STEAM NAVIGATION.
EARLY EXPERIMENTS--SYMINGTON’S BOAT--COL. JOHN STEVENS’ SCREW
PROPELLER--ROBT. FULTON AND THE “CLERMONT”--FIRST TRIP TO SEA BY
STEVENS’ “PHŒNIX”--“SAVANNAH,” THE FIRST STEAM VESSEL TO CROSS THE
OCEAN--ERICSSON’S SCREW PROPELLER--THE “GREAT EASTERN”--THE
WHALEBACK STEAMERS--OCEAN GREYHOUNDS--THE “OCEANIC,” LARGEST
STEAMSHIP IN THE WORLD--THE “TURBINIA”--FULTON’S “DEMOLOGOS,” FIRST
WAR VESSEL--THE TURRET MONITOR--MODERN BATTLESHIPS AND TORPEDO
BOATS--HOLLAND SUBMARINE BOAT.
The application of steam for the propulsion of boats engaged the
attention of inventors along with the very earliest development of the
steam engine itself. Blasco de Garay in 1543, the Marquis of Worcester
in 1655, Savary in 1698, Denys Papin in 1707, Dr. John Allen in 1730,
Jonathan Hulls in 1737, Bernouilli and Genevois in 1757, William Henry
(of Pennsylvania) in 1763, Count D’Auxiron and M. Perier in 1774, the
Marquis de Jouffroy in 1781, James Rumsey (on the Potomac) in 1782,
Benjamin Franklin and Oliver Evans in 1786 and 1789, John Fitch in 1786,
and also again in 1796, and William Symington in 1788-89 were the early
experimenters. Papin’s boat was said to have been used on the Fulda at
Cassel, and was reported to have been destroyed by bargemen, who feared
that it would deprive them of a livelihood. Allen, Rumsey, Franklin, and
Evans (1786) proposed to employ a backwardly discharged column of water
issuing from a pump. Jonathan Hulls and Oliver Evans (1789) had stern
wheels. Bernouilli, Genevois, and the Marquis de Jouffroy used paddles
on the duck’s foot principle, which closed when dragged forward, and
expanded when pushed to the rear. Fitch’s first boat employed a system
of paddles suspended by their handles from cranks, which, in revolving,
gave the paddles a motion simulating that which the Indian imparts to
his paddle. Symington’s boat of 1788 (Patrick Miller’s pleasure boat)
had side paddle wheels. Symington’s next boat, built in 1789, and also
owned by Patrick Miller, was of the catamaran type, _i. e._, it had two
parallel hulls with paddle wheels between them.
Such was the state of this art when the Nineteenth Century commenced its
wonderful record. No practical steam vessel had been constructed, as
the efforts in this direction were handicapped by the crudeness of all
the arts, and were to be regarded as experiments only, most of which had
to be abandoned. The seed of this invention, however, had been sown in
the fertile soil of genius, conception of its great possibilities had
fired the zeal of the inventors in this field, and the new century was
shortly to number among its great resources a practical and efficient
steamboat.
[Illustration: FIG. 106.--SYMINGTON’S STEAMBOAT, 1801.]
The first steamboat of the Nineteenth Century was the “Charlotte
Dundas,” built by William Symington in 1801, see Fig. 106, and used on
the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1802. She had a double acting “Watt
engine,” which transmitted power by a connecting rod to a crank on the
paddle-wheel shaft. The boat had a single paddle wheel in the middle
near the stern, and was intended only for canal use, in the place of
horses. It was abandoned for fear of washing the banks.
[Illustration: FIG. 107.--STEVENS’ TWIN SCREW PROPELLER AND ENGINE,
1804.]
In 1804 Col. John Stevens constructed a boat on the Hudson, driven by a
Watt engine, and having a tubular boiler of his own invention and a twin
screw propeller. The engine, boiler, and twin screws are shown in Fig.
