The Worcester spy., 1899-01-22
EVOLUTION OF STEAMERS.
How New Vessels Compare With Little
Side-PaddIe Boats.
(From the Sd. Louis Stars

The famous Great Eastern. in these
days, might parade her 680-foot length
from ocean to ocean and look in vain
for any signs of the wondering admi-
ration that greeted her appearance
when she was by far the biggest ship
afloat
There are many vessels which ap-
proach in length very clcse to that of
the erstwhile queen of the seas, and
among the transatlantic beauties now
building and shortly to be launched,
there is one that surpasses her This
is the new White Star steamship
Oceanic, at present in course of con-
struction in the Belfast shipyard The
Oceanic is over seven hundred feet in
length, and will succeed in lowering
the Atlantic record to five days. Her
enormous engines will require not less
than seven hundred tons of coal day.
and her equipment will be the finest
ever put into a steamship.
1t is doubtful, however. if the Oceanic
will continue long to hold the record as
the finest vessel afloat So keen IL the
desire for supremacy in ship building
and naval architecture that no sooner
Is one marine beauty launched than
orders are given for the construction
OF one that will surpass her
Inc story Of nineteenth century ship
building, from the time when the first
ocean-golnS vessel driven by steam, the
savannah, made the Atlantic trip sol
years ago. in the then remarkable time
OF tWenty-six days. is one of triumph
ant progress. In tracing the evolution
OF the modern steamship from the $50
ton savannah to the great Oceanic. the
era OF progress begins with the estab-
llshment of the first regular line of
Atlantic steamships, when a Cunard
vessel made the voyage from Liverpool
TO Boston in 1910.
This pioneer in the vast ocean traffic
OF today was the Britannia, which was
one of fleet of four wooden ships
with side wheels, the other three being
named the Acadia, the Columbia and
the Caledonia. The appearance of the
Britannia in Boston made almost as
profound an impression as the Great
Eastern did later. The side-wheeler
made the trip in the unprecedented
time Of fourteen days eight hours. Her
measurements were 20T feet in length
displacement 1854 tons, capacity of en-
gines 740 horsepower coal consump-
tion 3S tons daily.
What a poor showing the marine
monster of 1910 makes in comparison
with the splendid screw steamers of
the same line today, the Lucania and
Campania, with their $40 feet of length,
displacement of 1900 tons, engines of
10000 horsepower, and making the At
lantic voyage in six days with ease
/ Tie Cunard line held prominent
place in the early history of shipbuild-
ing. The queer old paddle-wheel
steamships of this line We're doomed
when in 1862 the first Cunard vessel to
be propelled by screw was put on in
the shape of the China, a steamship
of 5000 tons displacement.
Twelve years later there were
launched the Bothnia and Scythia, of
$500 tons and passengers who crossed
the ocean in these vessels wondered
how they ever had the courage to make
the trip in the wretched little side
wheel affairs which We're thought so
much OF once. The 4500 tonners were
soon surpassed, however, for in 1881
the Servia. a 1892 tonner, appeared on
the Atlantic. The Servia was consi-
dered a gigantic boat then, being 315
feet in length and possessing engines
Of 5000 horse power. She made a record
run of seven days and eight hours, and
timid people held up their hands in
horror at such tremendous speed on the
ocean.
Then came the City of Rome to
snatch the palm for size and speed
from the famous Scrvia. The City of
Rome was forty-five feet longer than
the Servia, 1861 tons heavier and,
most remarkable thing of all to some
people, she had three smokestacks
With the appearance OF the City of
Rome began the rivalry for the ocean
record that has been kept up among
Atlantic steamships ever since
The record was reduced in 1882 to six
days and twenty-five hours by the
Alaska of the Union line. This re-
mained for good while the best time
made but all records were shattered
in 1892, when the Umbria made the trip
in five days twenty-five hours and
seven minutes.
The new Oceanic will seek to do the
trip in the extraordinary time of five
days, thus enabling a traveller to cross
the ocean in less time than he can cross
this continent. The record that the
Oceanic is expected to make will place
her ahead of the Kaiser Wilhelm der
Crosse, a splendid ship of $4,000 tons.
649 feet in length and 66-foot BEAM
which is at present the finest vessel
aflOat