reality and more sincere than that in the invisible screw; and it is probable that it was more the question of cost than anything else that gained the victory for the screw for ocean and general service. The paddle engine is in itself heavier and occupies more room than the screw engine; it is as a rule more expensive per I. H.-P.; and in wear and tear—especially of the propeller itself—it far exceeds the screw. It occupies the best part of the ship, and its position is not a matter of choice, as with the screw engine, but is, of necessity, at or near the middle of the ship.14 It is evident that a paddle steamer must require more room, and that in moving among ships or other obstructions the liability to damage the propeller is greater than with the screw steamer, and in the case of a long voyage the paddle generally worked at a disadvantage, as at the commencement it was too deeply immersed, and at the end not immersed enough for efficient working. If the sails were set so as to steady the vessel, or if set in sufficient quantity to be of any use in quickening the speed, she was inclined until the lee wheel was “buried” and the “weather” wheel doing very little work; besides there was a general tendency on the part of the ship to turn round, which had to be counterbalanced by the rudder. The race of water from the wheels past the ship being at a high velocity, and raised above the normal level, causes a resistance to the ship beyond that due to her passage through the water, as in the case of a screw ship. On the other hand, the paddle boat is more readily got into motion and her speed more rapidly arrested than is the case with the screw steamer; and it is claimed for the paddle-wheel—although the foundation for such a claim is rather nebulous—that when the engines are working at full speed the ship is prevented from the excessive rolling observable with a screw vessel. But against this it must not be forgotten that the paddle engine is far more trying to the structure of the ship, on account of the great weight of the wheels being taken on the sides of the hull, as well as from the effort of the wheels in propelling being applied at the same place. Then there is the additional danger, and that not a remote one, that in case of the shaft breaking and a wheel falling clear of the ship, she would upset. An accident of this kind has occurred more than once, but there is no record of the actual result being so calamitous as just stated, owing to other fortuitous circumstances. That which retains the paddle-wheel in favor to-day, and renders it a necessity in spite of argument or prejudice, is the fact that the screw requires that the draft of the ship shall not be less than its own diameter, whereas in the largest paddle boats a dip of wheel of six feet is generally sufficient. Hence it is that nearly all fast steamers plying on rivers or shallow estuaries, and channel steamers running to ports where there is little water when the tide is low, are of necessity paddle-wheel. By employing two screws (one on each side instead of one amidships) the draft of water can be reduced by at least thirty per cent. Likewise, by increasing the number of revolutions smaller screws will do, and the draft of water may be still less, so that some thirty years ago, on the introduction of twin-screws, there were soon many ships built for services that had hitherto been monopolized by paddle boats;15 and to-day, when there is a demand for higher speed and more power, and where paddle-wheels are not admissible, three screws are being employed. Ships have also been employed with four screws, viz., two at the bow and two at the stern, and, for the purpose for which they were required, answered very well indeed; but the worst possible place for a propeller is obviously at the bow, and therefore in these ships the bow screws were not very efficient, but they undoubtedly added somewhat to the power of the ship. In the same way some tug-boats have been fitted with a screw at each end.

All attempts at propulsion with internal propellers—that is, by turbine wheels, pulsometers, ejectors, or by pumps—have failed in consequence of the great friction set up by the water in its rapid passage through the pipes from and to the sea; the motion must be rapid owing to the size of the pipes being necessarily restricted. The best experiment with this kind of propeller was made on a costly scale by the British Admiralty in 1866, when they fitted the iron-clad gun-boat Waterwitch, of 1,200 tons displacement, with a Ruthven’s hydraulic propeller, consisting of a horizontal turbine wheel drawing its water through the bottom of the ship and discharging it fore-and-aft-ways at each side, and driven by an engine of 160 nominal horse-power; and although this vessel was only 162 feet long, 32 feet broad, and drew 11 feet 4 inches of water, her speed was only a little over 9 knots, with an indicated horse-power of 801. The speed co-efficients whereby her performances could be compared with that of other ships were most disappointing.

