Morning journal and courier., 1890-12-16
RIG VESSELS OF THE ANCIKNrs
Tn the Matter Of Size They Were Up Wfth Our Modern Steamships.

In the Matter Of Size They Were Up
 With our Modern Steamships.
 IFrom the Maritime Register.l
 We moderns are justly proud of the wonderful and magnificent specimens of nas4s architecture that crowd the grea. ports of the world. If there is anything new under the sun, a frst-class ocean steamer, it is believed, is that rarity. In our conceit we recall only the galleys and triremes of the ancients, that scarce ever ventured beyond the coast line, and the small barks in which Columbus and those that followed him conquered the new world, and gave commerce its greatest field. But the ancients built many goodly sized craft, and made luxury a study on some of them.
 That much controverted craft, the ark, is an example of bigness. Her tonnage is estimated at about fifteen thousand tons, smaller, it is true, than that of the Great Eastern. No less an authority than Lind say thinks that she was simply raft of stupendous size, having upon it a struc- ture resembling huge warehouse. As no means of propulsion were necessary, this description may be correct. The cargo, however. was unique, and probably the largest and most valuable ever carried. | The description of the ark, as given in the scriptures, makes the vessel about four hundred and fifty feet in length, seventy. five feet in breadth and forty-five feet ir depth-proportions similar to those now in use to-day for great vessels. But as the agnostic is not sure that this hfeboat of the human race ever existed, and as the materialist is sure she never was built, lei us take for an Example of big ancient yes sells some other craft vouched for upon the authority of profane and not sacred wri. ters- The Egyptians, fond of large things and big dimensions, made the big tonnage vessels of ancient times.
 Ptolemy (Philopator) would have appre ciated the Great Eastern. He was fond oi building big boats One of these is said to have been four hundred and twenty feet long, fifty-seven feet broad and seven ty-two feet deep from the highest point oi the stern. This vessel had four rudders or what some would call steering oars, a. they were not fastened, each forty-fv' feet long. She carried four thousand row
 CTS, besides three thousand marines, |
 and stores and provisions. Her oars wer
 ffty-seven feet long, and the handles wer
 weighted with lead. There were tw,
 thousand rowers on side, and it is sup posed that these were divided into fiv
 banks. That this extraordinary yesse
 ever put to sea is doubted, but that sh
 was launched and used at times, only fo
 display, several historians are agreed.
 Another 'tship," the Thalamegus, bull
 for one of the Ptolemies, is said to hay
 been three hundred feet long, forty fee broad and sixty feet deep. This was ia more magnificent vessel than any previou one. An Alexandrian historian, Catlixe nus, in describing her, speaks of her hay ing colonnades, marble stairs and gardens Another great vessel, historical by reasol
 of its size, is one built by Hiero, king O . Syracuse. Her dimensions are estimates
 to be large from the description of he cargo, and the number of her decks an l hoxses. She is suppose to have bee r sheathed with lead, and accomplished 6
 least one successful trip.
 A full description of her would req somewhat like that of one of our Long + l land Sound or Hudson river steamboats t She had three entrances, the lowest lead 8 ing to the hold, the second to the eatin - rooms, and the third was appropriated t the SOluleTs. lHcIc hcfc buiits fOOAh' ! each having four couches, for the soldier: l, there were fifteen couches in the sailor : supper room, and there were three mor
 cabins, each having three couches- Tn : floors of all these rooms were laid in ston ? mosaic work. There was also temple C f cypress, inlaid with ivory, and dedicate
 to Venus. The mainmast was compose t of a single tree, and the vessel carried fou 8 wooden and eight iron anchors.
 I As freight carried she would rival th @ largest of our ocean trrmps. It is record .- ed that one or two of the launches belonl ing to her would carry about eighty ton l. This vessel is said to have carried "sixt y thousand measures of corn, ten thousan d jars of Sicilian salt fish, twenty thousan @ talents weight of wool, and of other ca l. go twenty thousand talents, all of whic
 was in addition to the provision require 8 for the crew" These are the notably b z vessels of ancient times, but the suppos l. ton is that, as rulers, whether king { l; people, were as emulous in those days T. these, other big craft were also bull n From the foregoing description Il o thought is suggested that the first desig D. CTS of our own river steamboats may ha A heard of the Egyptian and Syrseusan vs ,r sells and taken a hint from them in bull F. ing floating palaces.