Steamships and their story

I have left till the end of the story the consideration of some of those points which, though of the highest interest to many who are anxious to know something of the intimate character of the steamship, may seem to some readers to possess a special rather than a general concern. However, now that I have shown the manifold manner in which the steamship has advanced from a thing of scorn to a vessel of admiration, and have indicated as far as possible within the limitations at my disposal the ways and means that have brought this about, we may pertinently stop to consider for a few moments some of the problems which still have to be encountered even to-day, when naval architecture and marine engineering have attained to such heights of perfection. I shall endeavour, as, indeed, has been my aim throughout the course of this volume, to make myself perfectly clear without the employment of more technicalities than may be necessary. To the reader who may happen to form one of that large class who regard the ship, whether propelled by sails or by steam, with an admiration that verges on affection, I need offer no apology; for no one can possibly reverence the ship and, at the same time, be content to remain in ignorance about her complex nature.

Perhaps there is no feature of the steamship which is less suspected of being misunderstood than the propeller. To the average mind, its character is apparently so self-evident as barely to require any unusual consideration. But its introduction as a means of ship-propulsion has been the cause of a good deal of miscomprehension, and has set to work the keen brains of some of the most able mathematicians in order to determine the exact relation which it bears towards the ship and the manner in which it is capable of being used for the greatest good, and with the utmost economy. Here and there in the course of the narrative I have hinted at some of these problems, but in order not to break up the continuity of the story, I deemed it best to defer until now the fuller presentation of the subject. It is not necessary to remark that the propeller’s function is, by means of its revolutions, to drive the ship ahead, and to overcome the resistance which encounters the hull. Besides the skin friction, the eddy-making, and the wave-making, there is also the resistance of the air. Now let us suppose for a moment that instead of propelling itself ahead by its own engines and screws, a liner were to be taken in tow by a powerful tug-boat. It would follow then that the pull required to cause the liner to go through the water would be equal to those total entities of resistance which we have just enumerated. But let the tug be cast off, and allow the liner to start her engines and proceed by means of her propellers. The above resistance now becomes augmented by the resistance of the propellers. The reason is that the propeller causes a suction which tends to pull the ship back.

It is a striking fact that about one quarter of the propeller’s work is wasted in friction, and slip. (By “slip” is meant the loss caused through the yielding of the water at the propeller, and the screw not progressing to the full extent of its pitch.) In designing the screw for a steamship, due regard must be paid to the amount of horse-power which the engines are to generate and the speed at which the vessel is to travel, but whether the inward- or outward-turning propeller is the more efficient has not yet been satisfactorily determined by experts, though the probability would seem to be with the outward-turning screws. An instance of this was recently afforded by one of the leading firms of ship-builders in this kingdom who had been commissioned to construct a vessel 300 feet long, with a speed of between 18 and 19 knots. The owner, who was a scientist, particularly stipulated that the ship’s propellers should be inward-turning, and was very positive of the advantages which would thus accrue. The builders, however, arranged the engines in such a manner that they could be driven either way with equal ease. After they had tried turning inwards, they tried outward-turning, and reversed the propellers with a decidedly satisfactory result. The same conclusion has also been arrived at by Professor W. S. Abell, who asserts that all his experience goes to prove that greater hull efficiency is obtained by outward-turning propellers. In this connection I might quote the case of the steam yacht Niagara II., which was built some years ago in the United States. She was about 250 feet long, with a displacement of 2,000 tons, and her deadwood aft was not cut off. Information was obtained through two six-hour trials under similar conditions, except that her screws were interchanged from side to side, so that they were inward-turning on the first trial, and outward-turning on her second. Notwithstanding that greater horse-power was used when the inward-turning propellers were employed, yet the latter did not give the ship the same amount of speed as when they were made to turn outwards. Indeed, the speed of the inward was found to average 12·8 knots, whereas the outward-turning screws gave an average of 14·12 knots. It is in the department of the propeller that fuller information is awaited with an enthusiasm that belongs to no other branch of naval architecture.

