New-York tribune., 1910-12-18
STATELY SHIPS
From Dugout to Super-Dread-
nought and Mauretania.


Story of Her origin and Evolution. By
i. Keble Chatterton- With 81 1uuStra-
tions. Crown Svo, pp- XVI. 3I4; fhlla-
delphia: The j. Is. I1pplncott company.
While the Library Of Romance, an
English series OF which this is the tWen-
ty-sixth volume, is officially announced
as destined for young people, 1t may
he as heartily recommended to older
readers. If Mr. Chatterton's book be rep
resentative of the quality Of its prede-
cessors. It is the romantic, the human,
side Of invention, exploration, science,
industry and the arts that is kept to the
fore in these volumes, according to the
prospectus, purely technical matters be-
ing translated into popular language
and kept within the limits of the require
ments Of the lay understanding.
Mr. Chatterton begins by speculat1ng
upon the circumstances in which the
idea Of trusting himself to q log upon
the water evolved in primitive man. he
believes that a dead animal floating
downstream started the idea, and that
mans first experiment upon the water
was made with the support OF minated
skins. A simpler explanation presents
itself. one that one wishes to see ap-
nlied to more of the fundamental 1nVen-
tions of primitive mantle enterprlslng
snirit of bovbood. It is more likely that
the how taught his father to swim than
the reverse; it is more likely that he nrst
risked his Iife-historic moment.-as-
tride a tree trunk in the river than ms
father, imbued with the caution of saw
age existence. 1t may have been pr1hh-
| tive boy. not primitive man, who thre"
the first stone, used the first stick. Not
for nothing is he called to this day the
father of the man.
| This. by the way. however. Mr. Chat-
terton begins his connected record with
the Egyptian river boat, progresses 10
| phoenicia. Greece and Rome. and then
takes the long step to the Norsemeh'
! who undoubtedly drew upon the Phoenl-
! clans for their models. even as hlnS
| Alfred learned from them to build shlpS
| twice as big and powerful and swift as
: theirs The new centre of ShipbuildIng
| in the North came into direct contact
| with the older one on the Mediterranean
| when EngIiShmcn ncgan to trade with
| the South in the Middle Ages. To this
Intercourse, for instance. was due the
| introduction of the fighting tower or
castle on the bow, which still survives
| In nautical parlance in the term focsle.
| Mr. Chatterton constantly points out
| survivals of primitive shipbuilding and
| rigging in the most modern of our YES
sells. The Egyptian dhow. the Spanish
+l,.,t f.,,, 1i.lI. ON,
| the Nile in the days of the Pharaohs,
| and the A-shaped mast of the Fourth
and Fifth dynasties, doing away with
| the need of shrouds on either side, and
requiring only support from the stern,
| may be seen to-day, in an improved
form, in the tripod steel mast Of British
battieshipS. On the disposition of
benches and oars in the triremes of an
| tiouity Mr.. ChattertOn gives us no def
| mite Information. This confusing prob
lem was thrashed out at length in the
seventies of the last century by the late
Admiral Jurien de la Graviere, but With
| out decisive results.
From sail to steam the book pro-
crosses, from the clipper. with its moon
sails. skyscrapers and studd'nsails, to
the steel battleshp. Double topsails,
that boon to the sailorman in a squall,
were an American invention. first intro
duccd in tn" carly sixties. The first
warship to carry armor plat" was La
| GIuire "A French wooden frigate. built
shortly after the Crmean war Mr..
Chattert0n informs us that the cere-
mony of baptizing ships at their launch
ing was performed in England as long
ago as 1910. But why continue? He
never forgcts the romance while telling
| the story of the evolution of the ship
| in thoroughly satisfactory fashion. His
book makes one wish to look into others
Of the series to which IT belongs.