TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.
The fifteen ‘Portraits and Biographical Notes’ have been moved to the
end of the main text, in front of the Footnotes and book catalog.
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
placed at the end of the book, after the Portraits.
All changes noted in the ERRATA have been applied to the etext.
A superscript is denoted by ^x, for example C^o or Nath^l.
A subscript is denoted by _{x}, for example B_{1} or D_{3}.
Basic fractions are displayed as ½ ⅓ ¼ etc; other fractions are shown
in the form a/b, for example 1/1000 or 5/16.
The tables in this book are best viewed using a monospace font.
Many minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
[Illustration: S.S. “CITY OF ROME”—ANCHOR LINE.
Macleod and Macdonald Engraver Glasgow]
MODERN SHIPBUILDING
AND
THE MEN ENGAGED IN IT:
A REVIEW OF RECENT PROGRESS IN STEAMSHIP DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION,
TOGETHER WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NOTABLE
SHIPYARDS, AND STATISTICS OF WORK DONE IN
THE PRINCIPAL BUILDING DISTRICTS.
BY
DAVID POLLOCK,
NAVAL ARCHITECT.
With Portrait and Biographical Notes of Eminent Shipowners,
Shipbuilders, Engineers, and Naval Architects;
also, Views of Notable Ships.
LONDON: E. & F. N. SPON, 125 STRAND.
NEW YORK: 35 MURRAY STREET.
1884.
(_All rights reserved._)
PREFACE.
The great activity in shipbuilding and marine engineering during
recent years, and the substantial progress, both in science and
practice, which has marked the period, have often formed the subject
of articles in the technical and daily press, and of papers read
before professional institutions. So far as I am aware, however, no
single work dealing historically with modern shipbuilding in a way
at once trustworthy and popular, and in a form handy and accessible,
has yet been published. The present work aims at supplying this want.
In undertaking it originally, I felt encouraged by the acceptance
which various articles, contributed to the columns of the _Glasgow
Herald_, _The Engineer_, _The Steamship_, _Iron_, &c., had met with
from many whose good opinion I had reason to value highly. With the
kind permission of the proprietors of the above journals, I have made
use to some extent of the articles in question—but largely amplified
and corrected—in preparing the following pages.
The work is concerned exclusively with shipbuilding for the merchant
marine, and no attempt is made to trace the progress connected with
naval shipbuilding, although some of the many important influences
which the one exerts upon the other have been indicated. Even as
thus defined and restricted, the field of review is so vast that the
limits which I had determined should bound the work with respect to
price, and consequently with respect to size, have compelled me to
treat briefly and in a general way many matters which it might have
been of interest to enlarge upon. The list of authoritative papers
and lectures to which readers can at first hand refer—given at the
end of each chapter—may, it is hoped, compensate to some extent for
these deficiencies.
The book being mainly historical, originality in the strict sense
of the term cannot, of course, be urged for much of the contained
matter; but efforts have been made throughout to present trustworthy
statements of the very latest steps in advance. This is specially
true of the chapter on scientific progress. My object, however,
having been more to enlighten general readers than to seek to
interest or inform professional ones, it is perhaps wanting in the
scientific fulness needed to give it special value, viewed from the
standpoint of the trained naval architect.
While the biographies and portraits given throughout the book may
be considered fairly representative of those who as shipbuilders,
shipowners, naval architects, or marine engineers have made
their influence felt on the world’s mercantile marine during the
period of review, the collection by no means includes all who are
deserving of such notice. The subjects of portraiture are all in
life, and actively engaged in their respective spheres of labour.
The diffidence generally evinced by them in consenting that their
likenesses and the note of their professional career should be
given, has made my task one of difficulty. What may be called the
over-diffidence of a few, originally selected for portraiture, has to
some extent occasioned the incompleteness now commented upon.
As further accounting for the limitations of the present work, I
think it fitting to add that the preparation of the whole book,
including the task of seeing it through the press, has devolved
upon me at a time when the ordinary intervals of respite from daily
business have had to suffice for its accomplishment.
My best thanks are due to those firms and individuals to whom I had
to appeal for statistics and other particulars, for their generally
ready and courteous attention to my requests.
DAVID POLLOCK.
DUMBARTON, _November, 1884_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
RECENT PROGRESS IN STEAMSHIP CONSTRUCTION.
PAGE
Growth in Dimensions of Steamships—America’s Place in Ocean Traffic—
Shipbuilding in America—Wood _versus_ Iron Shipbuilding—Introduction
of Mild Steel for Shipbuilding—Suitability of Mild Steel for
Shipbuilding—Economical Advantages of Steel Ships—Reduction in Cost
of Mild Steel—Pioneer Steel Steamships—Cellular Bottom Steamships—
Description of Cellular Bottom System—Adoption of Water Ballast—
Spread of Cellular Bottom System—Cellular Bottom Sailing Ships—Minor
Structural Modifications—Cast Steel Stern Frames, Rudders, &c.—
Advantages of Cast Steel Stern Frames, Rudders, &c.—Probable Future
of Steel Castings—List of Papers, &c., bearing on Ship Construction 1