Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-07-07
THE STORY OF THE SHIP.
Strange Craft from All Parts Of q
Globe.

Strange Craft from, All Parts Of the
Globe.
| AN INTERESTING COLLECTION AT THE NATIONAL
MUsEuN-How THE MODERN SHIP HAS BEEN
EvoLvKD-sECRKTs OF NAVIGATION KNOWN BIT
RUDE sAvAGEs-THE PURITAN AND VIKING sHIr.
When a boy who lives near any body OF water
gets his nrst Jackknife, to one the first thing
! he makes with 1t is boat, and in his miniature
| boat building he will advance by about the same
stages that have marked the progress OF the
| world, since the time when a rudely constructed
raft represented the highest achievement In naval
architecture. There is department OF the Ma
tonal Museum that would delight any rightly
constituted boy, or man, either, for q man never
| outgrows his boyhood interest In boats and ships
and the mysteries OF navigation. This department
tells the story o; the ship Ii is not written or
printed story, but one told by the collection Of
RATS Canoes catamarans, and ships that nils a
large exhibition hall Some OF the craft are OF full
size while Others, that would be ZOO large for rxhi
biton Indoors represented by models perfect In
every detail and measurement Hundreds OF boats
from all parts OF the globe are collected there.
Chinese junks south Sea catamarans Greenland
kya&S sQuare-built Dutch fishing vessels and
graceful Gloucester schooners seem to 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,
anu palatlal ocean steamers made on the scale OF
a dollhouse, seem ready for cruise on a minia-
from the ceiling are many boats OF fun size, just
as they are used by the natives OF the lands from
wnlch they were brought ranging IN order OF size
from tiny corrace from India 10 great war canoe
owned by some Indian chief on the Northwest coast.
Parts OF the story that cannot be tod by modes
are Indicated by drawings or photographs show
ing teams OF oxen hauling great tmbers from for
est TO shipyard; vessels half constructed on the
ways, or the launching OF ship. This collection
was arranged by Capt j. w. Collins, OF the United
States Fish Commission an old Gloucester skipper,
the curator OF the department OF naval architect-
ure. de has so grouped the boats and models that
Inc story 10 be tod reveals ITSELF
THE FIRST BOAT.
An old idea was that the first boat was log.
There are, however, treeless lands, where the peo
pie have no logs to begin with. They start per-
hapS by making boats OF skins. In some parts OF
the world, where there are neither logs nor skins
available, savage men construct boats or RATS by
binding PUSHES together In sheaves. From the log
the next step Is 70 the dug-ouL which savages
rude tools. When savages began 10 make bark
canoes they took quite step toward the mod I'm
SNIP as bark canoe, with It's framework aud
outer covering, illustrates In a rudimentafy way
Important principles involved In the shipbuilders
art. Sayages, LOO, observed that the wind could
be used To prope, their boats IL is supposed that
the inst sail Was bush. From the bush the
savage went to piece OF skin or bark, or mating
rudely trlced up On a pole, II is curious 10 note
that the forms OF sails used on yachts and sLips OF
| the most highly civilized people have been de.
veioped naturally from the primitive forms used
by savage people.
THE PRIMITIVE SAIL.
The primitive is either a square or a lateen or
Triangular sail. The lateen sail Is so named be-
cause IL is the form used on the Mediterranean by
people or the Latin races. When men learned
more OF the ShIp-building art, and boats grew
bigger, the lateen sail was enlarged, boomS were
projected fore and att and the sail extended 50 as
10 reach beyond the bows IN front and hey oad the
stern In the rear. In order TO do this though the
sail had 10 be made in two parts one TO go IN front
and tht other behind the mast; but the Two to-
a triangle,
sloop rig. When men put two maSts In their YES
sells the sails were Still cut so as To form some
thing, when all the canvas Is spread, very much
Ike one huge lateen sail The square sail, too,
has come from primitive times As vessels in
creased tn size sails were divided and yards were
added 10 bend them on. This division OF the sails
made IL easter 10 handle them. Tue collection OF
boats and boat models illustrates not only the
development OF the modern ship but shows what 4
scienuuc man would call the iniiu ice Of enylron-
ment on boat building In different lands
BOATS FROM TUE ARCTIC.
