The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-10-08
NEW STEAMSHIP OCEANIC
BIGGEST SHIP EVER BUILT IN
THE WORLD.
Now Being Rapidly Finished in Eng
land-Will be One of the Crack At
lantic Liners.

There seems to be no finality in the
matter of ships, says late Call. The
modern steamship has not reached its
limit, either of size or of speed, the
evolution of the liner is still going on,
every year bigger and faster ships
are being built. We do not see these
gigantic vessels on the Pacific coast.
The Arizona, fine vessel though she is,
has long since been obsolete as an
Atlantic liner. In her day she broke
the ocean record and was the most
favored of the Guion passenger
boats. Both the Belgic and the Gaze
lie, now in the China trade, perform
ed the same feat and helped to build
up the reputation of the famous
White Star line.
After the lamentable failure of the
Great Eastern there were many crit
les who asserted that no man would
ever again attempt to construct a ship
of such size. For thirty years their
assertion has held good, though year
after year, the tonnage of ocean stea-
mers has gradually crept up, each adj
vance in size and speed only paving
the way for a more daring venture.
Those who condemned the Great East
ern forgot that her failure was not
due to her size, but to the fact that
she was ahead of her time. Marine
engineering had not then reached the
stage which rendered the construction
of such vessel practicable. Com
pound engines, forced draft, high
pressure boilers and hundred other
inventions in use today were un-
known. Modern machinery is inf
nitely more powerful and at the same
time much lighter than generation
ago. Consequently the Great Eastern,
filled with primitive and cumbersome
machinery, proved utterly unwieldy.
She was total failure, both financial
ly and otherwise, and ended her DAYS
ANONYMOUSLY in the ship breakers
yard.
However, there is no danger of such
failure in the White Star lines lat
est venture. For years past the in
tention of the company to build a
boat of fabulous size, to be called the
Gigantic, has been rumored. Year af-
ter year the company has built larger
and better boats, but the mythical Gil.
gantic was always in the future. The
Majestic and the Teutonic were, each
in their turn, looked upon as the very
highest triumphs of the ship builders
art, and the thousands of passengers
who crossed the Atlantic i'm these YES.
sells testified to their luxurious an.
pointments and splendid sea going
qualities
only one step further was necessa
sary to produce the gigantic Oceanic
now being built by Messrs. Harland &
Wolff at Belfast. This firm, it NAV be
mentioned incidentally, has produc
ed most of the famous Atlantic liners
especially the White Star boats. every
one of which in her time has been 9
record breaker.
The mere size of the Oceanic is ov
erwhelming. She is 7O4 feet long. OF
"a feet longer than the Great Eastern
| and her gross tonnage will be about
1900 tons. To walk from her bow r.
her stern and back again means a
stroll of 500 yards. so that one who ac
composites this trip three times will
nave covered nearly a mile. She VIII
have only three light pole masts. as
san power is useless in vessel of this
class. Every appliance known to
modern engineering has been intro
duced into this enormous steel shin