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diff --git a/21749.txt b/21749.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e67fc1 --- /dev/null +++ b/21749.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5628 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Man on the Ocean, by R.M. Ballantyne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Man on the Ocean + A Book about Boats and Ships + +Author: R.M. Ballantyne + +Illustrator: R. Richardson + +Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21749] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAN ON THE OCEAN *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +MAN ON THE OCEAN, A BOOK ABOUT BOATS AND SHIPS, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +TREATS OF SHIPS IN GENERAL. + +There is, perhaps, no contrivance in the wide world more wonderful than +a ship--a full-rigged, well-manned, gigantic ship! + +Those who regard familiar objects in art and nature as mere matters of +course, and do not trouble themselves to wander out of the beaten track +of everyday thought, may not at first feel the force or admit the truth +of this statement. Let such folk endeavour to shake themselves +vigorously out of this beaten track of everyday thought. Let them knit +their brows and clench their teeth, and gaze steadfastly into the fire, +or up at the sky, and try to realise what is involved in the idea of--a +ship. + +What would the men of old have said, if you had told them that you +intended to take yonder large wooden house, launch it upon the sea, and +proceed in it out of sight of land for a few days? "Poor fellow," they +would have replied, "you are mad!" Ah! many a wise philosopher has been +deemed mad, not only by men of old, but by men of modern days. This +"mad" idea has long since been fulfilled; for what is a ship but a +wooden house made to float upon the sea, and sail with its inmates +hither and thither, at the will of the guiding spirit, over a trackless +unstable ocean for months together? It is a self-sustaining movable +hotel upon the sea. It is an oasis in the desert of waters, so +skilfully contrived as to be capable of advancing against wind and tide, +and of outliving the wildest storms--the bitterest fury of winds and +waves. It is the residence of a community, whose country for the time +being is the ocean; or, as in the case of the _Great Eastern_ steamship, +it is a _town_ with some thousands of inhabitants launched upon the +deep. + +Ships are, as it were, the electric sparks of the world, by means of +which the superabundance of different countries is carried forth to +fill, reciprocally, the voids in each. They are not only the media of +intercourse between the various families of the human race, whereby our +shores are enriched with the produce of other lands, but they are the +bearers of inestimable treasures of knowledge from clime to clime, and +of gospel light to the uttermost ends of the earth. + +But for ships, we should never have heard of the wonders of the coral +isles and the beauties of the golden South, or the phenomena and +tempests of the icy North. But for ships, the stirring adventures and +perils of Magellan, Drake, Cook, etcetera, had never been encountered; +and even the far-famed Robinson Crusoe himself had never gladdened, and +saddened, and romantically maddened the heart of youth with his escapes, +his fights, his parrots, and his philosophy, as he now does, and as he +will continue to do till the end of time. + +Some account, then, of ships and boats, with anecdotes illustrative of +the perils to which they are frequently exposed, cannot fail, we think, +to prove interesting to all, especially to boys, for whose particular +edification we now write. Boys, of all creatures in this world, are +passionately fond of boats and ships; they make them of every shape and +size, with every sort of tool, and hack and cut their fingers in the +operation, as we know from early personal experience. They sail them, +and wet their garments in so doing, to the well-known sorrow of all +right-minded mammas. They lose them, too, and break their hearts, +almost, at the calamity. They make little ones when they are little, +and big ones when they grow big; and when they grow bigger they not +unfrequently forsake the toy for the reality, embark in some noble +craft, and wed the stormy sea. + +A word in your ear, reader, at this point. Do not think that because +you fall in love with a _ship_ you will naturally and necessarily fall +in love with the _sea_! Some do, and some don't: with those who do, it +is well; with those who don't, and yet go to sea, it is remarkably ill. +Think _philosophically_ about "going to sea," my lads. Try honestly to +resist your own inclination _as long as possible_, and only go if you +find that _you can't help it_! In such a case you will probably find +that you are cut out for it--not otherwise. We love the sea with a true +and deep affection, and often have we tossed upon her foam-topped waves; +but we don't wish to be a sailor--by no manner of means! + +And now, boys, come along, and we will conduct you as pleasantly and +profitably as we can from a ship's cradle, through all her stormy +existence, to her grave. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +THE EARLIEST DAYS OF WATER-TRAVELLING. + +Once upon a time there were no ships. Men did not know the meaning of +the word; they did not want them; and, for many, many centuries the +sea-gulls had the ocean all to themselves. But _boats_ are of very +ancient date. Doubtless the _first_ boats must have been constructed by +the _first_ men who dwelt on the earth. They consisted, probably--for +we are now in the land of conjecture--of stumps of fallen trees, or +bundles of rushes, seated astride of which the immediate descendants of +our first parents ferried themselves over small lakes and across rivers. + +Wet feet are not agreeable under any circumstances. We can conceive +that prolonged voyages performed in this fashion--say several hundred +yards or a mile--rendered those primitive mariners so uncomfortable, +that they resolved to improve their condition; and, after much earnest +thought, hit upon the plan of fastening several logs together by means +of twigs, and thus they formed _rafts_. + +As time progressed, and men began to display wisdom in making tools of +stone and in the moulding of metal, we can imagine that they soon +bethought themselves of flattening the surface of their rafts; and then, +finding them unwieldy and difficult to manage, no doubt, they hit upon +the idea of hollowing out the logs. Adzes were probably not invented at +that time, so they betook themselves to the element of fire--which is at +the present day used by savage nations for the same purpose--and burned +out the insides of their logs. Thus _canoes_ sprang into being. + +But such canoes were clumsy and heavy, besides being liable to split; +men therefore bethought themselves of constructing a light framework of +wood, which they covered with bark or skin. Then artificers in iron +invented saws; logs were ripped up; planks were formed; pitch oozed +ready to hand from the trees; with grass, perchance, they caulked the +seams;--and soon the first _boat_ floated on the water--clumsy and +tub-like, no doubt, but serviceable withal--and youths of a hundred +years old, and full-grown men of two or three hundred, capered and +shouted on the shore with delight at the great invention; while +venerable patriarchs, of seven or eight hundred summers, gazed in +wonder, with almost prophetic solemnity, and exclaimed that they had +never before seen the like of _that_ in all the course of their long, +long lives! + +Those times are old now--so old that men can scarcely get their minds to +realise how old they are; nevertheless, the craft that were used then +are used even now, and that not only among the savages of distant lands, +but by men living at our very doors. + +The _coracle_, a basket-boat of the most primitive description, is still +occasionally met with in South Wales. It is neither more nor less than +a large wicker basket covered with a hide, and is tub-shaped, and clumsy +to a degree. When the Romans invaded Britain, this species of boat was +in common use. Like the canoe of the North American Indian, it is +easily upset, and we should think must be rather unmanageable; but as we +are not likely ever again to be reduced to it in this country, we can +afford to regard its faults with indifference. + +From little boats to big boats there is but a step; and no doubt rivers +were soon navigated, and new countries explored, while those who lived +near the sea-coast dared even to launch their boats upon the ocean; but +they "hugged the shore," undoubtedly, and seldom ventured to proceed at +night unless the stars shone brightly in the sky. + +Years rolled on, and dwellers on the sea-coast became more and more +venturous in their voyages along the shore. It behoved them to have +larger boats, or barges, with numerous rowers, who would naturally carry +weapons with them to guard themselves from foes. War-galleys sprang +into being. Strong winds sometimes carried these off-shore, and out of +sight of land. Ah, reader! who can conceive the feelings of the first +mariners who saw the solid land sink on the horizon, and beheld nothing +substantial in all the waste of waters, save their own tiny bark that +reeled beneath them on the heaving billows? Perchance these first +adventurers on the deep found their way back to land, and afterwards +tried the bold experiment of steering by the stars. Perhaps not; but at +length it did come about that ships were built, and men were found bold +enough to put to sea in them for days and weeks together. + +The ark is the first ship of which we have any authentic account. We +now leave the region of conjecture; for the ark was built by Noah under +the immediate direction of the Almighty, and we have a minute account of +it in the Bible. + +More than two thousand three hundred years before our Lord and Saviour +Jesus Christ came to earth, man's wickedness had attained to such a +height that God resolved to destroy the inhabitants of the world by a +deluge. But, in the midst of wrath, God remembered mercy. He spared +Noah and his family, and saved them from destruction by placing them in +the ark along with pairs of the lower animals. + +Every reader of the Bible knows the story of the deluge; but everyone +may not be aware that traditions of this deluge are found in every part +of the earth. East, west, north, and south--civilised and savage--all +men tell us of a great flood which once covered the world, and from +which only one family was saved, in a boat, or a canoe, or an ark. + +What the barbarous and savage nations know dimly from tradition, we know +certainly and fully from the inspired Word of God. The ark was built; +the flood came; Noah with his family and two of every living creature +entered into it; and for months the first ship floated on a sea whose +shoreless waves flowed round and round the world. + +What the ark's form was we cannot precisely tell; but we know its +dimensions pretty accurately. + +Although it was not intended for voyaging, the ark must necessarily have +been a perfect model of a vessel, meant to float upon the waters. To +some extent, too, it must have been fitted to ride upon turbulent +billows; for it "went upon the face of the waters" for upwards of seven +months, and before it rested finally on the top of Mount Ararat, "God +made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged." In regard +to its size, the most interesting way to consider it, perhaps, will be +to compare it with the _Great Eastern_, the largest ship that has yet +been built by man. Assuming a cubit to be about 18 inches, the length +of the ark was about 450 feet, its breadth about 75 feet, and its depth +about 45 feet. + +The _Great Eastern's_ length is 680 feet, its breadth 83 feet, and its +depth from deck to keel 60 feet. + +The ark was built of gopher-wood, which is thought by some to be pine, +by others cedar. It consisted of three stories, and had a window and a +door, and was pitched within and without. But it had neither masts nor +rudder; and it is evident that, although it was man's refuge, the ark +was not designed to be managed by man, for after Noah and his family had +entered in, God took on himself the guidance and preservation of their +vessel. Thus our Saviour--of whom the ark was a type--specially guides +and protects those who flee to him for refuge. + +But although we have noticed the ark as being the first ship, we cannot +with propriety place it in the front of the history of navigation. +After the flood the ark seems to have been soon forgotten, or at least +imperfectly remembered, and men reverted to their little canoes and +clumsy boats, which sufficed for all their limited wants. It was not +until about a thousand years later in the world's history that men built +ships of considerable size, and ventured on prolonged _coasting_- +voyages, for the purposes of discovery and commerce. Navigation had +been practised, and the art of ship-building had made very considerable +progress, long before men dared to lose sight of the shore and venture +out upon the mysterious bosom of the great unknown sea. + +To the ancients the Mediterranean was the ocean; and among its bays, and +creeks, and islands, maritime enterprise sprang into being and rose into +celebrity. Among the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, and Hebrews, we find +the earliest traces of navigation and commerce. The first of these +nations, occupying the narrow slip of land between Mount Lebanon and the +Mediterranean, rose into fame as mariners between the years 1700 and +1100 before Christ--the renowned city of Sidon being their great +sea-port, whence their ships put forth to trade with Cyprus and Rhodes, +Greece, Sardinia, Sicily, Gaul, and Spain. Little is known of the state +of trade in those days, or of the form or size of ancient vessels. +Homer tells us, in his account of the Trojan War, that the Phoenicians +supplied the combatants with many articles of luxury; and from Scripture +we learn that the same enterprising navigators brought gold to Solomon +from Ophir in the year 1000 B.C. + +A short time previous to this the Phoenicians ventured to pass through +the Strait of Gibraltar, and for the first time beheld the great +Atlantic Ocean. Proceeding along the coast of Spain, they founded +Cadiz; and, not long after, creeping down the western coast of Africa, +established colonies there. But their grandest feat was achieved about +600 years B.C., when they sailed down the Red Sea and the eastern coast +of Africa, doubled the Cape of Good Hope, sailed up the western coast, +and returned home by the Strait of Gibraltar. Bartholomew Diaz must +hide his diminished head before this fact; for, although he gets all the +credit, the Phoenicians of old "doubled the Cape" at least twenty +centuries before him! + +That long voyages were made by the men of old, before authentic history +began, seems highly probable. The expedition of the _Argonauts_ to +Colchis in the year 1250 B.C., in search of the "Golden Fleece," is the +first ancient voyage that lays claim to authenticity. What the Golden +Fleece was is uncertain; some think it was a term used to symbolise the +mines of precious metals near the Black Sea. Whatever it was, the +_Argonauts_ went in search of it: whether or not they found it is +unrecorded in history. Jason, son of the King of Thessaly, was the +leader of this expedition, which consisted of one ship and fifty men. A +man named _Argus_ built the ship, which from him was named the Argo, +hence the name of _Argonauts_. + +In treating of ancient vessels, we may as well proceed on the principle +suggested by a sagacious child, who, when his mother was about to tell +him a story, usually begged of her to "bedin at the bedinning." We +shall begin at the beginning. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +RAFTS AND CANOES. + +Rafts, as we have already remarked, must undoubtedly have been the +beginning of navigation. But they have not, like many other species of +ancient craft, been altogether superseded by modern inventions. True, +we do not nowadays carry on war on rafts, but we still carry on trade +with them in many parts of the world. How the rafts of ancient times +were formed we cannot tell precisely, though we can easily guess; but +one thing we know, and that is, that the first improvement made in such +craft was the thrusting of a few thick planks down into the water, to +the depth of three or four feet, between the logs which composed the +raft. These acted the part of a keel, and, by pressing against the +water _side-ways_ when a _side_ wind blew, prevented the raft from +making much of what is called _leeway_--that is, drifting in the +direction in which the wind happened to be blowing. Some sorts of Dutch +vessels use lee-boards for this purpose at the present time. + +The rafts now in use on the great rivers of America are exceedingly +curious in many respects. One peculiarity of many of them is that they +float _themselves_, not goods, to market--the pine logs of which they +are constructed being the marketable commodity. Some of these +"lumber-rafts," as they are called, are of great size; and as their +navigators have often to spend many weeks on them, slowly floating down +the rivers, they build huts or little cottages on them, cook their +provisions on board, and, in short, spend night and day in their +temporary floating-homes as comfortably as if they were on the land. + +When these rafts approach a waterfall or a rapid, they unfasten the +lashings and allow several logs tied together to run down at a time. +After the rapid is passed, the loose logs are collected together, the +raft is reconstructed, and the voyage down to the sea continued. Of +course, huts are built only on rafts which navigate the largest rivers, +and are not thus liable to be taken to pieces. + +When the logs reach the sea, they are shipped to various parts of the +world where timber is scarce. Large quantities are imported into Great +Britain from Canada and other parts of America. + +A bold thing has occasionally been done. Instead of shipping the logs +in vessels, enterprising and ingenious men built them into a _solid +ship_, leaving a small space to serve as a cabin and a hold for +provisions; then, erecting masts, they hoisted sail, and in this +singular craft crossed the Atlantic. On arriving at port they broke up +their raft-ship and sold it. + +The immense size of the rafts which are floated down some of the great +rivers of the world may be gathered from the following engraving, which +represents a raft on the Dwina, one of the great rivers of Russia. + +Rafts, however, have not been confined to the purposes of traffic. They +have frequently been the means of saving the lives of shipwrecked +mariners; but too often they have been the means only of prolonging the +wretched existence of those who have ultimately perished at sea. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Turning now from the consideration of rafts, we shall describe canoes. + +Canoes must, we think, have been invented after rafts. They were +formed, as we have said, out of logs, of bark and of skins stretched +upon frames of wood. Of ancient canoes we can say little. But it is +probable that they were similar in most respects to the canoes used by +savage nations at the present time; for man, in his lowest or most +savage condition, is necessarily the same now that he was in ancient +times. We shall, therefore, take a glance at the canoes of savage +nations now existing, and thus shall form a good idea, we doubt not, of +what canoes were in days of old. + +Simplest among them all, perhaps, are the canoes of the North American +Indians. These are built of thin laths and ribs of wood, and are +covered with the bark of the birch-tree. The sheets of bark are not a +quarter of an inch thick. Several sheets are used in the covering of +one canoe. They are sewed together with the long pliant roots of the +pine, and the seams are rendered tight with gum procured from the same +tree. So light are these canoes, that two men can carry on their +shoulders one capable of holding eight or ten men, with their +provisions, etcetera, for a voyage of many months. They are of various +sizes--from the hunting canoe which holds one Indian, to the largest +canoe that carries fourteen. They are propelled by short paddles +instead of oars. + +Many and terrible are the risks run by _voyageurs_ who travel through +the lakes and rivers of North America in these canoes. + +The following anecdote is related of a narrow escape made by some +fur-traders while descending one of the rivers in the backwoods of the +Hudson Bay Territory:--One fine evening in autumn, a north-canoe was +gliding swiftly down one of the noble bends in the river referred to. +New, beautiful, and ever-changing scenes were being constantly opened up +to the view of the _voyageurs_, whose plaintive and beautiful +canoe-songs were rolling over the waters. Suddenly the song ceased as +the distant roar of a waterfall struck their ears, and the steersmen-- +for there are usually two, one in the bow and one in the stern--prepared +to land and "_make a portage_,"--that is, carry the canoe and lading +past the falls by land, and re-launch and re-load in the smooth water +below. + +The approach to the landing-place at the head of the fall was somewhat +difficult, owing to a point of rock which projected into the stream in +the direction of the fall, and round which point it was necessary to +steer with some dexterity, in order to avoid being drawn into the strong +current. The fearless guides, however, had often passed the place in +former years in safety, and accordingly dashed at the point with +reckless indifference, their paddles flinging a circle of spray over +their heads as they changed from side to side with graceful but vigorous +rapidity. The swift stream carried them quickly round the point of +danger, and they had almost reached the quiet eddy near the +landing-place when the stem of the canoe was caught by the current, +which instantly whirled it out from the shore and carried it down stream +like an arrow. Another moment, and the gushing water dragged them to +the verge of the fall, which thundered and foamed among frightful chasms +and rocks many feet below. It was the work of a moment. The stern of +the canoe almost overhung the abyss, and the voyageurs plied their +paddles with the desperation of men who felt that their lives depended +on the exertions of the next awful minute. For a few seconds the canoe +remained stationary, and seemed to tremble on the brink of destruction-- +the strength of the water and the power of the men being almost equally +balanced--then, inch by inch, it began slowly to ascend the stream. The +danger was past! A few nervous strokes, and the canoe shot out of the +current like an arrow, and floated in safety in the still water below +the point. + +The whole thing, from beginning to end, occurred in a few seconds; but +who can describe or comprehend the tumultuous gush of feeling aroused +during those brief moments in the bosoms of the _voyageurs_? The +sudden, electric change from tranquil safety to the verge of what +appeared certain destruction--and then, deliverance! It was one of +those thrilling incidents which frequently occur to those who thread the +wildernesses of this world, and is little thought of by them beyond the +moment of danger; yet it was one of those solemn seasons, more or less +numerous in the history of all men, when the Almighty speaks to his +careless creatures in a voice that cannot be mistaken, however much it +may be slighted; awakening them, with a rough grasp, to behold the +slender cord that suspends them over the abyss of eternity. + +The canoes used by the Eskimos who inhabit the Polar Regions are made of +a light framework of wood, which is covered entirely over with +seal-skin--a round hole being left in the centre, in which the Eskimo +sits. Round this hole there is a loose piece of skin, which is drawn up +by the man and fastened round his waist. The machine is thus completely +water-tight. No waves can dash into, although they can sweep over it; +and if by chance it should upset, the Eskimo can turn it and himself up +into the proper position by one dexterous sweep of his long, +double-bladed paddle. The paddle, which varies from ten to fifteen +feet, is simply a pole with a blade at each end. It is grasped in the +centre, and each end dipped alternately on either side of the _kayak_, +as this canoe is called. Eskimo kayaks are first-rate sea-boats. They +can face almost any sort of weather. They are extremely light, and are +propelled by the natives very swiftly. In these frail canoes the +natives of the Polar Regions pursue seals and whales, and even venture +to attack the walrus in his native element. The kayak is used +exclusively by the men. The oomiak, or women's canoe, is of much larger +and clumsier construction, somewhat like a boat. It is open above, and +can hold a large family of women and children. Like the kayak, it is a +framework of wood covered with seal-skin, and is propelled by means of +short paddles of the spoon form. + +The famous "Rob Roy" canoe, which is now so much in vogue among boys and +young men of aquatic tendency, is constructed and managed on precisely +the same principles with the Eskimo kayak; the only difference between +the two being that the "Rob Roy" canoe is made of thin wood instead of +skin, and is altogether a more elegant vessel. An account of it will be +found in our chapter on "Boats." The South Sea islanders also use a +canoe which they propel with a double-bladed paddle similar to that of +the Eskimos. They are wonderfully expert and fearless in the management +of this canoe, as may be seen from the annexed woodcut. + +In order to show that the paddle of the canoe is more natural to man +than the oar, we present a picture of the canoe used by the Indians of +the Amazon in South America. Here we see thar the savages of the south, +like their brethren of the north, sit with their faces to the bow and +urge their bark forward by neans of short paddles, without using the +gunwale as a fulcrum. The oar is decidedly a more modern and a more +scientific instrument than the paddle, but the latter is better suited +to some kinds of navigation than the former. + +Very different indeed from the light canoes just described are the +canoes of the South Sea islanders. Some are large, and some are small; +some long, some short; a few elegant, a few clumsy; and one or two +peculiarly remarkable. Most of them are narrow, and liable to upset; in +order to prevent which catastrophe the natives have ingeniously, though +clumsily, contrived a sort of "_outrigger_," or plank, which they attach +to the side of the canoe to keep it upright. They also fasten two +canoes together to steady them. + +One of these _double canoes_ is thus described by Cheever in his "Island +World of the Pacific:"--"A double canoe is composed of two single ones +of the same size placed parallel to each other, three or four feet +apart, and secured in their places by four or five pieces of wood, +curved just in the shape of a bit-stock. These are lashed to both +canoes with the strongest cinet, made of cocoa-nut fibre, so as to make +the two almost as much one as same of the double ferry-boats that ply +between Brooklyn and New York. A flattened arch is thus made by the +bow-like cross-pieces over the space between the canoes, upon which a +board or a couple of stout poles laid lengthwise constitute an elevated +platform for passengers and freight, while those who paddle and steer +sit in the bodies of the canoes at the sides. A slender mast, which may +be unstepped in a minute, rises from about the centre of this platform, +to give support to a very simple sail, now universally made of white +cotton cloth, but formerly of mats." + +The double canoes belonging to the chiefs of the South Sea islanders are +the largest,--some of them being nearly seventy feet long, yet they are +each only about two feet wide and three or four feet deep. The sterns +are remarkably high--fifteen or eighteen feet above the water. + +The war canoes are also large and compactly built; the stern being low +and covered, so as to afford shelter from stones and darts. A rude +imitation of a head or some grotesque figure is usually carved on the +stern; while the stem is elevated, curved like the neck of a swan, and +terminates frequently in the carved figure of a bird's head. These +canoes are capable of holding fifty warriors. Captain Cook describes +some as being one hundred and eight feet long. All of them, whether +single or double, mercantile or war canoes, are propelled by paddles, +the men sitting with their faces in the direction in which they are +going. + +As may be supposed, these canoes are often upset in rough weather; but +as the South Sea islanders are expert swimmers, they generally manage to +right their canoes and scramble into them again. Their only fear on +such occasions is being attacked by sharks. Ellis, in his interesting +book, "Polynesian Researches," relates an instance of this kind of +attack which was made upon a number of chiefs and people--about +thirty-two--who were passing from one island to another in a large +double canoe:--"They were overtaken by a tempest, the violence of which +tore their canoes from the horizontal spars by which they were united. +It was in vain for them to endeavour to place them upright again, or to +empty out the water, for they could not prevent their incessant +overturning. As their only resource, they collected the scattered spars +and boards, and constructed a raft, on which they hoped they might drift +to land. The weight of the whole number who were collected on the raft +was so great as to sink it so far below the surface that they stood +above their knees in water. They made very little progress, and soon +became exhausted by fatigue and hunger. In this condition they were +attacked by a number of sharks. Destitute of a knife or any other +weapon of defence, they fell an easy prey to these rapacious monsters. +One after another was seized and devoured, or carried away by them, and +the survivors, who with dreadful anguish beheld their companions thus +destroyed, saw the number of their assailants apparently increasing, as +each body was carried off until only two or three remained. + +"The raft, thus lightened of its load, rose to the surface of the water, +and placed them beyond the reach of the voracious jaws of their +relentless destroyers. The tide and current soon carried them to the +shore, where they landed to tell the melancholy fate of their +fellow-voyagers." + +Captain Cook refers to the canoes of New Zealand thus:-- + +"The ingenuity of these people appears in nothing more than in their +canoes. They are long and narrow, and in shape very much resemble a New +England whale-boat. The larger sort seem to be built chiefly for war, +and will carry from forty to eighty or a hundred armed men. We measured +one which lay ashore at Tolaga; she was sixty-eight and a half feet +long, five feet broad, and three and a half feet deep. The bottom was +sharp, with straight sides like a wedge, and consisted of three lengths, +hollowed out to about two inches, or one inch and a half thick, and well +fastened together with strong plaiting. Each side consisted of one +entire plank, sixty-three feet long, ten or twelve inches broad, and +about one inch and a quarter thick; and these were fitted and lashed to +the bottom part with great dexterity and strength. + +"A considerable number of thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale, to +which they were securely lashed on each side, as a strengthening to the +boat. The ornament at the head projected five or six feet beyond the +body, and was about four and a half feet high. The ornament at the +stern was fixed upon that end as the stern-post of a ship is upon her +keel, and was about fourteen feet high, two broad, and one inch and a +half thick. They both consisted of boards of carved work, of which the +design was much better than the execution. All their canoes, except a +few at Opoorage or Mercury Bay, which were of one piece, and hollowed by +fire, are built after this plan, and few are less than twenty feet long. +Some of the smaller sort have outriggers; and sometimes two are joined +together, but this is not common. + +"The carving upon the stern and head ornaments of the inferior boats, +which seemed to be intended wholly for fishing, consists of the figure +of a man, with the face as ugly as can be conceived, and a monstrous +tongue thrust out of the mouth, with the white shells of sea-ears stuck +in for eyes. But the canoes of the superior kind, which seem to be +their men-of-war, are magnificently adorned with openwork, and covered +with loose fringes of black feathers, which had a most elegant +appearance. The gunwale boards were also frequently carved in a +grotesque taste, and adorned with tufts of white feathers placed upon +black ground. The paddles are small and neatly made. The blade is of +an oval shape, or rather of a shape resembling a large leaf, pointed at +the bottom, broadest in the middle, and gradually losing itself in the +shaft, the whole length being about six feet. By the help of these oars +they push on their boats with amazing velocity." + +Mr Ellis, to whose book reference has already been made, and who +visited the South Sea Islands nearly half a century later than Cook, +tells us that the _single canoes_ used by some of the islanders are far +safer than the _double canoes_ for long voyages, as the latter are apt +to be torn asunder during a storm, and then they cannot be prevented +from constantly upsetting. + +Single canoes are not so easily separated from their outrigger. +Nevertheless they are sometimes upset in rough seas; but the natives +don't much mind this. When a canoe is upset and fills, the natives, who +learn to swim like ducks almost as soon as they can walk, seize hold of +one end of the canoe, which they press down so as to elevate the other +end above the sea, by which means a great part of the water runs out; +they then suddenly loose their hold, and the canoe falls back on the +water, emptied in some degree of its contents. Swimming along by the +side of it, they bale out the rest, and climbing into it, pursue their +voyage. + +Europeans, however, are not so indifferent to being overturned as are +the savages. On one occasion Mr Ellis, accompanied by three ladies, +Mrs Orsmond, Mrs Barff, and his wife, with her two children and one or +two natives, were crossing a harbour in the island of Huahine. A female +servant was sitting in the forepart of the canoe with Mr Ellis's little +girl in her arms. His infant boy was at its mother's breast; and a +native, with a long light pole, was paddling or pushing the canoe along, +when a small buhoe, with a native youth sitting in it, darted out from +behind a bush that hung over the water, and before they could turn or +the youth could stop his canoe, it ran across the outrigger. This in an +instant went down, the canoe was turned bottom upwards, and the whole +party precipitated into the sea. + +The sun had set soon after they started from the opposite side, and the +twilight being very short, the shades of evening had already thickened +round them, which prevented the natives on shore from seeing their +situation. The native woman, being quite at home in the water, held the +little girl up with one hand, and swam with the other towards the shore, +aiding at the same time Mrs Orsmond, who had caught hold of her long +hair, which floated on the water behind her. Mrs Barff, on rising to +the surface, caught hold of the outrigger of the canoe that had +occasioned the disaster, and calling out loudly for help, informed the +people on shore of their danger, and speedily brought them to their +assistance. Mrs Orsmond's husband, happening to be at hand at the +time, rushed down to the beach and plunged at once into the water. His +wife, on seeing him, quitted her, hold of the native woman, and grasping +her husband, would certainly have drowned both him and herself had not +the natives sprung in and rescued them. + +Mahinevahine, the queen of the island, leaped into the sea and rescued +Mrs Barff; Mr Ellis caught hold of the canoe, and supported his wife +and their infant until assistance came. Thus they were all saved. + +The South Sea islanders, of whose canoes we have been writing, are--some +of them at least--the fiercest savages on the face of the earth. They +wear little or no clothing, and practise cannibalism--that is, +_man-eating_--from choice. They actually prefer human flesh to any +other. Of this we are informed on most unquestionable authority. + +Doubtless the canoes which we have described are much the same now as +they were a thousand years ago; so that, by visiting those parts of the +earth where the natives are still savage, we may, as it were, leap +backward into ancient times, and behold with our own eyes the state of +marine architecture as it existed when our own forefathers were savages, +and paddled about the Thames and the Clyde on logs, and rafts, and +wicker-work canoes. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +ANCIENT SHIPS AND NAVIGATORS. + +Everything must have a beginning, and, however right and proper things +may appear to those who begin them, they generally wear a strange, +sometimes absurd, aspect to those who behold them after the lapse of +many centuries. + +When we think of the trim-built ships and yachts that now cover the +ocean far and wide, we can scarce believe it possible that men really +began the practice of navigation, and first put to sea, in such +grotesque vessels as that represented on page 55. + +In a former chapter reference has been made to the rise of commerce and +maritime enterprise, to the fleets and feats of the Phoenicians, +Egyptians, and Hebrews in the Mediterranean, where commerce and +navigation first began to grow vigorous. We shall now consider the +peculiar structure of the ships and boats in which their maritime +operations were carried on. + +_Boats_, as we have said, must have succeeded rafts and canoes, and big +boats soon followed in the wake of little ones. Gradually, as men's +wants increased, the magnitude of their boats also increased, until they +came to deserve the title of little ships. These enormous boats, or +little ships, were propelled by means of oars of immense size; and, in +order to advance with anything like speed, the oars and rowers had to be +multiplied, until they became very numerous. + +In our own day we seldom see a boat requiring more than eight or ten +oars. In ancient times boats and ships required sometimes as many as +four hundred oars to propel them. + +The forms of the ancient ships were curious and exceedingly picturesque, +owing to the ornamentation with which their outlines were broken, and +the high elevation of their bows and sterns. + +We have no very authentic details of the minutiae of the form or size of +ancient ships, but antiquarians have collected a vast amount of +desultory information, which, when put together, enables us to form a +pretty good idea of the manner of working them, while ancient coins and +sculptures have given us a notion of their general aspect. No doubt +many of these records are grotesque enough, nevertheless they must be +correct in the main particulars. + +Homer, who lived 1000 B.C., gives, in his "Odyssey," an account of +ship-building in his time, to which antiquarians attach much importance, +as showing the ideas then prevalent in reference to geography, and the +point at which the art of ship-building had then arrived. Of course due +allowance must be made for Homer's tendency to indulge in hyperbole. + +Ulysses, king of Ithaca, and deemed on of the wisest Greeks who went to +Troy, having been wrecked upon an island, is furnished by the nymph +Calypso with the means of building a ship,--that hero being determined +to seek again his native shore and return to his home and his faithful +spouse Penelope. + + "Forth issuing thus, she gave him first to wield + A weighty axe, with truest temper steeled, + And double-edged; the handle smooth and plain, + Wrought of the clouded olive's easy grain; + And next, a wedge to drive with sweepy sway; + Then to the neighbouring forest led the way. + On the lone island's utmost verge there stood + Of poplars, pines, and firs, a lofty wood, + Whose leafless summits to the skies aspire, + Scorched by the sun, or seared by heavenly fire + (Already dried). These pointing out to view, + The nymph just showed him, and with tears withdrew. + + "Now toils the hero; trees on trees o'erthrown + Fall crackling round, and the forests groan; + Sudden, full twenty on the plain are strewed, + And lopped and lightened of their branchy load. + At equal angles these disposed to join, + He smoothed and squared them by the rule and line. + (The wimbles for the work Calypso found), + With those he pierced them and with clinchers bound. + Long and capacious as a shipwright forms + Some bark's broad bottom to outride the storms, + So large he built the raft; then ribbed it strong + From space to space, and nailed the planks along. + These formed the sides; the deck he fashioned last; + Then o'er the vessel raised the taper mast, + With crossing sail-yards dancing in the wind: + And to the helm the guiding rudder joined + (With yielding osiers fenced to break the force + Of surging waves, and steer the steady course). + Thy loom, Calypso, for the future sails + Supplied the cloth, capacious of the gales. + With stays and cordage last he rigged the ship, + And, rolled on levers, launched her on the deep." + +The ships of the ancient Greeks and Romans were divided into various +classes, according to the number of "ranks" or "banks," that is, _rows_, +of oars. _Monoremes_ contained one bank of oars; _biremes_, two banks; +_triremes_, three; _quadriremes_, four; _quinqueremes_, five; and so on. +But the two latter were seldom used, being unwieldy, and the oars in +the upper rank almost unmanageable from their great length and weight. + +Ptolemy Philopator of Egypt is said to have built a gigantic ship with +no less than forty tiers of oars, one above the other! She was managed +by 4000 men, besides whom there were 2850 combatants; she had four +rudders and a double prow. Her stern was decorated with splendid +paintings of ferocious and fantastic animals; her oars protruded through +masses of foliage; and her hold was filled with grain! + +That this account is exaggerated and fanciful is abundantly evident; but +it is highly probable that Ptolemy did construct one ship, if not more, +of uncommon size. + +The sails used in these ships were usually square; and when there was +more than one mast, that nearest the stern was the largest. The rigging +was of the simplest description, consisting sometimes of only two ropes +from the mast to the bow and stern. There was usually a deck at the bow +and stern, but never in the centre of the vessel. Steering was managed +by means of a huge broad oar, sometimes a couple, at the stern. A +formidable "beak" was affixed to the fore-part of the ships of war, with +which the crew charged the enemy. The vessels were painted black, with +red ornaments on the bows; to which latter Homer is supposed to refer +when he writes of red-cheeked ships. + +Ships built by the Greeks and Romans for war were sharper and more +elegant than those used in commerce; the latter being round bottomed, +and broad, in order to contain cargo. + +The Corinthians were the first to introduce _triremes_ into their navy +(about 700 years B.C.), and they were also the first who had any navy of +importance. The Athenians soon began to emulate them, and ere long +constructed a large fleet of vessels both for war and commerce. That +these ancient ships were light compared with ours, is proved by the fact +that when the Greeks landed to commence the siege of Troy they _drew up +their ships on the shore_. We are also told that ancient mariners, when +they came to a long narrow promontory of land, were sometimes wont to +land, draw their ships bodily across the narrowest part of the isthmus, +and launch them on the other side. + +Moreover, they had a salutary dread of what sailors term "blue water"-- +that is, the deep, distant sea--and never ventured out of sight of land. +They had no compass to direct them, and in their coasting voyages of +discovery they were guided, if blown out to sea, by the stars. + +The sails were made of linen in Homer's time; subsequently sail-cloth +was made of hemp, rushes, and leather. Sails were sometimes dyed of +various colours and with curious patterns. Huge ropes were fastened +round the ships to bind them more firmly together, and the bulwarks were +elevated beyond the frame of the vessels by wicker-work covered with +skins. + +Stones were used for anchors, and sometimes crates of small stones or +sand; but these were not long of being superseded by iron anchors with +teeth or flukes. + +The Romans were not at first so strong in naval power as their +neighbours, but in order to keep pace with them they were ultimately +compelled to devote more attention to their navies. About 260 B.C. they +raised a large fleet to carry on the war with Carthage. A Carthaginian +quinquereme which happened to be wrecked on their coast was taken +possession of by the Romans, used as a model, and one hundred and thirty +ships constructed from it. These ships were all built, it is said, in +six days; but this appears almost incredible. We must not, however, +judge the power of the ancients by the standard of present times. It is +well known that labour was cheap then, and we have recorded in history +the completion of great works in marvellously short time, by the mere +force of myriads of workmen. + +The Romans not only succeeded in raising a considerable navy, but they +proved themselves ingenious in the contrivance of novelties in their +war-galleys. They erected towers on the decks, from the top of which +their warriors fought as from the walls of a fortress. They also placed +small cages or baskets on the top of their masts, in which a few men +were placed to throw javelins down on the decks of the enemy; a practice +which is still carried out in principle at the present day, men being +placed in the "tops" of the masts of our men-of-war, whence they fire +down on the enemy. It was a bullet from the "top" of one of the masts +of the enemy that laid low our greatest naval hero, Lord Nelson. + +From this time the Romans maintained a powerful navy. They crippled the +maritime power of their African foes, and built a number of ships with +six and even ten ranks of oars. The Romans became exceedingly fond of +representations of sea-fights, and Julius Caesar dug a lake in the +Campus Martius specially for these exhibitions. They were not by any +means sham fights. The unfortunates who manned the ships on these +occasions were captives or criminals, who fought as the gladiators did-- +to the death--until one side was exterminated or spared by imperial +clemency. In one of these battles no fewer than a hundred ships and +nineteen thousand combatants were engaged! + +Such were the people who invaded Britain in the year 55 B.C. under +Julius Caesar, and such the vessels from which they landed upon our +shores to give battle to the then savage natives of our country. + +It is a curious fact that the crusades of the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries were the chief cause of the advancement of navigation after +the opening of the Christian era. During the first five hundred years +after the birth of our Lord, nothing worthy of notice in the way of +maritime enterprise or discovery occurred. + +But about this time an event took place which caused the foundation of +one of the most remarkable maritime cities in the world. In the year +476 Italy was invaded by the barbarians. One tribe, the Veneti, who +dwelt upon the north-eastern shores of the Adriatic, escaped the +invaders by fleeing for shelter to the marshes and sandy islets at the +head of the gulf, whither their enemies could not follow by land, owing +to the swampy nature of the ground, nor by sea, on account of the +shallowness of the waters. The Veneti took to fishing, then to making +salt, and finally to mercantile enterprises. They began to build, too, +on those sandy isles, and soon their cities covered ninety islands, many +of which were connected by bridges. And thus arose the far-famed city +of the waters--"Beautiful Venice, the bride of the sea." + +Soon the Venetians, and their neighbours the Genoese, monopolised the +commerce of the Mediterranean. + +The crusades now began, and for two centuries the Christian warred +against the Turk in the name of Him who, they seem to have forgotten, if +indeed the mass of them ever knew, is styled the Prince of Peace. One +of the results of these crusades was that the Europeans engaged acquired +a taste for Eastern luxuries, and the fleets of Venice and Genoa, Pisa +and Florence, ere long crowded the Mediterranean, laden with jewels, +silks, perfumes, spices, and such costly merchandise. The Normans, the +Danes, and the Dutch also began to take active part in the naval +enterprise thus fostered, and the navy of France was created under the +auspices of Philip Augustus. + +The result of all this was that there was a great moving, and, to some +extent, commingling of the nations. The knowledge of arts and +manufactures was interchanged, and of necessity the knowledge of various +languages spread. The West began constantly to demand the products of +the East, wealth began to increase, and the sum of human knowledge to +extend. + +Shortly after this era of opening commercial prosperity in the +Mediterranean, the hardy Northmen performed deeds on the deep which +outrival those of the great Columbus himself, and were undertaken many +centuries before his day. + +The Angles, the Saxons, and the Northmen inhabited the borders of the +Baltic, the shores of the German Ocean, and the coasts of Norway. Like +the nations on the shores of the Mediterranean, they too became famous +navigators; but, unlike them, war and piracy were their chief objects of +pursuit. Commerce was secondary. + +In vessels resembling that of which the above is a representation, those +nations went forth to plunder the dwellers in more favoured climes, and +to establish the Anglo-Saxon dominion in England; and their celebrated +King Alfred became the founder of the naval power of Britain, which was +destined in future ages to rule the seas. + +It was the Northmen who, in huge open boats, pushed off without chart or +compass (for neither existed at that time) into the tempestuous northern +seas, and, in the year 863, discovered the island of Iceland; in 983, +the coast of Greenland; and, a few years later, those parts of the +American coast now called Long Island, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Nova +Scotia, and Newfoundland. It is true they did not go forth with the +scientific and commercial views of Columbus; neither did they give to +the civilised world the benefit of their knowledge of those lands. But +although their purpose was simply selfish, we cannot withhold our +admiration of the bold, daring spirit displayed by those early +navigators, under circumstances of the greatest possible disadvantage-- +with undecked or half-decked boats, meagre supplies, no scientific +knowledge or appliances, and the stars their only guide over the +trackless waste of waters. + +In the course of time, one or two adventurous travellers pushed into +Asia, and men began to ascertain that the world was not the +insignificant disc, or cylinder, or ball they had deemed it. Perhaps +one of the chief among those adventurous travellers was Marco Polo, a +Venetian, who lived in the latter part of the thirteenth century. He +made known the central and eastern portions of Asia, Japan, the islands +of the Indian Archipelago, part of the continent of Africa, and the +island of Madagascar, and is considered the founder of the modern +geography of Asia. + +The adventures of this wonderful man were truly surprising, and although +he undoubtedly exaggerated to some extent in his account of what he had +seen, his narrations are for the most part truthful. He and his +companions were absent on their voyages and travels twenty-one years. + +Marco Polo died; but the knowledge of the East opened up by him, his +adventures and his wealth, remained behind to stir up the energies of +European nations. Yet there is no saying how long the world would have +groped on in this twilight of knowledge, and mariners would have +continued to "hug the shore" as in days gone by, had not an event +occurred which at once revolutionised the science of navigation, and +formed a new era in the history of mankind. This was the invention of +the mariner's compass. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +THE MARINER'S COMPASS--PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. + +"What _is_ the compass?" every philosophical youth of inquiring +disposition will naturally ask. We do not say that all youths will make +this inquiry. Many there are who will at once say, "Oh, I know! It's a +needle with a card on the top of it--sometimes a needle with a card +under it--which always points to the north, and shows sailors how to +steer their ships." + +Very well explained indeed, my self-sufficient friend; but you have not +answered the question. You have told us what a compass is like, and one +of the uses to which it is applied; but you have not yet told what it +_is_. A man who had never heard of a compass might exclaim, "What! a +needle! Is it a darning needle, or a knitting needle, or a +drawing-through needle? And which end points to the north--the eye or +the point? And if you lay it on the table the wrong end to the north, +will it turn round of its own accord?" + +You laugh, perhaps, and explain; but it would have been better to have +explained correctly at first. Thus:-- + +The mariner's compass is a small, flat bar of magnetised steel, which, +when balanced on a pivot, turns one of its ends persistently towards the +north pole--the other, of course, towards the south pole; and it does +this in consequence of its being magnetised. A card is fixed above, +sometimes below, this bar of steel (which is called the needle), whereon +are marked the cardinal points--north, south, east, and west--with their +subdivisions or intermediate points, by means of which the true +direction of any point can be ascertained. + +"Aha!" you exclaim, "Mr Author, but you yourself have omitted part of +the explanation. _Why_ is it that the magnetising of the needle causes +it to turn to the north?" + +I answer humbly, "I cannot tell;" but, further, I assert confidently, +"Neither can anybody else." The fact is known, and we see its result; +but the reason why magnetised steel or iron should have this tendency, +this polarity, is one of the mysteries which man has not yet been able +to penetrate, and probably never will. + +Having explained the nature of the compass, as far as explanation is +possible, we present our reader with a picture of one. + +It will be seen that there are four large points--N, S, E, and W--the +cardinal points above referred to, and that these are subdivided by +twelve smaller points, with one little black triangular point between +each, and a multitude of smaller points round the outer circle. To give +these points their correct names is called "boxing the compass,"--a +lesson which all seamen can trip off their tongues like A, B, C, and +which most boys could learn in a few hours. + +For the sake of those who are anxious to acquire the knowledge, we give +the following explanation: Let us begin with north. The large point +midway between N and E (to the right) is _north-east_. The +corresponding point midway between N and W (to the left) is +_north-west_. A glance will show that the corresponding points towards +the south are respectively _south-east_ and _south-west_ (usually +written S.E. and S.W., as the two former points are written N.E. and +N.W.). Now, to read off the compass with this amount of knowledge is +very simple. Thus: _North_, _north-east_, _east_, _south-east_, +_south_, _south-west_, _west_, _north-west_, _north_. But be it +observed that, in the language of the sea, the _th_ is thrown overboard, +except when the words north and south occur alone. When conjoined with +other points they are pronounced thus: nor'-east, sou'-east; and so on. + +To come now to the smaller subdivisions, it will suffice to take a +quarter of the circle. The point midway between N.E. and N. is +"nor'-nor'-east" (N.N.E.), and the corresponding one between N.E. and E. +is "east nor'-east" (E.N.E.). These points are again subdivided by +little black points which are thus named:--The first, next the N., is +"north by east" (N. by E.); the corresponding one next the E. is "east +by north" (E. by N.). The second _black_ point from N. is "nor'-east by +north" (N.E. by N.), and the corresponding one--namely, the second black +point from east--is "nor'-east by east" (N.E. by E.). Thus, in reading +off the compass, we say--beginning at north and proceeding to east-- +North: north by east; nor'-nor'-east; nor'-east by north; nor'-east; +nor'-east by east; east nor'-east; east by north; east;--and so on with +the other quarters of the circle. + +So much for "boxing the compass." The manner in which it is used on +board ship, and the various instruments employed in connection with it +in the working of a vessel at sea, will be explained shortly; but first +let us glance at the history of the compass. + +It is a matter of great uncertainty when, where, and by whom the +mariner's compass was invented. Flavio Gioia, a Neapolitan captain or +pilot, who lived about the beginning of the fourteenth century, was +generally recognised throughout Europe as the inventor of this useful +instrument; but time and research have thrown new light on this subject. +Probably the Neapolitan pilot was the first who brought the compass +into general notice in Europe; but long before 1303 (the year in which +it was said to have been invented) the use of the magnetic needle was +known to the Chinese. + +_Loadstone_, that mineral which has the mysterious power of attracting +iron, and also of imparting to iron its own attractive power, was known +to the Chinese before the year 121, in which year a famous Chinese +dictionary was completed, wherein the word _magnet_ is defined as "the +name of a stone which gives direction to a needle." This proves not +only that they knew the attractive properties of the loadstone, and its +power of imparting these properties to metal, but also that they were +aware of the polarity of a magnetised needle. Another Chinese +dictionary, published between the third and fourth centuries, speaks of +ships being guided in their course to the south by means of the magnet; +and in a medical work published in China in 1112, mention is made of the +_variation_ of the needle, showing that the Chinese had not only used +the needle as a guide at sea, but had observed this one of its +well-known peculiarities--namely, the tendency of the needle to point in +a _very slight degree_ away from the true north. + +In the thirteenth century, too, we find mention made of the needle by a +poet and by two other writers; so that whatever Flavio Gioia may have +done (and it is probable he did much) in the way of pushing the compass +into notice in Europe, he cannot be said to be the inventor of it. That +honour doubtless belongs to the Chinese. Be this as it may, the compass +was invented; and in the fourteenth century it began that revolution in +maritime affairs to which we have alluded. + +The first compasses were curiously formed. The Chinese used a +magnetised needle, which they placed in a bit of rush or pith, which was +floated in a basin of water, and thus allowed to move freely and turn +towards the poles. They also made needles in the form of iron fish. An +Arabian author of the thirteenth century thus writes:--"I heard it said +that the captains in the Indian seas substitute for the needle and reed +a hollow iron fish magnetised, so that, when placed in the water, it +points to the north with its head and to the south with its tail. The +reason that the iron fish does not sink, is that metallic bodies, even +the heaviest, float when hollow and when they displace a quantity of +water greater than their own weight." + +The use of the compass at sea is so simple, that, after what has been +said, it scarcely requires explanation. When a ship sets sail for any +port, she knows, first of all, the position of the port from which she +sets sail, as well as that to which she is bound. A straight line drawn +from the one to the other is her true course, supposing that there is +deep, unobstructed water all the way; and if the compass be placed upon +that line, the point of the compass through which it passes is the point +by which she ought to steer. Suppose that her course ran through the +east point of the compass: the ship's head would at once be turned in +that direction, and she would continue her voyage with the needle of the +compass pointing straight _across_ the deck, and the east and west +points straight _along_ it. + +But various causes arise in the actual practice of navigation to prevent +a ship keeping her true course. Winds may be contrary, and currents may +drive her either to the one side or the other of it; while land-- +promontories, islands, and shallows--compel her to deviate from the +direct line. A vessel also makes what is called "leeway;" which means +that, when the wind blows on her side, she not only advances forward, +but also slides through the water sidewise. Thus, in the course of a +day, she may get a considerable distance off her true course--in sea +parlance, "make a good deal of leeway." + +To perform the voyage correctly and safely in the face of these +obstacles and hindrances is the aim and end of navigation; and the +manner of proceeding is as follows:-- + +The hour is carefully noted on setting sail, and from that moment, night +and day, to the end of the voyage, certain observations are made and +entered in the ship's journal, called the log. Every hour the rate at +which the ship is going is ascertained and carefully noted. The point +of the compass towards which the ship is to be steered is given by the +captain or officer in command to the steersman, who stands at the wheel +with a compass always before him in a box called the "_binnacle_." The +course is never changed except by distinct orders from those in command; +and when it is changed, the hour when the change is made and the new +course to be steered are carefully noted down. Thus, at the end of the +day, or at any other time if desired, the position of the ship can be +ascertained by her course being drawn upon a chart of the ocean over +which she is sailing,--correct charts, or maps, being provided by the +captain before starting. + +The estimate thus made is, however, not absolutely correct. It is +called the "_dead-reckoning_," and is only an approximation to the +truth, because allowance has to be made for leeway, which can only be +guessed at. Allowance has also to be made for variations in the rate of +sailing in each hour, for the winds do not always blow with exactly the +same force during any hour of the day. On the contrary, they may vary +several times within an hour, both in force and in direction. Those +variations have to be watched and allowed for; but such allowance may be +erroneous in a greater or less degree. Currents, too, may have exerted +an unseen influence on the ship, thus rendering the calculation still +less correct. Nevertheless, dead-reckoning is often the only guide the +sailor has to depend upon for days at a time, when storms and cloudy +skies prevent him from ascertaining his true position by other means, of +which we shall speak presently. + +Of course, in the early days of navigation there were no charts of the +ocean. The navigator knew not whither he was hurrying over the wild +waste of waters; but by observing the relative position of some of the +fixed stars to his course while sailing out to sea, he could form a +rough idea of the proper course to steer in order to return to the port +whence he had started. + +The compass, then, shows the sailor the course he has been going, and +the _log_ (of which more presently) enables him to ascertain the rate at +which he has proceeded; while his chronometers, or time-keepers, tell +him the _time_ during which the course and rate of sailing have been +kept up. And many a long cruise on the unknown deep has been +successfully accomplished in days of old by bold seamen, with this +method of dead-reckoning; and many a mariner at the present day depends +almost entirely on it, while _all_ are, during thick, stormy weather, +dependent on it for days and sometimes weeks together. + +The _log_, to which we have referred, is the instrument by which is +determined the rate at which a ship is progressing. It is a very simple +contrivance: a triangular piece of wood about the size of a large +saucer, with a piece of stout cord fastened to each corner, the ends of +the cords being tied together, so that when held up, the "log," as it is +called, resembles one of a pair of scales. One of the cords, however, +is only temporarily attached to its corner by means of a peg, which when +violently pulled comes out. One edge of the triangle is loaded with +lead. The whole machine is fastened to the "log-line,"--a stout cord +many fathoms long, which is wound on a large reel. + +"Heaving the log," as we have said, takes place every hour. One sailor +stands by with a sand-glass which runs exactly half a minute. Another +holds the wooden reel; and a third heaves the log overboard, and "pays +out" line as fast as he can make the reel spin. The instant it is +thrown the first sailor turns the sand-glass. The log, being loaded on +one side, floats perpendicularly in the water, remaining stationary of +course; while the man who hove it watches sundry knots on the line as +they pass over the stern of the ship, each knot representing a mile of +rate of speed in the hour. As the last grain of sand drops to the +bottom of the glass the first sailor gives a sharp signal, and the +second clutches and checks the line, examines the knot nearest his hand, +and thus knows at once how many knots or miles the ship is sailing at +that time. The sudden stoppage of the line jerks the peg, before +referred to, out of the log, thereby allowing the other two fixed cords +to drag it flat and unresisting over the surface of the sea, when the +line is reeled up and put by. The flight of another hour calls for a +repetition of the heaving of the log. + +As scientific knowledge advanced, instruments of peculiar and more +complicated form were devised to enable navigators to ascertain more +correctly their position on the surface of the sea; but they did not, +and never will, supersede the method by dead-reckoning--for this reason, +that the latter can be practised at all times, while the former are +useless unless the sun, moon, or stars be visible, which in some +latitudes they are not for many days and weeks, when clouds and fogs +shroud the bright sky from view. + +The _Quadrant_ is the chief of those instruments. It is represented on +next page. To give a succinct account of this would take up more space +than we can spare. It may suffice the general reader to say that by +observing the exact position of the sun at noon, or of the moon or a +star, in relation to the horizon, the precise _latitude_ of a ship--that +is, her distance north or south of the equator--is ascertained. The +method of "taking an observation" is complicated, and difficult to +explain and understand. We refer those who are curious on the point to +treatises on navigation. + +_Chronometers_ are exceedingly delicate and perfect time-keepers, or +watches, which are very carefully set at the commencement of a voyage. +Thus the _time_ at the _meridian_ whence a vessel starts is kept up +during the voyage. By means of an observation of the sun with the +quadrant, or sextant (a somewhat similar instrument), the true time at +any particular point in the voyage may be ascertained. A _difference_ +is found to exist between the time at the spot where the observation is +taken, and the time of the chronometer. A calculation founded on this +difference gives the ship's _longitude_--that is, her distance east or +west of the meridian that passes through Greenwich. That meridian is an +imaginary line drawn round the world longitudinally, and passing through +the north and south poles, as the equator is a line passing round it +latitudinally. + +When a ship's latitude and longitude have been ascertained, and a line +drawn through the first parallel to the equator, and another line +through the second parallel to the first meridian, the point where these +two lines intersect is the _exact_ position of the ship upon the sea. + +The size and form of ships having gradually improved, the compass and +other scientific appliances having been discovered, cannon also and +gunpowder having been invented, seamen became more courageous and +venturesome; and at last the Portuguese nation began that career of +maritime enterprise which won for it the admiration of the world. + +About the beginning of the fourteenth century (1330), the Canary +Islands, lying off the west coast of Africa, were re-discovered by the +accident of a French ship being blown off the coast in a storm, and +finding shelter amongst them. This group had been known to the ancients +under the name of the Fortunate Islands, but had been forgotten for more +than a thousand years. During the course of the century the Spaniards +plucked up courage to make discoveries and settlements upon them, +although by so doing they were compelled to undergo that much-dreaded +ordeal--sailing _out of sight_ of their once fondly "hugged" land! + +In the beginning of the next century arose a prince, Don Henry, son of +John the First of Portugal, whose anxiety to promote discovery, and to +find a passage by sea round the coast of Africa to India, induced him to +send out many expeditions, all of which accomplished something, and many +of which added very extensively to the geographical knowledge of the +world at that time. Navigators, sent out by him from time to time, +discovered the Madeira Islands; sailed along the western coast of Africa +a considerable distance; ascertained the presence of gold-dust among the +savages on the Gulf of Guinea; discovered the Azores, besides numerous +other islands and lands; crossed the equator, and approached to within +about eighteen hundred miles of the south-most cape of Africa. + +The discovery of gold-dust stirred up the energies of the Portuguese in +a remarkable degree, and caused them cheerfully to undertake ventures +which, without that inducement, they would probably never have +undertaken at all. Moreover, they had now learned to quail less at the +idea of losing sight of land; and towards the end of the fifteenth +century (1486), Bartholomew Diaz, an officer of the household of John +the Second, achieved the grand object which had long been ardently +desired by the Portuguese--he doubled the great southern cape of Africa, +which King John named the "Cape of Good Hope," although Diaz had named +it the "Cape of Tempests." The circumstance is thus alluded to by a +poet of that period-- + + "At Lisboa's court they told their dread escape, + And from her raging tempests named the Cape. + `Thou southmost point,' the joyful king exclaimed, + `_Cape of Good Hope_ be thou for ever named!'" + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +BOATS, MODEL-BOAT MAKING, ETCETERA. + +Leaving the subject of ancient ships and navigation, we shall now turn +our attention to the more recent doings of man on the ocean, and, before +entering into the details of ships and ship-building, devote a little +time and space to the consideration of boats. + +There are great varieties of boats--as regards shape, size, material, +and use--so that it is not easy to decide on which we shall first fix +our attention. There are large and small, long and short boats; flat, +round, sharp, and bluff ones,--some clumsy, others elegant. Certain +boats are built for carrying cargo, others for purposes of war. Some +are meant for sailing, some for rowing; and while many kinds are devoted +to business, others are intended solely for pleasure. Before we refer +to any of these, perhaps our young readers will not object to be told +how to construct:-- + +A MODEL BOAT. + +We need scarcely say that it is not expedient for a boy to attempt to +build a model boat in the same manner as a regular boat-builder +constructs one for actual service. It would be undertaking an +unnecessary amount of labour to lay a keel and form ribs and nail on +planks in the orthodox fashion, because, for all practical purposes, a +boat cut out of a solid block of wood is quite as useful, and much more +easily made. + +The first thing you have to do, my young boat-builder, then, is to go +and visit a harbour or beach where varieties of boats are to be found, +and, having settled in your mind which of them you intend to copy, make +a careful drawing, in outline, of its form in four different positions. +First, a side view, as in Figure 1. Then the stern, with the swelling +sides of the boat visible, as in Figure 2. The bow, as in Figure 3; and +a bird's-eye view, as in Figure 4. The last drawing can be made by +mounting on some neighbouring eminence, such as a bank or a larger boat, +or, if that is impossible, by getting upon the stern of the boat itself, +and thus looking down on it. These four drawings will be of great +service in enabling you to shape your model correctly; for as you +proceed with the carving you can, by holding the model up in the same +position with any of the drawings, ascertain whether you are progressing +properly; and if you get the correct form of your boat in these four +positions, you will be almost certain to make a good boat. If, on the +other hand, you go to work without drawings, the probability is that +your boat will be lopsided, which will prevent it from floating evenly; +or crooked, which will tend to check its speed in sailing, besides being +clumsy and not "ship-shape," as the sailors have it. + +Figure 1 will keep you right in regard to relative length and depth; +Figure 2 in regard to shape of stern and bulge of the sides; Figure 3 +secures correct form of the bow; and Figure 4 enables you to proportion +the breadth to the length. + +The next thing to be done is to procure a block of fir-wood, with as few +knots in it as possible, and straight in the grain. The size is a +matter of choice--any size from a foot to eighteen inches will do very +well for a model boat. Before beginning to carve this, it should be +planed quite smooth and even on all sides, and the ends cut perfectly +square, to permit of the requisite pencil-drawings being made on it. + +The tools required are a small tenon-saw, a chisel, two or three gouges +of different sizes, a spoke-shave, and a file with one side flat and the +other round. A rough rasp-file and a pair of compasses will also be +found useful. All of these ought to be exceedingly sharp. The gouges +and the spoke-shave will be found the most useful of these implements. + +Begin by drawing a straight line with pencil down the exact centre of +what will be the deck; continue it down the part that will be the stern; +then carry it along the bottom of the block, where the keel will be, and +up the front part, or bow. If this line has been correctly drawn, the +end of it will exactly meet the place where you began to draw it. On +the correctness of this line much will depend; therefore it is necessary +to be careful and precise in finding out the centre of each surface of +the block with the compasses. Next, draw a line on each side of this +centre line (as in the accompanying diagram), which will give the +thickness of the keel and stern-post. Then on the upper surface of the +block draw the form of the boat to correspond with the bird's-eye view +(Figure 4, on page 82) already referred to. Then draw _one-half_ of the +stern on a piece of thin card-board, and when satisfied that it is +correct cut it out with scissors; apply it to the model, first on one +side, and then on the other side of the stern-post. By thus using a +pattern