107. The same year Oliver Evans used a stern paddle wheel boat on the
Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It was driven by a double acting high
pressure engine, and geared so as to rotate wagon wheels by which it was
transported on land, as well as the paddle wheels when on the water. It
was in primitive form both a locomotive and a steamboat.
[Illustration: FIG. 108.--THE “CLERMONT,” 1807.]
In 1807 Robert Fulton built the “Clermont,” and permanently established
steam navigation on the Hudson River between New York and Albany. Fulton
in 1802-1803, while living in Paris with Mr. Joel Barlow, and with the
aid and encouragement of Chancellor Livingston, of New Jersey, had built
an earlier steamboat 86 feet long, and although it broke down owing to
defects in the strength of the hull, he was so encouraged that he
ordered Messrs. Boulton & Watt, of England, to send to America a new
steam engine, and upon his return to America he built the “Clermont.”
This vessel, although not the first steamboat, was nevertheless the
first to make a voyage of any considerable length, and to run regularly
and continuously for practical purposes, and Fulton was the first
inventor in this field whose labors were not to be classed as an
abandoned experiment. The “Clermont” as originally built was quite a
different looking boat from that usually given in the histories. A model
of the original construction is to be found in the National Museum at
Washington. In the winter of 1807-8 she was remodeled as shown in Fig.
108. She then appeared as a side wheel steamer, whose wheels were
provided with outer guards and enclosed in side wheel houses, and whose
shaft had outer bearings in the guards, which were not in the original
boat. The hull was 133 feet long, 18 feet beam, and 7 feet depth. The
“Clermont’s” engines were coupled to the crank shaft by a bell crank,
and the paddle wheel shaft was separated from the crank shaft, but
connected with it by gearing. The cylinders were 24 inches in diameter,
and 4 foot stroke. The paddle wheels had buckets 4 feet long with a dip
of 2 feet. She made the first trip from New York to Albany of 150 miles
in 32 hours, and returned in 30 hours, which was the first voyage of any
considerable length ever made by steam power.
The honor of inventing the steamboat has been claimed for many
inventors, and that many worthy experimenters had been working in this
field, and that Fulton had the benefit of their experience is true. The
fact is, however, that the evolution of any great, invention is a slow
and cumulative process, the product of many minds, and while the
proposers, suggesters, and experimenters are entitled to their share of
the credit, it is the man who achieves success and gives to the public
the benefit of his labors whom the world honors, and in this connection
the name of Fulton stands pre-eminent, for although the “Clermont” was
264 years later than the steamboat of Blasco de Garay, the “Clermont”
marks the beginning of practical steam navigation, and whatever the
claims of other inventors may be, it is certain that steam navigation,
established by Fulton in 1807, on the Hudson, preceded the practical use
of the steamboat in any other country by at least five years, for it was
not until 1812 that Henry Bell, of Scotland, built the “Comet,” that
plied between Glasgow and Greenock, on the Clyde, and not until 1814 was
a steam packet used for hire on the Thames in England.
At the same time that Fulton was in Paris making his first experiments
with the steamboat, Col. John Stevens, the most celebrated boat builder
and engineer of his day, was actively experimenting in America in the
same line. Having in 1804 made the first application of steam to the
screw propeller, he in 1807 built the “Phœnix,” which was driven by
paddle wheels. The “Phœnix” was constructed shortly after Fulton’s boat,
but was barred from use on the Hudson by the exclusive monopoly obtained
by Fulton and Livingston from the State Legislature, and she was
accordingly taken from New York to Philadelphia by sea, which was the
first ocean voyage by a steam vessel.
The first steamboat on the Mississippi was the “Orleans,” of 100 tons,
built at Pittsburg by Fulton and Livingston in 1811. She had a stern
wheel, and went from Pittsburg to New Orleans in 14 days.
