THE COMING OF THE TWIN-SCREW STEAMSHIP
During the ’eighties the competition for the Atlantic “blue ribbon”
had become very keen indeed, until the _Umbria_ and _Etruria_ began to
shatter existing records and to show their undoubted superiority. But
their turn to be eclipsed was not long in coming, and the Inman Line
were determined to make a bold bid for supremacy once again. A year or
two before the launch of the _Umbria_ they had made a spirited effort
with the _City of Rome_, a large vessel with a displacement of over
11,000 tons. But she did not prove successful.
The line became the Inman and International Company, and set forth to
build a couple of large, powerful steamships which would be in advance
of the _City of Rome_ in speed, though not quite so large. Already
there had been small twin-screw ships, but the _City of New York_ and
the _City of Paris_ were to be driven by twin-screws of a size and
power which had not yet been produced. It was fitting that the Inman
Line which had introduced the successful screw liner to the Atlantic
should also be the pioneers of the very big steamships fitted with
twin-screws. These two vessels were taken over in 1893, when the Inman
Line became reorganised, and passed from the British flag to sail under
the eagle of the American Line. Nowadays they sail from Southampton
under the names of the _New York_ and the _Philadelphia_ respectively.
The illustration facing page 166 shows the _City of Paris_ (afterwards
called the _Paris_, and only later still the _Philadelphia_) getting
under way from New York. Her graceful bow, with its bowsprit and
figure-head, is reminiscent of the old clipper sailing ships. The high
dome of the first cabin dining-saloon will be seen rising in the space
between the fore-mast and the bridge, and the promenade deck runs
practically the whole length of the ship from the bows to the stern.
The hulls of these steamships are built of mild steel, and in addition
to possessing a double bottom throughout their entire length in which a
considerable amount of water ballast can be carried, they are divided
into fifteen water-tight compartments. The bulkheads of the latter
come right up to a height of 18 feet above the water-line, so that
in case of collision the ship could still keep afloat even if three
compartments were open to the sea.
Their two engine rooms are separated from each other by means of a
longitudinal bulkhead, and they are driven by two separate sets of
triple-expansion engines. We have already seen that triple-expansion is
just the principle of the compound engine carried one stage farther,
and if the desire for attaining the high speed contemplated were to be
gratified it was inevitable that this method should have been adopted.
With the exception of a very few quadruple-expansion engined ships,
such as the Cunard _Ivernia_, the White Star _Baltic_, and the German
_Kaiser Wilhelm II._, most modern liners which have not been fitted
with turbines are of the triple-expansion type. It may not be out of
place, therefore, very briefly to explain the working of this.
[Illustration: THE “CITY OF PARIS” (NOW THE “PHILADELPHIA”) (1893).
_From a Photograph. By permission of the American Line._]
[Illustration: THE “OPHIR” (1891).
_From a Photograph. By permission of Messrs. Anderson, Anderson & Co._]
The steam, then, enters the cylinder above the piston-rod by means
of a valve, but when it has half-filled the cylinder and the stroke
is also half completed, the supply of steam is cut off. But the
piston-rod does not for that reason come to a standstill: owing to the
expansive force of the steam the rest of the stroke is completed when
the steam has occupied twice the space it did at the time it was cut
off--that is, when the half-stroke had been made. Having, therefore,
now completed its work in this cylinder, instead of being allowed to
escape, the steam is conducted to a much larger cylinder than the
first, for the steam still retains much of its expansive force. In this
second cylinder, the same thing occurs again, but when it is admitted
to a third, it has already lost much of its pressure. It does its work,
and having come through the third cylinder has thus undergone “triple
expansion.” Now that it has completed the stroke it passes into the
surface condenser already referred to, where it is suddenly chilled and
converted into water again, and the vacuum thus formed tends to pull
the piston back. In the olden days, as we have seen, the vacuum was
made by means of the jet condenser, but now it is done by what is known
as the “surface” condenser. It is by means of the latter that the fresh
water is able to be used again and again. Otherwise, a steamship could
only carry enough fresh water for a few days’ voyage, salt water being
not used for the boilers, but merely for circulating through the pipes
of the condenser to keep them cool. As the steam comes out from the
lower pressure it impinges on the sea-water cooled tubes and so falls
to the bottom of the condenser as water. It is then pumped into a tank
by means of the air-pump, and from the tank it is pumped back again
to the boilers by a feed pump, passing on its way through a filter in
order that any oil which may have been gathered in the cylinder may be
extracted. It now passes through feed-heaters, where it is heated by
exhaust steam from the auxiliary machinery, and so when the condensed
water again enters the boiler it is almost at boiling point.
The advantage of this triple-expansion was found to give greater speed
with less expenditure of horse-power. At first the _City of Paris_ was
not as fast as she ought to have been, but after the A-shaped brackets,
which supported the two shafts, were removed and, instead, the hull at
the stern was, so to speak, bulged out to contain the shafts, her speed
was found to be 19 knots with an employment of 2,000 horse-power less
than she had needed before this alteration.