of only one-half of the stern, exact uniformity of the two sides +is secured. Treat the bow in the same way. Of course the pattern of +the bow will at first be drawn on the _flat_ surface of the block, and +it will represent not the actual bow, but the thickest part of the hull, +as seen in the position of Figure 3, on page 82. After this, turn the +side of the block, and draw the form represented in Figure 1, page 82, +thereon, and mark _on the keel_ the point where the stem and keel join, +and also where the stern and keel join. This is necessary, because in +carving the sides of the boat these lines will be among the first to be +cut away. The next proceeding is to cut away at the sides and bottom of +the block until, looking at it in the proper positions, the bow +resembles Figure 3, and the stern Figure 2, above referred to. This +will be done chiefly with the gouge, the chisel and spoke-shave being +reserved for finishing. Then saw off the parts of the bow and stern +that will give the requisite slope to these parts, being guided by the +marks made on the keel. In cutting away the upper parts of the bow and +stern, be guided by the curved lines on the deck; and in forming the +lower parts of the same portions, keep your eye on your drawing, which +is represented by Figure 1. + +It is advisable to finish one side of the boat first, so that, by +measurement and comparison, the other side may be made exactly similar. +Those who wish to be very particular on this point may secure almost +exact uniformity of the two sides by cutting out several moulds (three +will be sufficient) in card-board. These moulds must be cut so as to +fit three marked points on the _finished_ side, as represented by three +dotted lines on Figure 1; and then the unfinished side must be cut so as +to fit the moulds at the corresponding points. If the two sides are +quite equal at these three points, it is almost impossible to go far +wrong in cutting away the wood between them--the eye will be a +sufficient guide for the rest. + +The accompanying diagram shows the three moulds referred to, one of them +being _nearly_ applied to the finished part of the hull to which it +belongs. Thus--(a) represents the unfinished side of the boat; (b) the +finished side; (c) is the mould or card cut to correspond with the +widest part of the finished side, near the centre of the boat; (d) is +the mould for the part near the bow; (e) for that near the stern. These +drawings are roughly given, to indicate the plan on which you should +proceed. The exact forms will depend on your own taste or fancy, as +formed by the variously-shaped boats you have studied. And it may be +remarked here, that all we have said in regard to the cutting out of +model boats applies equally to model ships. + +The outside of your boat having been finished, the bow having been +fashioned somewhat like that represented in the accompanying cut, and +the stern having been shaped like that shown in the illustration given +below, the next thing to be done is to hollow out the hull. Care must +be taken in doing this not to cut away too much wood from one part, or +to leave too much at another; a little more than half an inch of +thickness may be left everywhere. Next, fix in the thwarts, or seats, +as in the foregoing cut, attach a leaden keel, and the boat is +completed. + +The keel may be formed by running melted lead into a groove cut in a +piece of wood, or, better still, into a groove made in nearly dry clay. +By driving four or five nails (well greased) into the groove before +pouring in the melted lead, holes may be formed in the keel by simply +withdrawing the nails after it is cold. + +A mast and sail, however, are still wanted. The best kind of sail is +the lug, which is an elongated square sail--shown in the accompanying +illustration. + +Most of our fishing-boats are provided with lug-sails, and on this +account are styled luggers. These boats are of all sizes, some of them +being fifty tons burden, and carrying crews of seven or ten men each. A +picture of a lugger is given on the next page. + +Great numbers of fishing-boats may be seen at Great Yarmouth, and all +along the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk. They are employed in the +herring-fishery, and use nets, which are let down in deep water, corks +floating the upper edges of the nets, and the lower edges being sunk by +leads, so that they remain in the water perpendicularly like walls, and +intercept the shoals of herring when they chance to pass. Thousands of +these glittering silvery fish get entangled in the meshes during night. +Then the nets are drawn up, and the fish taken out and thrown into a +"well," whence they are removed as quickly as possible, and salted and +packed in lockers; while the nets are let down again into the sea. +These boats remain out usually a week at a time. Most of them return to +port on Saturday, in order to spend Sunday as a day of rest. Some, +however--regardless of the fact that He who gives them the fish with +such liberal hand, also gave them the command, "Remember the sabbath +day"--continue to prosecute the fishing on that day. But many a good +man among the fishermen has borne testimony to the fact that these do +not gain additional wealth by their act of disobedience; while they lose +in the matter of nets (which suffer from want of frequent drying) and in +the matter of health (which cannot be maintained so well without a +weekly day of rest), while there can be no doubt that they lose the +inestimable blessing of a good conscience. So true is it that godliness +is profitable for the life which now is as well as for that which is to +come. + +A model boat should be rigged with only one mast and lug-sail, or with +two masts and sails at the most. Three are unnecessary and cumbrous. +Each sail should be fixed to a yard, which should be hoisted or hauled +down by means of a block or pulley fastened near the top of the mast. +The positions of these yards and the form of the sails may be more +easily understood by a glance at our woodcut than by reading many pages +of description. + +Sprit-sails are sometimes used in boats. These are fore-and-aft sails, +which are kept distended by a sprit instead of a yard. The sprit is a +long pole, one end of which is fixed to the lowest _innermost_ corner, +near the mast, and the other end extending to the highest _outermost_ +corner; thus it lies diagonally across the sail. It is convenient when +a boat "tacks," or "goes about"--in other words, when it goes round +frequently, and sails, now leaning on one side, and, at the next tack, +on the other side. In this case the sprit requires little shifting or +attention. But it is dangerous in squally weather, because, although +the sheet or line which holds the lower and _outer_ end of a sail may be +let go for the sake of safety, the upper part remains spread to the wind +because of the sprit. + +The best rig of all for a model boat, and indeed for a pleasure-boat, is +that which comprises a main-sail, in form like that of a sloop or a +cutter, omitting the boom, or lower yard, and a triangular fore-sail +extending from near the mast to the bow of the boat or to the end of the +bowsprit--somewhat like a sloop's jib. Both of the sails referred to +may be seen at the part of this book which treats of sloops and cutters; +and they are the same in form, with but slight modification, when +applied to boats. + +Racing-boats are long, low, narrow, and light. Some are so narrow as to +require iron rowlocks extending a considerable distance beyond the sides +of the boat for the oars to rest in. Many of these light craft may be +seen on the Thames and Clyde, and other rivers throughout the kingdom. +The larger sort do not require what we may call the outrigger rowlocks. + +The "Rob Roy" canoe has, of late years, come much into fashion as a +racing and pleasure boat. Whatever the advantages of this craft may be, +it has this disadvantage, that it can hold only one person; so that it +may be styled an unsocial craft, the company of one or more friends +being impossible, unless, indeed, one or more canoes travel in company. + +This species of canoe became celebrated some years ago, in consequence +of an interesting and adventurous voyage of a thousand miles through +Germany, Switzerland, and France, and, subsequently, through part of +Norway and Sweden, made by Mr Macgregor in a craft of this kind, to +which he gave the name of "Rob Roy." Since the craft became popular, +numerous and important improvements have been made in the construction +of its hull and several parts, but its distinctive features remain +unaltered. The "Rob Roy" canoe is, in fact, almost identical with the +Eskimo kayak, except in regard to the material of which it is made--the +former being composed wholly of wood, the latter of a framework of wood +covered with skin. There is the same long, low, fish-like form, the +same deck, almost on a level with the water, the same hole in the centre +for the admission of the man, the same apron to keep out water, and the +same long, double-bladed paddle, which is dipped on each side +alternately. The "Rob Roy" has, however, the addition of a small mast, +a lug-sail, and a jib. It has also a back-board, to support the back of +the canoeman; the paddle, too, is somewhat shorter than that of the +Eskimo canoe; and the whole affair is smarter, and more in accordance +with the tastes and habits of the civilised men who use it. + +In his various voyages, which we might almost style journeys, the +originator of the "Rob Roy" canoe proved conclusively that there were +few earthly objects which could form a barrier to his progress. When +his canoe could not carry him, he carried it! Waterfalls could not stop +him, because he landed below them, and carried his canoe and small +amount of baggage to the smooth water above the falls. In this he +followed the example of the fur-traders and Indians of North America, +who travel over any number of miles of wilderness in this manner. +Shallows could not stop him, because his little bark drew only a few +inches of water. Turbulent water could not swamp him, because the waves +washed harmlessly over his smooth deck, and circled innocently round his +protective apron. Even long stretches of dry land could not stop him, +because barrows, or carts, or railways could transport his canoe hither +and thither with perfect ease to any distance; so that when the waters +of one river failed him, those of the next nearest were easily made +available. In conclusion, it may be said that the "Rob Roy" canoe is a +most useful and pleasant craft for boys and young men, especially at +those watering-places which have no harbour or pier, and where, in +consequence of the flatness of the beach, boats cannot easily be used. + +It would be an almost endless as well as unprofitable task to go over +the names and characteristics of all our various kinds of boats in +detail. + +Of heavy-sterned and clumsy river craft, we have an innumerable fleet. + +There are also _Torbay Trawlers_, which are cutters of from twenty to +fifty tons; and the herring-boats of Scotland; and cobbles, which are +broad, bluff, little boats; and barges, which are broad, bluff, large +ones; and skiffs, and scows, and many others. + +In foreign lands many curious boats are to be met with. The most +graceful of them, perhaps, are those which carry lateen sails--enormous +triangular sails, of which kind each boat usually carries only one. + +_India-rubber boats_ there are, which can be inflated with a pair of +bellows, and, when full, can support half-a-dozen men or more, while, +when empty, they can be rolled up and carried on the back of one man, or +in a barrow. One boat of this kind we once saw and paddled in. It was +made in the form of a cloak, and could be carried quite easily on one's +shoulders. When inflated, it formed a sort of oval canoe, which was +quite capable of supporting one person. We speak from experience, +having tried it some years ago on the Serpentine, and found it to be +extremely buoyant, but a little given to spin round at each stroke of +the paddle, owing to its circular shape and want of cut-water or keel. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Of all the boats that swim, the lifeboat is certainly one of the most +interesting; perhaps it is not too much to add that it is also one of +the most useful. But this boat deserves a chapter to itself. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +LIFEBOATS AND LIGHTSHIPS. + +When our noble Lifeboat Institution was in its infancy, a deed was +performed by a young woman which at once illustrates the extreme danger +to which those who attempt to rescue the shipwrecked must expose +themselves, and the great need there was, thirty years ago, for some +better provision than existed at that time for the defence of our +extensive sea-board against the dire consequences of storm and wreck. +It is not, we think, inappropriate to begin our chapter on lifeboats +with a brief account of the heroic deed of:-- + +GRACE DARLING. + +There are not many women who, like Joan of Arc, put forth their hands to +the work peculiarly belonging to the male sex, and achieve for +themselves undying fame. And among these there are very few indeed who, +in thus quitting their natural sphere and assuming masculine duties, +retain their feminine modesty and gentleness. + +Such a one, however, was Grace Darling. She did not, indeed, altogether +quit her station and follow a course peculiar to the male sex; but she +did once seize the oar and launch fearlessly upon the raging sea, and +perform a deed which strong and daring men might have been proud of-- +which drew forth the wondering admiration of her country, and has +rendered her name indissolubly connected with the annals of heroic +daring in the saving of human life from vessels wrecked upon our +rock-bound shores. + +Grace Darling was born in November 1815, at Bamborough, on the +Northumberland coast. Her father was keeper of the lighthouse on the +Longstone, one of the Farne Islands lying off that coast; and here, on a +mere bit of rock surrounded by the ocean, and often by the howling +tempests and the foaming breakers of that dangerous spot, our heroine +spent the greater part of her life, cut off almost totally from the joys +and pursuits of the busy world. She and her mother managed the domestic +economy of the lighthouse on the little islet, while her father trimmed +the lantern that sent a blaze of friendly light to warn mariners off +that dangerous coast. + +In personal appearance Grace Darling is described as having been fair +and comely, with a gentle, modest expression of countenance; about the +middle size; and with nothing in the least degree masculine about her. +She had reached her twenty-second year when the wreck took place in +connection with which her name has become famous. + +The Farne Islands are peculiarly dangerous. The sea rushes with +tremendous force between the smaller islands, and, despite the warning +light, wrecks occasionally take place among them. In days of old, when +men had neither heart nor head to erect lighthouses for the protection +of their fellows, many a noble ship must have been dashed to pieces +there, and many an awful shriek must have mingled with the hoarse roar +of the surf round these rent and weatherworn rocks. + +A gentleman who visited the Longstone rock in 1838, describes it thus:-- + +"It was, like the rest of these desolate isles, all of dark whinstone, +cracked in every direction, and worn with the action of winds, waves, +and tempests since the world began. Over the greater part of it was not +a blade of grass, nor a grain of earth; it was bare and iron-like stone, +crusted, round all the coast as far as high-water mark, with limpet and +still smaller shells. We ascended wrinkled hills of black stone, and +descended into worn and dismal dells of the same; into some of which, +where the tide got entrance, it came pouring and roaring in raging +whiteness, and churning the loose fragments of whinstone into round +pebbles, and piling them up in deep crevices with seaweeds, like great +round ropes and heaps of fucus. Over our heads screamed hundreds of +hovering birds, the gull mingling its hideous laughter most wildly." + +One wild and stormy night in September 1838--such a night as induces +those on land to draw closer round the fire, and offer up, perchance, a +silent prayer for those who are at sea--a steamer was battling, at +disadvantage with the billows, off Saint Abb's Head. She was the +_Forfarshire_, a steamer of three hundred tons, under command of Mr +John Humble; and had started from Hull for Dundee with a valuable cargo, +a crew of twenty-one men, and forty-one passengers. + +It was a fearful night. The storm raged furiously, and would have tried +the qualities of even a stout vessel; but this one was in very bad +repair, and her boilers were in such a state that the engines soon +became entirely useless, and at last they ceased to work. We cannot +conceive the danger of a steamer left thus comparatively helpless in a +furious storm and dark night off a dangerous coast. + +In a short time the vessel became quite unmanageable, and drifted with +the direction of the tide, no one knew whither. Soon the terrible cry +arose, "Breakers to leeward," and immediately after the Farne lights +became visible. A despairing attempt was now made by the captain to run +the ship between the islands and the mainland; but in this he failed, +and about three o'clock she struck heavily on a rock bow foremost. + +The scene of consternation that followed is indescribable. Immediately +one of the boats was lowered, and with a freight of terror-stricken +people pushed off, but not before one or two persons had fallen into the +sea and perished in their vain attempts to get into it. This party in +the boat, nine in number, survived the storm of that awful night, and +were picked up the following morning by a Montrose sloop. Of those left +in the ill-fated ship some remained in the after-part; a few stationed +themselves near the bow, thinking it the safest spot. The captain stood +helpless, his wife clinging to him, while several other females gave +vent to their agony of despair in fearful cries. + +Meanwhile the waves dashed the vessel again and again on the rock, and +at last a larger billow than the rest lifted her up and let her fall +down upon its sharp edge. The effect was tremendous and instantaneous; +the vessel was literally broken in two pieces, and the after-part, with +the greater number of the passengers in the cabin, was swept away +through the Fifa Gut, a tremendous current which is considered dangerous +even in good weather. Among those who thus perished were the captain +and his wife. The forepart of the steamer, with the few who had happily +taken refuge upon it, remained fast on the rock. Here eight or nine of +the passengers and crew clung to the windlass, and a woman named Sarah +Dawson, with her two little children, lay huddled together in a corner +of the fore-cabin, exposed to the fury of winds and waves all the +remainder of that dreadful night. For hours each returning wave carried +a thrill of terror to their hearts; for the shattered wreck reeled +before every shock, and it seemed as if it would certainly be swept away +into the churning foam before daybreak. + +But daylight came at last, and the survivors on the wreck began to sweep +the dim horizon with straining eyeballs as a faint hope at last began to +arise in their bosoms. Nor were these trembling hopes doomed to +disappointment. At the eleventh hour God in his mercy sent +deliverance. Through the glimmering dawn and the driving spray the +lighthouse-keeper's daughter from the lonely watch-tower descried the +wreck, which was about a mile distant from the Longstone. From the +mainland, too, they were observed; and crowds of people lined the shore +and gazed upon the distant speck, to which, by the aid of telescopes, +the survivors were seen clinging with the tenacity of despair. + +But no boat could live in that raging sea, which still lashed madly +against the riven rocks, although the violence of the storm had begun to +abate. An offer of 5 pounds by the steward of Bamborough Castle failed +to tempt a crew of men to launch their boat. One daring heart and +willing hand was there, however. Grace Darling, fired with an intense +desire to save the perishing ones, urged her father to launch their +little boat. At first he held back. There was no one at the lighthouse +except himself, his wife, and his daughter. What could such a crew do +in a little open boat in so wild a sea? He knew the extreme peril they +should encounter better than his daughter, and very naturally hesitated +to run so great a risk. For, besides the danger of swamping, and the +comparatively weak arm of an inexperienced woman at the oar, the passage +from the Longstone to the wreck could only be accomplished with the +ebb-tide; so that unless the exhausted survivors should prove to be able +to lend their aid, they could not pull back again to the lighthouse. + +But the earnest importunities of the heroic girl were not to be +resisted. Her father at last consented, and the little boat pushed off +with the man and the young woman for its crew. It may be imagined with +what a thrill of joy and hope the people on the wreck beheld the boat +dancing an the crested waves towards them; and how great must have been +the surprise that mingled with their other feelings on observing that +one of the rowers was a woman! + +They gained the rock in safety; but here their danger was increased +ten-fold, and it was only by the exertion of great muscular power, +coupled with resolute courage, that they prevented the boat being dashed +to pieces against the rock. + +One by one the sufferers were got into the boat. Sarah Dawson was found +lying in the fore-cabin with a spark of life still trembling in her +bosom, and she still clasped her two little ones in her arms, but the +spirits of both had fled to Him who gave them. With great difficulty +the boat was rowed back to the Longstone, and the rescued crew landed in +safety. Here, owing to the violence of the sea, they were detained for +nearly three days, along with a boat's crew which had put off to their +relief from North Sunderland; and it required some ingenuity to +accommodate so large a party within the narrow limits of a lighthouse. +Grace gave up her bed to poor Mrs Dawson; most of the others rested as +they best could upon the floor. + +The romantic circumstances of this rescue, the isolated position of the +girl, her youth and modesty, and the self-devoting heroism displayed +upon this occasion, thrilled through the length and breadth of the +country like an electric shock, and the name of Grace Darling became for +the time as well known as that of the greatest in the land, while the +lonely lighthouse on the Longstone became a point of attraction to +thousands of warm admirers, among whom were many of the rich and the +noble. Letters and gifts flowed in upon Grace Darling continually. The +public seemed unable to do enough to testify their regard. The Duke of +Northumberland invited her over to Alnwick Castle, and presented her +with a gold watch. A public subscription, to the amount of 700 pounds, +was raised for her. The Humane Society presented her with a handsome +silver tea-pot and a vote of thanks for her courage and humanity. +Portraits of her were sold in the print-shops all over the land; and the +enthusiasm, which at first was the natural impulse of admiration for one +who had performed a noble and heroic deed, at last rose to a species of +mania, in the heat of which not a few absurdities were perpetrated. + +Among others, several of the proprietors of the metropolitan theatres +offered her a large sum nightly on condition that she would appear on +the stage, merely to sit in a boat during the performance of a piece +illustrative of the incident of which she was the heroine! As might +have been expected of one whose spirit was truly noble, she promptly +declined all such offers. God seems to have put his arm tenderly round +Grace Darling, and afforded her special strength to resist the severe +temptations to which she was exposed. + +All proposals to better her condition were rejected, and she returned to +her home on the island rock, where she remained with her father and +mother till within a few months of her death. The fell destroyer, alas! +claimed her while yet in the bloom of womanhood. She died of +consumption on the 20th of October 1842, leaving an example of +self-devoting courage in the hour of danger, and self-denying heroism in +the hour of temptation, that may well be admired and imitated by those +whose duty it is to man the lifeboat and launch to the rescue on the +stormy waves, in all time to come. + +LIFEBOATS. + +A lifeboat--that is to say, the lifeboat of the present time--differs +from all other boats in four particulars. It is _almost_ +indestructible; it is insubmergible; it is self-righting; it is +self-emptying. In other words, it can hardly be destroyed; it cannot be +sunk; it rights itself if upset; it empties itself if filled. + +The first of these qualities is due to the unusual strength of the +lifeboat, not only in reference to the excellence of the materials with +which it is made, but also to the manner in which the planks are laid +on. These cross one another in a diagonal manner, which cannot be +easily described or explained to ordinary readers; but it is sufficient +to say that the method has the effect of binding the entire boat +together in a way that renders it much stronger than any other species +of craft. The second quality--that of insubmergibility--is due to +air-chambers fixed round the sides of the boat, under the seats, and at +the bow and stern. These air-cases are sufficiently buoyant to float +the boat even if she were filled to overflowing with water and crowded +to her utmost capacity with human beings. In short, to use an +expression which may appear paradoxical, she can carry more than she can +hold--has floating power sufficient to support more than can be got into +her. The third--her self-righting quality--is also due to air-chambers, +in connection with a heavy keel. There are two large and prominent +air-cases in the lifeboat--one in the bow, the other in the stern. +These rise considerably above the gunwale, insomuch that when the boat +is turned upside-down it rests upon them as upon two pivots. Of course +it cannot remain stationary on them for a moment, but must necessarily +fall over to the one side or the other. This is the first motion in +self-righting; then the heavy keel comes into play, and pulls the boat +quite round. Being full of water, the lifeboat would be comparatively +useless but for its fourth quality--that of self-emptying. This is +accomplished by means of six large holes which run through the floor and +bottom of the boat. The floor referred to is air-tight, and is so +placed that when fully manned and loaded with passengers it is a _very +little above the level of the sea_. On this fact the acting of the +principle depends. Between the floor and the bottom of the boat--a +space of upwards of a foot in depth--there is some light ballast of cork +or of wood, and some parts of the space are left empty. The six holes +above-mentioned are tubes of six inches in diameter, which extend from +the floor through the bottom of the boat. Now, it is one of nature's +laws that water must find its level. For instance, take any boat and +bore large holes in its bottom, and suppose it to be supported in its +_ordinary_ floating position, so that it cannot sink even though water +runs freely into it through the holes. Then fill it suddenly quite full +of water. Of course the water inside will be considerably above the +level of the water outside, but it will continue to run out at the holes +until it is exactly on a level with the water outside. Now, water +poured into a lifeboat acts exactly in the same way; but when it has +reached the level of the water outside _it has also reached the floor_, +so that there is no more water to run out. + +Such are the principal qualities of the splendid lifeboat now used on +our coasts, and of which it may be said that it has reached a state of +almost absolute perfection. + +The accompanying sections of the lifeboat exhibit the position of the +air-cases and discharging tubes. In Figure 1 the _shaded_ parts give a +side view of the air-cases. The line A A indicates the deck or floor, +which lies a _little_ above the level of the water when the boat is +loaded; B B is the water-tight space containing ballast; C C C are three +of the six discharging holes or tubes; the dotted line D D shows the +level of the sea. Figure 2 gives a bird's-eye view of the boat. The +shaded parts indicate the air-cases; and the position of the six +discharging tubes is more clearly shown than in Figure 1. There are +three covered openings in the floor, which permit of a free circulation +of air when the boat is not in use, and in one of these is a small pump +to clear the ballast-space of leakage. It will be observed that the +boat draws little water; in fact, there is much more of her above than +below water, and she is dependent for stability on her great breadth of +beam and her heavy keel. + +These four qualities in the lifeboat are illustrated every year by many +thrilling incidents of wreck and rescue. Let us glance at a few of +these. First, then, as to the _almost_ indestructible quality. Take +the following evidence:-- + +On a terrible night in the year 1857 a Portuguese brig struck on the +Goodwin Sands, not far from the lightship that marks the northern +extremity of those fatal shoals. A shot was fired, and a rocket sent up +from the lightship as a signal to the men on shore that a vessel had got +upon the sands. No second signal was needed. Anxious eyes had been on +the watch that night. Instantly the Ramsgate men jumped into their +lifeboat, which lay alongside the pier. It was deadly work that had to +be done,--the gale was one of the fiercest of the season,--nevertheless +the gallant men were so eager to get into the boat that it was +overmanned, and the last two who jumped in were obliged to go ashore. A +small but powerful steamer is kept to attend upon this boat. In a few +minutes it took her in tow and made for the mouth of the harbour. + +They staggered out right in the teeth of tide and tempest, and ploughed +their way through a heavy cross-sea that swept again and again over +them, until they reached the edge of the Goodwins. Here the steamer +cast off the boat, and waited for her, while she dashed into the surf +and bore the brunt of the battle alone. + +With difficulty the brig was found in the darkness. The lifeboat cast +anchor when within about forty fathoms, and veered down under her lee. +At first they were in hopes of getting the vessel off, and hours were +spent in vain endeavours to do this. But the storm increased in fury; +the brig began to break up; she rolled from side to side, and the yards +swung wildly in the air. A blow from one of these yards would have +stove the boat in, so the Portuguese crew--twelve men and a boy--were +taken from the wreck, and the boatmen endeavoured to push off. All this +time the boat had been floating in a basin worked in the sand by the +motion of the wreck; but the tide had been falling, and when they tried +to pull up to their anchor the boat struck heavily on the edge of this +basin. The men worked to get off the shoals as only those can work +whose lives depend on their efforts. They succeeded in getting afloat +for a moment, but again struck and remained fast. Meanwhile the brig +was lifted by each wave and let fall with a thundering crash; her +timbers began to snap like pipe-stems, and as she worked nearer and +nearer, it became evident that destruction was not far off. The heavy +seas caused by the increasing storm flew over the lifeboat, so that +those in her could only hold on to the thwarts for their lives. At last +the brig came so near that there was a stir among the men; they were +preparing for the last struggle--some of them intending to leap into the +rigging of the wreck and take their chance; but the coxswain shouted, +"Stick to the boat, boys! stick to the boat!" and the men obeyed. + +At that moment the boat lifted a little on the surf, and grounded again. +New hope was infused by this. + +The men pulled at the hawser, and shoved might and main with the oars. +They succeeded in getting out of immediate danger, but still could not +pull up to the anchor in teeth of wind and tide. The coxswain then saw +plainly that there was but one resource left--to cut the cable and drive +right across the Goodwin Sands. But there was not yet sufficient water +on the Sands to float them over; so they held on, intending to ride at +anchor until the tide, which had turned, should rise. Very soon, +however, the anchor began to drag. This compelled them to hoist sail, +cut the cable sooner than they had intended, and attempt to beat off the +Sands. It was in vain. A moment more, and they struck with tremendous +force. A breaker came rolling towards them, filled the boat, caught her +up like a plaything on its crest, and, hurling her a few yards onwards, +let her fall again with a shock that well-nigh tore every man out of +her. Each successive breaker treated her in this way. + +Those who dwell by the sea-shore know well the familiar ripples that +mark the sands when the tide is out. On the Goodwins these ripples are +gigantic steps, to be measured by feet, not by inches. From one to +another of these banks this splendid boat was thrown. Each roaring surf +caught it by the bow or stern, and, whirling it right round, sent it +crashing on the next ledge. The Portuguese sailors appeared to give up +all hope, and clung to the thwarts in silent despair; but the crew-- +eighteen in number--did not lose heart altogether. They knew their boat +well, had often gone out to battle in her, and hoped that they might yet +be saved if she should only escape striking on the pieces of old wrecks +with which the Sands were strewn. + +Thus, literally, yard by yard, with a succession of shocks that would +have knocked any ordinary boat to pieces, did that lifeboat drive during +_two_ hours over _two_ miles of the Goodwin Sands. At last they drove +into deep water; the sails were set; and soon after, through God's +mercy, they landed the rescued crew in safety in Ramsgate Harbour. + +What further evidence need we that the lifeboat is almost, if not +altogether, indestructible? + +That the lifeboat is insubmergible has been proved to some extent by the +foregoing incident. No better instance could be adduced to prove the +buoyancy of the life boat than that of the Tynemouth boat, named the +Constance, at the wreck of the _Stanley_, in the year 1864. In this +case, while the boat was nearing the wreck, a billow broke over the bow +of the _Stanley_, and falling into the Constance, absolutely overwhelmed +her. Referring to this, the coxswain of the lifeboat says: "The sea +fell over the bows of the Stanley and buried the lifeboat. Every oar +was broken at the gunwale of the boat, and the outer ends swept away. +The men made a grasp for the spare oars; three were gone--two only +remained." Now, it is to be observed that the coxswain here speaks of +the boat as being _buried, sunk_ by the waves, and _immediately_, as he +says, "the men made a grasp for the spare oars." The sinking and +leaping to the surface seem to have been the work almost of the same +moment. And this is indeed the case; for when the force that sinks a +lifeboat is removed, she rises that instant to the surface like a cork. + +In order to prove the value of the self-righting quality, and the +superiority of those lifeboats which possess it over those which are +destitute of it, we will briefly cite three cases--the last of which +will also prove the value of the self-emptying quality. + +On the 4th of January 1857, the Point of Ayr lifeboat, when under sail +in a gale, upset at a distance from land. The accident was seen from +the shore; but no help could be rendered, and the whole boat's crew-- +thirteen in number--were drowned. Now, this was deemed a good lifeboat, +but it was not a self-righting one; and two of her crew were seen +clinging to the keel for twenty minutes, by which time they became +exhausted and were washed off. + +Take another case of a non-self-righting boat. In February 1858 the +Southwold lifeboat, a large sailing-boat, and esteemed one of the finest +in the kingdom, went out at the quarterly period of exercise in rough +weather, and was running before a heavy sea with all sail set when she +suddenly ran on the top of a wave, broached to, and upset. The crew in +this case were fortunately near the land, had on their cork belts, and +were dragged ashore, though with difficulty; but three amateurs, who +were without belts, perished. + +These two cases occurred in the day-time. + +The third case happened at night--on a very dark stormy night in October +1858. A wreck had been seen about three miles off Dungeness, and the +lifeboat at that place--a small self-righting and self-emptying one +belonging to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution--put off, with +eight stout men of the coast-guard for a crew. On reaching the wreck, +soon after midnight, it was found that the crew had deserted her; the +lifeboat therefore returned towards the shore. On nearing it she got +into a channel between two shoals, where she was caught up and struck by +three heavy seas in succession. The coxswain lost command of the +rudder; she was carried away before the sea, broached to, and upset, +throwing her crew out of her. Immediately she righted herself, cleared +herself of water, and the anchor, having fallen out, brought her up. +The crew, meanwhile, having on cork belts, floated, regained the boat, +clambered into it by means of the life-lines hung round her sides, cut +the cable, and returned to shore in safety. + +So much for the nature and capabilities of our lifeboats. We cannot +afford space to say more in regard to them than that they are the means, +under God, of saving many hundreds of human lives every year on the +coasts of the United Kingdom, besides a large amount of shipping and +property, which, but for them, would