But the achievements of screw steamers are not always satisfactory at first, and time has shown some curious instances where what appeared at first sight a little thing prevented great results. To-day we know somewhat of the screw propeller, but it is very difficult, if not impossible, for the cleverest and most experienced engineer to define his knowledge or to classify his facts so as to deduce any rules from them that shall enable him to lay down fixed laws for the practical guidance of others. In past years more was professed, but still less was actually known, and that which was to be a panacea for the ills of every screw ship proved useless in many instances, and aggravated the evil in others. The patents for propellers are numerous, and some of the specifications interesting and amusing, but of them all there are less than can be counted on the fingers of one hand that have any practical value, or that have influenced the commerce of the world; and we find to-day that the propeller which gives the best results is very simple in form and its working surface a true helix. What is better understood, however, are the proportions, and in them lies the success of the instrument. It is quite true that the blades may be of such a shape and so arranged as to give bad results, but it is very difficult to alter the propeller blade now most generally used and get much improvement thereby.

In 1865 H. B. M. S. Amazon was found to fall short of her designed speed by nearly a knot, although the indicated horse-power was in excess of the requirements. With a four-bladed Mangin propeller, 12 feet 6 inches pitch, it took 1,940 I. H.-P. to drive the vessel 12 knots. A two-bladed Griffith’s screw of 13 feet 9 inches pitch was substituted, when 12.4 knots were obtained with only 1,664 I. H.-P. But the most remarkable case was that of H. B. M. S. Iris, which had been designed for a speed of 17¹⁄₂ knots, but on her first trial trip, although the 7,000 I. H.-P. was exceeded, the speed was only 16.58 knots. A series of trials was then entered upon to find out the cause of this deficiency, with the result that the screws were discovered to be too large; others of 2 feet 3 inches less diameter were substituted, when a speed of 18.57 knots was attained with the same I. H.-P. Similar instances could be adduced, if necessary, to show how comparatively slight changes in the propeller can produce marked improvements in speed.

It has already been shown that the frictional resistance of the skin of the ship is very great, and generally speaking, in fast steamers, is by far the largest portion of the whole resistance. It necessarily follows, therefore, that for high speed it is essential that the submerged portion shall be as smooth as possible; and to that end ships are coated with enamel paints which, when dry, are perfectly smooth and glassy, or remain in a smooth, slimy condition. They do not, however, remain long in this state, as the action of sea-water destroys them, and even the best of these compositions admits, at times, of marine plant growth, and sometimes barnacles. The effect of a coating of weed is very serious indeed; the resistance induced thereby being greater than if the vessel were rough, from the fact that each filament of weed has to be towed through the water, and the total surface thereby exposed may be two or three times that of the ship herself. It is a sound economy in any vessel to keep the bottom perfectly clean and smooth, but in the case of high-speed steamers it is absolutely essential, inasmuch as a very moderate amount of foulness will reduce their speed by 2 or 3 knots.

The introduction of Siemens-Martin steel, about the year 1875, and its continued and extended use since, have however been really the means of rendering possible the construction of steamships of all sizes with high rates of speed now so common, and are undoubtedly the means whereby those ships can be so economically built and worked as to pay as commercial ventures. The construction of their hulls with a material fifty per cent. stronger than iron has rendered it possible to make such appreciable decrease in weight as to admit of fining their lines suitably for high speed without sacrificing carrying capacity. With this same steel, boilers can be constructed for a pressure of 150 pounds per square inch without weighing very much more than iron ones for 75 pounds. By using steel for castings, forgings, etc., the weight of the machinery has been reduced from 5 hundredweight to 2 hundredweight per I. H.-P., and when forced draught is employed it is as low as 1.6 hundredweight per I. H.-P. for large powers, and less still for such engines as are used in torpedo boats and catchers.

It has already been remarked that the consumption of coal, which enters as a most important factor into the question of high speed, both from the weight and cost, had been reduced, by the introduction of the compound engine, from 4 pounds to 2¹⁄₂ pounds per I. H.-P., and latterly, as that engine was improved and higher pressures used, the consumption was further reduced to 2 pounds, and in some cases as low as 1³⁄₄ pound per I. H.-P. The triple expansion engine, developed within the past eight years, and later the quadruple expansion, have effected a still further saving, until with them and such other means as are now employed, the consumption is under 1¹⁄₂ pound of coal per I. H.-P.

