Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-07-18

t''9' "P'ii tHc announcement mat
Inc two biggest steamships in the
world the Mauritania and i.nsiiania.
wonid aDOn go into commission be-
| tween America and Europe. came the
announcement that the biggest loco.
motive in the world had been com
plcted aud would be- used to drag the
ponderous eishtccnrhour trains OF the
| PENNSYLVANIA railroad across the AL
lcgheny Mountains on the whirlmg
"Trip between New York and Chicago.
From the two huudrcd-foot trnnsat-
lnntic liners of forty years ago. the
Mauritania and l.nstanin. each OF
them nearly eight hundred feet In
length. mark The gradual increase in
size Of the Steamship: while from
the c!shtton locomotive that Ste
phonsOn evolved In 1928. the mogul
engine of the Pennsylvania OF 1907.
with total weight of two hundred
)and four tons. marks the evolution in
locomotive construction.
Just where the limit will he reach
ed in the size of ocean liners and To-
comotivc engines Is Il matter that is
| greatly interesting the thinking PEG
| pie of the twentieth century. Hand
In hand with the increase in the bulk
of steamships. the nifty years that
have passed since the British steam
ship Persia crossed the Atlantic from
/ Queenstown to New York IN min,
days aud set the world wondering.
the hnrlors OF the world have had
TO he decpencd the channels widen
ed, the wharycs heightened. and the
ocean cleared of distractions to nnvi-
l CATION which half century ago
would have passed nnnoticcd
Had to Have New Harbors.
Tho steamships of today would not
have been able to come into many
harbors had they been In commission
twenty years ago. While some Of the
worlds deepest and most perfect har-
bors have never been drcdged out,
for the simple reason that they have
always been deep enough, the majori-
ty OF these deep ana natural harbo,s
are in parts of the world where thoy
are of little use f)r the worlds com.
mcrce. us cXcmr flied by the monster
ocean liners n,sessary to transport
the thousands OF passengers who
travel from continent to continent to
day. In the same manner would tho
Mauritania and busitanin be unable
to enter many OF the harbors of the
world. and very few indeed that
would In any way he advantageous to
transatlantic commerce. Rio Jnnelru.
for example, has harlor deep
;, enough for any steamship. even II Il
drew half again as much water us the
)new liners. But this port would have
little advantage to offer vessels OF
their size. Acapulco In Mexico, Is
the big liner would get no benefit In
| al m nl Ann ,tsf
deep but unlmportant harbors are the
more important but less convenient
ones OF Chcrbourg, Plymouth, Liver.
pool Queenstown, and New York.
Until the new Ambrose channel in
New York harbor has been completed
\ tho new ships with their immense
draft must exercise the greatest care
In entering and leaving that port.
Thcy each draw about thrty-four feet
of water at Sandy Hook across the
bar ut low tide
The limit In transatlantic steam
ship construction depends entirely
1 r1on the depth of the terminal har
bors between which the grcnt yes
sells ply. Ships OF greater draft than
/ tho Mauritania and l.ustnn'a may he
| built: hit the harbors where these
vessels may touch must he dccpcncd
! and the channels widcncd to accom-
/ mediate them. ono reason for one of
the big steamship lines inauguratnc
l. southampton service IL that the
company intends to build larger ships
than il has hitherto. and cannot send
these monsters to Liverpool with any
degree OF safety. owing to the com
| paratively poor facilities for docking
| the greatest OF ocean steamships,
| Chcrbourg an important hArhor OF
France, Is inaccessible to ships of the
draft of most OF the modern ransat
lantc liners, and these have to trans
fer their passengers ashore by means
of tenders. The same IS the case
with many of the harhors OF the Med
litorranean, where tenders are en-
! ploycd between the liners and the
wharves
Building Wider Ships Now.
| If still larger steamships are 10 be
built the solution to the problem lies
I in the beams of the vessels that are
to come. Steamships must have n
certain displacement. If this dis
placement cannot be taken out In
draft. owing TO the natural limitations
of shallow harbors it mist be provil-
cd Tor In beam. II is In pursuance
OF this principle that one transatlan
tic company, in announcing another
mammoth steamship. states tina; the
beam of this newcomer Will be one
hundred feet, crosswiSc measure
ment that thirty yca'< ago woulS
have stood for onehalf the length
OF large ocean steamer. Modern
battlcships have not the extreme
draft of the larger merchantmen. This
| is because chances cannot bn taken
with a warship that may have To 80
to any harbor, irrespective Of depth,
and must therefore not draw more
| ,vninr thnn Is nhenlnfnlv nncnesnrN