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Dhananjayarao Gadgil Library l~mnWIIIIID GIPE-PUNE-OI0851 SHIPS AND SEAMEN THE HOME UNIVERSITY LIB~ARY OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE Editor. of THE HOME UNIVERSITY UBRARY OF MODERN KNO~E RT. HON. H. A. L. FIsHER. F.R.S., LL.D., D.LITr. PRo)'. GILBERT MUBllAY, F.B.A., LL.D., 'D.LnT. PRO),. Jl1LL\N S. HUXLEY, M.A. For ,.. oj tlOlumu '" 1M LiImwr _ end of book. SHIPS & SEAMEN 11J GEOFFREY RAWSON AlIl1Ior 0/ .. ADMIRAL BBATTY," II ADMIRAL BLIGH," .. ADMIRAL RAWSON." etc. LONDON Thornton Butterworth Ltd. XL125·3.N~ Ct1 \ 0'05\ AU Rip" IU-.l ....,. AJID 1'IIl....... GDAI' JIIII'I.r.d CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. TUE RISE OF STEAM 7 II. THE GREAT DAYS OF SAIL 30 III. THE HEROIC AGE-JAMES COOK 46 IV. SAILING DIRECTIONS 66 V. THE MIRROR OF THE SEA 90 VI. SHIPS AND SHIPPING 104 VII. TRADE ROUTES II4 VIII. SAFETY AT SEA 123 IX. AIDS TO NAVIGATION 142 X. THE MASTER AND THE MARINERS • 159 XI. THE BUSINESS OF SHIPPING 179 XII. THE SEAMAN AND HIS SHIP • 202 XIII. THE REGULATION OF SHIPPING 222 ApPENDIX 247 BIBLIOGRAPHY 250 INDEX 252 5 CHAPTER I THE RISE OF STEAM ON a summer's afternoon in the month of July, 1843, there was much excitement in the ancient seaport of Bristol. The city was gay with flags, and crowds lined the streets lead ing to the waterside where a large concourse had assembled to witness the launching of the iron screw steamer, Great Britain, by the Prince Consort. A public holiday had been proclaimed, and there was disappointment when, the ship having been duly launched, it was found that the dock gates through which she was to pass were too small to allow her exit. She remained imprisoned behind them until the tedious process of widening them was com pleted, but finally on December I2 of that year the Great Britain passed through, on her way to Blackwall Docks, London, to be fitted out and completed for service. The launching of this vessel was a notable occasion in the history of modern shipping, 7 SHIPS AND SEAMEN for she was the first large iron ocean-going steamer to be fitted with a screw propeller. When it became known that she was to be constructed at Bristol by the celebrated engineer, Isarnbard Kingdom Brunei, there was a general outcry against such a foolhardy innovation, particularly when it was rumoured that she was intended for the Atlantic trade. Iron ships, it was said, were not wanted in the Atlantic trade. Shipbuilders refused to tender for the proposed vessel; gloomy fears were expressed regarding her fate if she were ever built, and it was only after some delay that a Bristol builder, Patterson, was prevailed upon to undertake the task. But after-events showed that the faith of her designer, I. K. Brunei, in his vessel was amply justified. She marked indeed a not,;' able stage in the evolution of shipbuilding; she was an epoch-making vessel; perhaps the most remarkable ship ever built, for she was the first ocean-going screw steamer, the first successful and profitable iron screw steamer. She was, in fact, the original of all modem steamers, in the sense that she was the first of the type. The Great Britain was of 3.500 tons. She was 322 feet long and, in addition to her screw-propeller, she was fitted with six masts 8 THE RISE OF STEAM to carry sails. Her engines had cylinders 80 inches in diameter with a six-foot stroke, turning a propeller which was 15 feet in diameter with a 25-foot pitch. The crank shaft was hollow and a stream of water circu lated through it to cool the bearings. It had at first been intended that she should be a paddle steamer, but BruneI prevailed on her owne7'S to fit a screw, and his fore sight and courage in this respect contributed later to the maritime prestige of his country. The Great Britain proved to be a won derful ship. Shortly aft~r she was placed in service she stranded on the Irish coast and remained there throughout the winter gales, but she received so little damage from this severe test that the incident only served to prove-once and for all-that iron hulls were superior to timber. Though launched in 1843 she survived as a serviceable hulk in the Falkland Islands until 1934. The Great Britain was not only the largest ship of her time, but she was the largest steamer also. Forty years before, Symington had shown with his Charlotte Dundas that the steam-propelled vessel could be made a commercial success. This notable vessel, fitted with a stem paddle, had successfully towed barges on canals, but the wash from 9 SHIPS AND SEAMEN her paddle damaged the banks, and despite the initial success the project was