CHAPTER IVTHE DEVELOPMENT OF STEAMSHIPS

Fromthe day a really successful steam-driven vessel first moved herself awkwardly in the water until theMajesticslid from her German ways was not much more than a hundred years. But that hundred years shows more of progress in the development of ships than the preceding thousand. So breathlessly rapid has been the development of steamships that there are men still alive who remember them as frail experimental craft upon which little dependence could be placed. “Sail,” said the citizen of a hundred years ago, “is a dependable mode of propulsion. Steam is a ridiculous power, or at best a dangerous and highly experimental one.”

“Steam,” says the “landlubber” of to-day, “is satisfactory for me. Sailing is a foolhardy business.”

And neither the century-old viewpoint nor the new one is entirely right.

Steam was vaguely recognized as a source of power even in early Egyptian history, and several times before the birth of Watt inconsequential experiments were made with it.

There is a story, not now accepted as true, of one Blasco de Garay, who in 1543 experimented at Barcelona, Spain, with a boat propelled by steam. It was not for another 100 years, however, that steam was practically applied. But as early as 1690 it is known that Thomas Savery and Denis Papin proposed the use of steam as an aid to navigation. Papin even built a model boat in which a crude steam enginewas installed. A man named Newcomen seems to have been the builder of the engines used in these and other early experiments. One engine built by this experimenter was used in 1736 in a boat built by Jonathan Hulls in England.

That great American, Benjamin Franklin, whose genius touched such a diversity of subjects, saw, as early as 1775, that paddle-wheels were inefficient machines, and called attention to the fact, suggesting that an engine be devised to draw a column of water in at the bow, to project it forcibly astern in order to give the ship headway. This method was tried but before much success had been attained, all engines being of such low power, the screw propeller had been perfected and the water-jet system was dropped, although in 1782 James Rumsey built a boat of this type on the Potomac. In France a steamboat built by the Marquis de Jouffroy is said to have been operated in 1783. This boat was 150 feet long and ran with some degree of success for about a year and a half. Jouffroy has sometimes been given credit for the invention of the steamboat. In 1788 a small vessel of strange design was driven at four or five miles an hour by William Symington in Scotland. This boat was built at the expense of a Scotch banker named Patrick Miller. Two years before this John Fitch, a New Englander, built a fairly successful steamboat that was propelled by steam-driven oars. Symington’s experiments were continued and another boat that made seven miles an hour was running in 1789. Still more successful was another of Symington’s boats, theCharlotte Dundas, when, in 1802, she towed two loaded vessels, totalling nearly one hundred and fifty tons at three and one-half miles an hour for a score of miles in the Forth and Clyde Canal. The project was abandoned, however, because of the effect of the agitated water on the banks of the canal. TheDundaswas, of course, driven by a paddle-wheel. Symington continued his efforts but wasunfortunately handicapped financially, and when Lord Bridgewater, his next backer, died, he withdrew from the field, reduced to poverty.

THECHARLOTTE DUNDASBefore theClermontwas built, this boat had operated successfully on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland. The objection to her was that she stirred the water up so that she injured the banks of the canal.

THECHARLOTTE DUNDAS

Before theClermontwas built, this boat had operated successfully on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland. The objection to her was that she stirred the water up so that she injured the banks of the canal.

But all of these were merely preparatory to the first steamboat that is to be accepted as a thoroughly practical affair. In 1807, after several years of travel in Europe where he inspected all the steam engines of which he could learn, and where he experimented with a steamboat of his own design on the Seine, Robert Fulton built theClermontin New York. Her engine, or at least the major part of it, was built in England and shipped to New York where it was installed in the first definitely successful steamboat ever built. TheClermontwas 133 feet long and 18 feet wide, and made the run from New York to Albany, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles, in thirty-two hours.

But theClermonthad a greater task in the breaking down of prejudice than ever she had in propelling herself through the smooth waters of the Hudson on her round trips between New York and Albany.