The _City of Paris_ had made her appearance in 1888, but in the
following year it was the White Star Line’s turn to come to the front
again. From 1873 till 1884 their fleet had been the fastest on the
Atlantic; and now again they were ready to enter the lists. Sir Edward
Harland was once more entrusted with the task of designing the new
ships, and those two beautiful creatures the _Teutonic_ and _Majestic_
were launched, the former in January and the latter in June of 1889.
The _Majestic_ is illustrated opposite page 162, but this view shows
her as she was afterwards altered and appears now. When these ships
first commenced to run they were both fitted with three pole-masts
with a gaff on each; but following the custom now adopted on many
modern liners, one of the masts and all the gaffs have since been
removed. It will be seen that a modified turtle-deck is still retained
at the stern, and in one other respect this ship also continued the
influence of the first _Oceanic_. It will be recollected that the
latter possessed the enormous proportion of ten beams to her length.
The _Teutonic_ measured 582 feet long and 57·8 feet broad, so that she
is only a few feet lacking in this respect. Her gross tonnage is 9,984,
and her indicated horse-power 18,000. The _Majestic_ broke the record
by crossing from Queenstown to New York in five days eighteen hours
eight minutes; the _Teutonic_ by doing the same journey in five days
sixteen hours thirty-one minutes. If called upon, these ships could
steam from Portsmouth to Bombay via the Cape of Good Hope, a distance
of over 10,000 miles, in twenty-two days without having to coal on
the way, a fact that might have some importance in the event of war
breaking out.
In these two ships was also introduced the practice of overlapping
the twin-screws, and in order that they might be able to clear the
deadwood at the extreme end of the stern, a hole--technically called
a “screw port”--was made after the manner in which a “port” is left
for the screw to revolve when a vessel is provided only with a single
propeller. The advantage in the case of the twin-screws was that they
were allowed plenty of water for their propellers to revolve in. The
advantage of the screws overlapping tended also to enable them to work
in a manner as near as possible to the centre line of the hull.
The introduction of the twin-screw system was made in the Orient liner
_Ophir_ (see opposite page 166), which was built in 1891. Each of her
four decks is of steel, and she was given the triple-expansion engines
in two sets--one set for each propeller. She was the first vessel on
the Australian route to be fitted with twin-screws, but many others
have since followed and proved the wisdom of this innovation. Her
propellers are made of manganese bronze, with three blades each, and
give her a speed of between 18 and 19 knots. It will be recollected
that it was this ship which was selected to carry the present King and
Queen on their tour of the British Colonies in 1901.
The ceaseless competition in the Atlantic steamship progress continued
without abatement, and by now the Cunard Line was ready again to fight
for the lead. In September of 1892 the _Campania_ was launched, and
was followed in the next February by the _Lucania_. Since their length
was greater than the width of the Clyde, where they were built, they
had to be launched into the river diagonally. They were, of course,
fitted with twin-screws and with triple-expansion engines, there being
five cylinders, of which two are high-pressure, one intermediate, and
two low-pressure. We do not intend to weary the reader with a list of
statistics which can easily be obtained by those to whom bare figures
make their appeal; our purpose is served if we show in what important
detail each successive vessel advanced the history of the steamship so
as to approach more nearly to what is considered the ideal by modern
experts. But we shall be shirking our duty if we do not indicate
some of the main characteristics which gave to such a craft as the
_Campania_ a distinctiveness that distinguished her and her sister the
_Lucania_ from her contemporaries. One greatly improved liner nowadays
so quickly surpasses her predecessor; the age of obsolescence now moves
at so greatly quickened a speed; that the general public, whose memory
is also so short-lived, scarcely has time to appreciate all that the
latest steamship means ere it has passed quietly from service and been
handed over to the ship-breakers, or, under a new flag and a changed
name, continues its work at some remote corner of the world.
[Illustration: THE “LUCANIA” (1893).
_From a Photograph. By Permission of the Cunard Steamship Co._]
Those who remember seeing the _Campania_ lying in the Mersey soon
after she was commissioned, and with their minds full of the hitherto
unparalleled features which had been foretold concerning her, will
recollect that the first impression conveyed was identical with that
made on seeing the _Mauretania_ immediately after she had left
the builders’ hands. Not so much size but gracefulness; not the
characteristics of a floating monster, but of a singularly beautiful
creature whose every line suggested dignity with speed were the points
that attracted one.