When we speak of a steamship as being of such a tonnage, we do not always thereby convey a correct idea as to her size, for there is a decided difference between one kind of tonnage and another. When we say a vessel displaces so much water, we know that her weight is exactly that amount of tons; but the tonnages which are given in a vessel’s certificate after being surveyed are of a totally different character. The Board of Trade recognises three measurements of tonnage. First of all, comes the under-deck tonnage. The “tonnage-deck” is the second deck from below when the ship has more decks than one, and the length for the purposes of tonnage-measurement is taken along this deck. This length is divided into a number of equal parts, and the transverse sectional areas are found, deductions being allowed for the thickness of the ceilings. The gross tonnage of a ship consists of the under-deck tonnage plus the tonnage of all the closed-in spaces above the tonnage-deck, excepting the spaces fitted with machinery, wheel-house, shelter for deck passengers, galleys and w.c’s. If the poops, bridges and forecastles are fitted with doors or some other means of closing them permanently, they have to be measured into the gross tonnage; but if they are not of a permanent character, they are exempt. Thus, the gross tonnage of a steamship might include the under-deck tonnage, the space between decks, the poop, the bridge, the forecastle, the captain’s and the officers’ quarters, the chart-room, the light and air space, and so on.

But the net register tonnage will be ascertained by making certain allowed deductions, which include the space taken up for propelling power, the quarters of the crew, and of the captain, as well as the chart-room, the boatswain’s store-room, and the water-ballast spaces. As instancing the curious results which are obtainable from the different measurements for reckoning tonnage, Mr. A. L. Ayre, in his “British Shipbuilding,” gives the interesting comparison of a particular steamship according to her varying tonnage. Thus the ship in question has an under-deck tonnage of 550, whilst her gross tonnage worked out at 980, and her net register tonnage at 360. It is not generally known perhaps that the complicated system of arriving at the net register tonnage gives opportunity for strange and amusing effects. Owing to the difference between the actual engine-room in a steamer and the theoretical engine-room, it is not only possible to build a ship with a negative tonnage, but this has actually occurred in the case of a certain tug, and was referred to in the report of the Royal Commission on Tonnage, 1881. The present writer was recently aboard a new 20-ton yacht, in which the owner had been fortunate enough to persuade the authorities to get the measurements down so low that the net register tonnage came out at a ludicrously low figure. Internally, nothing was more conspicuous than her roominess, which was of a quite exceptional character. The vessel was a two-masted sailing craft, but supplied also with an auxiliary motor, which did not detract from the roominess of the ship, since it was placed out of the way underneath the companion ladder. However, by the time the deductions had been made for “engine-room” space, “chart-room” (which was really the comfortable and spacious main cabin), and sundry other items, the size of the yacht had theoretically shrunk from 20 tons to something almost insignificant, and the consequence was that this bold vessel was able to escape with harbour dues as low as yachts of one quarter of her own tonnage. Not long since a humorist saw fit to write an amusing yarn, in which he depicted a certain individual who, smarting under what he believed were excessive harbour dues, determined at length to get even with the authorities, and finally had built a steam vessel rather on the lines of the screw tug than the usual steam yacht. Roominess was not the owner’s objective; all he wanted was just as much space for himself as was comfortable. But he sub-divided the rest of the ship into a large space for her engines and boilers, as well as auxiliary engines to drive capstans, together with a roomy forecastle for the crew. His own cabin was clearly marked on the plan as “Captain’s Cabin.” Finally, after the vessel was launched, and the internal capacity of the hull, as well as the spaces occupied by the machinery and the crew, had been deducted so as to obtain the net register tonnage, it was found that instead of coming out at so much net register, the figures showed that she was minus 7 tons! Consequently, the owner used to protest every time he was charged with harbour dues, that instead of being called upon to pay, it was really the harbour authorities who owed him. After this, it is not surprising to learn that the name of the vessel was the Euome. I do not suggest for a moment that this story is anything but mythical, but it is sufficiently illustrative of what may occur when the tonnage measurement rules are in a state of such confusion.

It will be readily understood that it is of the utmost importance that regard be paid to the stability of the steamship, and herein is presented another of those problems which have to be taken into account and solved as easily as may be. Now, a vessel loses a great deal of her stability when she carries loose in her hold oil in bulk, grain, rice, and such movable cargoes. A similar effect is produced, of course, by the amount of free water in her tanks. For unless these features of danger are guarded against, it follows that when the ship is inclined to one side or the other by wind or wave, the cargo will cause the ship to have a worse list, and there may be some chance of her not regaining her proper trim, and turning turtle altogether. It is not so very long since a well-known cross-channel steamer which had set out for this country disappeared during the course of her voyage, and never a man lived to say how the foundering occurred. But it was known that when she set forth a portion of her deck cargo consisted of a heavy furniture van, and this, indeed, was seen floating about at the time the disaster was thought to have occurred. The conclusion generally arrived at in the minds of the best critics was that this heavy deck cargo had caused the stability of the ship to decrease to such an extent that when the ship rolled excessively she was unable to avoid rolling right over.