The first steamer to make an ocean voyage was a boat named thePhœnix, built in 1809. She was driven under her own power from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the Hudson River, opposite New York City, to Philadelphia.

So rapid was the increase in the number of steamboats that by 1814 a contributor to the columns of theGentlemen’s Magazinewrote that “most of the principal rivers in North America are navigated by steamboats. One of them passes 2,000 miles on the great river Mississippi in twenty-one days, at the rate of five miles an hour against the descending current,” which, if true, tells a dramatic story of the rapid development of this new apparatus.

During the next decade a number of boats and small ships were built, in the hulls of which steam engines were placed, and on the masts of which the ever-present sails were spread to guard against what were, evidently, the inevitable breakdowns. But another step in the development of steamships was to be made. Up to 1818 steam-driven ships had been used only on inland or on coastal waters. But in that year a 380-ton full-rigged ship was built in New York City and was equipped with paddle-wheels operated by a steam engine of seventy-two horse power. (Some say this engine developed ninety horse power but the measurement of the power of engines was then at best an inaccurate science.)

After a number of trials, this ship, which was named theSavannah, crossed the Atlantic in 1819 taking twenty-five days from Savannah, Georgia, to Liverpool. The passage attracted much attention, even though the ship had been under power for only a part of the time. This did notprove, however, that her engines were not capable of more extended operation. They were stopped for the excellent reason that the fuel ran out. While this voyage created widespread interest it also suggested to the wits of the day the necessity for a fleet of sailing ships to accompany the steamers of the future in order to keep them supplied with fuel.

Later, when theSavannahreturned to America, her engines were removed, but she had served a useful turn, and she is accepted as the first steam-driven ship to cross the Atlantic.

With this mark to shoot at, the progress of steamships became more rapid, although for sixty years most of them that were intended for deep-sea work carried masts and spars from which sails could be spread.

ROBERT FULTON’SCLERMONTThe first completely successful steamboat ever built. Others built before theClermontwere made to go, but this ship carried passengers for years.

ROBERT FULTON’SCLERMONT

The first completely successful steamboat ever built. Others built before theClermontwere made to go, but this ship carried passengers for years.

Confidence in steam grew slowly, and with reason, for the engines were anything but reliable, safety appliances were unknown or inadequately understood, and steam-driven vessels often broke down, or worse still, blew up. So common was this latter happening that an advertisement that appeared in an American paper enlarged upon it. The notice went on to say that there had been much talk about the explosions that had taken place on the vessel that was being advertised but that that was no cause for alarm for “not a passenger has been injured.”

The engines were single-cylinder affairs, with their parts, more often than not, improperly designed and imperfectly machined. Good lubricants were unknown and proper lubrication was almost impossible, with the result that parts wore out and shrieked dismally at their treatment. The boilers were crudely made of iron, riveted together by hand, so that leaking seams were, apparently, the rule, when any pressure was generated. Pressure gauges were long in coming and the safety valves worked so imperfectly that the engineer’s first notice of any excess pressure was often the bursting of a steam pipe, the further widening of a leaking seam, or, worse still, the sudden, and sometimes tragic, eruption of the whole boiler.

Then, too, another trouble affected the boilers. They were, more often than not, unprotected from the weather, and, their design being of the simplest, it was difficult, when the temperature was low, to get up enough pressure to operate the crude engines. They burned wood, at first, and ate cords of it, so that frequent stops were necessary in order to secure more fuel. There were no condensers, and so steamboats that sailed on salt water often ran out of fresh water for their boilers. Furthermore, good insulation had not been developed, and occasionally, when the perverse machines seemed ideally happy, when the cylinder energeticallyturned the awkward paddle-wheels with a will, to the tune of creaking bearings, clanking joints, and hissing steam, the whole vessel was thrown into a furor, the engine was stopped, the passengers and crew were forced to turn to in an effort to save the ship from some fire or other, started by a red-hot fire box, or a burning ember from the funnel.