Although the first trip out to sea was made in 1808 by Col. Stevens’ son
in taking the “Phœnix” from New York to Philadelphia, no attempt had
been made to cross the ocean until 1819. In this year the “Savannah,” an
American steamer of 380 tons, performed this feat, and had the honor of
being the first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic. In 1824 the
“Enterprise,” an English steamer, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and went
to India.
[Illustration: FIG. 109.--SCREW PROPELLER OF THE “ROBT. F. STOCKTON,”
ERICSSON’S PATENT, 1836.]
The screw propeller employed by Colonel Stevens in 1804 was not a new
invention with him, as popularly supposed, but had its origin early in
the preceding century, being a mere development of the ancient wind
wheel. In 1836 it was further developed by Francis P. Smith and by Capt.
John Ericsson, then living in England. Ericsson took out British patent
No. 7,149, of 1836, and United States patent No. 588, of Feb. 1, 1838,
and built several screw steamers, and through Capt. Robert F. Stockton,
of the United States Navy, succeeded in having a screw steamer, the
“Robert F. Stockton,” built in accordance with the plans of his patent
and sent to the United States. The arrangement of her machinery is seen
in Fig. 109. She had two propellers on the same axis, but revolving in
opposite directions, one being on the central shaft and the other on a
concentric tube. The engines were coupled directly to the propeller
shafts, which feature was one of Ericsson’s improvements, and has
continued to be the approved form to this day.
In the early history of steam navigation the side wheel steamer was the
favorite, and was employed for ocean travel as well as for inland
waters. In 1840 the “Brittania,” the first Cunarder, commenced the
career of that celebrated line. This vessel had side wheels, as did also
the “United States,” shown in Fig. 110, which was the first American
steamer built expressly for the Atlantic trade. In 1852 the United
States mail steamer “Arctic,” of the Collins line, was regarded as the
greyhound of the Atlantic, her time being 9 days, 17 hours and 12
minutes. She also had side wheels.
[Illustration: FIG. 110.--STEAMER “UNITED STATES,” 1847.]
Side wheel steamers for inland waters, and screw propellers for sea
service, however, in time established their fitness for their respective
scenes of action. In side wheel steamers the most notable improvements
have been in stiffening the hull by braces, and the adoption of
feathering paddle wheels, whose function is to cause the paddles to
enter and leave the water in vertical position without dragging dead
water. Manley in 1862, and Morgan in 1875, patented practical forms of
the feathering paddle wheel. In screw propellers, Woodcroft in 1832, and
Griffiths at a later period, made valuable improvements. The surface
condenser was used by Hall in 1838 on the steamship “Wilberforce,” and
Sickels in 1841 invented the drop cut-off.
[Illustration:
{“GREAT EASTERN,” SCREW AND PADDLE WHEELS, 1858. LENGTH,
FIG. 111.--{692 FEET, SPEED 12 KNOTS.
{“OCEANIC,” TWIN SCREW, 1899. LENGTH, 704 FEET, SPEED, 20
{KNOTS.]
In 1854 the “Great Eastern” was begun and was finished in 1858. This was
the largest steam vessel ever built up to this time, and has continued
to hold the record for size up to the year 1899, when her dimensions
were exceeded by the “Oceanic,” which ships are put in comparison in
Fig. 111. The length of the “Great Eastern” was 692 feet, beam 83 feet,
depth 57½ feet, draft 25½ feet, displacement 27,000 tons, and speed 12
knots. She was designed by the English engineer Brunel, and was intended
for the Australian trade. She had both a screw propeller and paddle
wheels at the side, with four engines coupled to each. The paddle wheel
engines had steam cylinders 74 inches in diameter, with 14 foot stroke,
and those of the screw engines were 84 inches in diameter and 4 foot
stroke. Collectively they were of 10,000 horse power. The paddle wheels
were 56 feet in diameter, and the screw propeller 24 feet. On her first
voyage to New York, across the Atlantic, in 1860, she carried from 15 to
24 pounds of steam and consumed 2,877 tons of coal. Her cost was
$3,831,520. This mammoth vessel was too large and unwieldy for the uses
for which she was designed, and proved a bad investment. She served,
however, a most useful purpose, by virtue of her great bulk, steadiness,
and carrying capacity, for relaying the Atlantic cable in 1866, and
others in 1873-1874.