We have already shown during the progress of our story how the use of tanks has gradually been employed in the ballasting of the steamship. Not merely is the double bottom used for this purpose, but, as we mentioned, tanks are placed between decks in the wings in certain ships. Although a steamship, when her double bottom tanks have been filled, becomes much stiffer and possesses a greater displacement, yet she will certainly roll more heavily, and so tend to cause heavy strains in bad weather. Many vessels possess also tanks both in the fore-peak and the after-peak, which are extremely useful for the purposes of modifying the trim of the ship. This is especially valuable when the ship is proceeding “light,” and has not the advantage of a weighty cargo on board to keep the propeller well immersed. At the same time, supposing that the after-peak tank were utilised for the purpose of immersing the stern to a greater extent, it would also follow that the bows would be raised fairly high above the water, and in the case of a beam wind, the ship would not be easy to handle, for her head would have a strong tendency to fall off in just the same way as the man in the Canadian canoe seated at the stern finds that considerable difficulty is met with in steering his little craft with her bows out of the water, and at the mercy of every puff of wind which may blow from either side. As in other respects the ship is a compromise, so in regard to stability. She has to be stiff, or else she will roll right over in a sea-way; yet she must not be too stiff, or she will roll badly, and perhaps do herself serious harm, quite apart from being extremely unpleasant to those who happen to be aboard. Therefore, the aim nowadays is to give the ship a reasonable amount of stability, and to cause her rolling in a sea-way to be of an easy character. This is brought about by additional ballast tanks, which not only give the ship greater immersion and displacement (so causing greater stability), but by raising the centre of gravity through placing additional ballast in those ’tween-deck wing tanks that we discussed when we were considering the cantilever ships, the tendency of the vessel to roll is minimised. In fact, the combination of the double-bottom tanks and the wing tanks takes away excessive stiffness and heavy rolling, and makes the ship to behave in an easy manner in bad weather, even without cargo on board.

Then, again, since salt water is more buoyant than fresh, it will follow that when a ship passes from the sea into fresh water, her draught will be increased, and, therefore, there will also be a decrease in the amount of freeboard above the water-line, and, consequently, the range of stability becomes less also.

Perhaps, like the propeller, the rudder also has been granted too scanty a consideration by most general readers, although its action is of the greatest interest. First of all, we must remember that the rudder is useless in the case of still water; that is to say, the ship must be going ahead or astern and not be stationary, and the speed of the vessel must be greater or less than that of the water. Thus, when a ship is riding to her anchor in a tide-way, the rudder is operative, and the vessel can be steered across the stream; but supposing she were to be steaming at the rate of 4 knots, and had with her a 4-knot tide, she would not answer her helm. We mentioned at an earlier stage that the ship when going ahead caused a column of water to follow after her. The screw itself drives a column of water astern, and it must be obvious that these masses of water must act on the rudder of the ship, and so on her steering. Thus, the column of following water causes a decrease in the pressure on the rudder, and so makes the rudder less operative. The column of water, however, which is driven astern by the propeller will cause a greater pressure on the rudder, and thus it is possible for steamships propelled by a screw to use a small rudder, and by cutting away the deadwood of the ship just forward of the rudder, the latter is less interfered with by the hull, and the steering qualities are improved. We quoted just now the expert opinions that better speed is obtained when the screws are outward turning rather than inward. The outward-turning screws also give superior steering results in the case when the screws are placed near the hull, though when the propellers are well out, this is not so noticeable. If one desires to have a ship which shall turn quickly this characteristic is obtained by cutting away the deadwood aft, and also the ship’s forefoot. An extreme instance of this is found in the case of a centre-board sailing craft, which, as anyone who has handled her knows full well, will turn round with a remarkable and surprising celerity.

There are two types of rudders fitted to steamships. These consist of the ordinary kind when the rudder is hung at its forward edge, and the balanced type which has part of its area forward of its axis. An example of the former will be found in the case of the White Star Laurentic, while the Mauretania and Lusitania each has a balanced rudder. Since it is necessary to the rudder that to obtain steerage effect there must be the motion of the ship through the water, or a flow of water past the rudder, so that an excess of pressure may be obtained on one side of the latter, it is possible for the steamship to possess steerage way actually before she has obtained motion; for the propeller race brings this about in an effective manner. The advent of the twin-screw system was responsible for a material increase in the turning possibilities of the ship, an advantage which was much appreciated when already the steamship had attained such enormous dimensions in regard to length. Thus, for example, supposing a twin-screw steamship wishes to turn quickly to port, she can do this by starboarding her helm, putting her port engines astern, and her starboard engines ahead. The advantage of the balanced type of rudder just mentioned is that it is easier to put over than the ordinary type, but it demands that the deadwood of the stern should be considerably cut away.