The success of the locomotive was very questionable until the exhaust steam was turned into the chimney so as to create a rapid draught, and the steam-blast to-day enables the locomotive to travel at its great speed by causing the comparatively small boiler to generate such a large amount of steam. When this form of boiler was tried on board ship its power would have been very much crippled had not some other means been adopted for forcing the draught, as the steam could not in this case be allowed to escape through the funnel, but must be condensed into water for the use of the boiler. By closing the stoke-hole and forcing into it by mechanical means a plentiful supply of air, this boiler was made to be as efficient for a torpedo boat as for a locomotive. This forced draught has now been adopted on large ships, and to-day the very high speed of naval vessels, and of many mercantile steamers, is due to it. Consequently, with the same weight of machinery, higher powers are developed with a corresponding increase in speed, and the cruiser Piemonte, constructed by Sir William Armstrong & Co., of which an illustration is shown on p. 91, had her speed increased by means of forced draught from 20 knots to 22.3 knots, at which speed she was going when the picture was taken.

Mr. James Howden patented a forced draught process by which the incoming air is warmed by the heat (which would otherwise be wasted) in the uptakes and funnels, and then conducted direct to the furnaces; and he claims by this to be able to do with still smaller boilers, besides avoiding the danger to the tubes now sometimes experienced in war ships with closed stoke-holes.

But there still remains the problem of how to feed the furnaces by mechanical methods, so as to save the very large staff now required in the boiler-room of our large steamships. So far all means hitherto adopted with success on shore have proved failures at sea, and at present there is no reason to suppose that any one of them can be so adapted as to prove generally efficient for service. It is necessary for such a purpose that the gear can go continuously for many days, and the coal be small and tolerably uniform, and the supply regular. Such coal is not convenient for passenger ships, and if the demand for the present supply of small coal were increased the price would preclude its use. Some success, however, has been achieved in saving labor in the stoke-hole, and the most noticeable invention to this end is that of Mr. Thomas Henderson, whose now well-known self-cleaning fire-bars do away with the necessity for the firemen raking the fires out to remove the clinkers which adhere to the grates and obstruct the air-passages. By means of this apparatus, the alternate bars having a very slight movement, the coal gradually travels to the back end of the grate together with the clinker, which latter is eventually deposited behind the bridges. Thus not only is considerable labor saved, but the fires are always in such good condition that the full pressure of steam is maintained, and so a better speed kept up by the vessel herself.

On shore the tendency is to substitute gas for solid fuel, or to use the coke resulting from gas manufacture. That something of the same kind might be done on shipboard is possible, although not at present probable. The higher efficiency of the coal when treated in this way would enable still more power to be obtained from a pound of it, and there would be savings in other ways of a beneficial nature.

Then, again, if petroleum, or other liquid of a similar nature, could be obtained at a fairly low price, it might be used on shipboard; and as it has a heating power twenty-five per cent. higher than the best coal, and fifty per cent. higher than some of the commonest kinds weight for weight, the substitution of it would be a means of obtaining better speed. But it is always a question of cui bono, and when it is taken into consideration that the voyage between Sandy Hook and Queenstown is now done in 140 hours, and to do the distance in 5 days would require a speed of nearly 23¹⁄₂ knots, with an increase in power of sixty-two per cent., and in fuel consumption of thirty-eight per cent., the cry must be regarded as a very far one at present. At the same time it is not desirable to believe that there is now finality in the speed of steamships, although by analogy with railway trains that conclusion might be arrived at.

THE BUILDING OF AN “OCEAN GREYHOUND.”

By WILLIAM H. RIDEING.

The Cost of an Ocean Racer—Intricate “Financing” of Such an Undertaking—The Contract with the Ship-builders—The Uncertain Element in Designing—Great Ship Yards along the Clyde—The Plans of a Steamer on Paper—Enlargement of Plans in the “Mould Loft”—What is Meant by “Fairing the Ship”—The “Scrive Board”—Laying down the Keel—Making the Huge Ribs—When a Ship is “in Frame”—Shaping and Trimming the Plates—Riveting and Caulking—Ready for Launching—The Great “Plant” which is Necessary for the Building of a Ship—Description of a Typical Yard—Works Covering Seventy-Four Acres—Where the Shaft is Forged—The Lathes at Work—The Adjustment of Parts—Seven Thousand Workmen.

I.

