[Illustration: Probably no form of construction is so interesting to
everyone as the construction of a huge steamer, a wonderful “city”
afloat, with its thousands of passengers, its thousand officers and
crew, the tremendous stores of provisions and water, and the precision
with which the great ship plows its way from one shore to the other.
This picture shows the first work in building a modern steamer, laying
the keel and center plate, upon which the massive hull is constructed.
The rivets are driven by hydraulic power, noiselessly but firmly. In
the new “Britannic”--largest of all British steamers and the newest
(1915) modern leviathan--over 270 tons of rivets--nearly three million
in all--were required to give staunchness to the steel-plated hull. The
cellular double bottom is constructed between the bottom and top of the
center plate.]
[Illustration: A LONGER VIEW OF THE ABOVE OPERATION.]
[Illustration: THE CRADLE OF A STEAMSHIP CALLED A “GANTRY”