The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-01-15

LliS IGttQSlS VI the OOnl9dIllpil'
At the end of 1889 the City of Paris,
now of the well-known American line.
broke the record with a twenty-knot
speed, which she subsequently inn
proved to nearly twenty-one knots,
Later the record was held by the Gu
nard steamships Campania and Luea-
MIA, with a record of twenty-one and
three-fourth knots per hour, and the
St Louis has since made twenty-five
and one-half knots.
! Thus we have in the successive de-
cades advances of three and one-half,
one and one-half, one and one-half, one
and one-half, and four knots respec-
| lively. We are half way through an
I other decade, and the speed may be
considered as more than two knots in
advance of that of it's earlier days.
| Now, on the basis of these facts, we
may prophesy of the future greyhound
speed according to our fears or hopes.
| our whims, or our wishes The adj
vance in speed between 1910 and 1890
was about two and one-half knots per
| ten years We have already got an aY-
erage of two and one-half knots for the
| present decade in the ST. Louis, so that,
judging by the past, we have not much
| advance to look for before the century
ends.
| But, of course, a continuous gain OF
J speed is not to be looked for. Ii new
| steamers run two and one-half knots
an hour faster every ten years, they
would some time cross the ocean in
next to no time. Moreover, increase OF
speed generally means an increased
price of the ship, andlit also means in
creased cost of running the ship and
| these are things which are likely to
stop development of speed.
The sea raises objections to increase
of speed, as may be understood from
the fact that in the eight-knot ships
the power was less than one-fortieth of
that required to drive the Campania
and Lucania Of course the ships
| which have so much more power have
to be bigger than the slow ones, but
not SO much bigger as they would have
4 had to be had there not been con-
slant Improvement in engines and boil
ers.
The Improvement has enabled engi-
neers to get much more horse power In
the same space and for the same
weight than they were formerly able to
get and also to obtain this horse power
for much less weight of coal For in
stance. the first Cunard steamship
completed in the decade 1SS0-90 had the
machinery of one-half the power OF
that OF the Paris, which was completed
in 1889 If we say the weight of the
machinery of the earlier steamer was
about two thousand tons. that of the
Paris would have been four thousand
tons unless some improvement had
been made but it is only about twenty
eight hundred tons
Then as to coal burned. For, every
four pounds burned on the older ship
only three are required in the Paris t.
produce the same power, The Paris
burns about twenty four hundred tons
in crossing the Atlantic. She woule
have burned thirty two tons unless i'm
provements had been made.
Thus we see that to produce ship Of
the power of the Paris on the lines o.
only fifteen years ago would have In.
volved twelve hundred tons more fol
machinery, and eight hundred ton.
more for coal than the actual Paris re
| dhil SC' illo nCt6iiI 10 lAauNAi II iAAOA
than the weight of the whole cargo o.
the Paris.
These matters greatly affect thu
money making capability of ship
and it must never be forgotten tina
there can be no real future for com
mercial ship that is not constructed st
that it can be run at q profit.
Safety in travelling is Of prime impor
lance. We know how to sub-divide {
ship into compartments so that sh'
cannot sink by a blow from anothe
ship The thing is quite possible anc
practicable, and some of the boys o
to-day, who will be the men Of the mex
generation, will insist that ships which
carry many valuable lives shall b.
made so they will not sink If hole b.
!, knocked out of their sides or bottom b.
collision.
So much for keeping afloat with ;
hole knocked through the ships side
What about running her ashore
There are two chances Of this. One i
in fog, when the captain has mis-
taken his position. No ship is FIRE
from this danger, nor will be as long a
it is human to err There may In tn
future be some means of dissipating
fog at sea, but the chance of such
,, discovery being made is not great
Still it is conceivable that our invent
ors. when they fully understand wha
condition of the atmosphere reall
causes fog may contrive electrica
power to dispel it a short dstanc
around a ship.
The other chance of going ashore
by q breakdown of machinery whei
near the land. This chance become
smaller every day. Every acciden
that takes place to machinery is les
the years go on the accidents tend t
decrease
We have in recent years seen tn
greyhounds fitted with two screws an
: two sets of machinery, which make
total breakdowns still more unlikely
A great American shipbuilder say
that the greyhounds of the future wi
have three screws, and the Unite
States three-screw cruiser Columbia
most efficiently propelled. If the ship
of the future have three screws tn
chance of total breakdowns will be re
duced to very small one
The other dangers peculiar to the Sc
are fire and laundering The former
very small and will be smaller whe
the greyhound is built in many com
: partments. Liability to founder is tn
: smallest of dangers, even In the grey
, hound of to-day.