The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1913-02-06
Conquest of The Sea.
A Story Of the Development of the Steam,
ship.

A Story of the Development of the Steam.
ship.
Steamship Conquest of the World. Rv Fra,
erick A. Talbot. Philadelphia: J, B. f;nn;n-
colt Company. ff'"-
While there have been many books re-
lating to ships and shipbuildinp. there
has been much left for Mr.. Talbot to MT
into his comprehensive volume which
shows the development of the steamship
on the ocean, lake and river, the con.
structlon IN all its details, and the launch.
ing and the luxury of the modern liner
Navigation and the steamship lanes
across the ocean are made clearer than
the lay reader has found them hereto.
fore, and one realizes more fully the
perils OF the ocean, icebergs, derelicts
fog, reefs. All have claimed their vic.
TINS, and stirring stories of some of the
most striking disasters, perhaps long
forgotten by most readers, are retoid.
The author does much to brighten the
reputation of the tramp steamer which
New England especially looks upon with
no little disgust, for it has done not a
little to destroy the leading industry Of
this section. An interesting chanter
too, is given to the wireless telegram.
but the author should know that the code
used, and the code which he shows in dots
and dashes, is not Morse, but Continental
Many illustrations complement the in
structlve pages and bring closer to the
reader what has been done in the steam
ship conquest OF the world.
The writer begins today and takes a
varied course, first forward, then hack
again, and thus he considers the great
Cunarders, especially the newest one
which "has astonished the travelling
public and her owners" and has ..ade,
quately fulfilled" the anticipations of
designers and builders. cit is doubtful. :"
says Mr.. Talbot, whether the construc-
ton OF any vessel in the history of the
merchant marine ever has been attended
by such exhaustive preliminary work for
the purpose OF reducing chance to its
most lntlnlteslmal proportions He is
somewhat more confident of safety on
the sea than other recent writers, and
believes that progress in this direction
has kept pace with the development of
luxury, although it has been stated and
made quite clear that no vessel since the
Great Eastern, that mistit craft of more
than half a century ago, has been so
WI o~Aie w "ittoldiIl lHG hangers OF
navigation. Commercial considerations
obviously have checked DEVELOPMENT of
an unsuitable ship.
The modern liner, because of her size
and luxury, has been called ''foating
town, and it is estimated that 40, 900
people are af1oat at one time between
Europe and North America during the
busy season, and if the other seas are
included the marine population would
be about 100, 900. The demand for speed
| has done much to increase danger, and
II one wonders IT this demand, is genu-
Inc he has only to read that during the
year 1911 the Lusltania alone completed
sixteen round trips between England
and New DIRK and carried more than Il,
| OUO passengers-an average of z, 500 pas
sengers for round journey. One day
the Lusitania and a twenty-knot liner
left New York within few hours of one
another The Cunard boat in round
numbers has one thousand passengers;
her slower rival had fewer than two
hundred. An unusually interesting
chapter relates to ships that make few
ports, which might as we'll be headed
ports that few ships make. Not many
people have ever heard Of Ivitgut, where
dozen ships year load kyrolith The
port is on the southwest coast of Green
land, md is navigable for only few
weeks in the year. Clipperton Island,
/ too, sounds strange, but a schooner or
two year stops there to load phos-
phate.
The building of what might be called
portable ships is an industry little known
in this country; but several British firms
do large business of this kind. The
vessel is built temporarily merely bast-
ed, to use tailor's term each piece is
marked, and then all are taken apart,
/ the pieces transported to the desired in
land body OF water, where shipbuilding
materials are not available, and then
put together in permanent form. 1t
was thus that the Victoria Nyanza in
mid-Africa was supplied with steam
ships, and even more difficult was the
sportation of the first s1ip to Lake
Titicaca, the highest of all lakes, IL, 545
feet above the Pacific. The TRANSIT
berian transportation problem was much
simplified when one OF these vessels was
launched, in sailing trim, on Lake Baikal.
The great value Of the floating dock
and the interesting story of its discovery
are set forth in a chapter devoted to
that subject There is a suggestion for
the United States in this discussion, for
''the inability of any dock in North
American waters to receive a modern
mammoth liner reveals the fact only too
well that every port worthy of the name
must be provided with facilities to enable
the largest ship af1oat to be laid bare
whenever the necessity arises. Steam
ship surgery has performed some marvel
Gus operations. Ships lose their bows and
have entire new ones put on. One P. & 0
liner not of satisfactory size was cut in
two and sixty feet inserted between the
severed ends, and she came from the
operation as trim as ever and a knot
faster. A steamship too large to go
through the 500 Canal was cut in halves,
the pieces towed through. put together,
and she sailed away under her own
steam. Some progress is being made on
steamless ships-motor- propelled-a sys-
tenn which, if perfected, would mean
vast economy in men and fuel. The title
of Mr.. Talbot's volume obviously cannot
stand, tor the steamship has not yet con-
quered the world, nor can it do SO until
man has exhausted his ingenuity and has
lost his inherent, omnipresent desire for
more worlds to conquer-F. L. w. in the
Boston Transcript.
Impure blood runs you down-makes you an
easy victim for disease. For pure blood and
sound digestion-Burdock Blood Bitters. At all