AS often as the “record is broken,” and the Atlantic voyage is reduced by some unprecedentedly fast passage, we may be sure that there is a flutter in the offices of the rival lines which have thus been left behind. Between the Cunard, the Guion, the Inman, and the White Star lines there has been a constant race for supremacy, now one, and then the other, taking the first place. No ship has been allowed to keep the lead for more than a year or two. When sixteen knots have been developed by one line, seventeen knots have been aimed at by another, and the ship of that speed is no longer a wonder. So when we read in the newspapers of the “fastest passage” we may take it for granted that it is no sooner heard of in Liverpool than the managers of the lines momentarily surpassed are preparing to beat it. If the triumph belongs to the Cunard line, at the very next meeting of the directors of the White Star and Inman lines it will be discussed, and though an order for another ship may not be given there and then, it is sure to follow.

An order for a new ship of the class required to compete in the modern passenger service of the Atlantic is not by any means a matter to be determined on without grave consideration. Speed is costly, and as you increase it it is generally necessary to also increase the tonnage. Thus if the problem before you is to beat the record of a seven-thousand-ton ship, which has developed eighteen knots with engines of twelve thousand five hundred horse-power, you must (principally for economic reasons) have a larger hull as well as more powerful engines for your competing vessel. This forces upon your consideration tides, channels, harbor-bars, and dock accommodations, all of which impose limitations upon you. And then the cost of the ship herself is not a matter which even the wealthiest of corporations can provide for at a moment’s notice: it is not one hundred thousand dollars, or five hundred thousand dollars that the work calls for, but about five times the latter sum, for it is safe to say that a vessel superior to the City of New York or the Etruria could not be built for less than two million and a half of dollars.

The “financing” of such an undertaking requires time: there are long consultations between the directors, bankers, and ship-builders. If we could follow the steps of the gentleman to whom these negotiations are intrusted, we might see him flying off from Liverpool for Euston: closeted in a private office down in Lombard Street or Cornhill with some capitalists who are expected to contribute to the necessary funds; again, after dinner, engaged in argument with these same capitalists in a West End mansion to which they have adjourned, and then racing off in the precarious hansom cab to catch the night train from King’s Cross for Glasgow.

Sometimes the ship-builders are willing to become part owners of the projected vessel; sometimes they take as part payment for the work some older vessels of the line, which they refit, re-engine, modernize, and sell again. The ability of the builders to make an arrangement of this kind, of course, influences the placing of the contract, in a measure, but they must also be able to give certain guarantees. They must enter into an engagement that the projected ship shall be able to carry so many passengers and so many tons of cargo, and to attain a specified speed on a given consumption of coal per day. Let us say, for instance, that the stipulations are these: Accommodations for 600 saloon passengers, 150 intermediate passengers, and 1,500 steerage passengers; registered tonnage, 6,000, speed, 19 knots on a consumption of 300 tons per day. If the ship fails to fulfil these conditions the builders agree to forfeit a part of the amount they would otherwise receive for her, or they may be compelled to take her back altogether. This was the case with the City of Rome, which was built for the Inman line by the Barrow Ship-building Company. A beautiful ship in every way; of exquisite model; fitted with a degree of luxury unsurpassed at the time she was launched, she proved to have neither the speed nor the carrying capacity which had been guaranteed, and the Inman line refused to accept her. In a very few instances only are such guarantees omitted from the contract.

Now, ship-building is not an exact science, and the closest calculations are often upset in the result by unforeseen and inexplicable causes. It can never be said with absolute certainty just what speed a ship will attain, or exactly what quantity of cargo she will carry. The most ingenious and patient of experiments have not yet succeeded in eliminating the mysterious variability of result which the ship-builder finds, however closely he repeats his well-defined formulas. Two ships, like the Umbria and the Etruria, may be built side by side, of identical materials, lines, and dimensions; engines, boilers, and propellers may be the same, yet one will turn out to be a knot or two faster than the other, and neither the designer nor the builder is able to say why.

It is apparent, then, that in guaranteeing an exceptionally high rate of speed the builder assumes no little risk. The designing of a fast ship is indeed more of an art than a science, and each designer proceeds on a theory more or less his own. If the reader has an opportunity to compare models of the Servia, the Alaska, and the City of Rome, three ships built at the same time, each intended to rival the others, he will see by the varying proportions of length or breadth, and by other contrasts, how the opinions of the architects have differed as to the best lines for obtaining speed. True, it is not possible to ignore formulas altogether, but the designer’s intuitions or inspirations are not less serviceable to him than his technical knowledge.