In 1874 the “Castalia” was built. This was a steamer with two parallel
hulls, decked across, and designed for greater steadiness in crossing
the English Channel. The “Bessemer” steamer, designed for the same
purpose, and built about the same time, had four paddle wheels, and the
entire cabin was hung on pivots, so that it could not partake of the sea
motion.
In later years great improvements have been made in reducing the weight
of the engines, in forced blast, steam steering gear, anchor hoisting
devices, water-tight bulkheads, surface condensers, electric lights, and
signalling devices. By the year 1880 the standard form of marine engine
for large powers had become the compound double cylinder type, expanding
steam from an initial pressure as high as 90 pounds. In 1890 triple
expansion engines had become common, employing three cylinders, and
using steam with an initial pressure as high as 180 pounds. In 1890
McDougal’s whale-back steamers were introduced. See United States
patents No. 429,467 and 429,468, June 3, 1890, and No. 500,411, June 27,
1893.
[Illustration: FIG. 112.--STEAMBOAT “PRISCILLA.”]
In no country in the world are such fine examples of side wheel steamers
to be found as in the United States, and in no country are there such
splendid reaches of inland waters as theatres for their performances.
The “Priscilla,” shown in Fig. 112, of the Fall River Line, plying on
Long Island Sound, and the “Adirondack,” on the Hudson, are fine
examples of this type. The “Priscilla,” which is said to be the largest
river boat in the world, is 440 feet 6 inches long and 93 feet breadth
over the guards. She is driven by double compound inclined engines, has
feathering paddle wheels 35 feet in diameter and 14 feet face, and her
speed is over 20 miles an hour. The “Adirondack,” whose engines and
feathering paddle wheel are shown in Fig. 113, is 412 feet long and 90
feet breadth over guards. The engines and paddle wheels of the
“Adirondack” are distinctly representative of the modern American side
wheel steamer.
[Illustration: FIG. 113.--ENGINES AND PADDLE WHEEL OF STEAMER
“ADIRONDACK” ON THE HUDSON RIVER.]
The largest and in many respects the highest type of marine architecture
is to be found in the modern ocean greyhound for transatlantic trade. In
recent years the rival companies have vied with each other in the effort
to excel, and steamships of larger size, greater speed, and more perfect
equipment have followed each other, until it would seem that the limit
had been reached. In the accompanying table the largest and most recent
steamers are placed in comparison with the “Great Eastern.”
DIMENSIONS OF THE LARGEST OCEAN STEAMERS.
==============+======+=======+======+======+========+=========+=======
NAME OF | DATE.|LENGTH | BEAM.|DEPTH.|DRAUGHT.|DISPLACE-|MAXIMUM
SHIP. | | OVER | | | | MENT. |SPEED.
| | ALL. | | | | |
--------------+------+-------+------+------+--------|---------+-------
| | FEET. | FEET.| FEET.| FEET. | TONS. | KNOTS.
Great Eastern | 1858 | 692 | 83 | 57½ | 25½ | 27,000 | 12
Paris | 1888 | 560 | 63 | 42 | 26½ | 13,000 | 20
Teutonic | 1890 | 585 | 57½ | 42 | 26 | 12,000 | 20
Campania | 1893 | 625 | 65 | 41½ | 28 | 19,000 | 22
St. Paul | 1895 | 554 | 63 | 42 | 27 | 14,000 | 21
Kaiser Wilhelm| 1897 | 649 | 66 | 43 | 29 | 20,000 | 22.35
der Grosse | | | | | | |
Oceanic | 1899 | 704 | 68 | 49 | 32½ | 28,500 | 20
Deutschland | 1900 | 686½ | 67⅓ | 44 | 29 | 22,000 | 23½
==============+======+=======+======+======+========+=========+=======
[Illustration: FIG. 114.--“KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE.”]