THESAVANNAHThe first steamship to cross the Atlantic.

THESAVANNAH

The first steamship to cross the Atlantic.

Such were the difficulties that the pioneer steamboat-men had to face, and it speaks well for their patience and nerve that they hung on until improvement after improvement turned those dangerous and imperfect machines of theirs into the safe and almost flawless examples of mechanical artistry that now propel so many thousands of hulls in every part of the world.

In 1820 the General Steam Navigation Company was formed in England, and this, the first steamship company, may be considered, properly enough, a highly important influencein the development of steamships, for the merchant ships of the world are almost exclusively in the hands of lines of greater or lesser strength, and it is these lines that make possible the building and operation, and consequently the perfection, of such vessels.

In the next few years a number of steamships were built in America, in Great Britain, and on the continent, and in 1825 a 470-ton ship—theEnterprise—made a voyage from England to India, 11,450 miles, around Good Hope, in 103 days during but 39 days of which she was under sail exclusively. This accomplishment, together with others less spectacular, added impetus to the growing popularity of steam, and by 1830 Lloyd’s Register listed 100 steamers, and there were others, particularly in America, not included in that list. The Register published in 1841 announced that in 1839, 720 steamers were owned in England, Scotland, and Ireland.

In the ’thirties steam navigation went ahead by leaps and bounds, and before the ’forties came, a steam-driven vessel—theGreat Western—had crossed the Atlantic in 15 days, which was well under the fastest time for sailing ships of her day, and only 2 days over the fastest crossing ever made by a sailing ship. TheRed Jacket, a clipper, crossed in 1854 from Sandy Hook to Rock Light in 13 days, 1 hour.

But with the rapid increase of steamships arose a condition due to the change in economic conditions and the widening power of Great Britain that was of the greatest value in the development of shipping and consequently of steamships.

Steam had been applied to machinery on land no less than to the propulsion of ships. Factories sprang up, railroads slowly spread their tentacles over Great Britain, the continent, and the American seaboard, and commerce consequently became more rapid. Goods were shipped in ever-increasing amounts, and the widening field of business calledmen here and there who formerly had done what overseas business they had had through the captains of ships, or through supercargoes and agents.

THEGREAT BRITAINAn awkward and unsuccessful ship. She proved, however, when she was wrecked, that for ship construction iron is stronger than wood, and proved, too, that double bottoms, bulkheads, and bilge keels, which were new departures when she was built, were most desirable in ships of her size.

THEGREAT BRITAIN

An awkward and unsuccessful ship. She proved, however, when she was wrecked, that for ship construction iron is stronger than wood, and proved, too, that double bottoms, bulkheads, and bilge keels, which were new departures when she was built, were most desirable in ships of her size.

Great Britain, in addition to, or perhaps because of, her growing power as a centre of manufacture and shipping, thrust out her long arms to India and China, to Australia and New Zealand. The growth of the population at home and the opportunities for colonists in America, in Australia, and other parts of the world, resulted, almost for the first time, in the construction of ships intended solely for the purpose of carrying passengers and mails. A large travelling public was, for the first time in history, beginning to appear.

In the ’forties, therefore, began a division of ships into twomajor classes—carriers of freight and carriers of passengers. Sailing ships were still greatly more numerous than steamships and, as a matter of fact, the finer sailing ships were still considered the aristocrats of the sea. But as steam engines were perfected, and particularly after the screw propeller was invented by Colonel John Stevens, an American, early in the 19th Century, and perfected by F. P. Smith, an Englishman, and John Ericson, the Scandinavian-American, steamships increased in power, in speed, in reliability, and consequently in popularity.

This period saw the beginning of a number of new steamship lines, some of which, notably the Cunard and the Royal Mail, are still in existence, although they are now operated on a scale that could never have been imagined even by their forward-looking founders.