We will suppose, however, that the designer sees his way to build such a ship as the specifications submitted to him call for, and that the contract is awarded to him, or to the firm he represents. The ship is now tentatively on paper, though her essential features are well defined, and the next step takes us to Glasgow and the Clyde.

II.

If in crossing the Atlantic for the first time you choose Glasgow for your port of disembarkation, the sail up the Firth of the Clyde and the river is likely to be full of agreeable and memorable surprises. The beauties of that route are not advertised, and one hears so little of them in advance that they gain impressiveness from the absence of expectation. The Firth itself is like a great Fjord, a land-locked bay hollowed between hills and crags, among which vapory clouds are always shifting, and its deep salt waters are ploughed by fleets of vessels of every class, and especially by yachts, sea-going steamers, and the most rakish-looking excursion boats in the world; it is not unlike the Hudson above Peekskill, though much wider; the rounded hills have the same soft and civilized outlines, and the same appearance of reclamation for man’s use and delectation; modern villas crown their heights and watering-places cluster at their feet.

Just below Greenock the passage narrows, and above that we enter the river, which, though not beautiful, is more of a surprise than even the Firth. It meanders through fields, and from the towering deck upon which we stand we look down upon ploughmen at work, cattle grazing, and snug farm-houses. So narrow is the stream, and so low are the banks, that the big steamer seems curiously out of place. How, one asks, has Glasgow ever prospered with so small a river as its only outlet to the sea? We have thought of the Clyde as a wide and capacious stream like the Mersey opposite Birkenhead, or the Hudson opposite New York; but, instead, it is scarcely as wide as the East River at Brooklyn, and there are reaches where two large vessels have no room to spare in passing each other.

Such as it is, all sorts of dredging operations are necessary to keep it open, and it has been said to be as much an artificial channel as the Suez Canal.

The first steamboat to navigate it was the Comet, in 1812, and though she drew but four feet of water she could leave Glasgow only on the flood tide. Even then she sometimes ran aground, and her passengers had to wade or swim ashore, or wait twelve hours for the next tide. Its depth is ample now, however, and it is the breadth that astonishes us: it seems as though a venturesome jumper might easily spring from the deck to either bank. The farms are alternated by shipyards in which the hulls of ships in various stages of construction loom up, with ant-like specks of humanity swarming upon them. Some of them are nearly twice as long as the river is wide, and it puzzles the stranger to say how they can be launched, until someone, wiser than he is, tells him that they slide into the stream obliquely and thus overcome the difficulty. Nearly all the steamers that have earned fame in the Atlantic trade have been built and engined at one or the other of these ship-yards, from the first Cunarder to the City of Paris; the Cunard, Inman, Guion, and North German Lloyd lines have come to this little river for their ships. And as we approach Glasgow, burrowing into the dark that envelops the town, it becomes narrower still, and within the limits of the port is nothing more than a long canal with ships huddled together along the banks.

The Clyde is, in fact, like one of those heroic personages who triumph over natural disadvantages which to the common mind are insuperable, and its inferiority in depth and breadth has been counterbalanced by excellences in other directions. In the first place Glasgow is the natural outlet of a great mineral field, so that after iron and steel became the principal materials of the ship-builder, he could find them on the banks of the little river unburdened by the increased price asked for them when it has been necessary to carry them long distances. In the second place the Clyde was the scene of the earliest attempts at steam navigation in Great Britain, by Miller, Symington, and Bell, and descending from them the genius of ship-building has become hereditary with the inhabitants of the town. “Practice makes perfect,” and the ship-builders of Glasgow have more practice than any people of their craft in the kingdom. In 1886 forty-five vessels were built at London, measuring 3,696 tons; sixteen vessels at Liverpool, measuring 18,268 tons, and on the Tyne, fifty vessels, measuring 49,641 tons. On the Clyde, during the same period, one hundred and fifty-one vessels were built, measuring 135,659 tons—nearly double the work done by all the other ship-yards combined. Thus, when after various conclaves and the discussion of ways and means, the directors decide to put a new vessel on their line, the order is pretty sure to go to Glasgow.

III.