inevitably be lost. The noble +Institution which manages them was founded in 1824, and is supported +entirely by voluntary contributions. + +Along with the lifeboat we may appropriately describe here another +species of vessel, which, if it does not directly rescue lives, at all +events prevents disaster by giving timely warning of danger. We refer +to:-- + +LIGHTSHIPS. + +These floating beacons are anchored in the immediate vicinity of the +numerous sand-banks which lie off the mouths of some of the principal +ports of the kingdom, especially in England, and on other parts of our +shores. There are numerous floating lights around our coasts, marking +shoals on which lighthouses could not easily be erected. Their +importance to shipping is inconceivably great. The accompanying +illustration shows a vessel passing the lightship at the Nore. The +impossibility of shipping getting safely into or out of the port of +London without the guiding aid of lightships, as well as of buoys and +beacons, may be made clear by a simple statement of the names of some of +the obstructions which lie in the mouth of the Thames. There are the +_Knock_ Shoals, the East and West _Barrows_, the _John_, the _Sunk_, the +_Girdler_, and the _Long_ Sands, all lying like so many ground sharks +waiting to arrest and swallow up passing vessels, which, unfortunately, +they too often accomplish despite the numerous precautions taken to rob +them of their prey. Most people know the appearance of buoys, but we +dare say few have seen a buoy or beacon resembling the one in our +engraving, which is a sort of cage, fastened to a buoy, with a bell +inside that rings by the action of the waves. It must have been +something of this sort that was used at the famous "Bell Rock" in days +of yore. + +Lightships are usually clumsy-looking, red-painted vessels, having one +strong mast amidships, with a ball at the top, about six feet in +diameter, made of light laths. This ball is a very conspicuous object, +and clearly indicates a lightship to the passing vessel during the day. +At night a huge lantern traverses on, and is hoisted to nearly the top +of, the same mast. It is lighted by a number of argand lamps with +powerful reflectors. Some lightships have two masts, and some three, +with a ball and a lantern on each. Some of these lanterns contain +fixed, others revolving lights--these differences being for the purpose +of indicating to seamen the particular light which they happen to be +passing. + +Thus, the Goodwin Sands, which are upwards of ten miles in length, are +marked by three lightships. The one on the north has three masts and +three _fixed_ lights. The one on the south has two masts and two +_fixed_ lights. The one that lies between the two--off Ramsgate, and +named the Gull--has one mast and one _revolving_ light. + +The crew of a lightship consists of about nine or ten men, each of whom +does duty for two months on board, and one month on shore, taking their +turn by rotation; so that the number of men always on board is about +seven. While on shore, they attend to the buoys, anchors, chain-cables, +and other stores of the Trinity House, which has charge of all the +lights, buoys, and beacons in England. They also assist in laying down +new buoys and sinkers, and removing old ones, etcetera. + +Lightships run considerable risk, for besides being exposed at all times +to all the storms that rage on our shores, they are sometimes run into +by ships in foggy weather. + +The _Gull_ lightship, above referred to, occupies a peculiar and +interesting position. Being in the very centre of all the shipping +which passes through the Downs, she has frequent narrow escapes, and has +several times been damaged by collisions. The marvel is that, +considering her position, she does not oftener "come to grief." She +also signals for the Ramsgate lifeboat, by means of guns and rockets, +when a ship is observed by her crew to have got upon the dreaded Goodwin +Sands. + +We had the pleasure of spending a week on board of the _Gull_ lightship +not long ago, and one night witnessed a very stirring scene of calling +out the lifeboat. We shall conclude this subject by quoting the +following letter, which we wrote at the time, giving a detailed account +of it. + + RAMSGATE, MARCH 26, 1870. +The eye-witness of a battle from an unusual point of view may, without +presumption, believe that he has something interesting to tell. I +therefore send you an account of what I saw in the _Gull_ lightship, off +the Goodwin Sands, on the night of Thursday last, when the _Germania_, +of Bremen, was wrecked on the South-Sand-Head. Having been an +inhabitant of the _Gull_ lightship for a week, and cut off from +communication with the shore for several days, I have been unable to +write sooner. + +Our never-ending warfare with the storm is well known. Here is one +specimen of the manner in which it is carried on. + +A little before midnight on Thursday last (the 24th), while I was +rolling uneasily in my "bunk," contending with sleep and sea-sickness, +and moralising on the madness of those who choose "the sea" for a +profession, I was roused--and sickness instantly cured--by the watch on +deck suddenly shouting down the hatchway to the mate, "_South-Sand-Head_ +light is firing, sir, and sending up rockets." The mate sprang from his +"bunk," and was on the cabin floor before the sentence was well +finished. I followed suit, and pulled on coat, nether garments, and +shoes, as if my life depended on my own speed. There was unusual need +for clothing, for the night was bitterly cold. A coat of ice had formed +even on the salt-water spray which had blown into the boats. On gaining +the deck, we found the two men on duty actively at work, the one loading +the lee gun, the other adjusting a rocket to its stick. A few hurried +questions from the mate elicited all that it was needful to know. The +flash of a gun from the _South-Sand-Head_ lightship, about six miles +distant, had been seen, followed by a rocket, indicating that a vessel +had got upon the fatal Goodwins. While the men spoke, I saw the bright +flash of another gun, but heard no report, owing to the gale carrying +the sound to leeward. A rocket followed, and at the same moment we +observed the light of the vessel in distress just on the southern tail +of the Sands. By this time our gun was charged, and the rocket in +position. "Look alive, Jack! get the poker," cried the mate, as he +primed the gun. Jack dived down the companion hatch, and in another +moment returned with a red-hot poker, which the mate had thrust into the +cabin fire at the first alarm. Jack applied it in quick succession to +the gun and the rocket. A blinding flash and deafening crash were +followed by the whiz of the rocket as it sprang with a magnificent curve +far away into the surrounding darkness. This was our answer to the +_South-Sand-Head_ light, which, having fired three guns and three +rockets to attract our attention, now ceased firing. It was also our +note of warning to the look-out on the pier of Ramsgate Harbour. +"That's a beauty," said our mate, referring to the rocket; "get up +another, Jack; sponge her well out. Jacobs, we'll give 'em another shot +in a few minutes." Loud and clear were both our signals; but four and a +half miles of distance and a fresh gale neutralised their influence. +The look-out did not see them. In less than five minutes the gun and +rocket were fired again. Still no answering signal came from Ramsgate. +"Load the weather gun," said the mate. Jacobs obeyed; and I sought +shelter under the lee of the weather bulwarks, for the wind appeared to +be composed of pen-knives and needles. Our third gun thundered forth, +and shook the lightship from stem to stern; but the rocket struck the +rigging, and made a low, wavering flight. Another was therefore sent +up; but it had scarcely cut its bright line across the sky, when we +observed the answering signal--a rocket from Ramsgate Pier. + +"That's all right now, sir; our work is done," said the mate, as he went +below, and, divesting himself of his outer garments, quietly turned in; +while the watch, having sponged out and re-covered the gun, resumed +their active perambulation of the deck. I confess that I felt somewhat +disappointed at this sudden termination of the noise and excitement. I +was told that the Ramsgate lifeboat could not well be out in less than +an hour. It seemed to my excited spirit a terrible thing that human +lives should be kept so long in jeopardy; and, of course, I began to +think, "Is it not possible to prevent this delay?" But excited spirits +are not always the best judges of such matters, although they have an +irresistible tendency to judge. There was nothing for it, however, but +patience; so I turned in, "all standing," as sailors have it, with +orders that I should be called when the lights of the tug should come in +sight. It seemed but a few minutes after, when the voice of the watch +was again heard shouting hastily, "Lifeboat close alongside, sir. +Didn't see it till this moment. She carries no lights." I bounced out, +and, minus coat, hat, and shoes, scrambled on deck, just in time to see +the _Broadstairs_ lifeboat rush past us before the gale. She was close +under our stern, and rendered spectrally visible by the light of our +lantern. "What are you firing for?" shouted the coxswain of the boat. +"Ship on the sands, bearing south," replied Jack at the full pitch of +his stentorian voice. The boat did not pause. It passed with a +magnificent rush into darkness. The reply had been heard; and the +lifeboat shot straight as an arrow to the rescue. We often hear and +read of such scenes, but vision is necessary to enable one to realise +the full import of all that goes on. A strange thrill ran through me as +I saw the familiar blue and white boat leaping over the foaming billows. +Often had I seen it in model, and in quiescence in its boat-house-- +ponderous and ungainly; but now I saw it, for the first time, endued +with life. So, I fancy, warriors might speak of our heavy cavalry as we +see them in barracks, and as _they_ saw them at Alma. Again all was +silent and unexciting on board of the _Gull_. I went shivering below, +with exalted notions of the courage and endurance of lifeboat men. Soon +after, the watch once more shouted, "Tug's in sight, sir;" and once +again the mate and I went on deck. On this occasion, the tug _Aid_ had +made a mistake. Some one on shore had reported that the guns and +rockets had been seen flashing from the _Gull_ and _North-Sand-Head_ +lightships; whereas the report should have been, from the _Gull_ and +_South-Sand-Head_ vessels. The single word was all-important. It +involved an unnecessary run of about twelve miles, and an hour and a +half's loss of time. But we mention this merely as a fact, not as a +complaint. Accidents will happen. The Ramsgate lifeboat service is +admirably regulated, and for once that an error of this kind can be +pointed out, we can point to dozens--ay, hundreds--of cases in which the +steamer and lifeboat have gone straight as the crow flies to the rescue, +and have done good service on occasions when all other lifeboats would +have failed, so great is the value of steam in such matters. On this +occasion, however, the tug appeared late on the scene, and hailed us. +When the true state of the case was ascertained, the course was directed +aright, and full steam let on. The Ramsgate lifeboat, _Bradford_, was +in tow far astern. As she passed us the brief questions and answers +were repeated for the benefit of the coxswain of the boat. I observed +that every man in the boat lay flat on the thwarts except the coxswain. +No wonder. It is not an easy matter to sit up in a gale of wind, with +freezing spray, and sometimes green seas, sweeping over one. They were, +doubtless, wide awake, and listening; but, as far as vision went, that +boat was manned with ten oilskin coats and sou'-westers. A few seconds +took them out of sight; and thus, as far as the _Gull_ lightship was +concerned, the drama ended. There was no possibility of our +ascertaining more, at least during that night; for whatever might be the +result of these efforts, the floating lights had no chance of hearing of +them until the next visit of their tender. I was therefore obliged to +turn in once more, at three a.m. Next forenoon we saw the wreck, bottom +up, high on the Goodwin Sands. + +On Friday morning, the _Alert_--tender to the lightships of this +district, under command of the Trinity Superintendent, Captain Vaile-- +came off to us, and we learned the name of the vessel, that she was a +total wreck, and that the crew, seven men, had taken to their boat, and +succeeded in reaching the _South-Sand-Head_ lightship, whence they were +almost immediately after taken by the Deal lifeboat, and safely landed +at Deal. + +It is to be carefully observed here that, although in this case much +energy was expended unnecessarily, it does not follow that it is often +so expended. Often--too often--all the force of lifeboat service on +this coast is insufficient to meet the demands on it. The crews of the +various boats in the vicinity of the Goodwin Sands are frequently called +out more than once in a night; and they are sometimes out all night, +visiting various wrecks in succession. In all this work the value of +the steam-tug is very conspicuous. For it can tow its boat again and +again to windward, and renew the effort to save life in cases where, +unaided, lifeboats would be compelled to give in. Embarking in the +_Alert_, I sailed round the wreck at low water, and observed that the +Deal luggers were swarming round her like flies; the crews stripping her +bottom of copper, and saving her stores, while, apparently, hundreds of +men were busy upon her deck dismantling her shattered hull. + +This, after all, is but an insignificant episode of wreck on the +Goodwins. Many wrecks there are every year much more worthy of record; +but this is sufficient to give a general idea of the manner in which our +great war with the storm is conducted--the promptitude with which relief +is rendered, and the energy with which our brave seamen are ready to +imperil their lives almost every night, all round the coast, and all the +year round. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +DOCKS AND SHIPBUILDING. + +Having in the previous chapters treated of the subjects of ancient +navigation and ships, and given some account of the boats of the present +time, we now proceed to write about modern ships. In doing so, let us +turn our attention first to:-- + +THE DOCKYARD. + +If we were a maker of riddles, we would ask our reader, "Why is a ship +like a human being?" and having added, "D'ye give it up?" would reply, +"Because it commences life in a cradle;" but not being a fabricator of +riddles, we _don't_ ask our reader that question. We merely draw his +attention to the fact that ships, like men, have not only an infancy, +but also have cradles--of which more hereafter. + +Let us enter one of those naval nurseries--the dockyard--where ships may +be seen commencing their career. What a scene it is! What sawing and +thumping, and filing, and grinding, and clinching, and hammering, +without intermission, from morn till noon, and from noon till dewy eve! +What a Babel of sounds and chaos of indescribable material! + +That little boy whom you observe standing under the shadow of yonder +hull--his hands in his pockets (of course), his mouth open (probably), +and his eyes gazing up fixedly at the workmen, who cluster like bees on +the ribs and timbers of yonder infant ship has stood there for more than +an hour, and he will stand there, or thereabout, for many hours to come; +for it happens to be a holiday with him, and he dotes on harbours and +dockyards. His whole being is wrapped up in them. + +And this is natural enough. Most boys delight to gaze on +incomprehensible and stupendous works. Let us--you and I, reader-- +follow this urchin's example, keeping our mouths shut, however, save +when we mean to speak, and our eyes open. + +There are ships here of every shape and size--from the little +coasting-vessel to the great East Indiaman, which, in its unfinished +condition, looks like the skeleton of some dire megatherium of the +antediluvian world. Some of these infant ships have an enormous shed +over them to protect them from the weather; others are destitute of such +protection: for ships, like men, it would seem, are liable to +vicissitudes of fortune. While the "great ones" of the dockyard world +are comfortably housed, the small ones are not unfrequently exposed to +the fitful buffeting of the rude elements even from their birth. + +There are ships here, too, in every state of progression. There, just +beside you, is a "little one" that was born yesterday. The keel has +just been laid on the blocks; and it will take many a long day of +clinching and sawing and hammering ere that infant assumes the bristling +appearance of an antediluvian skeleton. Yonder is the hull of a ship +almost completed. It is a gigantic infant, and has the aspect of a very +thriving child. It evidently has a robust constitution and a sturdy +frame. Perhaps we may re-visit the dockyard to-morrow, and see this +vessel launched. + +Besides these two, there are ships with their ribs partially up, and +ships with their planking partially on; and in a more distant part of +the yard there are one or two old ships hauled up, high and dry, to have +their bottoms repaired and their seams re-pitched, after many a rough +and bravely-fought battle with the ocean waves. + +Now that we have gazed our fill at the general aspect of the dockyard, +let us descend a little more to particulars. We shall first tell of +the:-- + +NATURE AND USE OF DOCKS. + +There are two kinds of docks--dry and wet. A dry-dock is usually +constructed with gates, to admit or shut out the tide. When a ship +arrives from a long voyage, and needs repair to the lower part of her +hull, she must be got out of the water somehow or other. + +This object is frequently attained in regard to small vessels by simply +running them gently on the flat sand or mud beach of a bay or harbour, +so that, when the tide retires, they shall be left dry. But it would be +dangerous as well as inconvenient to do this with large ships, therefore +dry-docks have been constructed for this purpose. They are so built +that when the tide is full the dry-docks are also full. When thus full +of water, the gates of a dry-dock are opened, and the large ship is +dragged slowly in, after which the gates are shut. The tide then +retires, leaving it in this basin of water. The ship is then propped up +on all sides with timbers, in such a way that she stands upright, "upon +an even keel," and thus, the pressure on her hull being equally +distributed, she is not damaged. Then the water is let out by means of +sluices in the gates, or it is pumped out, and the ship left dry. When +the tide returns, the gates and sluices are all shut, and its entrance +into the dock prevented, until such time as the ship is repaired, when +water is let slowly in. As the vessel floats, the props and supports +fall away, the gates of her hospital are opened, and off she goes again, +in all the vigour of recruited health, to wing her way over the billows +of the great deep. + +A wet-dock is somewhat similar to a dry-dock, the chief difference being +that ships while in it are kept floating in water. + +Docks are not only used, however, for repairing and building ships. +They are also used for loading and unloading them; and as ships are +entering and departing from them almost constantly, the busy, bustling, +active scene they present is always agreeable. + +The principal docks in the United Kingdom are as follows:-- + +DOCKS ON THE THAMES--namely, East and West India Docks, London Docks, +Saint Katherine's Docks, Commercial Docks, Victoria Docks. + +SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS. + +LIVERPOOL AND BRISTOL DOCKS. + +HULL DOCKS. + +GLASGOW DOCKS. + +DUNDEE DOCKS. + +LEITH DOCKS. + +BIRKENHEAD DOCKS. + +So much for docks in passing. Let us now turn our attention to the +process of:-- + +BUILDING A SHIP. + +As we think it highly improbable that any of our readers intend to +become either ship-carpenters or ship-architects, we will not worry them +with technical explanations. To give an easily understood and general +idea of the manner of building a ship is all we shall attempt. The +names of those parts only that are frequently or occasionally referred +to in general literature shall be given. + +The term _ship_ is employed in two significations. In familiar language +it denotes any large or small vessel that navigates the ocean with +sails. In nautical language it refers solely to a vessel having three +masts, each consisting of a lower-mast, a top-mast, and a +top-gallant-mast. At present we use the term _ship_ in the familiar +sense. + +Elaborate and complicated drawings having been prepared, the shipbuilder +begins his work. + +The _keel_ is the first part of a ship that is laid. It is the beam +which runs along the bottom of a boat or ship from one end to the other. +In large ships the keel consists of several pieces joined together. +Its uses are, to cause the ship to preserve a direct course in its +passage through the water; to check the leeway which every vessel has a +tendency to make; and to moderate the rolling motion. The keel is also +the ground-work, or foundation, on which the whole superstructure is +reared, and is, therefore, immensely strong and solid. The best wood +for keels is teak, as it is not liable to split. + +Having laid the keel firmly on a bed of wooden blocks, in such a +position that the ship when finished may slide into the water stern +foremost, the shipbuilder proceeds next to erect the stem and stern +posts. + +The _stem-post_ rises from the _front_ end of the keel, not quite +perpendicularly from it, but sloping a little outwards. It is formed of +one or more pieces of wood, according to the size of the ship; but no +matter how many pieces may be used, it is always a uniform single beam +in appearance. To this the ends of the planks of the ship are +afterwards fastened. Its outer edge is called the _cut-water_, and the +part of the ship around it is named the _bow_. + +The _stern-post_ rises from the opposite end of the keel, and also +slopes a little outwards. To it are fastened the ends of the planking +and the framework of the stern part of the ship. To it also is attached +that little but most important part of a vessel, the _rudder_. The +rudder, or helm, is a small piece of timber extending along the back of +the stern-post, and hung movably upon it by means of what may be called +large iron hooks-and-eyes. By means of the rudder the mariner guides +the ship in whatever direction he pleases. The contrast between the +insignificant size of the rudder and its immense importance is very +striking. Its power over the ship is thus referred to in +Scripture,--"Behold also the ships, which, though they be so great, and +are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small +helm, whithersoever the governor listeth." The rudder is moved from +side to side by a huge handle or lever on deck, called the _tiller_; but +as in large ships the rudder is difficult to move by so simple a +contrivance, several ropes or chains and pulleys are attached to it, and +connected with the drum of a _wheel_, at which the steersman stands. In +the largest ships two, and in rough weather four men are often stationed +at the wheel. + +The _ribs_ of the ship next rise to view. These are curved wooden +beams, which rise on each side of the keel, and are bolted firmly to it. +They serve the same purpose to a ship that bones do to the human +frame--they support and give strength to it as well as form. + +The _planks_ follow the ribs. These are broad, and vary in thickness +from two to four inches. They form the outer skin of the ship, and are +fastened to the ribs, keel, stem-post, and stern-post by means of +innumerable pins of wood or iron, called _tree-nails_. The spaces +between the planks are caulked--that is, _stuffed_ with oakum; which +substance is simply the untwisted tow of old and tarry ropes. A +figure-head of some ornamental kind having been placed on the top and +front of the stem-post, just above the cutwater, and a flat, ornamental +stern, with windows in it to light the cabin, the hull of our ship is +complete. But the interior arrangements have yet to be described, +although, of course, they have been progressing at the same time with +the rest. + +The _beams_ of a ship are massive wooden timbers, which extend across +from side to side in a series of tiers. They serve the purpose of +binding the sides together, of preventing them from collapsing, and of +supporting the decks, as well as of giving compactness and great +strength to the whole structure. + +The _decks_ are simply plank floors nailed to the beams, and serve very +much the same purposes as the floors of a house. They also help to +strengthen the ship longitudinally. All ships have at least one +complete deck; most have two, with a half-deck at the stern, called the +_quarter-deck_, and another at the bow, called the _forecastle_. But +the decks of large ships are still more numerous. Those of a first-rate +man-of-war are as follows--we begin with the lowest, which is +considerably under the surface of the sea:-- + +The Orlop-deck, the Gun-deck, the Middle-deck, the Upper-deck, the +Quarter-deck, and the Poop--the latter deck being the highest deck of +all, a very small one, at the stern. + +Thus a man-of-war is a floating house with six stories--the poop being +the garret, and the orlop-deck the cellars. The upper decks are lighted +by sky-lights; those farther down by port-holes (or gun-holes) and +windows; the lowest of all by candles or lamps, daylight being for ever +banished from those gloomy submarine regions! + +The _bulwarks_ rise above the upper-deck, all round the ship, and serve +the purposes of protecting the upper-deck from the waves, and supporting +the _belaying-pins_, to which the ropes are fastened. In ships of war +the top of the bulwarks forms a sort of trough all round the ship, in +which the hammocks (the swinging-beds) of the men are stowed away every +morning. This trough is termed the _hammock-nettings_, and the hammocks +are placed there to be well aired. In action the bulwarks serve to +protect the crew from musketry. + +The _wheel_, which has been already referred to, stands usually at the +stern of the ship, on the quarter-deck; but it is sometimes placed on an +elevated platform amid-ships, so that the steersman may see more clearly +where he is going. + +The _binnacle_ stands directly in front of the wheel. It is a species +of box, firmly fixed to the deck, in which is placed the compass. It is +completely covered in, having a glass window, through which the man at +the wheel can observe the course he is steering. + +The _capstan_ stands on the main-deck, sometimes near the centre of the +vessel, at other times near the bow or the stern. It is a massive block +of timber moving on a pivot, which is turned round by wooden levers, +called capstan bars, or _hand-spikes_, and is used for any purpose that +requires great _tractive_ power--the drawing in of the cable, for +instance, or warping the ship; which means that a rope is fixed on +shore, or by an anchor to the bottom of the sea, and the other end of it +is coiled round the capstan, so that when the capstan is forced round by +the handspikes, the rope coils on to it, and the ship is slowly dragged +forward. + +The _windlass_ is simply a horizontal, instead of a perpendicular +capstan. Its sole purpose is for heaving up the anchor, and it is +placed close to the bow of the ship. + +The _galley_, or cooking-house, is usually near to the windlass, in the +front part of the vessel. Here the cook reigns supreme; but this +nautical kitchen is wonderfully small. It is just big enough to hold +the fireplace and "coppers," with a small shelf, on which the cook +(always a man, and often a negro) performs the duties of his office. + +The various decks below are partitioned off by means of plank walls, +which are called _bulk-heads_, into a variety of berths and apartments; +and the greater part of the centre of the vessel (in merchantmen) is +called the _hold_, and is reserved for cargo. + +The _hull_ of the ship being finished, now gets a coat of tar all over +it, which preserves the wood from the action of the weather, and helps +to render the seams water-tight. Some vessels are sheathed from the +keel to a short way above their water-line with thin sheets of copper, +to preserve them more effectually from tear and wear, and especially to +defend them against those barnacles and marine insects that would +otherwise fasten to them. + +Being now ready to be launched from her cradle into the sea--her future +home--we will proceed in our next chapter to describe the process of +launching. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +THE LAUNCH, ETCETERA. + +Ships begin life with a retrograde movement; they imitate the crabs: in +other words, they are launched stern foremost. Whether great or small, +long or short, whether clothed in patrician copper or smeared with +plebeian tar, they all start on their first voyage with their +stern-posts acting the part of cut-water, and, also, without masts or +sails. These necessary adjuncts, and a host of others, are added after +they have been clasped to the bosom of their native sea. One notable +exception there is to this rule, the launch of the far-famed _Great +Eastern_, which monster of the deep was forced into her element +_sidewise_, of which a full account will be found in another part of +this volume. + +The _cradles_ on which ships are launched are wooden frameworks, so +constructed as to slide down an inclined plane, called the _ways_, +bearing their burdens along with them into the water. When a ship is +ready for launching, the _shores_, or supports, that have kept her so +long in position are knocked away one by one, until the entire weight of +the ship rests on the cradle. The _ways_ are then well greased, and it +only remains to knock away one or two remaining checks to allow the +vessel to seek her future home by means of her own weight. + +But before this last act is done, a day must be fixed for the launch; +friends of the owners must be invited to go on board during this her +first voyage; a fair maiden must be asked to go through the ceremony of +giving the ship her name; and paragraphs must go the round of the +newspapers. As the hour draws near, crowds of human beings, young and +old, male and female, must hurry to the spot to witness the great event, +and hundreds of little boys must beg leave from school (if they can); in +short, a great stir must be made, and a great day must dawn, before the +last shores are knocked away, and the noble structure be permitted to +rush down that inclined plane, and for the first time cleave the waves. + +And now, having shown how the launching of our ship is accomplished, let +us turn to consider the next step towards completion; for there is yet +much to be done ere she is able to brave the tempest. + +RIGGING A SHIP. + +Although fitting-in the lower-masts of a ship cannot well be deemed a +part of the rigging, we will nevertheless describe the operation here. + +As the lower-masts of a large ship are from five to six feet in +circumference, it is manifest that some powerful mechanical contrivance +is required to raise them over the bulwarks, and put them in an upright +position, into their appointed places. Such contrivances, in the form +of enormous cranes, are fixed in some of the larger docks; but the most +useful method is to have the masts put in by means of: + +_The Shear Hulk_. This is a strongly built hull of a ship, moored in a +part of a river or harbour that will afford depth of water to float +vessels of any size alongside. It has one stout mast, with two immense +beams attached to it near the deck, and sloping outwards over the +bulwarks in such a way that their ends overhang the deck of the vessel +into which masts are to be placed. These sloping beams are prevented +from falling overboard altogether, and their slope is regulated, by +blocks and tackles from the mast of the hulk. By means of this +contrivance, which is just a gigantic floating crane, the ponderous +lower-masts of large ships are raised and lowered into their places. + +When these are fixed, the rigging of the ship commences. The method of +putting it up cannot prove interesting to general readers; not even to +boys, for when they take to rigging model ships, they do not require the +mechanical contrivances that are necessary in rigging large vessels. +But all readers of sea stories and nautical history will find it of the +utmost advantage to their clear understanding of what they read, to have +a general idea of the names and uses of the principal parts of a ship's +rigging. + +We shall, therefore, devote a small space to the explanation of this +subject. And, first, let us examine the _Masts_. + +These vary in size, form, and number in different ships, but in all they +serve the same purpose--to support the sails. Lower masts of large +vessels are never formed out of one tree. They are found to be stronger +when built up of several pieces, which are fastened together by strong +iron hoops. Masts sometimes consist of three distinct parts. The +_lower_-mast, _top_-mast, and _top-gallant_-mast. In most large ships +there are three masts, each having three parts. The centre mast, being +the largest, is the _main-mast_; the front one, which is next in size, +is the _fore-mast_; and the one next the stern, the smallest, is called +the _mizzen_. + +Although we have spoken of _lower-masts_ for the sake of clearness, the +name is never used. The name of the mast itself designates the lower +part of it. To name the masts in order, we have the Fore-mast. +Main-mast. Mizzen-mast. Fore-top-mast. Main-top-mast. +Mizzen-top-mast. Fore-topgallant-mast. Main-topgallant-mast. +Mizzen-topgallant-mast. + +The parts of the different masts are connected and secured by means of +_cross-trees_ and _caps_, which are named after the mast and part of the +mast to which they belong. Thus we have the _fore-top_, the +_fore-top-mast cross-trees_, the _main-top_, and _main-top-mast +cross-trees_, etcetera. Observe, particularly, that the _fore-top_, +_main-top_, and _mizzen-top_, are the platforms, or cross-trees, at the +tops of the _lower_-masts, and not--as might well be supposed by +landsmen--the extreme tops of these masts. The button-like objects on +the summits of the masts are called the _trucks_; which, besides forming +a sort of finish to them, are fitted with small _pulleys_, through which +_signal-halyards_, or cords for hoisting the flags, are rove. + +In first-rate men-of-war the _tops_ are so large that a number of men +can be stationed on them. Besides their other purposes, they are very +frequently used as a place of punishment for the midshipmen, or +"middies" (the boy officers), who are often sent there to air +themselves, and profit, if they can, by calm reflection in exalted +solitude. + +_Shrouds_ and _stays_ are the thick ropes that keep the masts firmly in +position. They form part of what is termed the "standing gear" of a +ship--in other words, the ropes that are fixtures--to distinguish them +from the "running gear"--those movable ropes, by means of which the +sails, boats, flags, etcetera, are hoisted. Nearly all the ropes of a +ship are named after the mast, or yard, or sail with which they are +connected. Thus we have the _main shrouds_, the _main-top-mast +shrouds_, and the _main-topgallant shrouds_; the _main back-stay_, the +_main-topgallant back-stay_, and so on--those of the other masts being +similarly named, with the exception of the first word, which, of course, +indicates the particular mast referred to. The shrouds rise from the +_chains_, which are a series of blocks called "dead eyes," fixed to the +sides of the ship. To these the shrouds are fixed, and also to the +masts near the tops; they serve the purpose of preventing the masts from +falling _sideways_. Backstays prevent them from falling _forward_, and +_forestays_ prevent them from falling _backward_, or "aft." Besides +this, shrouds have little cross ropes called _ratlines_ attached to +them, by means of which rope-ladders the sailors ascend and descend the +rigging to _furl_, that is, tie up, or _unfurl_, that is, to untie or +shake out, the sails. + +Our cut represents a sailor-boy ascending the mizzen-top-mast shrouds. +He grasps the _shrouds_, and stands on the _ratlines_. + +_Yards_ are the heavy wooden cross-poles or beams to which the sails are +attached. + +_Reef-points_ are the little ropes which may be observed hanging in +successive rows on all sails, by means of which _parts_ of the sails are +gathered in and tied round the yards, thus reducing their size in stormy +weather. Hence such nautical expressions as "taking in a reef," or a +"double reef," and "close reefing,"--which last implies that a sail is +to be reduced to its smallest possible dimensions. The only further +reduction possible would be folding it up altogether, close to the yard, +which would be called "furling" it, and which would render it altogether +ineffective. In order to furl or reef sails, the men have to ascend the +masts, and _lay-out_ upon the yards. It is very dangerous work in +stormy weather. Many a poor fellow, while reefing sails in a dark +tempestuous night, has been blown from the yard into the sea, and never +heard of more. All the yards of a ship, except the three largest, can +be hoisted and lowered by means of _halyards_. The top-gallant masts +can also be lowered, but the lower-masts, of course, are fixtures. + +The _bowsprit_ of a ship is a mast which projects out horizontally, or +at an angle, from the bow. It is sometimes in two or three pieces, +sometimes only in one. To it are attached the _jib-sail_ and the +_flying-jib_, besides a variety of ropes and stays which are connected +with and support the fore-mast. + +The _cat heads_ are two short beams which project from the bows on +either side, and support the ship's anchors. + +_Miscellaneous_.