[Illustration: FIG. 115.--“OCEANIC” COMPARED WITH BROADWAY BUILDINGS.]
The “Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse,” owned by the North German Lloyd
Company, and built in 1897, is shown in Fig. 114, and for three years
held the record as the fastest steamship afloat. The “Kaiser Wilhelm”
was followed by the “Oceanic,” in 1899, of the White Star Company, which
is the largest ocean steamer ever built, exceeding the proportions of
the “Great Eastern.” Just what the dimensions of the “Oceanic” mean, as
given in the preceding tables, can be best illustrated by the
accompanying Fig. 115, in which she is juxtaposed with several blocks of
large buildings on Broadway, New York, opposite City Hall Park. If the
“Oceanic” were placed on end beside Washington’s Monument, at the United
States Capital, she would tower 150 feet above the top of the same. An
ordinary brick house four rooms deep and three stories high could be
built with its length crosswise in her hull. There is accommodation for
410 first-class passengers, 300 second-class passengers, and 1,000 third
class, and as her crew will number 390, the total number of souls on
board, when she carries her full complement, will be 2,100.
The latest achievement in marine architecture, however, is the
“Deutschland,” built for the Hamburg-American Company. The “Deutschland”
is not quite so large as the “Oceanic,” but is of higher speed, her
maximum speed of 23½ knots an hour exceeding that of any other ocean
steamer. The “Savannah,” the first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic,
made the trip in 1819 in 26 days. The “Deutschland” in her eastward trip
September 4, 1900, crossed the Atlantic in 5 days 7 hours and 38
minutes, which is the fastest time on record. The “Deutschland” is of
35,640 horse power, her two bronze propellers are 23 feet diameter, and
weigh 30 tons, and her propeller shafts are 25 inches in diameter. The
cranks of her propeller shafts, like those of the “Kaiser Wilhelm” and
the “Oceanic,” are set according to the Schlick system, to reduce
vibration. The “Deutschland’s” engines are seen in Fig. 92, and in
general appearance the ship resembles the “Kaiser Wilhelm.” Still larger
and possibly swifter steamships are in process of construction, viz.:
the “Kaiser Wilhelm II.,” by the North German Lloyd Company, and a
mammoth unnamed ship by the White Star Line, whose length of 750 feet
will exceed all others.
It may be interesting to note in familiar terms what these enormous
traveling palaces comprehend in equipment. For the safety and comfort of
passengers, the great length reduces the pitching, bilge keels prevent
rolling, and the Schlick system of cranks neutralizes vibration in the
engine. Strong bulkheads, and double bottoms with air-tight
compartments, impart buoyancy in case of collision. Boilers are placed
in separate water-tight compartments, so that damage to one does not
disable the others. Powerful pumps are arranged to discharge inflowing
water, and the best of life boats are provided. Spacious dining rooms,
promenade decks, drawing rooms, pianos, library, smoking room, state
rooms, cabins for children, toilets, baths, medicine stores, a printing
office, and electric lights everywhere, furnish every want and satisfy
every luxurious taste. The cuisine includes a refrigerating plant, the
finest ranges, and provisions galore. It may be interesting to the
housewife to see the market list of a modern transatlantic steamer. A
specimen is partially represented in the following: 25,450 pounds of
fresh meat, 3,250 pounds of fish, 6,370 pounds of game and poultry,
12,715 pounds of bread, 43 barrels of flour, 3,938 pounds of butter,
1,307 pounds of coffee, 2,790 pounds of sugar, 102 pounds of tea, 7,220
pounds of fresh fruit; 1,230 gallons of milk, 26,106 eggs, 29,180
oranges and lemons, 7,033 bottles of mineral water, 1,800 bottles of
beer, 2,688 gallons of beer in casks, 1,240 bottles of wine, 630 bottles
of champagne, 1,600 heads of lettuce, 800 jars of preserved fruits, and
other things in proportion.
