The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-03-16
FREAKS OF THE SHIPS.

Even the best designers never know
how their ships will turn out when
completed. They may break all records
for speed or they may be so slow as TO
be entirely useless-a mere waste of
money.
Years ago two mud barges were
built at san Francisco, exactly alike.
constructed from one dsign. One of
them WAS quite commonplace. accord
ing TO the Cincinnati Enquirer. but the
other raced every barge in the bay and
beat them all; raced every yacht on
the Pacific coast and beat them all. She
was so fast that yachts were built on
her lines. but turned out mere barges
for soth. Nobody could see how this
craft differed from her crawling sisters
or from the yachts built to compete
with her.
In 1851 the America went to Cowes,
England, and raced for a prize cup. She
won that trophy, and with all their ef-
forts-the spending of vast sums of
money year after year on race after
race the British neve. yet recovered the
history of yachting; the contests for il
have concerned the two nations more
than all their political quarrels. The
rules regulating the races have caused
fierce disputes and intense bitterness of
feeling between two peoples.
And the yacht America, which began
the trouble, was as mysterious as the
ffh N 10 Ia, a N
bought her and improved her hull, stiff
fleming il with knees throughout. After
that she lost every race.
Some of the greatest ships ever built
have proved total failures. Everybody
remembers the first monsters, the De- :
vastation and Thunderer the earliest
first class battleship without any sails.
Never was there "A more daring design.
and those two ships ought To have been
a triumphant success. Yet for years
the Thundcrer lay in disgrace at Glib
raltar left in port by the fleet as
mere nuisance.
Every time she went TO sea she got
her boilers disabled because the ends
of the tubes insisted on leaking. Only
quite lately she has been fitttd with
NV kind of ferrule To tit the tubes TO
the boiler casings. And now she is out
of date.
In 1851 America began to be miserable
because Great Britain had captured
the whole OF her carrying trade, while
she stuck 10 wooden paddle steamers.
Iron was expensive in this country,
and wooden ships could not stand the
strain at their tails OF a screw. AT last
a great designer arose, who cut adrift
from tradition. reduced the masts, dis
pensed with the bowsprit and made the
stem straight up and down. SO he
planned the Baltic, Arctic. Pacific and
Q..t.. IL =. ha 1nt 10
record TO eleven days. But the whole
was "A failure, for, after costing $1,000
600, the four ships lost on an average
$4,000 every voyage.
That was only the beginning. for an
September II. 1854 the Arctic collided
with a French steamer, and OF her PCS
people only 46 were saved. Within two
years, i'm 1856. the Pacific left port and
disappeared forever Her fate is one of
the mysteries OF the Atlantic The com
pany went bankrupt we lost all hope OF
Contesting with England for the trade,
and now the only survivor of this once
splendid line is the Adriatic, coal
hulk. under an assumed name. at Glib
raltar. This American oversee trade
was Killed 10y the freaks of ships.
one of the most daring inventions
was destined To fame as a freak ship.
This was the Great Britain. on her
first voyage 0S45) she broke the Allan
tic record to New York, but on her hfth
she overran her reckoning, piled up on
the irish coast, and bankrupted her
owners She lay ashore for "A year with
out suffering the least injury. was
salvcd. and became successful pas
senCcr ship. Ultimately she changed
into - sailing vessel. stranded again on
the Falkland Islands 0SS6). was res
cued once more, and this one of the
most famous ships in the world, is now
ending her life in the vocation of coal
hulk.