And now, as if for the purpose of aiding this great increase in the efficiency and size of steamships, came another development, without which the leviathans of to-day would be impossible, and but for which the beautiful clipper ships which were brought so close to perfection in the middle of the 19th Century might still be supreme upon the seas, or at least might still be able to hold their own against their steam-driven sisters.

It was the rolling mill, a thing prosaic enough to-day, that made possible the great increase in the size and strength of ships. The rolling mill and the screw propeller are still the basic improvements that have led to the building of most of the ships on the high seas to-day.

The first suggestion of the use of iron plates for the building of ships was received with withering sarcasm. How could ships be built of iron when everyone knows that iron will sink? But even in the face of such criticism ships were built, and they were not only built—they were launched and they floated.

THEGREAT EASTERNA ship that was built half a century too early. This huge vessel, built in 1857, was designed to make the voyage from England to Australia without refuelling. She never made the voyage to Australia, but was used to lay the Atlantic cable. She was ahead of her time, for engines had not developed to the point where she could be properly propelled.

THEGREAT EASTERN

A ship that was built half a century too early. This huge vessel, built in 1857, was designed to make the voyage from England to Australia without refuelling. She never made the voyage to Australia, but was used to lay the Atlantic cable. She was ahead of her time, for engines had not developed to the point where she could be properly propelled.

So far as I can learn the first boat to be built of iron was launched in 1777 on the Foss river in Yorkshire. Later several lighters for canal work were built, one in particular being constructed near Birmingham in 1787. Less spectacular, but still highly important, was the introduction of iron for special uses in wooden vessels. This later grew into what came to be known as “composite” construction. The year 1818 is sometimes given as a definite date for the recognition of iron as an accepted ship-building material because in that year a lighter named theVulcanwas built in the vicinity of Glasgow, but it is known that several iron hulls were built prior to that time. An iron steamboat named theAaron Manby, after her builder, was operated for twenty years on the Seine after being built in England in 1821.She crossed the English Channel under her own power and made the trip from London to Paris. Still, however, there were many doubters, and not for more than twenty years was an iron ship of large size built. In 1843 theGreat Britain, a ship of 3,600 tons, was built of iron, and this vessel was a notable step in the advancing art of ship-building. She was 322 feet long, 50 feet 6 inches broad, and was equipped to carry 260 passengers and more than a thousand tons of freight—surely no mean vessel, even to-day.

This ship, as a matter of fact, proved a highly important affair, for she proved many things to the wiseacres of the day. I am indebted to E. Keble Chatterton, author of “The Mercantile Marine,” for his valuable story of her building and her adventures.

So great and so unusual was this ship that, according to Mr. Chatterton, no contractor could be found who was willing to construct her. Consequently, the Great Western Steamship Company constructed her itself.

She turned out, says Mr. Chatterton, to be “an awkward, ill-fated monstrosity,” but despite the fact that she did not prove that the combination of screw propeller and iron construction were successful, she did prove, after she ran ashore on the coast of Ireland, where she remained for eleven months exposed to the weather, before she was refloated, that an iron hull could withstand far more strenuous strains than any wooden hull could hold up under.

This ship, furthermore, was divided into watertight compartments and was equipped with bilge keels, which are accepted to-day as an excellent method for lessening a ship’s rolling.

By the time the American Civil War broke out in 1861, steam had made such definite strides that there were few to question its supremacy over sail.

The navies of both the North and the South were, exceptfor a few out-of-date ships, exclusively steam driven. Then, in 1862, the Cunard Line built theScotia, a 3,300-ton iron steamer, driven by paddle-wheels. She had seven watertight compartments and a double bottom, the value of these having been proved by the unfortunateGreat Britain, and she crossed the Atlantic in eight days and twenty-two hours—a record not to be ignored even to-day with the records of theMauretaniaand theLeviathanbefore us. Many ships on transatlantic routes to-day cannot equal that record, and for the first time the outstanding records of the fast sailing ships were finally and completely outclassed.

