Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-07-25
RINEZHW GHHG NU7X -

wooden freigI'ers each of 100 tons lightweight
capacity.
4 year ago We had in this country only 4 hand.
full of qualified shipwrights, and the yards EN-.
gagged in the building Of wooden vessels were few
and far between, of modest equipment and any.
Thing but up 10 date compared with their steel
competitors. How, then, has it been possible to
undertake so imposing n program and to prom.
lse deliveries within periods unprecedentedly
brief? The story is one to make every American
feel proud, for 1t Is a record of Yankee ingenu-
fly and native adaptability at their best.
1t was plain to the men concerned in direct
ing the Emergency Fleet corporation that 1t
would be quite out Of the question to recruit
shipwriphts or to train new men in the art with
in the time available. The shipwright in his fin
ished form Is the evolution Of long years of prac-
teal application, and this means an acquired cum
ming in the use of Il very few hand tools.
Just the same we are launching timber ves-
sells after very short building periods, and these
undeniable results are the consequence of skill
fully directed efforts following new lines. The
Emergency Fleet corporation first set about
recruiting labor from a wide range of wood work
ing trades. and they showed how these men could
be employed, by reason of already existing me-
chanical aids and others developing. to do yirtu-
ally what had previously been done only by the
expert ship carpenter. q.
We are turning out by the new method ocean.
going timber cargo carriers to which the under.
writers do not hesitate to give Al rating. This
achievement Is the outcome of a studied effort to
cut out lost motion all the way from the forest
to the building plant and thence upon the finished
product.
Where the shipwrislt used to hew and cut and
patiently carve the various curiOusly formed
structural units out of relatively raw material,
his less expert brothers. the house carpenter, the
t.,n, a., ,.no,i,p hrs3yn I,,t11nr oud kho mr.
how accomplish astonishing things through the
agency of the sawinil. The sawmill In fact rep.
resents today to the wooden ship what the steel
mill stands for in the case of the fabricated
freighter.
by means Of planners that can be set mt any
angle and saws that will operate when tilted to
different degrees, 1t Is possible for the present
day substitutes Of the master wood worker, the
shipwright. TO shape and to bevei pieces Of all
sizes and thicknesses and, besides, to do this In
Il few minutes, where the ship carpenter re.
quired probably as many hours.
The pneumatic drill commonly used In struc.
tural steel work has been modified 30 that II
will answer for the boring Of holes in the tim.
bers of n wooden ship; pneumatic hammers,
aduptatiOns Of steel ~riveters. are driving the
bolts. treennils, plugs, etc. that bind n timber
craft together; and portable pluners and kindred
air or electrically operated tools finish OF sur
faces and smooth joints 70 that the adze and the
other tools Of the shipwright are wellnigh dis.
penscd with. Further. these portable power
driven aids are doing their work ut a speed ut.
terly unattalnabla BY the traditional ship car.
penter and his fellows.
As yet the concrete ship Is too much Of 4 nov
city for predictions to be made as to the ultimate
maximum Of practicable tonnage. nor hre w
yet sure that the big concrete ~freighter Of 1900
tons and more Is going to prove enduring md
economical. However. concrete craft Of more
modest proportions have already established
their durability, their technical correctness and
the feasibility Of constructing them rapidly
The Emergency Fleet c, =, ration. bearing these
facts IN mind. Is going right ahead to supple
nent our mercantile squadrOns BY substantially
encouraging the building Of some scores Of freight
err ana other grAnolithic boats