The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1886-08-25


Only think OF what is embraced in ship.
building, apart from all alliance with
steam, from the time before the beginning
OF authentic history, when savages hol-
lowed out logs by fire and implements of
stone into rude boats, then made them
more bouvant with inflated skins, then
lashed them together into RATS, then pro-
PEELED them successively, with poles, oars
and sails, then covered them with decks,
protected with bulwarks until the out
come of these tentative efforts was seen,
after many centuries, in the magnificent
clipper ship, once the pride of American
commerce, or the stately wooden three
decker, man-of-war, such as bore Nelson
to victory in the action of Trafalgar.
Well, all this and infinitely more, except
the guns, is embraced in the modern
steamship Then think of how all the laws
OF the science of navigation are illus
trated in any one of them, from the time
when voyages were chiefly confined to
coasting, and when out OF sight of land
the only nautical instrument possessed
by the mariner, besides the compass, was
the rude ostyolo5e for measuring the alti-
tude of the heavenly bodies, down to the
present day when the two fundamental
principles in the science of navigation
seem to be perfectly understood-viz.
the art of sailing vessel to any part OF TIE
world, by the best route, with the least
wear and tear and expenditure of fuel ;
and the art of determining the exact lati-
tude and longitude of the vessel in any
hemisphere or tropic by means of the
chronometer, sextant, and quadrant.
1t would be hard to say from what de-
partment of science some requisition is
not made in the construction OF steam
ship-chemistry, hydraulics, hydrostat-
les, pneumatics, and every branch OF
mathematics from simple geometry to
the naecb0niqlte celeste; or what art is not
employed in the construction or advance
ment of some part of 1.-THE joiners, the
carpenters, the brass.founders, the uphol-
sterers, the sailmakers, the painters, the
GLACIERS, and, 1 might add, the gas filters,
were not their occupation gone, now that
every part of the ship is ablaze with
electric light
Then what shall l say of the steam
engine with ali OF its improvements, from
! the lnchoate little contr;vance which ex~
cited Father Ritchie's admiration forty
years ago, when he told us in the Eaqui
rer of the James river steamboat tnat
could actually run six miles an hour
down stream and tour miles up stream, to
a vessel like the Umbria, for instance,
with its triple expansion engines and
seventy-two large boiler furnaces, con
Stunning twelve tons of hard coal every
hour, constituting the splendid machinery
which is now pushing the vessel at this
present writing at the rate of four hundred
and forty miles a day
In this enumeration I have by no means
included all the arts, sciences, inventions
and discoveries employed in the con-
struction of modern steamship, but [
think enough has been stated to Justify
my theory that such vessel represents
more thought, foresight, patient research,
experimental philosophy, skilled labor,
and thoroughly wrought handiwork than
any other structure of mans devising.
AS the noblest of all the sciences
astronomy-is the final resort Of the mari
ner in ascertaining the position and guild
ing the course of his vessel to the desired
haven, we learn from this an important
lesson.
No matter how many nights of cloud
may shroud the sea, one will come, by and
by, when all the consultations will shine
no matter how many days of storm may fol-
low each other during which no sun ap-
pears, some morning at last will dawn when
its beams will illumine the whole ezpanse.
BY star and sun the mariner takes his
observations and guides his way not by
gazing down on the currents beneath him,
nor by inspecting the hull of the ship
nor by watching the sails, but by looking
up to the skies. So, too, it is not reason
alone, or the philosophy Of the schools, OF
the advice of sages that makes lifes voy-
age propitious, but the wisdom that
comes down from above, and which il
profitable to direct that will make the
earthly pathway plain and safe, and only
the inextinguishable celestial lights O.
revelation are sufficient to guide the pill
grim to the home he loves and is lookins
and longing for.
The Swift Ships
. The improved models OF modern steam
ers and the increased power Of the en-.
: gines which propel them, have greatly
shortened the time of voyages between
America and England My first voyag.
was made In vessel of the unfortunate
d Collins Line-the ill-iated Pacific, which
a year or SO afterwards vanished from Tia,
, face OF the dsap-uot % bucket or spa.
8 floating 10 give a hint Of how She perish
- ed. j returned just after the loss Of Tn.