--The openings in the decks are called _hatches_; the +stair-cases which descend to the cabins are called _companions_. The +pulleys by which sails, etcetera, are hoisted, are named _blocks_. +_Braces_ are the ropes by which sails are fixed tightly in any position. +Hauling a rope _taut_, means hauling it tight. The _weather_ side of a +ship means the side which happens to be presented to the wind; the _lee_ +side, that which is away from the wind, and, therefore, sheltered. The +_starboard_ side means the right side, the _larboard_ signifies the +left; but as the two words resemble each other, the word _port_ is +always used for larboard to prevent mistakes in shouting orders. +_Heaving the lead_ is the act of throwing a heavy leaden plummet, with a +line attached, into the sea to ascertain its depth. It is thrown from +the _chains_ as far as possible ahead of the ship, so that it may reach +the bottom and be perpendicularly beneath the man who heaves it when the +ship comes up to the spot where it entered the water. A peculiar and +musical cry is given forth by the heaver of the lead each time he throws +it. The forecastle is the habitat of the ordinary sailors, and is +usually in nautical parlance termed the _foge-s'l_. + +Most of what we have just described applies more or less to every ship; +but this will be seen in future chapters. Meanwhile, we would seriously +recommend all those who have found this chapter a dry one to turn back +to the heading entitled "Rigging a Ship," and from that point read it +all over again with earnest attention. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +COASTING VESSELS. + +The coasting-trade of the British Islands is replete with danger, yet it +is carried on with the utmost vigour; and there are always plenty of +"hands," as seamen are called when spoken of in connection with ships, +to man the vessels. The traffic in which they are engaged is the +transporting of the goods peculiar to one part of our island, to another +part where they are in demand. + +In describing these vessels, we shall begin with the smallest. + +SLOOPS. + +Like all other vessels, sloops vary in size, but none of them attain to +great magnitude. As a class, they are the smallest decked vessels we +have. From 40 to 100 tons burden is a very common size. A sloop of 40 +tons burden is what we ordinarily call a _little_ ship, and one of 100 +tons is by no means a big one. The hull of such a vessel being intended +exclusively to carry cargo, very little space is allowed for the crew. +The cabins of the smaller-sized sloops are seldom high enough to permit +of an ordinary man standing erect. They are usually capable of +affording accommodation to two in the cabin, and three or four in the +forecastle,--and such accommodation is by no means ample. The class to +which vessels belong is determined chiefly by the number of their masts +and by the arrangement and the form of their sails. + +The distinctive peculiarity of the sloop is, that it has but one mast; +and its rig is, nautically speaking, _fore-and-aft_--that is to say, the +sails are spread with their surfaces parallel to the sides of the +vessel, _not_ stretched upon yards _across_ the vessel. The term +"fore-and-aft" is derived from the _forward_ part and the _after_ part +of the ship. _Fore-and-aft_ sails, then, are such as are spread upon +yards which point fore and aft, not across the ship. We conceive this +elaborate explanation to be necessary for some readers, and, therefore, +don't apologise for making it. A ship whose sails are spread across the +hull is said to be _square-rigged_. Sometimes, however, a sloop carries +one and even two square sails. + +The masts, yards, and sails of a sloop are as follows:--As has been +already said, one of the distinctive peculiarities of a sloop is, that +it has only _one_ mast. This mast is sometimes formed of one _stick_, +sometimes of two; the second, or top-mast, being fastened to the top of +the lower mast by _cross-trees_ and _cap_, in such a way that it may be +hoisted or lowered at pleasure. A sloop has usually four sails,--a +mainsail, fore-sail, gaff, and jib. The _main-sail_ is behind the lower +mast. It reaches from within a few feet of the deck to the top of the +lower mast, and spreads out upon two yards towards the stern or after +part of the ship, over which it projects a few feet. The lower yard of +the main-sail is called the boom, and the upper the main-sail yard. +This is by far the largest sail in the sloop. Above it is spread the +_gaff_, which is comparatively a small sail, and is used when the wind +is not very strong. The _fore-sail_ is a triangular sheet, which +traverses on the _fore-stay_; that is, the strong rope which runs from +the lower mast-head to the bow, or front part of the sloop. On the +bowsprit is stretched the _jib_, another triangular sail, which reaches +nearly to the top of the lower mast. The only sail that rises above the +lower mast is the gaff. In stormy weather this sail is always taken +down. If the wind increases to a gale, the jib is lowered and lashed to +the bowsprit. + +Should the gale increase, a reef is taken in the main-sail. One, two, +three, and sometimes four reefs are taken in, according to the violence +of the storm; when the last reef is taken in, the sloop is under +_close-reefed_ main-sail. Increased violence in the storm necessitates +the taking in of the main-sail and _lying-to_ under the fore-sail, or a +part of it. Lying-to is putting the sloop's head to the wind, and +placing the helm in such a position that it tends to turn the vessel in +one direction, while the gale acting on the fore-sail tends to force it +in another, and thus it remains stationary between the two opposing +forces. Many vessels thus _lie-to_, and ride out the severest storm. +Sometimes, however, a dreadful hurricane arises, and compels vessels to +take in all sails and "_scud under_ _bare poles_"--that is, _drive +before_ the wind without any sails at all; and it is at such seasons +that man is forced to feel his utter helplessness, and his absolute +dependence on the Almighty. Of course, there are slight variations in +the rig of sloops--some have a _square-sail_, and some have a +_flying-jib_; but these are not distinctive sails, and they are seldom +used in small craft. + +Doubtless, those of our readers who have dwelt on the sea-coast must +have observed that boats and vessels frequently sail in precisely +opposite directions, although acted upon by the same wind. This +apparent paradox may be explained thus:-- + +Suppose a vessel with the bow and stern sharp and precisely alike, so +that it might sail backwards or forwards with equal facility. Suppose, +also, that it has two masts exactly the same in all respects--one near +the bow, the other near the stern. Suppose, further, a square sail +stretched between the two masts quite flat; and remember that this would +be a _fore-and-aft_ sail--namely, one extending along the length, not +across the breadth of the vessel. + +Well, now, were a breeze to blow straight against the side of such a +vessel, it would either blow it over, flat on its side, or urge it +slowly _sideways_ over the water, after the fashion of a crab. Now +remove one of these masts--say the stern one--and erect it close to the +lee-side of the vessel (that is, away from the windward-side), still +keeping the sail extended. The immediate effect would be that the sail +would no longer present itself _flatly_ against the wind, but +diagonally. The wind, therefore, after dashing against it would slide +violently off in the direction of the mast that had been removed, that +is, towards the stern. In doing so it would, of course, give the vessel +a shove in the opposite direction; on the very same principle that a +boy, when he jumps violently off a chair, not only sends his body in one +direction, but sends the chair in the opposite direction. So, when the +wind jumps off the sail towards the stern, it sends the ship in the +opposite direction--namely, forward. Reverse this; bring back the mast +you removed to its old place in the centre of the deck, and shift the +_front_ mast near to the lee-bulwarks. The wind will now slide off the +sail towards the _bow_, and force our vessel in the opposite direction-- +namely, backward; so that, with the same side wind, two ships may sail +in exactly opposite directions. + +By means of the rudder, and placing the sails in various positions, so +as to cause them to press against the masts in a particular manner, +vessels can be made to sail not only with a side wind, but with a breeze +blowing a good deal _against_ them--in nautical phraseology, they can be +made to sail "close to the wind." In short, they can sail in every +direction, except directly in the "teeth" of the wind. Some ships sail +closer to the wind than others; their powers in this respect depending +very much on the cut of their sails and the form of their hulls. + +The _Lighter_ is a small, rough, clumsy species of coasting-vessel, +usually of the sloop rig. It is used for discharging cargoes of large +vessels in harbours, and off coasts where the depth of water is not +great. Lighters are usually picturesque-looking craft with dingy sails, +and they seldom carry top-sails of any kind. Being seldom decked, they +are more properly huge boats than little ships. But lighters are not +classed according to their rig,--they may be of any rig, though that of +the sloop is most commonly adopted. + +THE CUTTER. + +This species of vessel is similar, in nearly all respects, to the sloop; +the only difference being that it is better and more elegantly built. +Gentlemen's pleasure yachts are frequently cutters; but yachts may be of +any form or rig--that is, they may belong to any _class_ of vessels +without changing their name of _yacht_. Cutter-yachts are much more +elegantly moulded and rigged than the sloops that we have just +described. They are _clipper-built_--that is, the hull is smoothly and +sharply shaped; the cut-water, in particular, is like a knife, and the +bow wedge-like. In short, although similar in general outline, a +cutter-yacht bears the same relation to a trading-sloop that a racer +does to a cart-horse. Their sails, also, are larger in proportion, and +they are fast-sailing vessels; but, on this very account, they are not +such good _sea-boats_ as their clumsy brethren, whose bluff or rounded +bows rise on the waves, while the sharp vessels cut through them, and +often deluge the decks with spray. + +In our engraving we have several cutter-rigged yachts sailing with a +light _side_ wind, with main-sail, gaff, fore-sail, and jib set. + +THE SCHOONER. + +This is the most elegant and, for small craft, the most manageable +vessel that floats. Its proportions are more agreeable to the eye than +those of any other species of craft, and its rig is in favour with +owners of yachts,--especially with those whose yachts are large. The +schooner's distinctive peculiarities are, that it carries two masts, +which usually "_rake aft_," or lean back a good deal; and its rig is +chiefly fore-and-aft, like the sloop. Of the two masts, the _after_ one +is the _main-mast_. The other is termed the _fore-mast_. The sails of +a schooner are--the _main-sail_ and the _gaff_, on the main-mast; the +_fore-sail_, _fore-top-sail_, and _fore-top-gallant-sail_ (the two last +being square sails), on the foremast. In front of the fore-mast are the +_staysail_, the _jib_, and the _flying-jib_; these last are triangular +sails. If a schooner were cut in two in the middle, cross-wise, the +front portion would be in all respects a sloop with a square top-sail; +the stern part would also be a sloop, minus the bowsprit and the +triangular sails _before_ the mast. Schooners sometimes carry a large +square-sail, which is spread when the wind is "dead aft." They are much +used in the coasting-trade; and one of their great advantages is that +they can be worked with fewer "hands" than sloops of the same size. + +THE BRIG. + +Advancing step by step in our investigation of the peculiar rig and +build of ships, we come to the _brig_. This species of craft is +usually, but not necessarily, larger than those that have been +described; it is generally built on a larger scale than the schooner, +and often approaches in magnitude to the full-sized, three-masted ship. + +The distinctive features of the brig are, that it has _two_ masts, both +of which are _square-rigged_. It is a particularly serviceable species +of craft, and, when of large size, is much used in foreign trade. + +The advantage of the square-rig over the fore-and-aft rig is, that the +sails, being smaller and more numerous, are more easily managed, and +require fewer men or "hands" to work them. Thus, as we increase the +size of our vessel, the more necessity is there that it should be +square-rigged. The huge main-sail of the sloop and schooner could not +be applied to large vessels; so that when men came to construct ships of +several hundred tons burden, they were compelled to increase the +_number_ of masts and sails, and diminish the size of them; hence, +probably, brigs were devised _after_ schooners. The main-mast of a brig +is the aft one. + +The sails are named after the masts to which they are fastened,--namely, +the _main-sail_; above that the _main-top-sail_; above that the +_main-top-gallant-sail_; and sometimes a very small sail, named the +_royal_, is spread above all. Behind the main-sail there is a small +fore-and-aft sail similar to the main-sail of a schooner, which is +called the _boom-main-sail_. On the fore-mast is a similar sail, which +is called the _try-sail_. Attached to the respective yards of +square-rigged ships there are smaller poles or arms, which can be pushed +out at pleasure, and the yard lengthened, in order to receive an +additional little sailor wing on each side. These wings are called +_studding-sails_ or _stun-sails_, and are used only when the wind is +fair and light. They are named after the sails to which they +are fastened; thus there are the _main-stun-sails_, the +_main-top-stun-sails_, and the _main-top-gallant-stun-sails_, etcetera. +The fore-mast of a brig is smaller than the main-mast. It carries a +_fore-sail_, _fore-top-sail_, _fore-top-gallant-sail_, and _fore-royal_. +Between it and the bowsprit are the _fore-stay-sail_, _jib_, and +_flying-jib_. The three last sails are nearly similar in _all_ vessels. +All the yards, etcetera, are hoisted and shifted, and held in their +position, by a complicated arrangement of cordage, which in the mass is +called the running-rigging, in contradistinction to the +standing-rigging, which, as we have said, is _fixed_, and keeps the +masts, etcetera, immovably in position. Yet every rope, in what seems +to a landsman's eye a bewildering mass of confusion, has its distinctive +name and specific purpose. + +Brigs and schooners, being light and handy craft, are generally used by +pirates and smugglers in the prosecution of their lawless pursuits, and +many a deed of bloodshed and horror has been done on board such craft by +those miscreants. + +THE BRIGANTINE. + +The rig of this vessel is a mixture of that of the sloop and brig. The +brigantine is _square_-rigged on the fore-mast, and sloop-rigged on its +after or mizzen mast. Of its two masts, the front one is the larger, +and, therefore, is the main-mast. In short, a brigantine is a mixed +vessel, being a brig forward and a sloop aft. + +Such are our coasting-vessels; but it must be borne in mind that ships +of their _class_ are not confined to the coast. When built very large +they are intended for the deep ocean trade, and many schooners approach +in size to full-rigged "ships." + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +VESSELS OF LARGE SIZE. + +We now come to speak of ships of large size, which spread an imposing +cloud of canvas to the breeze, and set sail on voyages which sometimes +involve the circumnavigation of the globe. + +THE BARQUE. + +This vessel is next in size larger than the brig. It does not follow, +however, that its being larger constitutes it a barque. Some brigs are +larger than barques, but _generally_ the barque is the larger vessel. +The difference between a barque and a brig is that the former has +_three_ masts, the two front ones being square-rigged, and the mizzen +being fore-and-aft rigged. The centre mast is the main one. The +rigging of a barque's two front masts is almost exactly similar to the +rigging of a brig, that of the mizzen is similar to a sloop. If you +were to put a fore-and-aft rigged _mizzen-mast_ into the after part of a +brig, that would convert it into a barque. + +The term _clipper_ simply denotes that peculiar sharpness of build and +trimness of rig which insure the greatest amount of speed, and does not +specify any particular class. There are clipper sloops, clipper yachts, +clipper ships, etcetera. A clipper barque, therefore, is merely a +fast-sailing barque. + +The peculiar characteristics of the clipper build are, knife-like +sharpness of the cut-water and bow, and exceeding correctness of cut in +the sails, so that these may be drawn as tight and _flat_ as possible. +Too much bulge in a sail is a disadvantage in the way of sailing. +Indeed, flatness is so important a desideratum, that experimentalists +have more than once applied sails made of _thin planks of wood_ to their +clippers; but we do not know that this has turned out to be much of an +improvement. The masts of all clippers, except those of the sloop or +cutter rig, generally rake aft a good deal--that is, they lean +backwards; a position which is supposed to tend to increase speed. +Merchant vessels are seldom of the clipper build, because the sharpness +of this peculiar formation diminishes the available space for cargo very +much. + +THE SHIP. + +The largest class of vessel that floats upon the sea is the _full-rigged +ship_, the distinctive peculiarity of which is, that its three masts are +_all_ square-rigged together, with the addition of one or two +fore-and-aft sails. + +As the fore and main masts of a "ship" are exactly similar to those of a +barque, which have been already described, we shall content ourself with +remarking that the _mizzen-mast_ is similar in nearly all respects to +the other two, except that it is smaller. The sails upon it are--the +_spanker_ (a fore-and-aft sail projecting over the quarter-deck), the +_mizzen-top-sail_ and _mizzen-top-gallant-sail_, both of which are +square sails. Above all these a "ship" sometimes puts up small +square-sails called the _royals_; and, above these, _sky-sails_. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +WOODEN AND IRON WALLS. + +The birth of the British Navy may be said to have taken place in the +reign of King Alfred. That great and good king, whose wisdom and +foresight were only equalled by his valour, had a fleet of upwards of +one hundred ships. With these he fought the Danes to the death, not +always successfully, not always even holding his own; for the Danes at +this early period of their history were a hardy race of sea-warriors, +not less skilful than courageous. But to King Alfred, with his beaked, +oared war-ships, is undoubtedly due the merit of having laid the +foundation of England's maritime ascendency. + +England under the Normans does not seem to have greatly desired to excel +in maritime enterprise, but it was otherwise during the Plantagenet +period. Henry the Second possessed a most formidable fleet, numbering +some five hundred vessels of war. During the reign of his successor a +novel artifice in naval warfare was resorted to by the English which +merits notice. The English admiral caused a number of barrels of +unslaked lime to be placed in his ships. Having brought his fleet to +windward of the enemy--the French--he ordered water to be poured on the +lime. This of course raised a great and dense smoke, which, being blown +by the wind into the very faces of the French, prevented the latter from +seeing on what quarter they were being attacked. A panic arose, and +spread, among the French vessels, and the victory fell easily to the +English. + +The navy of Edward the Third numbered eleven hundred ships when he +undertook the invasion of France. But the great majority of these were +not properly men-of-war--in fact, there were only five fully equipped +warships; the rest were for the most part merchant vessels converted +into fighting ships and transports for the time being. The navy of King +Philip of France, though numerically weaker, far surpassed that of the +English king in point of equipment. Of the four hundred ships of which +it consisted, no fewer than one hundred had, been built purposely for +war, according to the best principles of naval architecture then known. +Bows, catapults, javelins, and weapons of a like description were the +engines of offence used on both sides, and with these much havoc was +wrought at close quarters. The English were victorious, notwithstanding +the more scientific equipment of their foes. The French ships were +boarded, and the flower of King Philip's naval force must that day have +perished. + +Henry the Seventh did much for the improvement of the English navy. It +was during his reign that the _Great Harry_ was built, which was really +the first large ship built directly for the Royal Navy. Hitherto the +vessels employed by England for national defence or offence had been +supplied by certain maritime towns; but the _Great Harry_ was the +property of the people. She was built in 1488, and had port-holes for +cannon in the lower deck, being the first vessel thus constructed. The +_Great Harry_ was subsequently far surpassed by another of King Henry's +ships, the _Grace de Dieu_, which was no less than one thousand tons +burden, and carried seven hundred men and one hundred and twenty-two +guns, (some writers mention only eighty guns) the largest of which were +but eighteen-pounders. The _Grace de Dieu_ was a four-masted vessel, +and was built in 1515. + +An epoch in England's maritime history, which was in some respects the +most brilliant and momentous, now falls to be mentioned; a period when +England's name became a synonym on the seas for everything that was most +intrepid and successful in maritime enterprise; an era of daring +adventure and splendid achievement, which at length established England +as the first naval power among the nations of Europe. + +Not without long and fierce struggle, however, was this supremacy won. +The French, Spanish, and Dutch each and all in turn disputed England's +claim to the sovereignty of the seas. It is unnecessary to repeat here +the oft-told tale of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, nor yet the +almost as familiar story of our frequent naval encounters with the Dutch +in the days of Admiral Blake and the great Dutch Admiral Van Tromp. +Long and desperate those conflicts were, and nothing but indomitable +courage and stubborn perseverance could have secured the victory for the +English ships, for in almost every instance our foes were numerically +the stronger. + +In the thrice famous days of Nelson, it was still our "wooden walls" +which carried the flag of England on from triumph to triumph. At the +battle of Trafalgar the _Victory_ and the French ship the _Redoubtable_ +were brought up close alongside of each other, and in this position +poured volley after volley upon each other's bulwarks, until water had +to be thrown over the ships' sides to prevent them igniting. The +_Victory_ was a grand ship in her time, yet she was not more than two +thousand tons burden, and her guns were but one hundred and two in +number. + +But at last the day arrived when it became manifest that the glory of +our "wooden walls" had set. In the prime of his intellectual and +physical strength, the Emperor Louis Napoleon was a man of active and +subtle brain, and it was to his ingenious invention that the first +ironclad ship of war owed its birth. Floating batteries protected with +iron plates were first employed during the Crimean War. It was becoming +manifest that the great strides which were being made in the manufacture +of cannon must necessitate an improved system of defensive armour for +ships of war. No wooden vessel that could be constructed could be proof +against the new guns that were now coming rapidly into use. + +The French, as has been just indicated, were the first in the field with +the new style of war-ships. _La Gloire_ was built, and was quickly +followed by our own _Warrior_. The frame of _La Gloire_ was constructed +of wood, but covered with an iron plating four and a half inches in +thickness. The _Warrior_ was built on an iron frame, and her +armour-plating is of the same thickness as that of _La Gloire_; the +lining is of solid teak eighteen inches thick, which is again backed by +an inner coating of iron. The length of the _Warrior_ is three hundred +and eighty feet, but only about two-thirds of this is iron-plated. + +At this time--the early days of ironclads--the heaviest shot that could +be thrown by any gun was a sixty-eight pounder. Guns of this calibre +the _Warrior_ and her class were proof against. But the guns increased +rapidly in size and power, and the thickness of the armour with which +the ships were protected had to be increased in proportion. The class +of war-vessels which succeeded the _Warrior_ were entirely cased with +iron plates, whose thickness has from time to time been increased. +Since the first ironclad was built, then, a contest--for only such it +can be called--has been going on between the cannon-maker and the +ship-builder, the one striving to construct a gun which shall pierce the +thickest armour which the ship can carry, the other adding inch upon +inch to his armour plates, to the end that they may be shot-proof; and +this contest may be said to be going on at this hour. + +Will there ever be the same romance about the warships of the present +day,--what those of the future will be like we do not care to +speculate,--and the old "wooden walls" whose prowess on the high seas +founded England's maritime glory? Will a Dibdin ever arise to sing a +_Devastation_ or a _Glatton_? Can a _Devastation_ or a _Glatton_ ever +inspire poetic thoughts and images? One would say that the singer must +be endowed in no ordinary degree with the sacred fire whom such a theme +as a modern ironclad turret-ship should move to lyric utterance. It has +been said that all the romance of the road died out with the old +coaching days; and certainly a locomotive engine, with its long black +train of practical-looking cars, makes hardly so picturesque a feature +in the landscape as one of the old stage-coaches with its red-coated +driver, horn-blowing guard, and team of mettled greys; but a railway +train is an embodiment of poetry compared with a turret-ship. But if it +be true that poetry and romance must more and more cease to be +associated with our navy, we must just accept the fact, for nothing is +more certain than that, whatever the warships of the future _may_ be, we +can never again return to the days of the old wooden ships. + +Several opposing difficulties have now to be met in the construction of +ironclads. Invulnerability as regards the enemy's guns, protection to +the men on board, speed, and the quality of being easily managed at +sea,--all these points have to be carefully considered; and the +difficulty is that one quality wars against another. A ship might be +built which was proof against any guns that could be devised, and then +might be found utterly unmanageable and unsafe at sea. A balance of +qualities has therefore to be struck, and this perfect equipoise has by +no means been as yet attained. Every year--we might say every month-- +witnesses the birth of some new type of armour-plated war-ship, built in +every case at an enormous cost. The new sea-monster looks formidable +enough in all conscience; but the question that arises the instant she +quits the dock is, Is she sea-worthy? And with the fate of the +_Captain_ and the _Vanguard_ in our memories, the question may well +arise. The story of modern war-ships has, up to this, been one of +mingled success and failure. Does not the epigram on our war-ships--our +"sub-marine fleet"--owe its point and sting, in a measure, to its truth? + +Of the various types of modern war-vessels, the most formidable yet +devised are undoubtedly the _steam-rams_ and _turret-ships_. The +steam-ram is armed with a strong steel beak, with which it charges an +enemy in much the same way as the war-galleys of ancient times charged a +foe, or as a sword-fish attacks its adversary. The turret-ship carries +one or more shot-proof circular turrets, in which one or more guns are +worked by the crew, the guns being capable of being turned and pointed +in any direction. Both turret-ships and steam-rams are, of course, iron +plated. + +Vessels of this description were first employed by the Americans in the +great civil war. The careers of the _Merrimac_ and _Monitor_ may be +said to have become a part of American national history. The _Merrimac_ +was the first iron-plated steam-ram. She was originally a wooden +frigate; was cut down, coated with iron, and furnished with a ram. In +her famous encounter with the _Congress_ and the _Cumberland_, two +wooden frigates of the Federals, she steamed alongside the former, +delivered a raking fire, and then, turning upon the _Cumberland_, +attacked that vessel with her ram. Of the _Cumberland_ she made quick +work; for having torn a gaping rent in her side, she poured a damaging +fire into the gap, hanging on by the sharp iron beak with which +steam-rams are furnished. + +Then withdrawing to a short distance, she again charged her adversary, +and delivered a second terrible fire, until the _Cumberland_ finally +sank. The Merrimac then turned her attention to the _Congress_, whose +fate she sealed in about half an hour. The first shot caused fearful +destruction, killing every man at one of the guns, blowing away the +bulk-heads, strewing the deck with a carnage too horrible to dwell upon, +and finally setting the ship on fire. The _Congress_ at last struck her +colours, but during the night she blew up. + +This formidable vessel had subsequently to haul down her colours before +the _Monitor_--in a figurative sense, that is, for she did not actually +surrender, but retreated after a contest of some hours. In this notable +struggle the _Merrimac_ sustained much damage, without succeeding in +inflicting on her enemy anything like the same amount of injury; in +fact, the _Monitor_ came out of the action scathless. + +The changes that are taking place in the construction of war-ships are +so various and so rapid, that we cannot attempt to do more here than +take note of a few of the principal; and even what are mentioned as +novelties now, before these pages appear may have ceased to be +novelties. + +Iron is now employed in almost every part of a war-ship, the masts +themselves being in many cases of iron--hollow tubes through which the +running rigging may be let down when there is danger of its being +damaged by the enemy's fire. The majority of modern ironclads are built +in compartments, with this advantage that, if damage is sustained in one +part of the vessel, and the water rush in through the gap made by shot +or any other cause, the ship will still float until the water can be let +out again. + +The American ironclad turret-ship _Monitor_ has given her name to a +whole class of vessels built within recent years for the English navy; +but in many respects our vessels are superior to their American +prototype. All these ships--which are characterised by low free-boards +and absence of masts and sails--fight their guns from turrets. They are +sometimes known as "coast-defence ships," from the circumstance that +they were constructed mainly for home service. + +Of these "English monitors," four--the _Cyclops_, _Gorgon_, _Hecate_, +and _Hydra_--are built on identically similar principles. In appearance +they may be best compared to a raft with a battery on top of it, from +which fortress or battery rise various funnels and a flag-staff. The +deck is but three feet and a half above the level of the sea. While the +ships are in port the deck is roofed in with an awning and railed round; +but both awning and railing are removed when the vessels put to sea. + +The battery or fortress is in the centre of the ship, and fills up about +one-third of her length and three-fourths of her breadth. The +surrounding deck is flush, its surface being broken only by the +skylights, which are three in number. The skylights allow but a scant +and dim light to penetrate to the officers' and seamen's quarters below; +but even this is wanting in time of action, when a shot-proof shield +takes the place of the glass windows. + +The deck of the dass of war-ships we are describing is composed of +twin-layers of iron plating half an inch each in thickness, supported on +iron beams, and of two layers of solid teak lining four inches thick. +The sides of the ships are protected by iron plating of eight-inch +thickness amidships, which is an inch more of iron than the armour +possessed by the majority of our masted sea-going ironclads, many of +which are twice or thrice the size of the _Cyclops_ and her +sister-ships. It will thus be seen that these turret-ships are +practically stronger in defensive equipment than any other class of +ironclad cruisers. + +The battery of these vessels is surrounded by a breastwork six feet in +height, plated with nine-inch armour. Entrance is gained to the turrets +themselves from inside this breastwork. In the centre of the turret +there are two cylinders, the one fitting over the other in a manner +which keeps the whole steady even in rough weather. Small steam-engines +placed inside the breastwork serve to turn the turrets, which, however, +can also be worked by manual labour should necessity demand it. + +The ports present a striking contrast to those in the old wooden ships, +by reason of their greatly diminished size. They just admit of the +muzzle of the gun peeping through, and no more, being oval in shape, and +about three feet in diameter lengthways. There can be little doubt that +these small ports are an advantage, since they must afford greater +protection to the gunners during action. When it is desired to alter +the direction of the guns, the change is not effected by moving them in +the ports, but by revolving the turret itself. Should it ever happen in +action that the free movement of the turret should become impeded from +some cause, then the only means of changing the direction of the guns +would be to turn the whole ship. + +The turrets are armed with two twenty-five ton guns, carrying four +hundred pound shot. The deck being flush, as has been mentioned, the +guns can be fired straight ahead and astern, and command all sides. +Less than one minute is needed to revolve the whole turret. This class +of ships is believed to be able to keep up a constant steady fire +whether in chase or in retreat. + +Abaft the funnel in these ships there is an upright oval tube rising +some seventeen feet above the level of the main deck, plated with iron. +The upper plate is pierced with several small horizontal slits, from +which the tube has received the name of the "conning-house," for through +these openings the captain can "con" or note whatever is going on +outside, without himself being exposed to danger. This circular box +just allows the captain to turn himself about in; and here must he stand +in time of action, directing and governing the whole conduct of his ship +by mechanical telegraphs. + +Of the many curious and remarkable features in these ships, one of the +most remarkable is the extensive use made of machinery for every +purpose. Engines revolve the turrets, raise the ashes from the +engine-rooms, turn the capstans, work the rudders;--engines do +everything. + +Three monitors similar to those just described were built for the +defence of several of our colonies. The colony of Victoria, we believe, +purchased their ironclad, the _Cerberus_, from the home Government; at +any rate, the people maintain her at their own cost. Before the +_Cerberus_ could make the voyage out to Melbourne, her sides had to be +built up with thin iron plating for nearly her whole length. In the +same way the _Cyclops_ and her companion-ships might be made fit to face +any sea or weather. + +It may occur to the reader to ask, Why not have sea-going masted vessels +at once? To which it may be answered, first, that the masted ships must +inevitably draw more water than those of which the _Cyclops_ and +_Hecate_ are types. Turret-ships like the _Monarch_, or broadside-ships +like the _Hercules_ and _Sultan_, draw about twenty-five feet of water; +the smaller ships only sixteen, while at the same time they are more +heavily armoured. Thus the latter, if close pressed by an enemy's +sea-going ironclads--the only class from which they have much to fear-- +could take shelter up a river out of their reach. In action near the +land these monitors, moreover, could be handled with greater ease. + +Secondly, from their much smaller size, the coast-defence ships are +built at a much less cost--an important consideration in days when a +first-class ironclad costs about as much as a small fleet of bygone +days. The vessels we have been describing are of rather more than two +thousand tons burden, as compared with the five thousand tons of the +larger sea-going ships; and, speaking roughly, the expense of +construction is proportionate to the tonnage. + +The _Glatton_ turret-ship has several characteristics in which it +differs from the above class of monitors. It has but a single turret, +and its guns throw six hundred pound shot, carrying three miles and a +half. Her water-draught is about six feet more than that of the +_Cyclops_ and _Hecate_, and her armour-plates three inches thicker. +Though she carries fewer guns, the _Glatton_ is a much more powerful +vessel than the other monitors. (Note: The above description of English +monitors is adapted and abridged from an article in Chambers's Journal.) + +We shall now briefly describe the _Devastation_, one of the largest and +most powerful of all our ironclads. The _Devastation_ in her after-part +rises but four feet and a half above the water; but to meet bad weather +she is furnished with an armour-plated half-raised forecastle, so that +forward she is nine feet out of