We have assumed the work of the naval architect to be complete; all the specifications have been made out, and every part of the prospective ship has been drawn on paper. There are three plans: a “sheer plan,” showing all lines of length and height from stem to stern; a “half-breadth plan,” showing the lines of length and breadth, or, in other words, those lines which would be visible in looking down upon her decks from an elevation; and a “body plan,” which shows all lines of breadth and height, and represents the ship looked at “end on.” These are called the “construction drawings,” and with them in his hand the ship-builder can see in his mind’s eyes the vessel as she will appear when built. He does not work directly from these, however. They are carried up into the “mould loft,” the floor of which represents an enormous blackboard, and upon this they are reproduced to correspond with the exact dimensions of the ship. A foot is scaled down on the paper to a quarter of an inch, but in the mould loft a foot is a foot, and plate, girder, and rib are drawn to their full size. This enlargement leads to the detection of errors which are not apparent in the reduced drawings, and which must be eliminated. Straight lines are made with chalk by cords and rules, and curves by bending laths into the desired position and then tracing the sweep upon the floor. Every measurement has to be verified and checked, and “fairing the ship,” as this work is called, may take six or seven weeks. All errors having been corrected, still another drawing is made on a “scrive board,” and in this the lines, full-sized, are sunk in the wood so that they cannot be rubbed out. The “scrive board” is the plan from which the ship-builder works, and when it is complete the actual construction of the ship is begun.

The keel is laid down on blocks, four or five feet apart, which form a slope toward the water, so that the hull may glide down easily when the time for launching comes. It is not a keel at all, in the sense in which the word was formerly used: a modern ship has a smooth bottom, without any projecting ridge or break to the curve of her sides; it is simply the central series of plates, from which an inner keel is built up like an enormous backbone, and to this the ribs are attached. The metal is delivered at the yard in the shape of angle iron or angle steel, the latter being the material which would be used in a ship of the class we have in mind. Heated to a white heat, the angle-bars are drawn out of the furnace into a perfectly level iron floor, upon which they are bent to the needed curve, and that which has been a line of ink in the original drawing, a chalk mark on the floor of the mould loft, and a groove in the surface of the “scrive board,” is now embodied in the heavy rib of the ship. The bending is done thus: the metal floor is perforated with thousands of holes, into which iron pegs are inserted until they form the curvature required, and the long, pliable bar of steel is pressed against them until it corresponds exactly with the line exhibited in the “scrive board,” which is always in sight of the workmen for guidance and comparison. In handling the metal the men use pitchforks, and with the prongs inserted in the holes they get purchase enough to make the bar yield; if it bends upward a hammer is used upon it. Each rib has, of course, to be duplicated with the utmost precision, in order that it shall be the same on both sides of the ship, and each, after it has cooled, is laid upon the “scrive board” and compared with the lines thereon, every variation being corrected before it is passed. Having already been punched for rivets, it is then marked with a chisel to show where rib-bands, stringers, and deck-beams are to fit into it.

Two or three months or less after the completion of the “fairing,” the ship is probably “in frame,” and looks like the skeleton of some Brobdignagian monster that has stranded on the bank of the river. The ribs have been hoisted into position at right angles with the keel, and strung together by “rib-bands,” and already there are signs of the coming subdivision by decks and bulkheads of the hollow space within. You can still see through her, however; she is like, to make yet another comparison, a great oblong wicker-basket, the supple willows being represented by the net-work of steel.

The next step is the clothing of the ribs with plates. As they reach the yard the plates are square and flat, but they are passed through rollers of various kinds, from which they issue in any shape desired—hollowed like a spoon, curved lengthwise or breadthwise or diagonally, as the contour of the ship may call for. A steam or hydraulic plane smooths them down as though they were the softest of whitewood; another machine trims the edges as easily as a woman cuts silk with a pair of scissors. Then, suspended by iron chains, they are thrust between the jaws of a punching machine, which has a resemblance to a sinister human face with a flat nose, a long upper lip, and a small chin. The jaws close upon them and bite out, ten at a time, the holes for the rivets by which they are to be fastened to the frame.

As they are hoisted up to the workmen, each fits the exact place designed for it and takes its part in the softly swelling lines of the ship. They are put on in rows, or, as rows are technically called in this connection, “strakes,” which are lettered alphabetically, A being the row riveted to the keel. The upper edge of A overlaps the lower edge of B, and the lower edge of C overlaps the upper edge of B, and thus while one row of plates like B has both edges hidden, the row above it has both edges exposed, which minimizes resistance to the progress of the ship. We all know what caulking a wooden vessel is—the wedging of all seams between the planks with oakum and tar. An iron or steel ship is also caulked, but in her case the word has a different meaning. The sharp edges of the plates are merely turned in with a chisel, and they meet so closely that no insertion is necessary to exclude the water.