But before theScotiaslid from her ways theGreat Easternwas launched. So great was she and so unusual that she created a furor in the shipping world that even yet has not entirely subsided.

The idea of building so great a ship originated because of the desire to carry a large passenger list and a great cargo from England to Australia without having to coal on the way. This desire led to the designing of a ship of truly huge proportions. She was driven both by paddle-wheels and by a screw propeller, and was 679 feet 6 inches long, 82 feet 8 inches beam, and her tonnage was 18,900—dimensions that were not surpassed until 1905 when the White Star Line launched theBaltic. She was under construction for four years, being launched in 1858.

So huge was theGreat Easternthat her engines, which were of only 3,000 horse power, were inadequate, and she never proved to be a real success, financially or mechanically, although her hull proved to be staunch enough, despite the little past experience her designers and her builders could profit by in her construction.

This great ship was equipped with six masts, each capable of carrying sail, five funnels, two paddle-wheels, and a propeller. She never voyaged to Australia, but she did crossthe Atlantic, and from 1865 to 1873 she was used for laying the first Atlantic cable. In 1888 she was beached and broken up. She, however, was ahead of her day. Engines had not developed to the point where ships of her size could be properly powered, and she merely stands for the courage and inventiveness of the mid-Victorian ship-builders who dared to undertake so vast and so new a task.

With the exception of theGreat Eastern, however, ships increased only gradually in size, and their increases in speed were approximately parallel to their growing tonnage. TheGreat Easternwas an attempt—an unsuccessful attempt—to leap ahead half a century. But the semi-failure of this ship did not retard the growth of ships. Perhaps, even, it aided that growth.

And now again a new development puts in its appearance in the world of ships—a less spectacular one than the introduction of steam, less spectacular even than the introduction of iron, but important, nevertheless. In the ’seventies steel was first introduced as a serious competitor to iron for the construction of ships. Its greater strength and its comparative lightness were its principle claims to superiority, but so important are those that while the Allan linerBuenos Ayrean, launched in 1879, was the first steel sea-going ship, to-day every merchant ship (with exceptions hardly worthy of mention) is built of steel.

About this same time the White Star Line organized its transatlantic service, and in 1870 a 420-foot liner (carrying sails in addition to her engines, as was still the rule) was launched and put into service in the North Atlantic. The White Star Line had previously owned a fleet of clipper ships, but when trade between Britain and the United States increased so enormously and the trade became profitable the White Star owners decided to enter it. This first White Star liner, theOceanic, may, perhaps, be called thefirst of the transatlantic greyhound fleet, for in her, for the first time, there were really great concessions made with the comfort of the passengers in mind, and from her time until to-day new and improved liners have been launched in ever-increasing numbers. In 1881 the CunarderServia, the greatest of her kind save only theGreat Eastern, was put in service. This 515-foot, 7,300-ton ship was a marvel of mechanical perfection in her day and lowered the transatlantic record to seven days, one hour, and thirty-eight minutes.

THE STEAMSHIPOCEANICThis ship may be said to be the first of the transatlantic liners, for in her, for the first time, great concessions were made for the comfort and convenience of the passengers.

THE STEAMSHIPOCEANIC

This ship may be said to be the first of the transatlantic liners, for in her, for the first time, great concessions were made for the comfort and convenience of the passengers.

One of the greatest reasons for the increased speed of these new ships was the introduction of the compound engine. It was in 1854 that John Elder, a Briton, adapted the compound engine to marine uses. This improvement, by utilizing more thoroughly the expansive power of steam, increased at one stroke the power developed by engines without increasingthe supply of steam. The principle of the compound engine is simple. Steam escaping from the single cylinder of a simple steam engine still retains a part of its pressure—that is, a part of its power to expand. As it is largely the expansion of the steam that forces the piston from one end of the cylinder to the other this means that a part of the useful force of the steam is wasted in the average single-cylinder engine. A compound engine, however, utilizes this power by leading the steam from the exhaust port of the first cylinder to the inlet port of another and much larger cylinder. Here the steam, now occupying more space, is used again to operate another piston connected to the same crankshaft. There is often still a third cylinder, and in some cases a fourth, in each of which some of the remaining power of the steam is utilized. The gradual increase of steam pressure in the better boilers that were being built also aided the development of these compound engines. In 1854, for instance, 42 pounds pressure per square inch was seldom exceeded, while in 1882, 125 pounds was a pressure occasionally reached.