In the matter of size the “Oceanic” surpasses all previous efforts in
ship building, but ocean steamers do not reach the highest speed
attainable. The little “Turbinia,” a 40 ton craft equipped with a
compound rotary steam turbine of the Parsons type, has attained a speed
of 32¾ knots an hour. An even greater speed has recently been attained
by the larger boat, “Hai Lung,” constructed in England for the Chinese
Government, which vessel was equipped with reciprocating engines, and is
credited with having made a run of 18½ knots at an average speed of 35
knots an hour. The highest speed ever attained, however, is by the
British torpedo boat “Viper,” which is 210 feet long, and, like the
“Turbinia,” is equipped with the Parsons steam turbines. In a recent
trial the “Viper” covered a measured mile at the rate of 37.1 knots, or
about 43 miles an hour.
In many respects the most important branch of steam navigation in recent
years has been its war vessels. The great navies of the world at the end
of 1898[3] ranked as follows: England, 1,557,522 tons; France, 731,629
tons; Russia, 453,899 tons; United States, 303,070 tons; Germany,
299,637 tons; Italy, 286,175 tons, and they all owe their efficiency
entirely to steam. The first steam war vessel was built in 1814 by
Fulton for the defence of New York Harbor, during the then existing war
times. She was known as the “Demologos” (voice of the people), or
“Fulton the First.” As shown in the original designs, Fig. 116, she is a
double ender, whose sides were to be 5 feet thick. In her middle was a
channel way or well containing a protected paddle wheel 16 feet in
diameter, 14 feet wide, and having a dip of 4 feet. A single cylinder
engine turned the paddle wheel on one side, and was balanced by the
boiler on the other side. Although intended to have only twenty guns,
she was equipped, when finished, with thirty long 32-pounder guns and
two Columbiad 100-pounders. It was proposed also to have submarine guns
suspended from each bow. An engine was also to be used to discharge hot
water on the enemy, and a furnace was to be provided for heating the
cannon balls red hot. She was 156 feet long, 20 feet deep, and 56 feet
broad, and was regarded as a very formidable vessel. Her cost was
$278,544. Iron-clad floating batteries were first used in 1855 in the
Crimean war, and shortly afterward the French built the first sea-going
iron-clad, “Gloire,” followed in 1859 by the British iron-clad,
“Warrior.”
[3] The figures represent a selective list which excludes about 15 per
cent. of old and inefficient vessels.
[Illustration: “DEMOLOGOS”
Figure I^{st} Transverse section A _her Boiler,_ B _the steam Engine,_ C
_the water-wheel,_
EE _her wooden walls 5 feet thick, diminishing to below the waterline as
at_ FF.
_draught of water 9 feet_ DD _her gun deck._
Figure II^{d} _This shews her gun deck. 140 feet long,
24 feet wide; mounting 20 guns_ A _the Water wheel_
Figure III^{d}
_Side View_
FIG. 116.]
The civil war in 1861 brought with it a novel and striking form of war
vessel known as the “Monitor.”[4] It was built from plans of Capt.
Ericsson, an engineer of the ripest experience, skill, and attainments,
who had then come to make his home in the United States. He undertook to
construct for the Navy Department of the United States some form of iron
clad steam batteries of light draft, suitable to navigate the rivers and
harbors of the Confederate States. The “Monitor” was the result. The
salient features, shown in vertical cross section in Fig. 117, are a low
deck projecting but a few inches above the water line, so as to present
as little target as possible to the enemy, and a revolving and heavily
armored turret containing the battery of guns. In 1862 the Confederate
forces had reconstructed a steam vessel with a chicken-coop-shaped
covering of armor, that proved a formidable engine of war, which was
practically invulnerable to the attacks of ordinary war vessels, and was
doing great damage to the Union vessels. In the spring of 1862 the
“Monitor” met the “Merrimac” in engagement in Hampton Roads, and
established the great value of the turret monitor.