It is only comparatively recently that the full importance which it deserves has been granted to the naval architectural experimental tank, but these interesting objects are now becoming more numerous, and yielding most valuable data on which to work. Fifty years ago naval architecture in Great Britain was certainly not on a scientific basis, and it was to France that we had to look for the leadership in these matters. But ever since the founding of the Institution of Naval Architects, and such men as Scott Russell, Sir Edward Reed and others led the way, scientific shipbuilding began to advance in this country. The results are evident in the shipbuilding history of our Royal Navy, as well as in the excellence of our splendid merchant fleets. In elucidating the many problems connected with ship architecture the experimental tank is now taking even a more prominent place than hitherto, and the recent opening of the National Experimental Tank at Bushey, where research will be carried on continuously without interference from commercial considerations, is deserving of the warmest congratulations. One of the most important tanks in the world is that owned by Messrs. John Brown and Co., Ltd., at their Clydebank works. Indeed, it may be said that no feature of this important yard is more deserving of interest. The tank is 400 feet long and 20 feet wide, with a depth of 8 to 9 feet. At the end of the tank, where the models are worked, are dry and wet docks for trimming these little ships, which are sometimes as large as 20 feet long. The latter are made of wax, carefully moulded, and their weight is automatically registered. There is an over-head rail for removing the models from one place to another, while the carriage from which the model is towed through the water runs on rails fixed on each side of the concrete walls of the tank, and is driven by electricity. At about the centre of the main tank building there is an observation room which is used for photographic purposes. Messrs. John Brown and Co. themselves have admitted that it is owing to the valuable experiments obtained in this tank that they have been able to design ships producing the best results, whilst also exhibiting the maximum economy.

Mathematical theories and formulæ have contributed much to the development of the steamship, but there is a point reached when these are of no avail for the reason that when new problems arise that cannot be solved by former experiences and existing data, a more practical method of obtaining information must be found. It is here that the tank comes in to solve the difficulties at hand both as to the hulls of the ships themselves and the character of the propellers which are to send them through the water. Had the experimental tank been encouraged at an earlier date, no doubt certain of the errors which characterised some of the ships of the sea might have been avoided. It is not enough to build a steamship of enduring strength, and to give her the best engines of the time; it is also essential that she be designed in such a manner that her propellers forge her ahead with the minimum of resistance.

Germany and America, no less than Great Britain, are now busying themselves with the employment of the naval experimental tank, and obtain thereby so many valuable data as to make such institutions indispensable if advance in the science of naval architecture is to be something more than ephemeral. The Norddeutscher Lloyd Company had such a tank built in 1900 on the model of the one belonging to the Royal Italian Navy at Spezia, and some description may not be without interest. The tank is contained in a building 170 metres long and 8 metres wide. On either side of the tank is a strong set of rails on which the towing carriage runs, and the building contains workshops wherein the models are constructed. The experiments are not complicated, for after the displacement of the projected ship has been decided on, several models of such a displacement are made from drawings by means of an ingenious machine. These models are made out of paraffin wax, and about 4 or 5 metres long. (A metre, it should be remembered, is the equivalent of 1·094 English yards.)

Presently, after they have been finished off, the models are towed through the tank, and their resistance is measured by a dynamometer, the automatic drum simultaneously measuring the course and time. It should be mentioned that it is after the models have been formed in sifted clay that they are cast in wax as a hollow shell, the core being made of battens, strong canvas being also employed. After the model has been subjected to the cutting machine, it is planed and scraped by hand to remove the excrescences of paraffin. The advantage which the experiments made in tanks give lies in the fact that one can thereby ascertain the resistance which the model will encounter through the water, and consequently the amount of effective horse-power that she will require. Granted that an owner desires to have built a steamship of a certain displacement, it follows that that amount of displacement is capable of being embodied in numerous different shapes; and it is part of the work of the experimental tank to determine the most suitable ratios of length, breadth and draught which shall produce the ideal ship for the purpose desired. Indeed, it may be said that it is only by means of the experiments made in tanks that any safe and reliable method can be afforded for attaining the desired end.