First held in place by bolts and nuts, the plates are finally secured by the rivets, the holes for which have previously been countersunk by machinery, so that there are no protuberances. The rivets go right through, and have double heads: millions of them are used, and every one of them is examined and checked before the work is passed as satisfactory.

At last the hull is closed in, and hundreds of artisans toil upon it, inside and out. At the end of a year, perhaps, the ship is ready for launching, by which time, if she is of the same dimensions as the City of New York or the City of Paris, seven thousand tons of material have been placed in position, one casting alone—the sternpost—weighing twenty-six tons. She is a steel ship, but in addition to the metal, one hundred and twenty thousand cubic feet of timber, brought from all parts of the world, have been used in her. From the cradle in which she lies to the promenade deck she rises to a height of fifty feet or more, and she looks as immovable as a fortress.

Nothing is more wonderful than the launching of such a vessel. Imminent peril seems to attend the operation; she must topple over, thinks the uninitiated observer, or if she succeeds in reaching the water, she must plunge against the opposite bank of the narrow river. But at the appointed time she glides into the water as smoothly as an eel, and once afloat she is held in check by cables attached to the shore. Her engines have got to be put on board, and fully six months more elapse before she is ready for sea. If she is complete within two years of the day the contract for her was awarded, her builders have done well.

Let us now look at the “plant” which is necessary for building such a ship, and to see this in perfection we will visit Fairfield, which divides honors with the great ship-yard of Messrs. James & George Thomson, at Clydebank.

IV.

A wonderful place is Fairfield. When a ship is taken in hand for construction the design for each and every part is proceeded with simultaneously. It is not the keel first, then the frames, then the reverse frames, then the flooring, and so on, as it is in smaller ship-yards. Keel, frames, flooring are put in hand together, and the hull plates are ready before the keel is in position. Simultaneously, too, the sawmill is preparing the planks which are to cover the steel decks: the joiners are at work on the saloon and cabins; the upholsterers are cutting and stitching the brocades, plushes, and silks which are so freely used in modern ocean steamers; the chain-maker is forging the cables, and each department is busying itself with its own share, conscious that what it produces will presently be sought to take its place in the rapidly progressing whole.

How rapid the progress is may be judged from the fact that on August 14, 1885, the steel intended for a North German Lloyd steamer began to enter the yard, and exactly one month later the ship was in frame with keelsons and beams in position, and the plating for the hull, rolled to waterline shape, lying alongside.

The works cover nearly seventy-four acres, and lie on the south side of the Clyde, about three miles from Glasgow, with which city they are connected by a continuous chain of docks, warehouses, and other ship-yards. Not very long ago this great inclosure was arable land attached to a comfortable mansion which still retains a few vestiges of its former dignity. But now the verdure has been trampled down and the face of the earth is hidden by paving-stones and iron rails. The river is inky, and the smoke lying in a brown fog over-head is ever being replenished from the high chimneys of the neighborhood.

The scene within the high brick walls which keep out idlers is exhilarating but scarcely picturesque. All the materials which enter into the construction of a modern ship are visible in profusion. A bird’s-eye view reveals great stacks of timber, iron, and steel; a net-work of rails which connect the works with all the principal lines converging at Glasgow; long brick sheds, and edging the water-front the launching-slips, where as many as fifteen vessels have been in course of construction at the same time. There the great hulls of many of the most famous Atlantic liners have been put together; this was the birthplace of all the new ships of the North German Lloyd line; of the Arizona, the Alaska, the Oregon, the Umbria, and the Etruria.

Running at right angles from the river, a dock has been excavated, large enough to accommodate a vessel of twelve thousand tons, and after launching, the steamers are hauled in here to receive their engines and boilers. Immediately in the rear of the launching-slips there is an enormous shed, with a roof of glass and iron, where all the iron-work for the hulls of fifteen ships has been handled at one time. Within it gangs of workmen, each skilled in a specialty, carry on that part of the work which belongs to them. Some are carriers of angle steel or iron, others receivers of angle iron, which they place in the furnaces until the metal is at such a heat that it can be shaped to suit the water-lines of the vessel for which it is intended. Others still are busy with reverse frames and with the bending of plates; others with funnels, ventilators, and skylights.