The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-07-11
Seasick Vessels.

the SHIPS must 90 to their nOsplGal
for repairs. The hospital is the dry
dock and the doctors are the army OF
careful #orkmen who look over care
fully and repair every faulty seam or
" Salt water is teeming with parasites
of plant and animal life that cling to
the bottoms cf ships; eat slowly yet
surely through wood and iron alike, or or
rust it away, while they act as q check
on the speed by vastly increasing the
Resistance and friction Of the water
against the ship. The goods Of the
storms see evcrywhere," and pick out
each weak seam or faulty rivet, and
slowly and surely eat into the vitals OF
the ship, SO that every few months u
becomes necessary to examine and re-
pair the vessel. To do this she must
come out of the water. The dry dock
is Just great box Of wood, iron, or
stone, connecting with the sea by q
great gateway. When the ship is
ready to enter, the gate is shut and
the water all pumped out then the
workmen with practiced skill place
the great blocks at the bottom OF the
dock for the keel to rest upon, taking
the dimensions from the plans and
drawings of the vessel. These IN
place, the dock is flooded again, the
gate opened, and the ship hauled in:
The gate is now closed again, and
while the water is slowly pumped out
and the ship settles down, the dockers
pull her this way or that till she rests
evenly on the keel blocks; then
shores or heavy wooden beams, are
braced from the sides of the dock to
the sides Of the ship, and as the wa
ter is pumped away the ship stands
"high and dry" veritable "fsh out
of water" the bottom, which was be-
low the water line, covered with sea
weeds and parasites, that hide the de-
fects they have caused.
The workmen scrape and scour the
unwelcome barnacles and grass away,
the seams and rivets are all examined
and repaired, a fresh coat of paint
goes on again, and as the dock is
again flooded the ship rises from her
hospitable bed, and the wooden sup
ports are knocked away until she
| floats out on the sea again healthy
and strong,' to battle with wind and
sea, and the enemies of the flag she
proudly flies at the peak.
When wood was used almost exclu-
sively in building ships a very easy
and convenient means was found to
protect the underwater portions OF the
shin from the insidious attacks OF
barnacles and parasites OF plant and
animal life. This was done by cover
ing the whole bottom Of the ship with
a plating of thin copper, for the gal
yanic action of the salt water upon
the copper was to convert the ship
and sea into vast battery where the
copper became the negative pole and
was slowly yet constantly eaten away,
the particles, as they fell away, taking
with them the barnacles and sea weed
as fast as they formed on the ship,
thus keeping the ships bottom and
sides always clean SO that the speed
was not cut down by dragging the bar
nacles and yards Of sea weeds through
the water. Yet, even then the cop
ner m needed repairs, faulty timbers
rotted and crumbled away, so that
every few years the ship had to go IN
to dry dock and be thoroughly ever,
hauled, each faulty timber replaced
and rusty bolt repaired, until no loop
hole was left for the sea to work upon.
But with the advent Of iron in the
building Of ships the old means failed,
| for where copper was placed over the
iron the iron became the negative pole
of the great battery and was eaten
away, quickly riddling the bottom OF
the ship with many leaks. Many de-
vices were tried-the underwater
nortions of the vessels were covered
With a waterproof layer Of wood,
which was then coppered as BEFORE
but wherever there was any METALLIC
connection between the copper and
iron the whole force Of the battery
acted there, and holes were eaten IN
unexpected and inaccessible places,
bringing in an element OF uncertainty
and enforcing great care in sheath,
ing" the vessels as the coating OF
wood is called, and the ship still had
to 90 more often than ever to the dry
dock.
Then the various methods of paint
ing the bottoms with protective paints
have been tried and are used IN al u, OF
the cruisers of our new navy. The
skill of hundreds of chemists has been
exerted to find a paint that would act
as the copper does and throw OF the
barnacles and sea weed. Great prizes
| have been offered, and a fortune
awaits the successful discoverer Of
such coating for ships, yet, SO tar
none has been discovered that act;
completely, and the iron and steel tee,
ships which start from port Will
freshly painted sides and bottoms re-
turn in few months covered with
barnacles and see weed, which, as II
trails in the water, very materially
cuts down the speed and power OF the
shin. Then she must be put IN the
dry dock aud scrubbed and scrapeec
and repainted. Still worse than tho
barnacles and sea weed is the watel
itself when it finds an entrance, be II
ever so small, throug ii the paint t.
the steel below. Slowly but surely i
rusts out a little pit, which extends
sometimes almost through the plate
before the paint scalp drops off anc
discloses the defect, which can ever
then only be seen by putting the shll
in dry dock and examining every square
foot of her bottom plating.
This all shows how necessary 1t ii
for the ships to go to their, ,hospltt
ais and how careful her doctors
should be- for millions Of f.! dollars
worth of property and millions o.
; priceless lives are carried every year rI OF
these messengers of the sea" Th'
greatest docks in the world are thos'
Of the great shipping port OF Liver
pool, where the great stone docks
with their powerful pumping engines
stretch for miles along the waite
front. The stone docks are the best
for if so!idly built, they may last
hundred wears, and, in fact, the oil!