abandoned, and the ChaTlotte Dundas laid up, out of commission. There Fulton saw her and, realizing the possibilities of steam navigation, went back to the United States and built the Clemumt. The experimental engine which Symington made was fitted in a small double-hulled pleasure skiff which was tested on Dalswinton Lake, near Dumfries, in October, 1788. It was an auspicious occasion in the history of steamship development, but thirteen years passed before Symington, under the auspices and with the assistance of Lord Dundas, produced the first practical steamboat, the celebrated Chmlotte. The Charlotte DunJm made the Great Britain possible in the same way that the Great Britain pointed the way to the modem Atlantic liner. It was, too, the Chmlotte which in all probability spurred on Fulton to emulate and surpass her with the Clemumt in 1807, and led Henry Bell to the production of the Comet five years later, thus establishing successful steam navigation on the waters of the world. Symington never reaped the harvest of his pioneer work. He died in poverty and obscurity, but he lived to see the Rob Roy built at Glasgow, the 10 THE RISE OF STEAM first sea-trading steamer in the world; the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company and the General Steam Navigation Company established; and the Enterprise make the first steam passage to India. It has been said that all the vast concourse of shipping which throngs the ports and waterways to-day is the product of Symington's fertile inventiveness, and that the giant Cunarder, now building (1934), is a lineal descendant of the Charlotte Dundas. But with the Scotsman must also be associated the name of the American, Robert Fulton. Though not the first to apply steam to navigation, he was the first to apply it successfully, with the Clermont. The Clermont was the first really successful steamboat and by her many voyages up and down the Hudson River proved conclusively that the steamer had come to stay. In 1812, ten years after the Charlotte Dundas, Bell in Scotland built the Comet with two paddles on each side, and she successfully plied up and down the ~lyde. In 1817 there was a marked advance when the Caledonia crossed the North Sea to Rotterdam, and by the follO\ving year there were steamers on rivers, cross-channel services, and in the coasting trade. But the voyages were short and limited and there were constant troubles II SHIPS AND SEAMEN with boilers and machinery. In 1821 the first iron steamboat was launched, but it was not until seventeen years later that the first iron steamboat crossed the Atlantic and even so the passage was made under sail. Then came BruneI with the Great Britain -the climax of all these happenings. The launch of the Great Britain coincided with the advent of fundamental changes in the world's shipping. There was the transi tion from sail to steam, from timber-built hulls to iron hulls, from paddles to screw propellers. In addition, there was a vast expansion in overseas exploration, settlement and trade, bringing improved methods of sea transport, and there was -also beginning an era of invention, mechanical ingenuity, in dustrial activity and enquiry which contri buted to bring about a change 80 fundamental as to have been tenned " revolutionary." One of the most significant of the transi tions was the change from tynber to iron hulls. From the dawn of time mankind had employed wood in the building of ships. The history of wooden ships was almost the history of civilization, and the newfangled idea that ships should henceforth be built of metal instead of timber was regarded with so much disfavour that even the Admiralty 12 THE RISE OF STEAM scoffed. Iron ships would not float; they would be torn to pieces by the effects of shot and shell; the world had done very well with wooden ships-why make a change? As for Britain, her pre-eminence at sea had been built up on her Hearts of Oak, for that timber during a thousand years had been found, by experience, to be the best for shipbuilding. Any suggestion to abandon this ancient and tried practice could only be fraught with danger to the nation. So strong was the opposition that even after iron ships had proved their superiority the change from wood to iron proceeded gradually. The first iron vessel was classed at Lloyd's Registry in 1837-the year in which Queen Victoria came to the throne-but right down to the end of the century wooden ship building was in progress. As late as 1893 a wooden full-rigged ship was launched at Phippsburgh, Maine, and during the Great War a large number of timber hulls was launched to meet the emergency of the times.