[4] The revolving turret was invented and patented by Theodore R.
Timby, No. 35,846, July 8, 1862, and No. 36,593, September 30,
1862.
[Illustration: FIG. 117.--CROSS SECTION OF “MONITOR.”]
Vessels of the “Monitor” type still form useful parts of the United
States Navy, in which the “Monterey” and “Monadnock” are its most
representative types. The “Monadnock,” which is a double-turret coast
defence monitor, is shown in Fig. 118. Although regarded by some as
unseaworthy on account of the low seaboard and small buoyancy, the
monitor has cleared itself of such suspicion, for in the recent war with
Spain both the “Monadnock” and “Monterey” sailed across the Pacific
Ocean by way of Honolulu to Manila, a distance of 7,000 miles, and
joined the fleet of Admiral Dewey without mishap or delay.
[Illustration: FIG. 118.--MONITOR “MONADNOCK.”]
No patriotic American citizen would expect to read an account of modern
war vessels without finding special mention of those two splendid
types of their class, the battleship “Oregon” and the armored cruiser
“Brooklyn,” whose performances during the late war with Spain
contributed so much to the honor and glory of the United States Navy,
and demonstrated the skill and efficiency of our American shipbuilders.
Before the war began the “Oregon” was stationed on the Pacific Coast,
where she had been built, and it was desired that she should join the
fleet of Admiral Sampson in Cuban waters. Leaving Puget Sound on March
6, 1898, this floating fortress of steel, weighted with her enormous
guns and 18-inch thick armor, made the long journey of over 14,500 miles
around the southern end of the western continent, and up to Jupiter
Inlet on the Florida coast, arriving there on the 24th day of May, and
was not delayed an hour on account of her machinery, the only stops
being made for coal. Immediately after coaling at Key West she took her
place in the blockading line at Santiago, and in the great battle of
July 3 quickly developed a power greater than that attained on her trial
trip and a speed only slightly less, easily distancing all other ships
immediately engaged except the “Brooklyn,” and in connection with the
“Brooklyn” forced the fleetest of the Spanish cruisers to surrender.
[Illustration: FIG. 119.--BATTLESHIP “OREGON.”]
The “Oregon” is shown in Fig. 119. She is an armored battleship of the
first class, built by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, and
launched Oct. 26, 1893. Her length is 348 feet, beam 69¼ feet, draft 24
feet, displacement 10,288 tons, maximum speed 16.79 knots, and coal
capacity 1,594 tons. Her side armor is of steel plates 18 inches thick,
and her deck is, 2¾ inches thick. On the turrets the armor is from 6 to
15 inches thick, and on the barbettes it is from 6 to 17 inches thick.
Her engines are of the twin screw, vertical triple expansion direct
acting inverted cylinder type. The stroke is 42 inches, and the
diameters of the cylinders are 34½, 48, and 75 inches, respectively. The
battery consists of four 13-inch breech loading rifles, eight 8-inch
breech loading rifles, four 6-inch, twenty 6-pounder rapid fire guns,
six 1-pounder rapid fire, two Colts, one 3-inch rapid fire field gun,
and three torpedo tubes. The 13-inch guns weigh 136,000 pounds each, are
39 feet 9¼ inches long, are set 18 feet above the water, can be moved
through an arc of 270 degrees, and throw a projectile of 1,100 pounds a
distance of 12 miles, and with a power which at 1,000 yards would
perforate a mass of steel 2½ feet in thickness. The cost of the “Oregon”
was $3,180,000.
[Illustration: FIG. 120.--ARMORED CRUISER “BROOKLYN.”]