The model is made according to scale with a displacement proportionate to that of the steamship to be built, and the correct amount of immersion is given to the model by adding ballast in the shape of small linen bags containing shot. In order to obtain the measurements of the model’s resistance in the water, it is placed under the carriage which bears the measuring instruments for indicating both the resistance of the model, and the thrusting and twisting stresses of the model screws. It should be explained that the carriage is moved by motors which derive their current from accumulators, and it is possible, by regulating the accumulators, to obtain over 400 different speeds. The advantage of this in studying the wave formation which the models set up is of the highest importance. To be able to ascertain how much resistance the model sets up at lesser and higher speeds is a great gain, and in no respect is this information more valuable than when experiments are being made with a view to high-speed torpedo boats; but as this kind of craft does not come within our present scope, we must pass on.

We may turn now from some of the more technical problems incurred by the steamship to a consideration of some of those which are of a more practical nature. It is just because the ship has in modern times taken on a dual character—become something else besides a sea-craft—that the possibilities of any accident occurring to her have increased tremendously. It is obvious that so long as you retain simplicity, there is not much chance offered for accident; but as soon as you begin to make the ship a mass of complications, then instantly there arise on every side facilities for mishap of some sort or another. Fractured shafts are happily of rare occurrence, but when they happen at all they are naturally far worse for the single-screw ship than the vessel having two or more propellers. When a connecting rod or piston-rod breaks the matter is serious, for it is not advisable to attempt repairing the same at sea, since unless the thing is done quite effectively, there is danger of the rod giving way again, and if the piston were to be disconnected suddenly from the crank, it would smash the engine. The first time that a tail-shaft was ever repaired at sea was in October of 1900, when the chief engineer of the s.s. Athena successfully brought about so interesting an achievement, and a similar feat was performed about five years later on the s.s. Milton, so that the ship was able to steam at the rate of a hundred miles per day.

But a far more difficult and rarer task was that of the chief engineer of the s.s. Matoppo, who for the first time on record actually renewed the blades of the propeller at sea. This would be no mean performance in the case of fair weather, but, as it happened, there was a high sea running at the time, and the work was rendered both difficult and dangerous. One of the most tiresome accidents occurs when the steamship loses her rudder, or it becomes so much damaged as to be unserviceable. In the case of a twin-screw ship, as we have already intimated, the consequences are not necessarily serious, and ships have succeeded in making long passages steering by means of their two propellers. But in the case of a single-screw ship the carrying away of the rudder is of greater consequence, and it becomes necessary to rig up a jury rudder as well as possible. This consists in towing astern a spar which is attached to either quarter of the ship by means of hawsers.

An interesting experience is related by Commander W. H. Owen, R.N.R., who at the time of the following incident was in command of a screw steamer of about 1,200 tons. When about 600 miles south-west of the Lizard, his ship had the misfortune to carry away her rudder. A jury rudder was rigged up in the usual way by fashioning a big steering oar out of the heaviest derrick which the ship possessed, bolting together iron plates at the outside end, and weighted below so as to keep the blade vertical. From the end steel hawsers were led in through outriggers to the steam winch. This all took time, and it was a day and a quarter before the arrangement was fixed up. When it was finally put into place, it only lasted a few minutes, for the first scend of the ship smashed the whole thing. Other means had, therefore, to be employed, and the ship was eventually steered into Falmouth, where temporary repairs were effected, the vessel then proceeding to Southampton, where a new rudder was made. Commander Owen adds that he considers the best possible arrangement, if such an accident should occur, to be as follows:—A heavy spar should be lashed to as much chain cable as the spar can sustain while yet keeping afloat, the bights of cable being allowed to hang down in lengths of about two fathoms, thus forming practically a solid sheet of iron, the bights of the cable being lashed close together by smaller chain. The contrivance is then towed astern of the ship from the quarters, sufficient scope being given to allow the spar to clear the counter as the vessel pitches or scends, the controlling being effected by means of steel hawsers attached to the other end of the spar, and led through outriggers to a steam winch.

Another kind of disaster which may overcome the steamship is that of fire. Owing to the frequency of this species of calamity, the committee of Lloyd’s some seven years ago instituted a special inquiry into the matter, and after examining no fewer than 627 cases of fire on ships, it was found that as many as 403 had occurred while the ship was in port; thus only about one-third of the instances happened while the ship was at sea. In most cases there was no evidence to show the cause of these fires, but since it was ascertained that many of the outbreaks occurred while the ship was discharging or loading cargo, it was thought that a closer supervision over the use of lights and a more stringent prevention of smoking in the holds would give more satisfactory results.