Near the center OF the han, a kyak from the
Greenland coast made OF skins by an EsQumaux,
hangs from the ceiling. where its graceful lines
can be compared with those OF cedar Canoes, rae
ing boats dug-outs and New England fisning
boats. IL is uecked over as tight a drum and
the ends are sharpened and curved up. In the
center is a hole In the deck Just large enough 10
admit a mans body. The Esqulmaux, when In
his kyak, sits Squarely on the bottom, his legs
stretched cut before hiln ali OF his body below the
Waist being Under d-ck. He has garment or
coat OF skn the lower edges VI watch are fastened
To the rim OF the hole, or cockpit thuS making IL
water-t gnt. In this cockle-sncu OF a boat the
Esquinaux, with paddle and spear In hand,
hazards his lille on rough Arctic seas In pur-
SUIT OF Sal or, or walrIs. "a human Nautilus
from Alaska, and from other Arctlc regions.
Bldarkas, or skin boats from the Aeutian Islands,
are decked over like Esquimaux kyaks, and are
ornamented with colored fringes at the seams,
just as Indians love 10 ornament their clothing.
some OF the bidarkaS are "Jhree-holed," or nave
places Tor three men to SIT In them, aud To the
spears are ldShed just as the Indians lash their
spears TO their boats when they start out TO hunt
seal While HE STAR reporter was examining The
kyakS and bidarkas capt. Collins remarked that
many savage or baruarlc people settled for them
q long struggle OF ideas among civilized people.
Designers OF racing yachts make profound study
OF the lines OF the null as they sweep back from
bow 10 stern. BY making a curve a little fuller
here or sharper there they have slowly progressed
from type 10 type until at last they nave arrived
at the same conclusion tuat barbaric people
reached ages ago by their natural shrewdneSS
THE PURITAN AND THE VIKING SHIP.
To illustrate this, capt Collins produced from a
portfolio plans showing the lines OF the Viking
war-ship found at SanderIord, Norway, In 1850,
and in which ventureSome Morse sailors put TO sea
a thousand years ago. Beside these diagrams he
placed drawings oI the Puritan, the swift vessel
representing tie highest point reached in Ameri-
Can yacht building Following the plans line Tor
line, the similarity OF the Puritan and the viking
ship Was striking. The Esquimaux kyak, too has
lines suggesting that the rude savage OF the North
had discovered the secret OF "eaot resistance" IL
Is argued that savaseS who made swift DOalS hit
upon their designs by observing the forms or nsheS
The swift boat, OF primitive people, like rast-swim-
ming hsLes, have their greatest displacement In
the center, while, In sailing yachts, ~ Is little
abaft OF amidships.
BARK CANOES
The rudest form OF the bark canoe shown In the
collection is from British Guiana. II was made
merely by taking a single sheet OF bark OF suitable
size, curling up the sides ana then stfYentng the
euge5 by means OF slender splints bound 10 them
with thongs. The ends OF the canoe are lefJ open,
and the savage navigator has TO use much skill 10
prevent water from washing In at stem or stern.
An Indian canoe, made by the PaSsamaluoddy
Indians OF Maine Is shown, as model OF It's Iy pc.
IL is made OF birch bark, over q light wooden
frame with one thwart amidshipS. The bark is
sewed together at the ends ana TO the gunwa.es
with dyed wooden fiber. IL mas round bottom;
the ends being alike, sharp and curved upward.
A balSa Or swimming rafJ from the East Indies
is made simply OF long bundles OF ru,ile, bound to
geIher. A catamaran from Madras, India, Is Made
or logs bound together with ropes and fashloned
that they tend TO point and bend upward
slightly In front. This Is used a surf boat.
mariner deserts II altogether, jumping into the
wave aud then ciambering upon 1t when he comes
TO the surface again. On this craft, too he some.
times up tiny mast and noists bit or cotton
DuG-oUrs FROM STRANGE LANDS
A simple dug-out, perhaps the simplest, Is o
sdOnga" from Jessore, India II Is made rrom the
stem OF the tar palm. The natural form OF the
tree, with its dubious end, Is preserved, and the
boat looks like big spoon. The native sits In the
bowl OF the spoon or boat, and his weight keeps
by Chinese fishermen is q log completely followed
out from end to end. Instead or gouging the log