With the development of compound engines and boilers capable of more pressure the screw propeller became even more efficient, and gradually the paddle-wheel disappeared from the deep sea. Furthermore, the compound engine, by its more economic power, made it possible for the steamer to compete with the sailing ship in the carrying of cargoes, even on long voyages, and so began the rapid growth of the cargo steamers that now have practically driven sailing ships from the sea.

And now comes a division of this subject of steamships—a division that later led to subdivision after subdivision, but which I shall treat in two major parts: steamers equipped to carry passengers, and steamers not so equipped.

The passenger steamers have gone through an amazinglyrapid growth since 1888, and have developed along many lines, but it was in that year that the first twinscrew steamers of large dimensions were put in service. The Inman linersCity of New YorkandCity of Pariswere the first large ships to be so equipped. This double system of propulsion eliminated the necessity for sails on liners, and from that time on the masts of ocean liners have deteriorated to mere supports for derricks and signal spars. By this time, too, all the larger steamers were being fitted with steam steering gears. This important (and now almost universal) appliance was first installed on the Inman linerCity of Brusselsin 1869.

And now, in the late ’eighties and early ’nineties, came the forerunners of the long list of ships that have grown into the finest fleet of express steamers to be found on any of the Seven Seas. Great Britain and the United States were primarily interested in this trade, but the other nations of northern Europe also had a part to play, and even Austria-Hungary and Italy entered the competition. But the United States gradually grew to depend more and more on the ships of other nations until finally the American Line with its handful of ships was almost the only serious American contender for the profits of the rapidly growing passenger business that had developed.

But into this furious competition a new nation thrust itself. Germany had become a power—a forceful, dominating power—as was proved in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and 1871. And she saw that her “place in the sun” could only be gained by venturing on the sea. Government aid to shipping and an enthusiastic demand on the part of the people for increased tonnage resulted in the building up of a merchant marine that for size and speed, for energy and enterprise became, shortly, second to none but Britain, and in some aspects exceeded even that great sea power.

Britain, it is interesting to note, had built up a fleet of merchant ships that was predominantly composed of freight ships. Germany, on the other hand, built up a fleet dominated in numbers by her liners.

Of the dozen or so principal German lines that dominated her entire merchant marine, the Hamburg-American Line was the most important, and the North German Lloyd was second. At the outbreak of the World War the Hamburg-American Line made up about twenty per cent. of the entire German mercantile fleet, and totalled nearly five hundred ships of about eleven hundred thousand tons. This great organization in the sixty-seven years of its existence had become the most powerful steamship line in the world. Nor was the North German Lloyd far behind. In 1914 its tonnage had reached the huge total of 700,000.

These two lines, and eight or nine others, all of great size, controlled the great part of Germany’s tonnage, and because of subsidies, of preferred rates given them by German railroads, of the practical control of German and Russian emigration, aided, or at least not opposed, by the Government, this huge fleet captured a very large percentage of the European emigrant travel and much of the world’s fast freight. So vast was the Hamburg-American Line that their ships called regularly at literally hundreds of the world’s principal ports and operated seventy-five separate services.

While the Hamburg-American Line was organized in 1847 and the North German Lloyd in 1857, their startling growth did not really begin until after the Franco-Prussian War, and even then for nearly twenty years their development was not surprising.

