Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-07-22
STORY OF THE SHIP.
STRANGE cRAvr FROM ALL PARTS OF
TIE GLOBE.
Arins Collection ct the National kussur--
Secrets Of Navigation Kncwn
10 savsges.
tDos;on Herald.l

boat. and in his miniature bost-buiiding
he will advance by about the same stages
as have marked the progress OF tho world
since the time VIXEN rudely-
raft represented tho highest achievement
in naval architecture. There ia depart
mont OF the National Museum, says the
Washington Star. that would de-
hight any rigbtlyconstituted boy,
or man, either, for q man never
outgrows his boyhood interest in boats
and ships and the mysteries Of naviga-
tion. This department tells the story OF
fhe ship. II is not written or printed
story, but one told by tho collection Of
RATS, canoes, catarnsrsns and ships that
Ellis large exhibition hall. Some OF the
craft are Of full size, while others that
would be too large for exhibition indoors
are represented by models perfect in
every detail and measurement Hun
dreds Of boats from all parts OF the
globe are collected there. Chinese
jupks, South Sea cstamsrans. Greenland
kyaks. square built Dutch fishing yes
sells, and graceful Gloucester schoonsrs
seem 10 be sailing after one another in
this circling procession OF boats that
stretches around the hall Beautifully
modelled square-rigged ships, with all
sails set, and palstial ocean steamers
made on the scale of a dollhouse, seem
ready for cruise on the miniature sea.
Placed against the walls, or suspended
from the ceiling, are many boats of full
size, Just as they are used by the
natives OF the lands from which they
were brought, ranging in order Of
size from tiny corracls from India TO
a great war-canoe owned by some Indian
chief on the Northwest coast Parts OF
the story that cannot be told by models
are indicated by drawings or photo
graphs, showing teams Of oxen hauling
great timbers from forest 10 ship-yard !;
vessels half-constructed on the ways, or
the launching Of ship. This collection
was arranged by Captain J. W. Collins,
OF the United States Fish Commission,
an old Gloucester skipper, the curator OF
the Department Of Naval Architecture.
He has SO grouped the
BOATS AND MODELS
that the story TO be told reveals itsoli.
An old idea WAS that the first boat was
alog. There are. however. treeless lands,
where the people have no logs to begin
with. They start, perhaps, 10y making
boats OF skins. In some parts Of the
world, where there arc neither logs nor
skins available, savage men construct
boats or RATS by binding rushes together
in sheaves. From the log the nextstepi to
the dug-out, which savages fashioned by
following ont log with fire or with
rude tools. When sayages began
10 mako bark canoes they took
quite step toward the modern
ship, as bark canoe. with its framework
and outer covering, illustrates III rudi-
mentary way important principles IN
volved in the ship-builder'sart. Savsgcs,
too, observed that the wind could be used
10 propol their boats. IL Is supposed
that the first sail was bush. From the
bush the savage went to "a piece OF skin
or bark, or a mating rudely tnced up on
apole. tits curious to note that the forms
OF sails used on yachts and ships OF the
most highly civilized people have been
developed naturally from the primitive
forms used by savage people.
The primitive is either q square or
lateen or triangular sail. The lateen sail
is so named because it is tho form used
on the Mediterranean by people of the
Latin races. When men learned more
Of the ship-building art, and boats grew
bigger, the lsteen sail was enlarged,
bOoms were projected fore and att and
the sail extended so as to reach beyond
the bows in front and beyond the
stern in the rear. in order to do
this, though, the sail had to be made in
two parts--one to 60 III front and the
other behind the mast but tho two to-
gether formed triangle. Thus Was pro.
duced the sloop rig. When men put
two masts in their vessels the sails were
still cut 80 as to form something when all
the canvas is spread very much like one
huge lateen sail. The square sails, too,
have come from primitive times. AS
vessels increased III size sails were di-
vided, and
YARDS WERE ADDED
to bend them on. This division OF the
sails made il easier to handle them. The
collection of boats and boat models illus
trates not only the development OF the
modern ship but shows what a scientific
man would call the influence OF environ
ment on bodybuilding in different lands
Near the centre of the hall kyak
from the Greenland cosst, made of skins
low an Esquimau, hangs from the ceiling
where it's graceful lines can be compared
with those OF cedar canoes, racing boats,
dugouts, and New England fishing
boats IL is decked over as tight as a
drum, and the ends are sharpened and
curved up. In the centre is hole in
the deck just large enough to admit
y mans body. The Esqumau, when
in his kyak, sits sQuarely on
the bottom, his legs stretched out
before him, oil of the body below the
waist being under deck. He has gar
ment or coat OF skin, the lower edges Of
which are fastened to the rim OF the hole,
or cockpit, thus making it water-tight
In this cockle-shell OF boat the Esqui
mau, with paddle and spear in hand
hazards his life on rough Arctic seas
in pursuit of seal or walrus.
"a human nautilus upon the
tide" There are kyaks, too, from
Alaska and from other Arctic regions.
Bidarkas, or skin boats, from the Aleu-
tian islands are decked over like Equi-
mau kayaks, and are ornamented with
colored fringes at the seams, just as In
dams love TO ornament their clothing
Some OF the bidarkas are "three-holed,"
or have places for three men 10 sit in
them, and to tho little models shown in
the museum miniature spears are lashed
Just Ms the Indians lash their spears TO
their boats when they start out TO hunt
zeal. While the Sor reporter was ex-
aiming the kyaks and bidarkas Captain
Collins remarked that many savage or
barbaric people settled for themselves
long ago points over which there has
been long struggle of ideas among
civilized people. Designers OF racing
yachts make q profound study of the
lines Of the hull as they sweep back
from bow to stern. BY making curve
a little fuller here or sharper there they
have slowly progressed from type to
type. until at last they have arrived at
the same conclusion that barbaric people
reached ages ago by their natural shrewd-
ness.