The use of water and steam as fire extinguishers is frequently abortive, and causes unnecessary damage to the cargo; but nowadays there are scientific appliances which are much more effective for extinguishing outbreaks that may occur on board ship, and these are recommended for use at the ports and docks. In 1906, the New Zealand Government appointed a Royal Commission to inquire into the causes of fires occurring on ships which carry such commodities as wool, flax and tow. Besides recommending that every ship engaged in the carrying trade of this nature should be fitted with a chemical fire-extinguishing system, the Commission reported that the cause of fire in the case of flax and tow would seem to have been usually other than that of spontaneous combustion, but the very nature of these articles makes them especially liable to fire from extraneous causes. With regard to wool, however, there was evidence for supposing that spontaneous combustion does take place.

A steamship problem of an entirely different nature is that which concerns the commissariat department. In the olden days, when travellers were accustomed to remember that they were voyaging on a ship, matters were fairly simple and straightforward; but now that the ship has become a floating hotel, and the passenger expects to live quite as well as, if not more luxuriously than, on shore, the problem of being able not merely to feed two or three thousand people for a week or longer, without being able to touch port, but to supply most of the dainties which are only found in the best equipped land restaurant has assumed large dimensions. The days when salted meat was the staple sustenance of the sea traveller have long since gone, and to-day even the steerage passengers are catered for in a manner that is at least humane, even if it is scarcely luxurious. All this has been brought about by the influence of more comfortable living ashore, as well as by the keen competition between the rival steamship companies to hold out alluring incentives to the potential passenger. The work in connection with the culinary department has grown so enormously as to necessitate the employment of mechanical contrivances wherever possible. Thus, for instance, on some of the Atlantic liners the coffee-mills instead of being turned by hand, are driven by steam-engines and electromotors. Ingenious boiling apparatuses for eggs; machines for cutting meat, for mincing, whipping cream, straining, dish-washing and drying without the need of using towels, making bread, filtering water and many other purposes are employed, and the perfection of these minor machines is scarcely less admirable than that of the engines whose sole service consists in propelling the ship across the ocean. Some of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamships have recently availed themselves of a new invention for carrying live fresh-water fish, so that they may come fresh to the table. This innovation was first made on board the Kaiser Wilhelm II. The fish-tanks are placed on the awning deck, where ocean passengers are able to have the singular experience of catching alive at sea such fresh-water fish as trout, carp, pike and tench.

The ventilation of a steamship also presents a problem that is not always capable of easy solution. Indeed, ship-ventilation presents difficulties that do not arise in the case of shore-buildings, and this is to an extent due to the fact that there is only a limited space available for the ventilating apparatus. Mechanical fans are much employed for both the stokehold and the quarters of the passengers, being driven by electric motors. The efficient ventilation of the store-rooms, which contain nowadays such quantities of perishable foods, is also effected by this means. On cattle-ships, especially in hot climates; in giving air to the holds of grain ships, and, in fact, on the steamship generally, a thoroughly capable ventilating arrangement has long since been found to be a necessity rather than a luxury. But there is a difficulty with regard to the ventilators themselves on board ship. If they are left open for the air, it is also possible for some fool or criminal to throw down a lighted match or cigarette-end, and so ignite dangerous vapour that may be below deck. After the disastrous fire on the liner Sardinia when off Malta, in 1909, the Board of Trade inquiry made clear the cause of the catastrophe, namely that inflammable matter had succeeded in reaching the cargo space where chemical action had generated dangerous vapours. There was only one way in which fire could have reached this dormant danger, and that was by means of the ventilators. The reader will probably recollect that the ship was carrying Moorish pilgrims at the time, and that they had been cooking food at one of their braziers, and some believe that a hot cinder was blown down a ventilator and so arrived in the hold, with the result that is now common knowledge. The possibility of such a thing occurring again, however, is now obviated by a patent weather-proof ventilator, which is so constructed that access to the holds cannot be reached by anything else than air. Neither rain nor sea can get down, still less any inflammable matter.

Thus, one by one, problems arise to thwart the hand of man, but only to be overcome by the latter through patience and the knowledge which comes after much thought and actual experience. Not merely in seaworthiness, nor in the matter of speed, has the steamship reached what even the most blasé must call the limit, but the same enterprising spirit which has brought this about has also provided that comfort is also of an importance that demands the most detailed attention. Whether in return for all this care and trouble the passenger is proportionately grateful is another question altogether.