The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-11
EVOLUTION OF OCEAN STEAMERS.
HOW New Vessels Compare With Lit
tie Side-PaddIe Boats.
From the st. Louis Star.

From the st. Louis Star.
The famous Great Eastern. in these
days might parade her 6SO-foot length
from ocean to ocean and look in vain for
any signs of the wondering admiration
that greeted her appearance when she
was by far the biggest ship afoat.
There are many vessels which approach
IN length very close TO that of the erst-
while 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 construction in the Belfast ship
yard. The Oceanic is over seven hundred
feet in length and will succeed in lower
ing the Atlantic record to five days. Her
enormous engines will require not less
than seven hundred tons of coal a dav.
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 Is the
desire for supremacy in shipbuilding and
naval architecture that no sooner. is one
marine beauty launched than orders are
given for the construction of one that will
surpass her.
building, from the time when the first
ocean-going vessel driven by steam. the
| Savannah, made the Atlantic trip eighty
years ago, in the then rema rka BILE time of
twenty-six days, is one of Triumphant
progress. In tracing the evolution of the
modern steamship from the 350-ton Savan-
nah to the great Oceanic, the era of prog
ress begins with the establishment of the
first regular line of Atlantic steamships
! VIII nd
from Liverpool to Boston in 1870
This pioneer in the vast ocean traffic Of
to-day 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 unprece-
dented time of fourteen days eight hours
Her measurements were 207 feet in length
| displacement 1854 tons, capacity of en-
gines 74O horsepower, coal consumption
| thrtq-eight tons daily.
What poor showing the marine monster
of 1910 makes in comparison with the spIcn-
did screw steamers of the same line to-
day; the Lucana and Campania. with their
go feet of length, displacement of 1900
! tons, engines of 10000 horsepower, and
making the Atlantic voyage in six days
with ease.
The Cunard Line held a prominent pla re
| in the early history of shipbuilding. The
queer old paddie-wheel steamships of this
line were doomed when in 1862 the first
Cunard vessel to be propelled by a 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 retched
little side-wheel affairs which were
thought so much of once. The 800 ton
ners were soon surpassed, however, for in
1881 the Servia, a 1882 tonner, appeared on
the Atlantic The SeTyia was considered \
gigantic boat then, being 3l5 feet in length
and possessing engines of 5000 horse
power. She made a record run of seven
days and eight hours, and tinid peop,e
held up their hands in horror at such tire
mendous speed on the ocean.
Then came the City of Rome to snatch
the palm for size and speed from the fa
nous Servia. The City of Rome was forty
five feet longer than the Servia. 061 tons
heavier. and, most remarkable thing Of an
60 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 remained for a
good while the best time made. bur all
records were shattered in 1892, when the
Umbria made the trip in five days and
twenty-five hourse and seven minutes.
The new Oceanic will seek to do the trip
in the extraordinary time of five DAYS.
thus enabling traveller to cross the ocean