But in the twenty-four years following 1890 the German lines built fast and furiously. As late as the ’eighties they were buying British-built ships or were having their ships built in British yards, but then came the development ofGerman ship-building and before many years had passed greater and faster liners than any Britain had built came sliding from their German ways into German waters.

THEDEUTSCHLANDFormerly the holder of the transatlantic record.

THEDEUTSCHLAND

Formerly the holder of the transatlantic record.

But Britain’s claim to the mastery of the seas was not one based solely on her matchless fleet, and each time a German ship was built to outstrip the British flyers, a British yard was set to work on still a faster ship, with the result that despite theKaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, theDeutschland, theKaiserin Auguste Victoria, theKaiser Wilhelm II, and many others, the British were able to answer with ships still faster until theLusitaniaandMauretaniawere built and the Germans called off their race for speed and started the building of such monster ships as have not yet been surpassed. The three greatest ships in the world to-day—theMajestic, theLeviathan, and theBerengaria—are all German built.

But Germany overreached herself and fell, carrying with her in her collapse all her ambitions upon the sea, for theend of the World War saw her reduced to an inconsequential sea power—and reduced to such a state largely because of her illegitimate use of another kind of ship—the submarine.

While the race with Germany was at its height, however, Britain was never for a moment out of the running. TheOlympic, theTitanic, theJusticia, theBritannic, theLusitania, theMauretania, and many others came from her ways. And although theTitanicended her first voyage when she sank after a collision with an iceberg, and theJusticia, theBritannic, and the murderedLusitaniawere casualties of the war, still Britain has giant ships, for the Germans, to pay partially for their submarine campaign, were forced to give over the most important section of their merchant fleet to the Allies, and Britain, properly enough, for her losses were far the greatest, rightfully secured the lion’s share.

These giant ships, however, and their smaller sisters in the passenger trade are only a part of recent shipping developments. Once the compound engine had been perfected, steam, as I have said, began its competition with sail in the carrying of freight. Already the major portion of passenger travel had been taken over by steam, but until steam had become a more reliable and a less expensive power, sailing ships contended successfully for freight—particularly on long voyages.

In the ’eighties, however, or perhaps a little earlier, steam began its irresistible competition for freight and in thirty years sailing ships had come to play a small and comparatively unimportant part in the world’s affairs. Still there remain many sailing ships, particularly in the fishing fleets and the coasting trade, and occasionally, but with less and less frequency, one sees a fine old square-rigged ship driving through the great green swells of mid-ocean, but they are few—and for the person who is drawn by the drama and adventure of the sea, painfully few.

In the ’sixties steamship tonnage was launched at about the same rate as sail in Great Britain, but early in the ’seventies the rapid increase of steamship tonnage began, and sailing ships correspondingly declined. Sailing ships were built, of course, and are still being built, and in Britain their average size even continued to increase until 1892, but then began to decrease in size to correspond with their decrease in numbers.

Steamships, on the other hand, increased both in individual size and in numbers. This increase in size had been noticeable ever since steam came to be a recognized source of power for ships. In 1815, for instance, steamships averaged only 80 tons. By 1830 this had grown to 102 tons; by 1860 it had risen to 473 tons; and its temporary maximum was attained in 1882 when the average had grown to 1,442 tons. The next few years saw a decrease, but 1890 saw the figure raised to 1,500 tons.

By that time steam had absolutely proved itself, and the day of the supremacy of the sailing ship on the high seas had definitely passed, and steamships had reached the point of almost infinite variety of design. So great and so diverse are the designs of present-day ships that Captain David W. Bone, in “The Lookoutman,” published in 1923, expended the space of an entire volume to a discussion of them; nor did he enter into technicalities other than those that, at least to the sailor, lie on the surface. With this precedent to guide one I feel that I am perhaps unduly optimistic in endeavouring to cover this subject, even superficially, in the following two chapters; but so vast is the subject that this book pretends to cover that each chapter could easily be enlarged to many times its size.

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