the water. The free-board amidships is +still higher, being at this point level with the platform on which the +two turrets are placed. In the centre of the ship rises a circular iron +erection, on the top of which is the hurricane-deck. Through this +structure runs a passage, in which are situated the entrances to the +hatchways and to the hurricane-deck overhead. + +From the hurricane-deck rise the ship's two funnels; and here also are +the captain's fighting box, already alluded to in describing the +coast-defence ships, the fire-proof shield for protecting the steering +gear, and the boats. In a gale the hurricane-deck is the only safe +place in ships of this kind--the only place where one would not get +speedily washed overboard. As for the below part of the ship, it is +there almost impossible to breathe, even when air has been pumped in +from above, which is the only means of ventilating this portion of the +vessel. + +The _Devastation_ carries two guns in each of her turrets, placed side +by side, each weighing thirty-five tons. The turrets, directly the guns +have been fired, can be wheeled rapidly round, thus turning the exposed +parts away from the enemy. + +Ships such as the _Devastation_, the _Thunderer_, and the _Fury_ do not, +at first sight, strike one as particularly well adapted for rough +weather, to put it in the mildest phrase. Nevertheless, the +_Devastation_ has been fairly well tested in this way, having +encountered some pretty rough weather, and, it is affirmed, behaved +satisfactorily. The great danger about all ships of this class is that +they may not rise to the seas, but that the waves, breaking over them, +may press them down and founder them. The _Thunderer_ has been known to +have her forecastle, which is somewhat lower than that of the +_Devastation_, completely submerged, and this, too, when no very high +sea was running. These ships are designed, not for home service and +coast defence merely, but for general action in mid-ocean. + +To attempt to describe even a single specimen of each type of modern +war-ships would to a certainty weary the reader, for to any but an +expert there would inevitably be a sense of repetition in the perusal of +such a narrative. But in order to place before our readers something +like an approximate idea, at any rate, of the present state of our navy, +we shall examine briefly one other first-class ironclad, the +_Inflexible_, which may be regarded as a leading example of ironclad +ships, and, at the time of writing, as one of the highest achievements +of modern naval architecture. + +The _Inflexible_ is the vast size of 11,400 tons burden, her horse-power +being 8000. The length is 320 feet, her armour-plating from 16 to 24 +inches thick, with an inner lining of wood from 17 to 25 inches in +thickness. She is divided into 135 compartments, and her engines are +placed at such a distance from each other that should one be disabled +from any cause the other would still be in working order. + +The chief characteristic of the _Inflexible_ is the position of the +turrets. The majority of ships of this description have their turrets +in the middle line, from which it results that only one half of their +guns can be directed on an enemy, whether ahead or astern. The +_Inflexible_ has her turrets on each side--the fore-turret on the +port-side, the after-turret on the starboard. She can thus use the +whole of her guns against an enemy _at the same time_, whether it be +ahead or astern. + +It will be seen that the thickness of the armour-plating with which the +_Inflexible_ is protected is enormous; and yet this thickness of iron +has been pierced. The question, then, that immediately suggests itself +is, _Can_ a vessel be constructed to carry much heavier armour-plating +than this? A recent writer in the _Times_ declares not. "So far as the +exigencies of the navy are concerned," he says, "the limit of weight +seems to have already been reached, for the simple reason that the +buoyancy of our ironclads cannot with safety be further diminished by +the burden of heavier armour and armaments." + +The following very graphic description of the interior of a turret-ship +was written by an eye-witness of the scene described. It is an extract +from a narrative supplied to the author of "The Sea: its Stirring Story +of Adventure and Peril," from which we take it. The vessel described +was the _Miantonoma_, an American ironclad turret-ship. + +"You ascend again through a trap-door, and find yourself in a circular +room, some twelve feet in diameter, padded from top to bottom like the +interior of a carriage. By your side is a huge mass of iron. You are +inside the turret. A glimmering lamp sheds its feeble light on the +moving forms around you, and from below comes the faint whispering of +the men, until the trap is shut and you are again in utter silence. + +"`_Prepare_!' The gunner's mate stands on your toes, and tells you to +lean forward and thrust your tongue out of your mouth. You hear the +creaking of machinery. It is a moment of intense suspense. Gradually a +glimmer of light--an inch--a flood! The shield passes from the opening; +the gun runs out. A flash, a roar--a mad reeling of the senses, and +crimson clouds flitting before your eyes--a horrible pain in your ears, +a sense of oppression on your chest, and the knowledge that you are not +on your feet--a whispering of voices blending with the concert in your +ears--a darkness before your eyes--and you feel yourself plump up +against the padding, whither you have been thrown by the violence of the +concussion. + +"Before you have recovered sufficiently to note the effects I have +endeavoured to describe, the shield is again in its place and the gun +ready for reloading. They tell you that the best part of the sound has +escaped through the port-hole, otherwise there would be no standing it, +and our gunner's mate whispers in your ears, `It's all werry well, but +they bu'sts out bleeding from the chest and ears after the fourth +discharge, and has to be taken below.' You have had enough of it too, +and are glad that they don't ask you to witness another shot fired." + +It must be stated that since the _Miantonoma_ was built a new and +improved principle of turret-firing has been introduced. Electricity is +now employed in discharging the guns, and there is thus no necessity for +anyone being in the turret, which is of course a great advantage. + +At the close of the civil war, America possessed a fine fleet of +monitors, of which scarcely any now remain. For the time they seemed +all but impregnable to shot and shell; but they were built by contract, +of unseasoned wood, and in the course of ten or twelve years yielded to +natural decay. But the _Brooklyn_ and the _Ohio_, both fine examples of +naval architecture, still survive to maintain, in so far as two ships +can, America's maritime prestige. + +A chapter treating of ironclads would, we think, be incomplete without +allusion made to the loss of the _Captain_, whose terrible fate in 1870 +has caused a mournful interest to be attached to that vessel. + +The _Captain_ was 320 feet in length and 53 feet broad. Her +armour-plating reached to five feet below the water-line. Opposite the +turrets her plating was eight inches in thickness and seven inches in +other parts. The ship was furnished with two screws, placed side by +side. The screws were available for steering, and thus the vessel could +be governed without the rudder. The _Captain_ was fully rigged, and +could carry a large spread of canvas. + +The special characteristic of the ship was her revolving turrets. Each +turret was 27 feet in diameter on the outside and 22 feet 6 inches on +the inside. The walls of the turrets were therefore 2 feet 3 inches +thick; and one half of this thickness was composed of iron. The turrets +were revolved by separate engines, but they could also be turned, if +occasion required, by hand-labour. Two Armstrong twenty-five ton guns, +throwing six hundred pound shot, were placed in each turret. The ship +was built after designs by Captain Coles--the architect also of the +_Monarch_. + +On her first sea-voyage the _Captain_ showed, apparently, such excellent +sea-going qualities that her architect and the contractors, the Messrs. +Laird, were quite satisfied as to her safety in mid-ocean. In the +autumn of 1870 she accompanied the fleet on a cruise; and on the 6th of +September, shortly after midnight, foundered off Cape Finisterre. The +whole crew were lost, with the exception of nineteen men, and among +those who perished was Captain Coles himself, Captain Burgoyne, the +commander of the ship, and a son of the then First Lord of the +Admiralty--Mr Childers. It is unnecessary to recall to the memory of +the adult among my readers the deep feeling of pity and gloom spread by +this awful disaster throughout Great Britain. + +The night on which the _Captain_ foundered was no doubt a somewhat rough +one, with squalls and a heavy sea on; but it was not merely the force of +the storm which overwhelmed the vessel. + +Mr James May, a surviving gunner of the ill-fated ship, gave a +sufficiently clear account of the foundering of the vessel. Soon after +midnight he was awakened from sleep by a noise and a feeling that the +ship was uneasy. Rising, and taking with him a lamp, he proceeded to +the after-turret to see if the guns were all right. Everything was +secure enough there; but he had hardly finished his examination when he +felt the vessel heel steadily over, a heavy sea struck her on the +weather-port, the water rushed into the turret, and May presently found +himself in the water. + +He swam to the pinnace, which he perceived floating bottom upwards, and +there he was presently joined by Captain Burgoyne and several others of +the crew. Then he beheld the vessel turn over and go down, stern first; +the whole catastrophe being over in a few minutes. The launch was +drifting a few yards off, and May called out to his comrades, "Jump, +men! it is our last chance." May with three others succeeded in +reaching the boat, in which fifteen of the remainder of the crew also +found a refuge. It is uncertain whether poor Captain Burgoyne remained +in the pinnace or failed to reach the launch. + +The nineteen survivors, after a hard row of twelve hours, without food +or drink, landed at Cape Finisterre, where they were hospitably received +and cared for by the people. A court-martial was held in due course to +investigate the cause of the disaster. Into the details of the evidence +it is impossible here to enter, but it was sufficiently proved that +there were grave faults in the _Captain's_ construction,--faults which, +as is unfortunately too often the case, were not discovered by such +calculations as were made before the ship started on what may be said to +have been her first, as it was her last, cruise. It had, however, been +noticed by some that the vessel was about a foot and a half deeper in +the water than she should have been--that her free-board, in a word, +instead of being eight feet above the water, as was designed, was only +six feet six inches; and it needs but a very slight knowledge of marine +matters to understand how this difference would materially prejudice the +stability of such a vessel as the _Captain_. + +If it has been the reader's chance, as it has been ours, to visit anyone +of our great naval arsenals--especially Portsmouth or Plymouth--he +cannot have failed of being struck with the gallant and splendid +appearance presented by many of our ships of war; but he must likewise +have been affected with feelings the reverse of admiration by more than +one type of modern ironclads. No one who admires a real ship, be it of +wood or of iron--a stately frigate in full sail before a favouring +wind--can at the same time admire a monitor. Many persons, in truth, +will refuse to regard a turret-ship as a ship at all. It overturns our +every notion of what a ship should look like. A low, black, mastless, +raft-like, cruel-looking machine, without the faintest pretension to +form or comeliness, a turret-ship is simply a fighting-engine, a +floating battery--an ingenious and formidable instrument of death and +destruction, no doubt, but nothing more. Yet these are among the +leading war-ships of the present, and, as far as can at present be seen, +of the immediate future; and on these we must depend for the protection +of our shores should they ever be threatened. + +And yet, great as is the annual cost of our navy, and great as is the +amount of ingenuity spent in the construction of new and novel ships of +war--each designed to be more impregnable and more formidable than its +predecessor--our navy is at this moment in somewhat of an unsettled and +transitory state. Changes in the construction of ironclads are every +year taking place, and considerable difference of opinion exists among +our highest naval authorities upon important points in marine +architecture. Ships of war have now to contend with such formidable +enemies in the shape of guns, torpedoes, and other engines of terribly +destructive power, that it is difficult to say at present which will +eventually triumph. One of the old wooden ships placed beside a modern +ironclad is as a child's toy battery compared with Gibraltar; and yet it +can hardly be said that the nation has the same feeling of confidence +and security in our present ships which it reposed in the vessels which +Nelson so often led to victory; for it must be long ere the fate of the +_Captain_ and the _Vanguard_ is entirely forgotten. + +Of this, however, we may, we think, at least rest assured, that, however +dubious we may be in regard to some of the novelties and presumed +improvements that are being from time to time introduced in naval +architecture, England is well abreast of the age in maritime matters; if +her ships be not absolutely perfect, and proof against every form of +danger, they are at least equal to those of any other nation. We need a +strong, a very strong navy; and as a fact our naval resources are nearly +equal to the combined naval strength of Europe. + +A somewhat different condition of things will need to come about from +that which at present exists among the nations of the world ere England +can afford to decrease her naval armaments; and until the Great Powers +of the world agree to settle their disputes by some other means than by +"wager of battle," and are resolved to "war no more," probably the best +and only way for her is to keep herself as strongly and perfectly armed +as possible. It is this that has probably helped, at any rate, to +secure so long and uninterrupted peace for our shores; and to try a +different and opposite course would, to say the least, be a risk. It is +upon her navy, as all the world knows, that England depends for defence +and security. To be weak in our navy would be to be weak throughout all +our armour. Our navy is at present, we would fain hope, a peace-weapon +in our hands--a shield, not a sword; and while it is such, the stronger +and more flawless it is, the better for us, and perhaps for the world at +large. This may strike the reader as a somewhat vain-glorious, +"spread-eagle" way of putting the case; but if he look at the matter +fairly and impartially, we think he will admit that there is some truth +in our statement. + +Before closing this chapter, a word or two must be said descriptive of +that fell foe to ships of war, the torpedo, though space demands that +our reference should be brief. Almost all modern ships of war are +constructed with false bottoms, designed especially to protect them +against torpedoes. There are many different forms of torpedoes, +employed in a variety of ways. A torpedo may be described as a +submarine exploding apparatus. It may contain from thirty to as much as +five hundred pounds of gunpowder; and the explosion is effected either +by means of electricity, or by a spring and a detonating substance when +the engine comes in contact with a ship. Some kinds of torpedoes rest +on the bottom of the sea, while others are anchored and float suspended +in the water. If a vessel strikes against one of these terrible +engines, she is either at once blown to splinters, or a rent is made in +her bottom which causes her rapidly to sink. + +One type of torpedoes resembles somewhat a fish, and is impelled rapidly +through the water by a screw and other machinery. Torpedoes are so +constructed as to be able to rise and strike a vessel just at the right +moment. When not filled with gunpowder or gun-cotton, dynamite and +other explosive substances are used instead for charging these submarine +war-engines. + +Various methods have been devised to secure ships from torpedoes. Nets +are sometimes extended in front of the ship, which catch the torpedoes +before they can come in contact with the vessel's bottom. This +safeguard was adopted, in many instances with success, by the Federal +war-ships when entering Confederate harbours. But a great deal may be +done to secure a ship against these terrible engines of destruction by +precaution simply, as was proved in the Crimean War, when the Russian +torpedoes did little or no damage to our ships, by reason of the +unceasing watchfulness maintained on board. + +During the late war between Russia and Turkey one of the most daring +exploits of the campaign was an attack by a Russian squadron of +torpedo-boats on the Turkish monitor _Hifse Rahman_. The flotilla +comprised four ships, the _Czarevich_, the _Xenia_, the _Czarevna_, and +the _Djirid_. The two first named began the attack, the _Czarevna_ and +the _Djirid_ holding themselves in reserve until their assistance should +be wanted. + +The launches were equipped with strong iron awnings which shielded their +crews from the enemy's fire. Each boat was armed with two torpedoes, +fastened to the end of long spars projected over the bulwarks and +working on pivots. The torpedoes could be detached from the spars when +occasion demanded; while long chains were secured to the missiles, by +which they were attached to the enemy's vessel, as well as to the wire +of a galvanic battery fastened round the waist of the commander of the +launch. This battery was the means by which the torpedo was exploded. + +The flotilla left the Roumanian side of the Danube on the 25th of June +1877 at about midnight, and in something less than an hour the _Hifse +Rahman_ loomed in sight, a shadowy mass on the dark waters. The +approach of the torpedo-boats was almost noiseless, and the croaking of +the frogs was said to have further favoured the Russians by drowning the +sound of the engines, so that those on board the monitor were not aware +of their enemy's propinquity until the launches were almost alongside. + +The sentry at once challenged, when Lieutenant Doubarsoff, the commander +of the _Czarevich_, answered "Friends." But his speech betrayed him; +the alarm was spread; and the _Hifse Rahman_ opened a sharp fire upon +the launches. But Lieutenant Doubarsoff succeeded in attaching his +torpedo-chain to a rope hanging at the monitor's bows, and then rapidly +backed his little vessel and fired the torpedo. A tremendous explosion; +a column of water shot up into the air, and the launch was nearly +swamped! A breach had, however, been made in the _Hifse Rahman's_ +bulwarks. + +The other monitors were now thoroughly alive to their danger, and the +Russian launches had to sustain a deadly cannonade, upon which +Lieutenant Doubarsoff ordered Lieutenant Schestakoff to bring up his +launch, the _Xenia_, and apply a second torpedo, which the latter was +able to do, attaching the missile amidships of the Turkish vessel. The +fate of the _Hifse Rahman_ was now sealed, and in a few minutes she +sank. + +The Russian launches succeeded in getting clear of their enemy again +without losing a single man, and thus ended the first torpedo expedition +ever made against an enemy's ironclads, but which may, as a writer +describing the event says, "end in completely revolutionising our +present system of monster iron walls." The Grand Cross of Saint George +was awarded to Lieutenants Doubarsoff and Schestakoff for this intrepid +and successful exploit. + +Space is not left us to do more than revert for a moment to what is +perhaps the deadliest weapon of offensive naval warfare yet devised,-- +rams. Some experts maintain that nothing can match the power of the ram +of a modern ironclad skilfully handled; and a well-known naval authority +has declared that the use of the guns in a naval action should be merely +preliminary to that of the ram--in other words, that all effort should +be concentrated upon making an opportunity of using the ram. + +We close this chapter by recalling the reader's attention to a feature +in modern war-ships already alluded to, and which indeed the whole +course of our remarks upon this subject points to--the almost universal +use of machinery in modern naval tactics. Most assuredly in modern +sea-warfare it may be said, in the Laureate's words--used by him, of +course, with a very different sense--that "the individual dwindles," so +that the prediction, which some of our readers may remember was once +made by a First Lord of the Admiralty, seems not unlikely one day to +become sober fact--that the time will come when we shall no longer +require sailors, because all that our warships will need will be stokers +and artillerymen. Whether this is a consummation to be desired we are +not careful here to pronounce. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +ORIGINS OF STEAMSHIPS--OCEAN-STEAMERS, ETCETERA. + +As we have been led, in writing about ships of the navy, to refer to +steam, we turn aside at this point to treat of that tremendous +motive-power. + +One night, in the year 1807, a terrible sight was witnessed by the +inhabitants of the banks of the river Hudson in America. + +Men love what is marvellous, and they will go a long distance out of +their way to see that which is terrific and horrible; but on the night +in question there was no need to go far. The farmers had only to look +out of their windows, and the sailors of the shipping had only to lift +their heads above the bulwarks, to behold a sight that appalled the +stoutest hearted, and caused the very hair on the craniums of the timid +to stand on end. + +The object that created so much consternation was--a "monster of the +deep!" At some parts of the river, men could not tell what it was like, +for the night was dark when it passed, but a dark, shadowy idea they +obtained by the light of the fire which the creature vomited from its +jaws; and they formed a tremendous conception of its size and power from +the speed at which it travelled, the splashing which it made, and the +hideous groans with which it burdened the night-air. + +This "fiery monster of the deep" was the _first_ river-steamer, the +_Clermont_! + +Before going further into the details of this the first of a class of +ships which have, within the last fifty years, almost completely changed +the whole system of navigation, let us take a cursory glance at the +first attempts made to propel ships by means of steam. + +The subject has occupied mankind much longer than many people suppose. +So long ago as the year 1543, a naval captain of Spain applied an engine +to a ship of about two hundred tons, and succeeded in moving it at the +rate of about two miles an hour. The nature of his engine the captain +kept secret; but it was noted that part of it consisted of a caldron of +boiling water. + +This we are told by Thomas Gonzales, the director of the Royal Archives +of Simancas; but his veracity is now called in question,--at any rate, +nothing further was afterwards heard of the discovery. + +The first authentic record we have of steam navigation occurs in a work +written by the Marquis of Worcester in 1665, in which allusion is made +to the application of engines to boats and ships, which would "draw them +up rivers against the stream, and, if need be, pass London Bridge +against the current, at low-water." + +Many attempts, more or less successful, were made by ingenious men from +time to time. Papin of France in 1690 constructed a steamboat, the +success of which may be gathered from the fact that it was ultimately +broken up by enraged and jealous watermen! Jonathan Hulls in 1736, and +M. Genevois in 1759, were each successful, to a certain extent, in +constructing working models, but nothing definite resulted from their +labours. Yet we would not be understood to undervalue the achievements +of such men. On the contrary, it is by the successive discoveries of +such inquiring and philosophical men that grand results are at last +attained. The magnificent structures that crowd the ocean were not the +creations of one era, or the product of one stupendous mind. They are +the result of the labours of thousands of men whose names have never +been known to fame. + +The men who, working upon the materials supplied by preceding +generations, brought the propulsion of boats by steam nearest to +perfection, _just before_ the commencement of navigation, were Mr +Miller of Dumfries, Mr Taylor, his friend, and tutor in his family, and +Mr Symington. All of these were, in a very important degree, +instrumental in ushering in the great event. Symington, in 1788, fitted +an engine to a large boat, in which he attained the speed of seven miles +an hour. + +The man to whom the credit belongs of introducing _steam navigation_ is +undoubtedly Mr Fulton of America. This gentleman, who was contemporary +with those just mentioned, visited France and England, in the former of +which countries he endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to carry out his +projects, while in the latter he met with Symington, and obtained much +valuable information from him. + +We have no sympathy whatever with those who seem to rake in to the +credit of their own country every discovery and invention they possibly +or plausibly can. We did much _towards_ the commencement of steam +navigation, but we did not begin it. We pushed considerably in advance +of other nations in the invention of apparatus by which boats might be +propelled by steam; we constructed models, tried it on a small scale, +and found the thing to answer admirably: but we rested there. +Meanwhile, an enterprising American came and saw our achievements, +ordered an engine in England, carried it across the Atlantic, and +_commenced_ the era of steam navigation, on the river Hudson, by +building and launching: + +THE FIRST STEAMER. + +Robert Fulton, in conjunction with Chancellor Livingston of America, +planned, built, and launched a boat in the spring of 1807, which they +named the _Clermont_. It was propelled by steam, and averaged the rate +of five miles an hour on its first voyage from New York to Albany, a +distance of nearly one hundred and fifty miles. + +All discoveries and novelties, great and small, are treated with +ridicule at first by the mass of mankind, so it is not a matter of +wonder that the crowds which flocked to the wharf to see the _Clermont_ +start on her first trip were somewhat satirical and jocose in their +remarks. But when the steam was turned on, and they heard the first of +that series of snorts that was destined ere long to shake the trembling +air of land and sea, and saw the great, uncouth paddle-wheels revolve +powerfully in the water and churn it into foam, a shout, tinged +doubtless with prophetic fervour, greeted the triumphant engineer as his +little steamboat darted from the shore. + +Colden, in his Life of Fulton, speaks thus of the _Clermont's_ first +voyage:-- + +"She excited the astonishment of the inhabitants of the shores of the +Hudson, many of whom had not heard even of an engine, much less of a +steamboat. There were many descriptions of the effects of her first +appearance upon the people of the banks of the river. + +"Some of these were ridiculous, but some of them were of such a +character as nothing but an object of real grandeur could have excited. +She was described by some, who had indistinctly seen her passing in the +night, as a monster moving on the waters, defying the winds and tide and +breathing flames and smoke! She had the most terrific appearance from +other vessels which were navigating the river when she was making her +passage. The first steamboat (as others yet do) used dry pine wood for +fuel, which sends forth a column of ignited vapour many feet above the +flue, and, whenever the fire is stirred, a galaxy of sparks fly off, +which, in the night, have a very brilliant and beautiful appearance. + +"This uncommon light first attracted the attention of the crews of other +vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and tide, which were adverse to its +approach, they saw with astonishment that it was rapidly coming towards +them; and when it came so near that the noise of the machinery and +paddles was heard, the crews--if what was said in the newspapers of the +time be true--in some instances shrank beneath their decks from the +terrific sight, and left their vessels to go on shore; whilst others +prostrated themselves, and besought Providence to protect them from the +approaches of the horrible monster which was marching on the tide, and +lighting its path by the fires that it vomited!" The _Clermont_ became +a regular passenger boat on the Hudson; and the progress of steam +navigation continued to advance, until nearly all the navigable rivers +of the world, and the great ocean itself, were covered with these +clanking ships of commerce, which have added more to the comfort, the +wealth, and the power of man--the power of doing good as well as evil-- +than the feeble human mind can conceive. + +THE COMET. + +It was not until five years after the Americans set us the example that +we launched our first passenger steamboat, the _Comet_, a vessel of +about twenty-five tons, with engines of three horse-power. This little +vessel was started by Henry Bell, of Helensburgh, on the Clyde. It +began its career in 1812, and plied regularly for two years. + +Like her predecessor the _Clermont_, she was regarded with no small +degree of scepticism, and with a large amount of surprise by the +thousands who saw her set forth. Nevertheless, she soon proved her +value, became a successful speculation to her owners, and was ere long +followed by many other vessels of a similar kind. + +THE "ARGYLE", AFTERWARDS NAMED "THE THAMES." + +In 1813 the _Argyle_ was launched. This vessel was the first European +steamer that pushed out into the more dangerous navigation of the open +sea-coast. She was purchased by a company in London. On her passage +up, she was as nearly as possible wrecked on a lee-shore, but, by her +steam-power, was enabled to go straight against the wind, at the rate of +three and a half knots an hour, and so escaped. + +One of the passengers has left us an interesting account of this +interesting voyage, from which we cull one or two paragraphs: + +"The weather had now become so stormy and bad that our captain +determined to put in to the port of Wexford, his great object being to +navigate the vessel safely to London, rather than, by using great +despatch, to expose her to unnecessary risk. We put to sea again at two +o'clock p.m., on May 30th, and steered for Saint David's Head, the most +westerly point of Wales. During our passage across Saint George's +Channel, one of the blades of the starboard paddle-wheel became out of +order; the engine was stopped, and the blade cut away. Some hours +afterwards, a similar accident happened to the other wheel, which was +remedied in the same manner. + +"About two-o'clock in the afternoon, twelve hours after leaving Wexford, +we reached the pass of Ramsay. We remained there for three hours, to +oil the engine, and to give the stoker, who had not quitted his post an +instant since leaving Wexford, a little rest. In a short time several +boats were seen coming to our assistance, the idea prevailing here, as +at Wexford, that our vessel was on fire. We landed on the island of +Ramsay, a most desolate spot, containing only one habitation; we, +however, procured some bread, butter, milk, cheese, and ale, with which +we returned to the vessel, and commenced steaming through the straits, +and across Saint Bride's Bay. + +"The weather had now become unfavourable, and the sea ran alarmingly +high in the bay. On the south side of Saint Bride's Bay, between Skomar +Island and the mainland, is a nasty passage called Jack Sound. Our +pilot warned us of the danger of attempting this passage, excepting at +high-water and with a favourable wind, as there were several formidable +whirlpools, which would seize the vessel and carry her on the rocks. +Captain Dodd, however, who knew the power of his engine, insisted on +going through the sound, in order to save five hours and another night +at sea. The pilot repeated his remonstrances, at the same time +trembling for fear; but we passed through all the whirlpools with the +greatest ease. Nothing, however, can be conceived more frightful than +the aspect of some of the rocks, and especially of those called the +Bishop and his Clerks. Had we been in a sailing vessel, our position +would have been most perilous; but our steam was all-powerful, and +brought us safely to Milford Haven. + +"We put to sea again late on the evening of the 31st, and on Friday +morning we were in the middle of the Bristol Channel, with no land +visible; but towards evening we discovered the high coast that +terminates England in the west. As the weather, however, again assumed +a gloomy aspect, our new pilot judged that it would be imprudent that +night to double Land's End, so we shaped our course towards Saint Ives. + +"On approaching the shore, we perceived a crowd of small vessels making +towards us with all possible rapidity, by means of oars and sails. +Here, as elsewhere, the alarm was taken, on seeing a vessel, judged to +be on fire, steering towards the town, and all the disposable craft +immediately put to sea. All the rocks commanding Saint Ives were +covered with spectators; and when we entered the harbour, the aspect of +our vessel appeared to occasion as much surprise amongst the inhabitants +as the ships of Captain Cook must have produced on his first appearance +amongst the islanders of the South Seas. + +"Another night passed, a night of storm and danger, but the little +_Thames_ (the vessel had been renamed by the new company who purchased +her) behaved nobly, and next day reached Plymouth. Here," continues the +narrative, "the harbour-master, who had never seen a steam-vessel +before, was as much struck with astonishment, when he boarded the +_Thames_, as a child is on getting possession of a new plaything. He +steered the vessel, and we passed round several ships of war in the +sound. The sailors ran in crowds to the sides of their vessels as we +passed them, and, mounting the rigging, gave vent to their observations +in a most amusing manner. + +"We left Plymouth at noon on the following day, and steamed without +interruption to Portsmouth, where we arrived on Friday, June 9th, having +accomplished one hundred and fifty miles in twenty-three hours. At +Portsmouth astonishment and admiration were, if possible, more strongly +evinced than elsewhere. Tens of thousands of spectators were assembled +to gaze on the _Thames_; and the number of vessels that crowded around +us was so great, that it became necessary to request the admiral to give +us a guard to preserve some degree of order. + +"We entered the harbour in the most brilliant style, steaming in, with +the assistance of wind and tide, at the rate of from twelve to fourteen +miles an hour. A court-martial was at the time sitting on board the +_Gladiator_ frigate; but the novelty of our steamboat presented an +irresistible attraction, and the whole court came off to us, excepting +the president, who was obliged by etiquette to retain his seat until the +court was regularly adjourned. On Saturday, June 10th, the port-admiral +sent his band and a guard of marines at an early hour on board; and soon +afterwards he followed, accompanied by three admirals, eighteen +post-captains, and a large number of ladies. The morning was spent in +steaming amongst the fleet, and running over to the Isle of Wight. From +Portsmouth we proceeded to Margate, which we reached on Sunday morning. +Here we remained until the following day, when we embarked for our final +trip, at half-past eight in the morning; and about six in the evening +arrived at Limehouse, where we moored." + +We have entered thus at considerable length into this voyage, because, +besides being the first steam sea-voyage, it serves to exhibit very +distinctly how great and how rapid has been the progress of +steam-navigation within the last fifty years. In reading such an +account as this, in these days of "ocean mail-steamers" and "Great +Easterns," we can scarcely believe that in it reference is made, not to +the middle ages, but to the year 1813. + +OCEAN-STEAMERS. + +After that momentous era when steam was first successfully applied to +useful purposes, human progress and improvement in all departments of +science and art seemed to have been hooked on to it, and to have +thenceforth rushed roaring at its tail, with truly "railroad speed," +towards perfection! + +Scarce had the first model steamboat splashed with its ungainly "blades" +the waters of a pond, than river traffic by means of steamboats began. +And no sooner had this been proved to be a decided success, than daring +schemes were laid to rush over the ocean itself on wheels. Men were not +long about it, after the first start was made. Their intellectual steam +was up, and the whirl of inventive effort racked the brains of engineers +as the wheels of their steamboats tortured the waters of the deep. + +And here again the name of Fulton comes into notice. Early in 1814 he +conceived the idea of constructing a steam-vessel of war, which should +carry a strong battery with furnaces for red-hot shot. Congress +authorised the building of such a ship, and before the end of the same +year it was launched. Fulton died the following year, but the fame of +that enterprising engineer will never die. + +The new vessel received the rather quaint title of _Fulton the First_. +She consisted of two boats joined together. Those who were appointed by +Congress to examine her and report, gave the following account of this +curious man-of-war: + +"She is a structure resting on two boats and keels, separated from end +to end by a channel fifteen feet wide and sixty-six feet long. One boat +contains the caldrons of copper to prepare her steam; the cylinder of +iron, its piston, lever, and wheels, occupy part of the other. The +water-wheel revolves in the space between them. The main or gun-deck +supports the armament, and is protected by a parapet four feet ten +inches thick, of solid timber, pierced by embrasures. Through thirty +port-holes as many thirty-two pounders are intended to fire red-hot +shot, which can be heated with great safety and convenience. Her upper +or spar-deck, upon which several thousand men might parade, is +encompassed by a bulwark, which affords safe quarters. She is rigged +with two stout masts, each of which supports a large lateen yard and +sails. She has two bowsprits and jibs, and four rudders--one at each +extremity of each boat; so that she can be steered with either end +foremost. Her machinery is calculated for the addition of an engine +which will discharge an immense column of water, which it is intended to +throw upon the decks and through the port-holes of the enemy, and +thereby deluge her armament and ammunition. + +"If, in addition to all this, we suppose her to be furnished, according +to Mr Fulton's intention, with hundred-pound columbiads, two suspended +from each bow, so as to discharge a ball of that size into an enemy's +ship ten or twelve feet below her water-line, it must be allowed that +she has the appearance, at least, of being the most formidable engine +for warfare that human ingenuity has contrived." + +She certainly was; and even at the present time the _Fulton the First_ +would cut no insignificant figure if placed alongside our gunboats, +floating-batteries, and steam-frigates. + +It is not easy to get intelligent men to believe in things that savour +of the marvellous; yet there seems to be a point past which, if once a +man be got, he will go on to believe almost anything, no matter how +absurd. In those days few people in Europe would credit the truth of +this ship's proportions; but when, in the course of time and from +indubitable testimony, they were compelled to believe, they flew to the +opposite extreme of incredulity and believed anything, as the following +curiously comical paragraph will show. It is said to have appeared in a +Scotch treatise on steamships, and is intended for a "full, true, and +particular account" of this monstrous American man-of-war steamer. +After giving her dimensions three times larger than they were in +reality, the author continues:--"The thickness of her sides is thirteen +feet of alternate oak plank and cork wood. She carries forty-four guns, +four of which are hundred pounders; quarter-deck and forecastle guns, +forty-four pounders: and further, to annoy an enemy attempting to board, +can discharge one hundred gallons of boiling water in a minute; and, by +mechanism, brandishes three hundred cutlasses with the utmost regularity +over her gunwales; works also an equal number of heavy iron spikes of +great length, darting them from the sides with prodigious force, and +withdrawing them every quarter of a minute!" This vessel, although +probably intended for an ocean-steamer, was never used as such. But not +long after, a vessel propelled by steam ventured to cross the Atlantic, +and thus became the parent of commercial steam navigation. This vessel +was: + +THE "SAVANNAH" STEAMER. + +Unfortunately, little information as to this, the first ocean-steamer, +has been chronicled. + +She was launched at New York on the 22nd of August 1818, and in the +following year made her first voyage to Savannah, from which she sailed +for Liverpool soon after, and crossed the Atlantic in twenty-five days-- +during eighteen of which she used her engines. + +The _Savannah_ was about 350 tons burden, and was on this occasion +commanded by Captain Moses Rodgers. She was fitted with machinery for +taking in her wheels in stormy weather, which was found to work +admirably; and she is mentioned as having been seen on the ocean going +at the rate of nine or ten knots. + +From Liverpool this steamer went to Saint Petersburg, and afterwards +returned to Savannah in safety. + +This was the insertion of the wedge. Our own country did not follow the +lead until 1838, when the good people of New York were thrown into a +state of excitement by the arrival of two steamers, the _Sirius_ and the +_Great Western_, from England. So long a time had elapsed since the +voyage of the _Savannah_ that men had well-nigh forgotten it, and were +disposed to regard these vessels as the _first_ ocean-steamers. Indeed, +some narrow-minded and ungenerous writers have asserted that they _were_ +the first--totally ignoring the prior claim of the _Savannah_. + +From that period ocean-steamers began to run frequently across the +Atlantic. They now do so regularly, as well as to nearly all other +parts of the world. + +OCEAN MAIL-STEAMERS. + +The improvements which have taken place during recent years in +ocean-going steamships have been great and rapid. The speed attained by +some of these magnificent vessels is little short of marvellous. Many +persons still living can recollect the time when the voyage to Australia +in a sailing vessel lasted six months. What is now the state of +matters? By more than one line of steamships the traveller may reach +Sydney or Melbourne within forty days. A recent voyage of the _Orient_, +one of the latest and finest additions to ocean steamships, merits more +than a passing notice. The _Lusitania_, which belongs to the same line, +steamed from England to Australia in less than forty days, and the feat +was regarded as a great one. But the _Lusitania_ has been far +outmatched by her sister-ship the _Orient_, which has actually +accomplished the same voyage in thirty-five days, fifteen hours, and +forty-six minutes. From Plymouth to the Cape of Good Hope took the +_Orient_ only seventeen days twenty-one hours. This is the fastest +speed on record. Whether it is the maximum rate possible to ocean +steamships, or whether it is destined to be surpassed by a still higher +degree of speed, remains to be seen. Many persons are of opinion that +the increased facilities of speed which are now within reach of +travellers on long voyages will gradually lead to the total disuse of +sailing ships for passenger traffic. It may be so, but there are still +not a few who would prefer a sailing to a steam ship for a long sea +voyage, notwithstanding its so greatly inferior rate of speed. But +nowadays everything must be sacrificed to _time_. "Time flies," is at +present the motto of most instant and potent power with the world; but +the day is perhaps not far off when the fiat, "Thus far, and no +farther," must be pronounced not only on the speed of steamships, but on +the breathless rush and hurry of the age in general. + +THE CZAR'S YACHT "LIVADIA." + +Undoubtedly one of the most remarkable craft afloat is the Russian +Czar's steam-yacht the _Livadia_. To a Scotch shipbuilding firm belongs +the credit of having constructed this unique and splendid vessel, and it +is certainly a feather in the cap of Messrs. Elder and Company, the +well-known Glasgow shipbuilders, from whose yard the _Livadia_ was +launched in July 1880. + +One would imagine that the highest point of comfort and luxuriousness +has been reached in the accommodation offered by the _Livadia_; but this +is far from being the only or even the chief respect in which the vessel +is remarkable. She is notable from a purely nautical point of view-- +being the outcome of principles that may be said almost to revolutionise +all pre-existing ideas of shipbuilding, though something like the same +principle may be found in the circular ironclads of Admiral Popoff. + +Hitherto the plan which naval architects have followed, where the +desideratum was exceptional speed, was to give the vessel in course of +construction length in combination with as fine lines and as perfect +proportion as possible. But in the case of an imperial pleasure-boat, +like the _Livadia_, it was an object to obtain an ampler and more +drawing-room like accommodation than is compatible with length, +narrowness of beam, and fine lines; and the constructors of the Czar's +new yacht have succeeded in securing not only this internal spaciousness +and comfort, but also a satisfactory degree of speed. + +It was to the united exertions of Admiral Popoff of the Russian navy, +and Dr Tideman of the royal dockyard, Amsterdam, that the design of the +_Livadia_ was due. It is not easy in words to convey a distinct +impression of this curiously-shaped craft, but our description will, we +hope, give the reader a pretty correct idea of the vessel. + +The constructors of the _Livadia_, it is believed, chose a turbot as +their model for the hull; and in thus taking a flat fish as a suggestion +for their vessel, the builders, as a recent writer on the subject points +out, followed no extravagant, though certainly a novel, fancy. In broad +terms the _Livadia_ may be described as a wide and shallow oval in +shape, half submerged, while over this turbot-shaped raft a +superstructure is erected, somewhat similar in appearance to an ordinary +vessel, and comprising large, lofty, and sumptuous saloons and other +apartments. + +The _Livadia_ is 260 feet long, 150 feet broad, and 50 feet deep. She +is 11,609 tons burden, and her displacement 4000. The two leading +merits of the _Livadia_, due to its peculiar construction, are--first, +that its frame can support a superstructure of almost palatial +proportions such as would founder any other vessel; and second, that its +great breadth of beam keeps the ship as steady as a ship can possibly +be, while, at the same time, its lower lines secure a very good degree +of speed. + +The _Livadia_ possesses powerful propelling engines. There are three +sets of these, each with three cylinders, the diameter being sixty +inches for the high pressure, and seventy-eight inches for the low, with +a stroke of three feet three inches. As much strength and lightness as +possible have been secured for the propellers by constructing them of +manganese iron; while steel has been largely employed for the engines +and boilers, which are, for their weight, the most powerful possessed by +any vessel. The estimated horse-power is 10,500, and the ship, under +favourable conditions, can make fifteen knots an hour. + +The double water-tight bottom of the _Livadia_ is three feet six inches +deep at the centre, and two feet nine inches at each end. In this +turbot-like lower part is the machinery, and it is the receptacle also +for coals and stores of all kinds. The twofold bottom of the ship +comprises forty compartments, and the whole is sufficiently strong, it +is believed, to withstand the heaviest weather to which the yacht is +likely to be exposed, as well as the strain of her powerful machinery. + +The entire length of the upper part of the ship, in which are the +imperial apartments, and the quarters of the officers and crew, is 260 +feet, and the breadth 110 feet. The crew all told numbers 260. The +private apartments of the Czar himself are forward on the main-deck, +well away from the heat of the engines and the smell of the machinery. +A visitor to the ship is chiefly struck, perhaps, by the height to which +the decks rise above the hull, the uppermost compartment of all being +fitted out as a reception saloon, in the centre of which a little +fountain rises out of a bed of flowers. This portion of the vessel is +forty feet above the level of the sea. The apartment is luxuriously +appointed in the fashion of the reign of Louis XVI. The drawing-room is +furnished in a style of equal sumptuousness, in the Crimean Tartar +style; but the rest of the imperial apartments are in a simpler order of +decoration. Behind the funnels there is another deck-house, containing +the captain's quarters and rooms for the Grand Duke Constantine. It +will thus be seen that the _Livadia_ is literally a floating palace, +equipped and decorated with that almost Eastern love of sumptuous +display which characterises the Russians as a people. + +All the three screws with which the _Livadia_ is furnished are wholly +submerged in the water--another novelty in the construction of the +vessel. One or even two of these screws might suffer serious injury and +the ship still remain manageable. + +It is not wonderful that the launch of a craft, at once so splendid and +so curious, should have caused much interest and excitement in the +neighbourhood in which it took place. A distinguished company witnessed +the ceremony, while the crowd which lined the banks of the river Clyde +numbered 10,000. A short service was conducted by three priests of the +Greek Church, and the bows of the vessel were then sprinkled with holy +water. After the conclusion of this ceremony, the yacht received her +name from the Duchess of Hamilton, and was then launched. The launch +was a complete success, the _Livadia_ taking the water in gallant style, +though the task was one of more than ordinary difficulty from the +circumstance of the great breadth of the ship's keel-less bottom, which +much increased the friction to be overcome. At the luncheon which +concluded the day's proceedings, Mr Pearce, the chairman, who +represented the firm of Elder and Company, stated that the principle +adopted in the building of the _Livadia_ would probably be more useful +in the case of ships of war than of merchant vessels, but that builders +of the latter might also derive valuable hints from the construction of +the new ship. Whether this will prove to be the case time has yet to +show. + +A most interesting discovery of a Norse war-ship has recently been made +at Sandefjord in Norway. The vessel, there can be no doubt, is one of +the kind in which those formidable buccaneers, the Norsemen, used to +harry the coasts of Great Britain and France ten hundred years ago. It +was found buried in the ground, and seems to have been the sepulchre of +some great Viking chieftain, who had probably many a time sailed forth +in it to the terror and detriment of some less warlike and powerful +neighbour. + +The ship is unusually large, and very completely equipped. Its length +is about seventy-five feet; and sails, rigging, a number of shields and +other instruments of battle, were found on board. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +THE "GREAT EASTERN." + +The _Great Eastern_ steamship deserves to be regarded as the eighth +wonder of the world, beyond all question. She is at present by far the +largest vessel in the world, and is the most magnificent creation of +naval architecture that was ever launched upon the sea. + +The substance of the following account of this interesting ship has been +gathered principally from the Times and the Illustrated London News for +1859, the year in which the _Great Eastern_ was launched, and from a +pamphlet which was sold on board, by permission of the proprietors. + +The _Great Eastern_ was intended for the Indian and Australian route by +the Cape of Good Hope. The result of large experience in steam +navigation has proved that the size of the ship, (when steam is used), +ought to be in proportion to the length of the voyage. Mr Brunel, the +talented engineer to whose genius and perseverance this monster ship +owes her existence, acting on this principle, calculated that the voyage +to Australia and back being 22,500 miles--a vessel of 22,500 tons +burden, (or a ton burden for every mile to be steamed), would require to +be built, capable of carrying fuel for the entire voyage, it being +impossible, without incurring enormous expense, to procure coal for such +a vessel at intermediate ports. + +The Eastern Steam Navigation Company undertook the herculean work. The +total cost of construction was estimated at 804,522 pounds. Mr Brunel +prepared the designs. A spot of ground was chosen on the banks of the +Thames, in the building-yard of the company at Millwall, and the +building was commenced, on the lines laid down by Mr Scott Russell, on +the 1st of May 1854. + +Every minute detail of the arrangements and building of this wonder of +the world is fraught with interest. The mere preparing of the ground to +receive her enormous weight was calculated to fill the minds of men with +astonishment. Her supports and scaffoldings, and the machinery by which +she was ultimately launched, taxed the skill of her engineers even more +than her construction. A very town of workshops, foundries, and forges +sprang into being round her hull; and as this rose, foot by foot, in all +its gigantic proportions, the surrounding edifices dwindled down into +insignificance, and the busy population of artificers clustered upon her +like ants upon a prostrate monarch of the forest-trees. + +The hull of the _Great Eastern_ is built entirely of iron, and is 680 +feet in length, 83 feet in breadth, and 60 feet in height from keel to +deck. It is divided transversely into ten separate compartments of 60 +feet each, rendered perfectly water-tight by bulk-heads, having no +openings whatever lower than the second deck; whilst two longitudinal +walls of iron, 36 feet apart, traverse 350 feet of the length of the +ship. + +The mind will be better able to realise the magnitude of these +dimensions if we add that the _Great Eastern_ is six times the size of +the Duke of Wellington line-of-battle ship, that her length is more than +three times the height of the Monument, while her breadth is equal to +the width of Pall Mall, and a promenade round the deck affords a walk of +more than a quarter of a mile. + +There is no keel properly so called, but in its place a flat keel-plate +of iron, about two feet wide and one inch thick, which runs the entire +length from stem to stern. This is the base upon which all the rest is +reared, plates and girders alike. The iron plates which form her +planking are three-quarters of an inch thick. Up to the water-mark the +hull is constructed with an inner and outer skin, two feet ten inches +apart, both skins being made of three-quarter inch plates, except at the +bottom, where the plates are an inch thick; and between these, at +intervals of six feet, run horizontal webs of iron plates, which bind +the two skins together, and thus it may be said that the lower part of +the hull is two feet ten inches thick. + +This mode of construction adds materially to the safety of the vessel; +for, in the event of a collision at sea, the outer skin might be pierced +while the inner might remain intact. This space may also at any time be +filled with water, and thus ballast, to the amount of 2500 tons, be +obtained. + +Some idea of the magnitude and weight of the vessel may be formed from +the fact that each iron plate weighs about the third of a ton, and is +fastened with a hundred iron rivets. About thirty thousand of these +plates were used in her construction, and three million rivets. The +fastening of these rivets was one among the many curious operations +performed in course of building. The riveting men were arranged in +gangs, each gang consisting of two riveters, one holder-up, and three +boys. Two boys were stationed at the fire or portable forge, and one +with the holder-up. This boy's duty was to receive the red-hot rivet +with his pincers from the boy at the forge, and insert it in the hole +destined for its reception, the point protruding about an inch. The +holder-up immediately placed his heavy hammer against the head of the +rivet, and held it firmly there, while the two riveters assailed it in +front with alternate blows, until the countersunk part of the hole was +filled up, after which the protruding head was cut off smooth with the +plate, the whole operation scarce occupying a minute. In riveting the +double part of the ship the holder-up and his boy were necessarily in +the interior part of the tubes, and passed the whole day in the narrow +space between, (of two feet ten inches wide), in comparative darkness, +having only the glimmer afforded by a single dip candle, and being +immediately under the deafening blows of the riveters. + +The _deck_ of the _Great Eastern_ is double, or cellular, after the plan +of the Britannia Tubular Bridge. The upper deck runs flush and clear +from stem to stern, and he who takes four turns up and down it from stem +to stern walks upwards of a mile. The strength of this deck is so +enormous that if the ship were taken up by its two extremities, with all +its cargo, passengers, coals, and provisions on board, it would sustain +the whole. The deck has been covered with teak planking, and has been +planed and scrubbed to man-of-war whiteness. Not even a stray rope's +end breaks the wonderful effect produced by its immense expanse. Her +fleet of small boats, which are about the size of sailing cutters, hang +at the davits, ten on each side. There are six masts and five funnels. +The three centre square-rigged masts are of iron. They were made by Mr +Finch of Chepstow, and are the finest specimens of masts of the kind +that were ever manufactured. Each is made of hollow wrought iron in +eight-feet lengths, strengthened inside by diaphragms of the same +material. Between the joints, as they were bolted together, was placed +a pad of vulcanised india-rubber, which gives a spring and buoyancy to +the whole spar greater than wood, while at the same time it retains all +the strength of the iron. The other masts are made of wood, and the +canvas that can be spread is no less than 6500 square yards. On deck +are four small steam winches or engines, each of which works a pair of +cranes on both sides of the vessel; and with these five thousand tons of +coals can be hoisted into the vessel in twenty-four hours. + +The _engines_ and boilers are of immense power and magnitude. There are +both screw and paddle engines, the former being capable of working up to +6500 horse-power, the latter to 5000. There are ten boilers and one +hundred and twelve furnaces. The paddle engines, which were made by +Messrs. Scott Russell and Company, stand nearly 40 feet high. Each +cylinder weighs about 28 tons, and each paddle-wheel is 58 feet in +diameter, or considerably larger than the ring in Astley's Circus. The +screw engines were manufactured by Messrs. Watt and Company of +Birmingham. They consist of four cylinders of 84 inches diameter and 4 +feet stroke. The screw propeller is 24 feet in diameter and 37 feet +pitch; and the engine-shaft is 160 feet long, or 12 feet longer than the +height of the Duke of York's Column. The paddles and screw, when +working together at their highest pitch, exert a force equal to 11,500 +horsepower, which is sufficient to drive all the cotton-mills in +Manchester! The consumption of coal to produce this force is estimated +at about 250 tons per day. + +Besides these engines there are also several auxiliary engines for +pumping water into the boilers, etcetera. + +The passenger accommodation in the _Great Eastern_ is very extensive-- +namely, 800 first-class, from 2000 to 4000 second-class, and about 1200 +third-class passengers; or if troops alone were taken, it could +accommodate 10,000 men. + +The _saloons_ are fitted up in the most elaborate and costly manner. +The chief saloon is magnificently furnished. It is said that the +mirrors, gilding, carpeting, and silk curtains for this apartment alone +cost 3000 pounds. In the berths, of course, no attempt is made at +costly decoration of this kind, though the fittings are good and +sufficiently luxurious. The berths are arranged in three classes: those +for parties of six or eight, and these are large rooms; those for +parties of four; and the rest in the usual style of double cabins. All +are very roomy, as cabins go--very lofty, well lit, and those on the +outer sides exceedingly well ventilated. On the lower deck the berths +are even larger, loftier, and more commodious than those on the upper. +Both the berths and saloons here are in fact almost unnecessarily high, +having very nearly fifteen feet in the clear. The kitchens, pantries, +and sculleries are all on the same extensive scale, and fitted with all +the large culinary requisites of first-class hotels. The ice-house +holds upwards of 100 tons of ice; and the lofty wine-vaults--for such in +fact they are--contain wine enough to form a good freight for an Oporto +trader. + +_Miscellanea_.--In addition to the boats of the _Great Eastern_ (twenty +in number), she carries two small screw-steamers, each 100 feet long, 16 +feet broad, 120 tons burden, and 40 horse-power, suspended aft of the +paddle-boxes. + +As the captain's voice could not be heard half-way to the bow, even with +the aid of the ancient speaking-trumpet, that instrument is supplanted +by _semaphore_ signals by day, and _coloured_ lamps by night; the +_electric telegraph_ is also used in connection with the engine-rooms. +There are ten _anchors_, four of them being Trotman's patent, weighing +seven tons each. The _cables_ are each 400 fathoms long, and their +united weight is 100 tons. The _tonnage_ of the _Great Eastern_ is +18,500 tons register, and 22,500 tons builders' measurement. The _crew_ +at first consisted of thirteen officers, seventeen engineers, a +sailing-master, and a purser, four hundred men, and two or three +surgeons, all under the command of the late Captain W. Harrison, +(formerly of the Cunard line). + +The _launch_ of this leviathan was a most formidable undertaking, and +was accomplished by means of powerful hydraulic rams, which propelled +the vessel down the launching "ways." The ship rested on two gigantic +cradles, and was forced sideways down the inclined plane, until she +floated on the river. By a complication of ingenious contrivances the +great ship was regulated in her descent so as to proceed slowly and +regularly down the ways. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to +launch her, and several of the hydraulic rams broke down ere she floated +on the bosom of Old Father Thames; and the cost of this operation alone +is said to have been nearly 100,000 pounds. + +The _trial of the engines_, both screw and paddle, took place for the +first time on the 8th of August 1859, when the completion of the vessel +was celebrated by a banquet on board. The first movement of the +gigantic cranks and cylinders of the paddle engines was made precisely +at half-past one, when the great masses slowly rose and fell as +noiselessly as the engines of a Greenwich boat, but exerting in their +revolutions what seemed to be an almost irresistible power. There was +no noise, no vibration, nor the slightest sign of heating. The +tremendous frame of ironwork sprang at once into life and motion, with +as much ease as if every rod and crank had been worked for the last ten +years. + +The _trial trip_ of the _Great Eastern_ was an event that excited +intense interest all over the kingdom. For the first time, she cast off +her moorings on Wednesday morning, (the 7th September), and reached the +Nore on Thursday, where she anchored for the night before proceeding to +sea. On Friday morning, at ten minutes past nine, she started on her +first salt-water voyage. A conviction of the extreme steadiness of the +vessel must speedily have seized everyone on board. There was no +perceptible motion of any kind. The giant ship was speedily surrounded +by yachts, tugs, fishing-smacks, and, indeed, by a representative of +almost every kind of vessel which is prevalent at the Nore. These +accompanied her as far on her way as their limited sailing powers would +permit. Although there were sharp squalls and a chopping sea nearly all +through the trip, not the slightest inconvenience was felt by any of the +visitors, not even among the fairer portion of the passengers. The +morning, which was rather fine at starting, suddenly became clouded, and +the shifting squalls increased in violence. Though the squally state of +the weather damped the pleasure of all on board, yet it afforded an +opportunity of trying the properties of the ship, now under paddle as +well as screw; and it was the wish of Mr Scott Russell and all on board +to meet a good gale of wind. At a moderate computation, the distance +from the deck to the water could not be much less than forty feet, while +the vessel is nearly seven hundred feet long. This area would, of +course, present an enormous surface to the force of the wind, and formed +the subject of considerable discussion as to the effect it would have on +her sea-going qualities. The ship was as stiff and steady as though she +still remained on her cradles in the Isle of Dogs, and her course was as +calm and true as though she were on a lake without a capful of wind. + +It is said that at one portion of the voyage she steamed nineteen miles +an hour. + +The _explosion_.--All went well till the ship had passed Folkestone. +About half-past five o'clock, while the majority of the passengers were +on deck, and a few gentlemen only remained in the dining saloon, a +tremendous explosion occurred, and in an instant showers of broken +glass, and fragments of wood and iron, came crashing through the +skylight. Those in the cabin rushed on deck. The ship was still +pressing onward; at either end all was still and deserted, while in the +centre all was smoke, fire, vapour, and confusion. The great funnel, of +eight tons weight, had been shot up as if from a mortar, and fell on the +deck broken in two pieces. The whole centre of the ship seemed to be +only one vast chasm, and from it were belching up steam, dust, and +something that looked like incipient conflagration. Captain Harrison +acted nobly on this terrible occasion. He had been standing on the +bridge overhead, looking into the binnacle, and the moment he heard the +report, and whilst the destructive shower was still falling fast, he +jumped upon the deck, and ordered an immediate descent to the ladies' +saloon, in the firm conviction that they were all there as on the +previous evening. But many of the men were panic-stricken, and had +already shrunk away from the explosion. A foolish passenger had raised +a cry of "The boats," and, assisted by some of the sailors, was madly +attempting to let them down. In one moment all would have been lost; +for the rush to the boats would have been general, and hundreds been +drowned, whilst the noble ship would have been left to certain +destruction. But the voice of the captain was heard like a trumpet, +calling out, "Men, to your duty; officers, to your posts; give me a +rope, and let six men follow me!" The effect of this short address was +electric. In an instant he had slid down the rope into the saloon, +followed by his brave boatswain Hawkins, and six volunteers were not +long wanted for the forlorn hope. One after another he dashed open the +gilded panels; but the splendid apartment had, strange to say, only two +inhabitants,--his little daughter Edith, and her pet dog. It was the +reward of his gallantry that his own child should be thus the one to be +so providentially saved. But even then he did not for a moment lose his +self-command. Snatching up the child, and with one glance seeing that +she was unharmed, he exclaimed, "Pass her along to the deck; there are +more rooms to be searched." In this way did he move about rapidly, but +coolly, and did not again return to the deck until he had satisfied +himself that not a single woman was in the burning, steaming, +suffocating chamber. His intimate friend, Mr Trotman, who had followed +him down almost immediately, found the poor lap-dog moaning under a heap +of ruins, and was the means of restoring it to its little mistress. + +The magnificent saloon was a mass of torn and shattered furniture, +mirrors, and ornaments. Had the passengers adjourned to this apartment +after dinner, instead of to the deck, the consequences would have been +awful. + +An eye-witness describes the scene of devastation as follows:-- + +"The mirrors which formed the covering of the funnel which had been the +cause of so much mischief were literally smashed to atoms, and large +fragments of the broken glass were hurled upon deck, a long distance aft +of the paddle-wheels. The ornamental bronzed columns which supported +the gilt cornices and elaborate ornamentation, were either struck down +or bent into the most fantastic shapes; the flooring, consisting of +three-inch planks, was upheaved in several places; the gangways leading +to the sleeping-cabins at the sides were shot away; the handrails were +gone, and the elegant carpet was concealed beneath a chaos of fragments +of finery. The books on the shelves of the library remained unmoved; +the piano was thrown on one side; and the floor presented huge upheaved +and rent chasms, through which might be seen the still greater ruin in +the lower cabin. Below the saloon, or drawing-room, is the saloon of +the lower deck, which was, of course, traversed by the same funnel as +the one above it. On each side of these spacious saloons were small +staircases leading to blocks of sleeping-cabins, scarcely one of which +would have been without its two or more occupants a few hours later in +the evening. They were now blown down like a house of cards. The +furniture which they contained formed heaps of dislocated chairs, and +wash-stands, and basins; the doors were off their hinges, the partitions +were forced outward, the staircases leading to them had to be sought in +the splinters and broken wood which lay in heaps in the lower saloon." + +The unhappy men who were working in the stoke-holes and tending the +furnaces were the sufferers by this catastrophe. Believing that one of +the boilers had exploded, fears were entertained that the whole body of +stokers and engineers attending the paddle engines were killed. Mr +Trotman went down the air-shaft communicating with the other boilers. +Seeing by the light of the furnaces a number of men moving about, he +inquired if they were all right, and the response sent up from these +lowest depths of the ship was, "All right at present, but we don't know +how long." They were told to keep quiet, and stay where they were; that +they could be of no service on deck, and all would be well in a few +minutes. The gallant fellows remained by their fiery furnaces with +resolute good-will. In the case of the firemen tending the other set of +boilers a very different scene was taking place. Ropes were thrown +down, and, one by one, wounded, bleeding, and staggering men were drawn +up, their black, begrimed faces forming a ghastly contrast with scalded +portions of their limbs and bodies. The men were taken aft to the +hospital, and to the cabins, where mattresses and blankets were laid for +them. + +Two or three of these poor fellows walked up to the deck almost, if not +quite, unassisted. Their aspect told its own tale, and none who had +ever seen blown-up men before could fail to know at a glance that some +had only two or three hours to live. Where not grimed by the smoke or +ashes, the peculiar bright, soft whiteness of the face, hands, or +breast, told at once that the skin, though unbroken, had in fact been +boiled by the steam. One man walked along, and seemed quite unconscious +that the flesh of his thighs, (most probably by the ashes from the +furnace), was burnt in deep holes. To some one who came to his +assistance he said quietly, "I am all right. There are others worse +than me; go and look after them." This poor man was the first to die. +It was seen at once that but little hope existed for many, if not the +majority, of the sufferers, who were twelve in number. Most of them +seemed very restless, and almost, if not quite, delirious; but a few of +those whose injuries were likely to be more immediately fatal remained +quiet, half unconscious, or at most only asking to be covered up, as if +they felt the cold. For these latter all knew that nothing whatever +could be done, as, in fact, they were then dying. + +The explosion had occurred in the double casing round the bottom of one +of the funnels. We have not space to describe this minutely, and by the +general reader the description, were it given, would scarce be +understood; but it is well to remark that the piece of machinery which +caused the deplorable accident had been previously condemned in strong +terms by competent judges, and there is no doubt that the hot-water +casing round the funnel ought never to have been there. + +After the catastrophe, the _Great Eastern_ kept on her course as though +nothing had happened, although the force of the explosion was sufficient +to have sent any other ship to the bottom. The damage was estimated at +5000 pounds. She arrived at Portland on the 10th, and remained there +for some time undergoing repairs. Afterwards she continued her trial +trip to Holyhead, where she arrived on the 10th of October. The results +of the trial, excepting, of course, the accident, were most +satisfactory. Her speed under disadvantageous circumstances had been +good, and her engines had worked admirably. Against a gale of head wind +she went as steadily as if in harbour, but with the wind a-beam she +rolled considerably. Altogether there was good reason to hope that the +_Great Eastern_ would fulfil the sanguine expectations of her warmest +admirers. + +The following account of the continuation of her trial trip from +Portland to Holyhead, as gathered from the _Times_, is exceedingly +interesting:--When steam was up, and all ready for starting from +Portland, the crew were sent forward to heave up the anchor. Eighty men +sufficed to drag the _Great Eastern_ up to and over her moorings. +Bringing the anchor out of the ground, however, was not so easily +managed; and it was not till all the musical resources known to sailors +on such occasions were nearly exhausted that the tenacious gripe of +Trotman's patent was released, when a slow drift with the tide showed +that the great ship was again set free. In another minute, without +shouting, confusion, or hurry of any kind, and with less noise than is +made by a 100-ton coaster, a slight vibration through the ship, with a +thin line of foam astern, showed that the screw engines were at work and +the vessel once more under way. With such ease, with such perfect +quietness and good order was everything accomplished, that the +occasional cheering from the yachts and steamers was almost the first +token given to those on