The “Brooklyn” is shown in Fig. 120, and enjoys the distinction of
having borne the brunt of the fight of July 3, 1898, having been hit
over forty times in that engagement without being disabled. She was
built by the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, of
Philadelphia, was launched Oct. 2, 1895, and cost $2,986,000. She is an
armored cruiser, and is one of the latest and most speedy of that type.
She is 400 feet 6 inches long, 64 feet 8 inches breadth, 24 feet draft,
9,215 tons displacement. Her engines are the twin-screw vertical triple
expansion type, imparting a speed of 21.91 knots an hour. Her maximum
indicated horse power is 18,769, and her coal capacity is 1,461 tons.
Her battery consists of eight 8-inch breech loading rifles, twelve
5-inch rapid fire guns, twelve 6-pounder rapid fire, four 1-pounder
rapid fire, four Colts, two 3-inch rapid fire field guns, and four
Whitehead torpedo tubes. Her side armor is 3 inches thick, her turrets
5½ inches, her barbettes from 4 to 8 inches, and her deck from 3 to 6
inches. She also has a water line protection of cocoa fibre to
automatically close up an opening made by a shot.
Although not a steam vessel, it would be regarded as an omission not to
mention among war vessels the “Holland” submarine boat, brought into
notice in 1898 by the Spanish American war, and designed to dive below
the surface and make attack below the water level. Torpedo boats of this
type have been acquired by, and now form a part of, the United States
Navy.
Among all the types of steam war vessels which have claimed popular
attention the most interesting in proportion to its size is the torpedo
boat, for none represent such concentrated pent-up energy and deadly
effect as this little demon of the sea. A mere shell in construction,
with engine and boiler built for highest speed, and crew suffering
untold discomforts and dangers below, this modern engine of destruction,
with the speed of an express locomotive, and the helplessness and deadly
intent of a scorpion, darts up to the monster battleship under cover of
darkness, and before being discovered discharges a torpedo and delivers
a mortal wound in the side of the big ship which sends her to the
bottom, perishing perhaps itself in the destruction which it works. The
United States has 37 of these torpedo boats. The torpedo boat destroyer
is a larger and swifter boat, whose special duty it is to overtake and
destroy this dangerous little fighter.
[Illustration: FIG. 121.--SHIPPING OF ALL NATIONS. RATIO OF STEAM TO
SAILS.]
The growth of steam navigation during the present generation has been
wonderfully rapid. The accompanying diagram, Fig. 121, from Mulhall’s
“Industries and Wealth of Nations,” shows in 1860 30 per cent. of steam
to 70 per cent. of sailing vessels, while in 1894 the ratio is 80 per
cent. of steam to 20 of sailing vessels. The same authority estimated
the total horse power of steam vessels in the merchant marine of the
world in 1895 to be 12,005,000. Add to this the growth of the past five
years, and about 4,000,000 horse power for the steam war vessels of the
world’s navies, which were not included, and the total horse power of
the steam vessels of the world would not be far from twenty million.
This cursory review, in a single chapter, cannot adequately treat this
great subject, for a whole library is needed to cover the field. Suffice
it to say, however, that among the great scenes and acts in the theatre
of human action, no figure has occupied so much attention, and none
played so important a part in the drama of life, as the steam vessel.
Its stage setting has been the majestic waters of the earth, and on it
the play of the great warships has vied in power and grandeur with the
flash and vehemence of the lightning, and the whirl and turmoil of the
elements. Tense with a deep meaning which no stage simulation could
approximate, and with the smoke of conflict for a drop curtain, it has
laid tragedies upon the pages of history, and changed the maps of the
world; while behind the scenes the great passenger steamers, with their
uninterrupted traffic of human freight, are more silently, but none the
less surely, stirring the peoples of the earth into the homogeneous
ferment of civilization, and slowly moulding nations into the solidarity
of a common brotherhood.