The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-24

~ ALL the things which man has constructed
since time began, there is nothing of his
handlwOrk essentially human ship
especially a sailing ship From the en-
gineer of the fleet, who regards his engines as dis
tinct personalities to the Maori in his canoe the
same feeling exists, and from the Banks of New
foundland to Cape Town, they who go down into the
sea in ships come to regard their craft as some
thing which possesses intelligence
And these ships subject to ailments-just as
men and women become i'll from disease or ex-
posure accident; and hospitals have been built
for them. In them, instead of nurses on sIippered
feet stealing silently about ministering to diverse
ills, there the cang of the hammer and the
pounding of the pneumatic riveters curing the maIa
dies of the patients who have met disease and dis
aster
There is contrast-save only one of noise-be-
tween the hospital for men and the hospital for
ships. Each patient s treated by specialist Does
the mans ear give him pain?-then he goes to the
aurst. Does the ships steam pipe give trouble?-
then 1t is of getting into the ship hospital and
sending for the marine steam filter.
In this case steam filter" is simply another name
for the specialist who the illness of the ship
But ships have faculty of falling into disease
which calls for the attention of many specialists and
the ship hospitals which have been built from one
end of the great gray to the other equipped
with appliances, and are attended by ship physicians
just as in the hospitals which have been made
to for the who is run over by car, or
falls from high window.
In every port there are appliances for the relief
OF sick ships, and where there great drydocks
built the ingenious sailor establishes his own tem
porary hospital service.
The first Of the ship hospitals was the beach
When troubles came and it became necessary to call
Tor the physicians, the ship driven ashore at
high tide. When the tide ebbed she was left high
and dry, and the workers would do what they could
while the tide was out
Naturally this left but little time to perform the
operations, and altogether an unsatisfactory
process But it was the forerunner of the present
craving docks"
The craving dock, as distinguished from the float
ing DOCK may best be described as a hospital where
the water is taken away from the Ship while in the
floating dock the ship is taken away from the water
The wonderful British Government craving docks
at Halifax hewn of the solid rock A big
basin has been made into which any of His Majestys
batteships may float to be supported on blocks of
wood and braces of steel while the water is drawn
of the basin that the ship doctors may find what
the difficulty may be-
At Newport News, Va, the docks are cut into the
sandy soil, lined with timber and cement, with
mighty tiers of steps leading down each side
But these craving docks partake of the flavor of
the land. The floating dock is like the ship
ITSELF and is, perhaps, the best illustration Of what
a ship hospital really is like
The first floating dock was built by of the sail
of the feet which Peter the Great decided upon
building when, at Archangel in 1903, Gar of Rus
sa looked upon the for the first time. This dock
was constructed of a battered old ship called the
Camel. All her fittings removed leaving only
the hull The stern was cut off and the open end
fitted with gates.
Then she allowed to fill with water, sink
to the waters edge, and the ship which needed at
tention foated inside The gates were closed,
proper braces applied the invalid the water was
pumped out, and the Camel rose to the surface,
carrying the sick ship up into the air.
SO came into being the first of the floating hos
pitals. This type of Camel dock is still in in
ports of Norway and Sweden
The type of floating dock in to-day follows,
roughly the outlines of the ship herself 1t is prac
tcaly a ship with both stem and stern removed.
When an invalid is taken to this hospital the hol-
low structure is flooded by opening the valves which
allow the to get inside. 1t is sunk to the bot
tom of the Slip and the sick ship is foated in. Then
the valves are closed and the water is pumped out
of the cradle AS it rises, the ship is lifted with it,