board that the trial trip had commenced. At a +quarter to four the "way" on the vessel was rapid; her head went round +like turning a pleasure-boat; and so little sign was given of the ship +being under steam, that it seemed rather as if the breakwater had got +adrift and was slowly floating past, than that the monster vessel was +really cleaving the blue waves with a force which, as yet, we have seen +no wind or sea to resist or check. Directly the anchor was fished, +Captain Harrison passed the word to steam ahead with both engines +easily, and the wheels began their revolutions, slowly at first, but +nevertheless making a track of foam upon the water such as they never +made on the first start from Deptford to the Nore. The accession of +speed from working the paddles was at first but slight; not from any +want of power, however, but simply from the fact that both engines were +ordered to work slowly, and though propelling the great ship at +something like eleven knots, were really scarcely driving at indicated +half-speed. + +Quitting Portland, it was necessary to make rather a round turn on +leaving the breakwater, as right ahead on the starboard bow was a small +light-ship, looking like the skeleton of a vessel, and marking the +presence of a dangerous shoal, known by the most appropriate and +significant name of "The Shambles." Inside this lay a long and turbid +ridge of angry water, where the Race of Portland ran, and where a deep +rolling swell, like the Bay of Biscay on a reduced scale, kept tumbling +and breaking into spray like drifts of snow against the high, gaunt +cliffs. It, however, required no actual watching of the low green +mounds of water, which seemed butting against the coast, to convince all +on board that the _Great Eastern_ was at sea. To the infinite relief +and comfort of all the passengers, the vessel began to yield to reason, +and to behave as much like another ship as she could consistently with +her size. It would be too much to say she rolled at this time; for when +the _Great Eastern_ rolls, if ever she does roll, travellers may depend +upon her accomplishing something in that peculiar style of ocean +navigation quite in proportion to her bulk; but one thing is certain-- +that she went from side to side sufficiently to show that she was +susceptible of the motion of the water, and that if ever she steams +across a beam sea, she is likely to move to it with a will, though +slowly and easily. + +Continuing for a considerable time under little more than half steam, +the _Great Eastern_ averaged more than thirteen knots, (fifteen miles), +an hour. The best guide to the rapidity of the ship's progress was the +way in which she passed fast-sailing schooners and overhauled the +steamers. At this time nearly all the swell had ceased, and the monster +ship was rushing over what to her were the mimic waves, and leaving less +wake upon the waters than is caused in the Thames by a Gravesend boat. +The only peculiarity about her progress was the three distinct lines of +frothy water which the screw and paddles made, and which, stretching out +in the clear moonlight like a broad highway, seemed as if the _Great +Eastern_ had fulfilled her purpose, and really bridged the sea. + +For a considerable part of the way the paddles were working easily at +from nine to ten, and the screw at from thirty-two to thirty-four +revolutions per minute. It will give most readers a better idea of the +tremendous nature of the size and speed of the engines which worked so +easily, when it is said that, at ten revolutions, the paddle-wheels +dashed through the water at something like 1600 feet per minute, and the +screw revolved at 2500. When accomplishing this, the consumption of +fuel was at the rate of 250 tons a day for both engines, the indicated +power being above 5000 horses--about 2000 horses for the paddles, and a +little over 3500 for the screw. In order to secure her going at full +speed, however, under such circumstances, the great ship should have +been down by the stern at least eighteen inches more than she really +was, for not less than a foot of the screw-blades was out of the water, +and the slip or loss of power was of course very great. Off the coast +of Cornwall, the swell caused her to roll very considerably, as long as +she was a-beam of the long swell. + +Soon after this a small brig was seen right under the starboard bow. As +usual with these small coasters, she was showing no light and keeping no +look-out, and but for the anxious vigilance exercised on board the big +ship, the brig would have been under the waves in two minutes more. Her +escape was narrow enough, and nothing short of the instant stoppage of +the engines and actually reversing the screw saved her from swift +destruction. She drifted from under the starboard paddle within twenty +yards--quite close enough to enable Captain Harrison to speak to her +master, and to express a very strong opinion on his style of navigation +and conduct generally. + +Towards the close of the trip all the fore and aft sails were set. The +look of her vast spread of canvas and the extraordinary effect it +produced, as one stood at the wheel-house and gazed beneath the long +vista of brown sails stretched to the very utmost, and sending off the +wind with the sustained roar of a volcano, was something almost +indescribable. No mere description could convey a fair idea of the +curious effect of the long, unbroken avenue of masts, sails, and +funnels,--like a whole street of steamships, if such a term is fairly +applicable. + +The rate of going throughout the whole trip was very satisfactory. +Allowing for the want of trim on the part of the vessel, and consequent +absence of immersion in both screw and paddles, it was calculated from +this data, by all the nautical authorities on board, that, in proper +condition, the vessel might be depended on for eighteen miles an hour +throughout a long voyage, and under steam alone. That in a strong and +favourable breeze she would at times accomplish eighteen knots, or more +than twenty-one miles an hour, there was no reason to doubt. + +Among other tests to which the _Great Eastern_ was subjected was the +terrible storm of the 25th and 26th October of that year, (1859), in +which the _Royal Charter_ went down. She lay at anchor in the harbour +of Holyhead during that storm. So fierce was the gale that a large part +of the breakwater was destroyed, and several vessels went down inside +the harbour, while some were driven on shore. For one hour the big ship +was as near destruction as she is ever likely to be. Her salvation, +under God, was due to the experience and energy of Captain Harrison and +his officers. During the whole gale the captain was on the watch, +sounding the lead to see if she dragged, and keeping the steam up to be +in readiness to put to sea at a moment's notice. The gale roared and +whistled through the rigging with indescribable fury. The captain, in +trying to pass along the deck, was thrown down, and his waterproof coat +was blown to ribbons. The cabin skylights were thrown open with a +fearful crash, the glass broken, and deluges of rain and spray poured +into the saloons. Two anchors were down, one seven tons, the other +three, with eighty and sixty fathoms of chain respectively; but the +ground was known to be bad, and the lee-shore rocky, while the waves +came curling and writhing into harbour, straining the cables to the +utmost, and dashing against the rocks like avalanches of snow. The dash +of these billows on the breakwater was like the roar of artillery. All +this time the red light at the end of the breakwater shone out cheerily +in the midst of a turmoil of spray. At last masses of the timber-work +and solid masonry gave way. The gale rose to its fiercest, and one huge +billow came rolling in; it towered high above the breakwater; it fell, +and the red light was seen no more. The danger was now imminent. The +cables could evidently bear no more, and the gale was increasing; so the +screw was set going, but the wreck of timber from the breakwater fouled +it and brought it to a dead-lock. Then the wind veered round more to +the north-east, sending a tremendous swell into the harbour, and the +_Great Eastern_ began to roll heavily. In this extremity the paddle +engines were set going, and the ship was brought up to her anchors, one +of which was raised for the purpose of being dropped in a better +position. At this moment the cable of the other anchor parted, and the +great ship drifted swiftly toward what seemed certain destruction; but +the heavy anchor was let go, and the engines turned on full speed. She +swung round head to wind, and was brought up. This was the +turning-point. The gale slowly abated, and the _Great Eastern_ was +saved, while all round her the shores and harbour were strewn with +wrecks. + +After the gale the _Great Eastern_ started on her return trip to +Southampton, which she reached in safety on the morning of the 3rd +November. In this, as in her previous experiences, the mighty ship was +well tested, and her good and bad points in some degree proved. At the +very outset the steam gear for aiding in lifting the anchors broke down, +and one of the anchors refusing to let go, was broken in half. The +condenser of the paddle engines seems to have been proved too small in +this trip. For some time she went against a stiff head-wind and sea-- +which is now well known to be the great ship's forte--with perfect +steadiness; but on getting into the channel she rolled slowly but +decidedly, as if bowing--acknowledging majestically the might of the +Atlantic's genuine swell. Here, too, a wave actually overtopped her +towering hull, and sent a mass of _green_ water inboard! But her roll +was peculiarly her own, and wonderfully easy. + +The vessel made eighteen knots an hour. She was under perfect command, +even in narrow and intricate channels, and, despite her varied mishaps +and trials, passed through this stormy period of her infancy with +credit. + +_Disaster to "Great Eastern" in September 1861_.--Having made three +successful voyages to America, the Great Eastern, after all her +troubles, was beginning to establish her reputation, to confirm the +hopes of her friends and silence the cavils of her enemies, when the bad +fortune that has been her portion from the cradle once more overwhelmed +her, and shook, if it did not altogether destroy, the confidence in her +capabilities which the public had been beginning tardily to entertain. + +There is nothing more difficult to ascertain than the true state of the +case--with reference to culpability, accidental circumstance, inherent +or incidental weakness, negligence, unavoidable risks, etcetera--in such +a disaster as that which happened to the great ship in September of +1861. And nothing could be more unfair than to pass judgment on her +without a full knowledge of the minute particulars, and, moreover, a +pretty fair capacity to understand such details and their various +relations. Before proceeding with the narrative of the event referred +to, we may remark that while, on the one hand, it may be argued, with +great plausibility, that her numerous disasters and misfortunes prove +that she is unfitted for the navigation of the sea, it may, on the other +hand, be argued, with equal plausibility, that the very fact of her +having come through such appalling trials unconquered, though buffeted, +is strong presumptive evidence that she is eminently fitted for her +work, and that, under ordinary circumstances and _proper_ management, +she would do it well. It is believed that any other vessel afloat would +have been sunk had she been exposed to the same storm _under similar +circumstances_. It must be borne in mind that, although other vessels +weathered the same storm successfully, they did not do so with their +rudder and rudder-posts gone, their captains and part of their crews new +to them, and their chain cables, cabin furniture, and other material +left as totally unsecured as if she had been a river steamer about to +start on a few hours' trip. + +On Tuesday the 10th of September the _Great Eastern_ left Liverpool for +America with 400 passengers and a large, though not a full, general +cargo. Between 100 and 200 of the passengers occupied the berths in the +principal cabins; the remainder of them occupied the intermediate and +steerage cabins. + +All went on prosperously until the Thursday, when, as the ship was in +full steam and sail, she encountered a terrific gale about 280 miles to +the west of Cape Clear, and, in spite of the best seamanship, she failed +to ride over the storm, which, with tremendous fury, swept away both her +paddles. Simultaneously the top of the rudder-post, a bar of iron ten +inches in diameter, was suddenly wrenched off, and her steering gear +being also carried away, she broached to and lay like a huge log in the +trough of the sea. From Thursday evening until two o'clock on Sunday, +her bulwarks almost touching the water, she rolled about like a disabled +hulk, the passengers and crew expecting that she would every moment go +down. The working and rolling of the vessel, at one instant of dread, +displaced and destroyed all the furniture of the cabin and saloons, and, +broke it to pieces, throwing the passengers pell-mell about the cabin. +Everything that occupied the upper deck was washed away, and a large +part of the passengers' luggage was destroyed. Between twenty and +thirty of those who were on board, including several ladies, had limbs +and ribs fractured, with numerous cuts and bruises. One of the +cow-sheds, with two cows in it, was washed into the ladies' cabin, +together with other things on board, and caused indescribable +consternation and confusion. + +On Sunday evening, after two days of terrible suspense, a temporary +steering gear was fitted up, and the disabled vessel with her distressed +crew made for Cork Harbour, steaming with her screw at nine knots an +hour. Her flag of distress was sighted at about three o'clock in the +afternoon of Tuesday, off the Old Head of Kinsale, and H.M. ship +_Advice_ at once steamed out to her assistance and towed her to within a +mile of the lighthouse off Cork Harbour by about nine o'clock. + +Such is a general outline of this disaster--one which is rendered all +the more remarkable from the circumstance that the vessel had only been +recently surveyed by the officers of the marine department of the Board +of Trade, when new decks and other requirements were carried out and +completed at a cost of 15,000 pounds. + +The scene during the storm in the grand saloon, as described in detail +by various passengers, was absolutely terrific. None of the furniture +had been secured, and when the gale became violent and the rolling of +the vessel increased, sideboards, tables, chairs, stools, crockery, +sofas, and passengers were hurled with fearful violence from side to +side in a promiscuous heap. When it is said that at each roll the top +platform of the paddle-boxes dipped into the sea, anyone who has seen +the towering sides of the _Great Eastern_ may form some conception of +the angle of the decks, and the riot of unfastened articles that +continued below during the greater part of the gale. The destruction +was universal. The largest mirror in the grand saloon, which was about +twelve feet high, was smashed to pieces by a gentleman going head +foremost into it. Although much bruised and cut, strange to say he was +not seriously injured. The chandeliers fell from the ceiling, and the +crashes they made in falling added to the general din. One of the other +mirrors was smashed by a large stove. Some of the passengers escaping +from the dining-room were dashed against the iron balconies, which gave +way with the pressure, and falling on the glass flooring at the sides, +dashed it to atoms. The noise and turmoil of destruction below, +together with the howling of the tempest above and the dashing of spray +over the decks, whence it flowed in copious streams down into the +cabins, formed a scene which cannot be fully conceived except by those +who witnessed it. + +On deck, the confusion was equally great and destructive. Many of the +boats were carried away. The great chain cables rolled from side to +side, until they were actually polished bright by the friction, while +they were a source of perpetual danger to the crew in the performance of +their duties. The oil-tanks broke loose, and after tumbling about for a +time, fell down through the upper hatchway. And the two cows that fell +with their cow-shed down into the ladies' cabin were killed by the +violence of the shock. The chief cook was flung against one of the +paddle-boxes, and having put out his hand to save himself, had his wrist +sprained. He was then flung towards the other side, and coming against +a stanchion in the way, had his leg fractured in three places. One lady +had a rib fractured; another her shoulder dislocated; another her wrist. +These are only specimens, selected to show what the poor people were +subjected to. It is said that there were twenty-two fractures +altogether, among passengers and crew, besides innumerable cuts and +bruises. The cabins were flooded to the depth of several feet, and +broken articles of furniture floated about everywhere. The luggage in +the luggage-room, which had not been secured, was hurled about, until +trunks, boxes, valises, etcetera, striking against each other, and +against the sides of the compartment, were utterly destroyed--the very +leather of the trunks being torn into small shreds. + +Throughout all this terrible scene, the passengers behaved, with one or +two exceptions, admirably. The ladies especially displayed great +courage--remaining, in accordance with the desires intimated to them, in +their cabins; while the gentlemen did their best to keep order. On the +Friday, they appointed a sort of committee or police force, of upwards +of twenty strong, who took the duty in turns of going round the vessel, +keeping order, carrying information to, and reassuring, the ladies and +children. Four only of these, who were called directors, had the +privilege of speaking to the captain during the storm--thus saving him +from the annoyance of repeated and ceaseless questioning. + +The crew also did their duty nobly. Captain Walker acted throughout +with calmness, courage, and good judgment; and from the tenor of +resolutions passed at an indignation meeting, held by the passengers +after their return into port, it would appear that they entirely +exonerated him from any blame in reference to the disaster. The fitting +up of temporary steering gear, which was begun on the Sunday when the +storm moderated, was a work of great difficulty and danger. It was +accomplished chiefly through the courage and cleverness of two men--John +Carroll and Patrick Grant--who volunteered for it, and were let down +over the stern at the imminent risk of their lives; and an American +gentleman, Mr Towle, a civil engineer, rendered great assistance in +superintending and directing the work. + +It was not until two o'clock on Sunday morning that the vessel got up +steam in her screw boilers, and steered for Cork Harbour. The whole of +the ironwork of both paddle-wheels was carried entirely away. The +ladder leading up to the larboard paddle-box was twisted in an +extraordinary manner. The boats on the starboard side were all gone, +and those on the other side were hanging loosely from their fastenings. +Altogether, the great ship presented a most melancholy spectacle as she +was towed into port. + +At the meeting of the passengers already referred to, the first +resolution was expressive of their grateful acknowledgments to Almighty +God for his kind care in protecting them during the storm, and bringing +them in safety out of their danger. The second condemned the directors, +and stated that "the _Great Eastern_ was sent to sea thoroughly +unprepared to face the storms which everyone must expect to meet with in +crossing the Atlantic; and that, if it had not been for the +extraordinary strength of the hull, and the skill which was manifested +in the construction of the vessel and its engines, in all human +probability every soul on board would have perished." + +It has been said that if the ship had been more deeply laden she would +have weathered the gale more easily. This, if true, is an argument in +her favour. But in viewing the whole circumstances of this and previous +disasters, we cannot avoid being deeply impressed with the fact that the +_Great Eastern had not up to that time had fair play_. In her +construction and general arrangements there have been some grave, and +numerous more or less trivial errors. From first to last there has been +a good deal of gross mismanagement; but the _Great Eastern_ cannot, with +justice, be pronounced a failure. Latterly she has done good service in +laying ocean telegraph-cables, a species of work for which she is +pre-eminently well adapted. It is possible that she may yet live to +ride out many a wild Atlantic storm, and perchance become the first of a +race of ponderous giants who shall yet walk the deep,--to the utter +confusion of timid croakers, and to the immense advantage of the world. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +CURIOUS CRAFT OF MANY LANDS. + +"Many men, many minds," runs the proverb. "Many nations, many ships," +is almost equally true. A nation may show its individuality in the +fashion of its marine architecture as much as in any other direction-- +as, for instance, in its national dress, dwelling-houses, food, +amusements; and an ethnologist in studying a people's characteristics +may do wisely not to overlook its ships and boats. + +Even in Europe, where an advanced civilisation may be supposed to be +slowly smoothing off national characteristics and peculiarities, and +gradually blending and amalgamating diverse national customs, there +still exists a considerable disparity in the marine architecture of +different states; while between the ships of Europe and those of some +parts of Asia the gulf is certainly broad enough, so that about the only +point of resemblance between an English ironclad and a Chinese junk is, +that both are manifestly better adapted for the sea than the land. We +now propose describing some of the more curious craft peculiar to +various nations, beginning with Europe: + +The Dutch galliot is a somewhat peculiar craft to the eye of an +Englishman; heavy and clumsy-looking beyond doubt, but a good sea-boat +notwithstanding. The galliot looks much the same, whether you regard +her from stem or from stern, both being almost equally rounded. Keel +she has scarce any; her floors are flat, hull broad and deep, and rudder +very wide. Hung on each side is a large lee-board, to keep her from +making too much leeway. Her hull is varnished a bright yellow colour, +and shines in the sun. Her bulwarks are lofty; and a wooden house is +placed aft, where the captain and his family live, and which is always +kept brightly painted. This part of the ship is a remarkably snug +place, comfortably furnished, and kept with the characteristic Dutch +cleanliness and neatness. Forward is the caboose of the crew, a wide, +low, but roomy erection. + +The galliot is rigged with square sails on her mainmast, a fore and aft +main-sail, a gaff mizzen and mizzen gaff top-sails, and a high bowsprit. +Her sails are sometimes white, sometimes tanned. If the reader has +ever chanced to enter the port of Rotterdam, he will have encountered +plenty of examples of the craft we are describing; and if he did not +altogether approve or admire their shape, he must at least have been +struck by their remarkable cleanness and brightness. A Dutch galliot +may be fifty, eighty, or even a hundred and fifty tons burden. When the +Dutch build vessels of a larger size than this, they do so on very +similar lines to English merchantmen, though usually somewhat broader +and bluffer. + +Off the coast of Portugal we meet with many different kinds of craft, of +which the trading schooners differ from almost any other kind of vessel. +Broad in the beam, and short in the counter, some are rounded at the +stem, some nearly square. They are decked, and are from forty to one +hundred tons burden. They are peculiarly rigged, having only lower +masts stepped at different angles. The gaffs of the fore-sail, as well +as the main-sail, can be raised to different heights. They have fore +stay-sail, jib and flying jib, gaff top-sails, and a large square sail +and square top-sails. On the whole, they are ungainly-looking craft in +the extreme; but they are very capable sea-boats, and make voyages as +far as South America. + +Mr W.H.G. Kingston gives a graphic description of a Portuguese craft +which it has never been our fortune to see. He calls it the Lisbon +bean-pod, from its exact resemblance to that vegetable, and affirms it +to be the most curious of European craft, which we can readily believe. +"Take a well-grown bean-pod," he says, "and put it on its convex edge, +and then put two little sticks, one in the centre and one at the bows, +raking forward, for the masts, and another in the bows, steeving up, for +the bowsprit, and another astern for a boomkin or outrigger, and then +you have before you the boat in question." These boats carry a lateen +sail, sail very fast, and are much used on the waters of the Tagus as +fishing-boats and trawlers. + +Other curious craft to be met with in Europe are the scamparia and +felucca of the Mediterranean, the Greek mystico and the trabacalo of the +Adriatic. The gondola, than which, perhaps, nothing that floats on the +waters is suggestive of more romantic and poetical associations, is so +familiar to everybody from pictures, and has so often been introduced +into story, song, and narratives of travel, that we shall not pause to +describe it. + +Passing from Europe to Africa, we note among the craft peculiar to that +country the diabiah or Nile boat, a very comfortable travelling boat for +warm climates. It is a large boat, and contains a house at one end, in +which the passengers sleep at night, or take refuge from the sun's +fierce heat by day. + +In Asia a great variety of vessels and boats of various shapes and sizes +are met with, to describe all of which would carry us far beyond the +space at our disposal. The dhow of the Arabs runs from sixty to a +hundred tons, is almost entirely open, and has a sharp pointed bow, +projecting for a considerable distance beyond the hull. On the high, +broad stern a covered-in poop is placed, containing the quarters of the +captain and passengers. The stern is usually ornamented with carving, +as English vessels used to be in old days. The dhow carries but one +sail, lateen-shaped, and the mast stoops forward at a sharp angle. +These craft have not unfrequently been engaged in the nefarious slave +traffic carried on on the east coast of Africa. + +The catamaran of Madras can only be called a boat on the _lucus a non +lucendo_ principle, for it consists simply of three logs placed side by +side, pointed at the bows, and kept together by two cross-pieces. Yet +this rude raft does good service in its way, being the only means of +communication in rough weather between vessels lying off Madras and the +shore; for there are no wharves at Madras, and ships are compelled to +anchor in the offing. When the sea runs so high that boats of the +ordinary kind are useless, the services of the catamarans are gladly +enough made use of. + +The native boatmen, seated on their log rafts, and quite naked, make +their way through the roughest surf to the vessels, carrying messages to +and from the land. The rower propels his boat with a rather long +paddle. Sometimes he is washed off his catamaran into the sea; but +being an expert swimmer, he usually recovers his seat without much +trouble, and it rarely happens that any of these men are drowned. + +We spoke a little space back of the national characteristics of a people +being traceable in its marine architecture as well as in other things, +and surely this statement finds abundant illustration in the craft of +the Chinese. In China we find an intensely conservative people, and +their national bent is undoubtedly indicated in their ships, which in +all probability have not altered in any material regard for centuries. +A Chinaman would be as slow to change the shape of his junk as his +shoes, or the length of his pigtail. And a strange, old-world, +semi-barbarous look a Chinese junk has. + +Chinese junks vary greatly in size, but all present the same type of +architecture. The sails in every case are of brownish-yellow matting, +swung across the mast like a main-sail, and having pieces of bamboo +placed cross-wise and parallel to each other, making them look somewhat +like venetian blinds. These wooden strips both strengthen the sail and +facilitate its reefing when lowered. + +A large Chinese junk rises high out of the water; there are two or more +decks aft above the main-deck, painted and carved with various devices; +and the cabins are often luxuriously furnished according to Celestial +tastes. If you look at any representation of a junk, you will notice +that the rudder is very broad, resembling somewhat the rudder of a canal +barge. In spite of its primitive look, it has, after all, something +picturesque about it; but we fancy that we would rather contemplate it +in a picture than sail in one across the Atlantic. + +On the deck of a junk is always to be found a josshouse or temple, in +front of which the crew keep incense, sticks, and perfumed paper +continually burning. When a calm overtakes an English vessel, the +sailors and passengers are always supposed to try what "whistling for a +wind" will effect. In lieu of this method of "raising the wind," a +Chinese sailor shapes little junks out of paper, and sets them afloat on +the water as a propitiatory service to the divinity who has the welfare +of seamen under his especial care. + +The river-life of China is very curious. Quite a large proportion of +the people spend their whole lives on the water, while many who are +employed during the day on land sleep in boats on the various rivers. +This condition of things corresponds in some degree to that described by +Captain Marryat in that fine old story "Jacob Faithful," in the early +chapters of which we get diverting glimpses of life on board a Thames +lighterman. But the river population of China is still more absolutely +aquatic in manner of life than the Thames barge-folk. The boats in +which this class of the population live have an awning of bamboo and +matting fore and aft, which is removed by day and raised at night. At +sundown the boat-people anchor their craft in rows to stakes, thus +forming boat-terraces as it were. When business grows slack at one part +of the river, the master of the boat moves up or down stream to some +other part. From the shape of these boats, resembling somewhat the half +of an egg cut lengthwise, they are called in the Chinese language +"egg-boats." A large family will sometimes pack itself into an egg-boat +not much more than twelve feet long and six broad. + +These river-folk have characteristics which almost render them a people +apart. They have a code of laws of their own, differing in many points +from that which governs the land community, and the two populations do +not intermarry. Women to a large extent navigate the egg-boats, as +indeed they do many other kinds of boats in China. Travellers report +that these river-families live peaceable and happy enough lives, seldom +disturbed by disputes of any kind. Possibly one cause for this may be +that which some humourist suggested as the reason why "birds in their +little nests agree," namely, because it would be dangerous if they "fell +out." But, speaking seriously, it says much for the placable nature of +these Chinese river-folk that they can pass such a happy existence +within the narrow bounds of their egg-boats. + +Passing over to America, we shall first describe the famous American and +Canadian river steamboats, which are in many respects as curious and +unique as they are generally magnificent. These steamers are usually +paddle-boats; are very long and narrow in shape, but of great strength. +On the hull a sort of lofty platform is built, which is divided into +what may be called the middle and the main deck, one above the other. +Fore and aft there is a spacious, luxuriously appointed, and richly +decorated saloon, covered in with a glass roof. + +Ranged on each side of the saloon are the cabins, each containing two +berths. These sleeping-cabins, like the saloon, are prettily furnished +and tastefully decorated. Over the saloon is another deck or platform-- +the whole structure as may be seen from our illustration is very much +"be-decked"--about the middle of the vessel and in front of the funnel. +Here is situated the wheel, and here also the captain and officers take +their position. This part of the vessel is kept private to them, no +passenger being permitted to trespass on it. + +Beneath the saloon-deck is the middle-deck, as has already been +indicated, which also contains a saloon of its own, as well as sleeping +apartments. This portion of the steamer is usually reserved for the +unmarried ladies among the passengers, who, as all readers of American +literature must be aware, are treated in America with an almost +chivalrous courtesy and consideration. + +The dining-saloon of the vessel is situated in a third and undermost +deck, which reaches from the middle of the boat right aft, and is a +well-lighted, well-arranged room. + +The cargo is placed amidships, heaped up in great piles--passenger boats +seldom or never carrying heavy goods. The American's passion for +economising time is manifest in the steamboats as everywhere else, most +of them carrying a barber, who will accommodate you with "easy shaving" +during the voyage. The barber's shop is forward with the cook's +quarters and other offices. American river-boats may vary, of course, +in details, but we have endeavoured to indicate the leading +characteristics of a typical example. The stories current in regard to +the facility with which an American steamboat blows up have been much +exaggerated, but nevertheless it is probably true that they bear the +bell in this direction of risk and danger. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Of all craft of the canoe order, the flying-proa of the Pacific is the +swiftest. It carries a sail almost triangular in shape, and a straight +yard. It has an outrigger; and outrigger, mast, and yard are of bamboo. +Strong matting composes the sail, which is stretched very flat upon the +yard. When the crew wish to put their boat about they have merely to +shift the sail, when what was before the prow of the proa becomes the +stern. These boats are usually manned by a crew of about half-a-dozen. +One man sits at either end of the vessel and takes his turn of steering +according to whatever tack the canoe is on. The duty of the rest is to +bail out the boat and to keep the sail properly trimmed. + +Nothing afloat, probably, can go so close to the wind as the +flying-proa, while its speed is astonishing. The Malays use the proa, +but theirs is a broader, heavier, and less swift boat than that used by +the Ladrone islanders of the Pacific, which is that which we have just +described. + +The canoes of the Fijians are superior to those in use among any other +of the South Sea islanders. Their chief feature is that they are +twin-canoes, joined together by cross-beams, which support a platform of +from twelve to fifteen feet broad. Of the two canoes, one is smaller +than the other, and the smaller serves by way of an outrigger. These +canoes are sometimes one hundred feet long, their depth being usually +about seven feet. Sometimes a small cabin is built upon the platform. +The mast is about thirty feet long, is supported by guys, and is +furnished with a yard carrying a large sail. There are small hatchways +at both ends of the craft, at each of which one of the crew sits ready +to bail out the boat. The Fijian canoes can also be propelled by means +of sculling, the sculler using a broad-bladed scull about ten feet in +length. A large canoe can be got through the water at the rate of two +or three miles an hour by sculling. + +Various experiments have from time to time been made in the way of +building boats and ships with double hulls, the object being to obtain +increased stability, and thus reduce to a minimum the rolling and +pitching of ordinary vessels. The steamship Castalia was an ambitious +attempt in this direction. She was built for the passenger service +between England and France. But she did not realise the expectations +formed of her. + +Most persons who have crossed from Dover to Calais, or vice versa, by +the Calais-Douvre mail packet, will bear witness both to the comfort and +speed of that vessel. Up to this she has proved the most perfect form +of steam-ship yet constructed for the purpose required. The +Calais-Douvre is built somewhat upon the same principle as the Castalia, +but differs from that vessel in that whereas the latter was two +half-ships joined together, each twin-portion of the Calais-Douvre is a +perfect ship in itself. The result has been, that while the Castalia +was a failure, the Calais-Douvre has proved a distinct success. She is +three hundred feet in length and sixty feet in breadth; her tonnage is +two thousand, and her water-draught only six feet, so that she can enter +Calais Harbour at even a low tide. Two transverse iron girder +bulk-heads unite the two hulls of the vessel; and her steering apparatus +is so simple, and at the same time so effective in construction, that +one wheel is usually sufficient to work it. She makes the passage from +Dover to Calais usually in an hour and a half; but in very fine weather +we ourselves have crossed in less than that time. With the maximum rate +of speed, the Calais-Douvre has attained the minimum amount of pitching +and rolling yet secured by any Channel boat. Her saloons, cabins, and +decks are spacious and handsomely appointed, so that the Channel passage +in this vessel is made under as favourable conditions for bad sailors as +any sea-passage can be. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Man on the Ocean, by R.M. 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