Handsome is as handsome does; these two sisters, one of which is no
more, were not long in showing that their achievements were not belied
by their good looks. In appearance less like “the biggest things
afloat” than the most symmetrical colossal yacht, the _Campania_ was
built for business, and not primarily to be a thing of beauty. She has
made the run between Queenstown and New York in 5½ days, and ocean
travellers soon appreciated the important fact that in getting from one
country to the other she had a reputation for regularity that would be
hard to beat, irrespective of winter and summer weather. The _Campania_
is slightly larger than her late sister, and has averaged just under
22 knots for a whole year’s east-bound voyages. The engines of these
elegant ships were arranged in the manner already indicated so as to
avoid having unnecessarily large cylinders, the two high-pressure
cylinders driving one crank, being arranged tandem fashion, the
intermediate cylinder driving one crank, whilst the two low-pressure
were also put the one above the other like the high-pressure, and by an
ingenious contrivance it is possible to prevent the screws racing; for
when the number of revolutions begins to exceed its proper limit the
supply of steam is automatically cut off.
In order to render these boats less likely to roll in a sea-way, they
were fitted with bilge-keels. They have, too, since been provided with
wireless telegraph gear, whose aerials stretch from one mast to the
other, and connect with the Marconi cabin, and the up-to-date system
of submarine signalling is also installed, so that in case of thick
weather the sound waves transmitted from submerged bells on lightships
outside Liverpool or New York may be conveyed to the ship herself below
the waterline, and so by means of a telephone up to the officer on duty
in the navigating room.
These two ships also marked another advance in method of building, for
the steel plates from which their sides were made were of unprecedented
size, and thus it is obvious that the number of rivets was considerably
smaller. Opposite page 170 we give an illustration of the _Lucania_
under way, and by comparing her with the earlier Atlantic liners, a
fair idea will be obtained of the trend of steamship evolution. It will
be noticed that the _Oceanic_ turtle deck has gone, for the reason
that since the stern had now become at such a height from the water it
was hardly necessary. The topmost deck of the _Lucania_ is the shade
deck, and the one immediately below it the promenade deck; it should
be noted that these two are not really part of the structure of the
ship herself, but platforms superadded in much the same way as in a
vastly different type of craft, the Viking ship, which, when it began
to enter its transition state, had fighting platforms erected both at
bow and stern so as to accommodate her men. The _Campania_ measures
600 feet (between perpendiculars), with a beam of 65 feet 3 inches,
and displaces nearly 20,000 tons. It was only in the early months of
1910 that the _Lucania_, her sister, after being on fire and compelled
for that reason to be flooded with water, was sold out of the Cunard
Company’s service.
We come now to consider the entering of fierce competition from a
quarter that hitherto had not affected the development of the modern
liner. We have seen that in spite of the efforts which America had
put forth from time to time, the pride of the Atlantic Ocean had been
British ultimately. The American-subsidised Collins Line had in the
end to bow its head and yield, nor has the reorganised Inman Line (now
the American Line) been a dangerous competitor in the matter of record
passages. At different times first one British line of steamships
pushed itself to the front, to be in turn ousted by its rival; and
so the evolution of the steamship profited. But now it was to be not
Britain, nor America, but Germany, which was to make a bold bid for
the commercial sovereignty of Atlantic speed. Few phenomena are more
notable within recent years than the sudden rise of Germany as a
world power. In the realm of steamships there has been scarcely any
parallel to the rapid development which that nation exhibited, so that
within a remarkably short space of time she became able not merely
to build her own ships, but of a size that had been exceeded only by
the _Great Eastern_, and with a speed that no liner of any sort or of
any nationality had ever yet attained. It is fitting, therefore, to
give here a brief sketch of the manner in which this new competition
originated, for to this undoubtedly is due the coming of the mammoth
ships represented by the _Mauretania_ and _Lusitania_. In the future
this is the direction from which the quickening factor will come, as
formerly it used to come from internal steamship organisations.
Modern German ship-building, like her other industries, dates only
from the close of the Franco-Prussian War, and the birth of a united
Empire. At the same time wood had already given way to iron, and a
new era had begun in the making of ships. Great Britain possessed the
exclusive confidence of shipping owners, and, speaking generally, if
Germany wanted a large ocean carrier built, she had to send her order
across the North Sea, although steadily and gradually her national
shipbuilding yards were growing up. But her designers and shipwrights
lacked the knowledge which the British, through long years of
experience, possessed. Since, however, the Germans were determined to
engage in overseas trade, they had to obtain steamships, and these were
made frequently on the Clyde, where so many other fine ships had first
been seen.
[Illustration: THE “KAISER WILHELM DER GROSSE” (1897).
_From a Photograph. By Permission of the Norddeutscher Lloyd Co._]
But from the early ’eighties a new order of things began, and the
Norddeutscher Lloyd commissioned a German firm to build the first
Imperial mail steamers, which were also the first passenger steamers of
large dimensions that the new Empire had yet constructed. Up till then
Germany had built only two large passenger steamers, the displacement
of each not exceeding 3,500 tons. The first German express steamer for
the Norddeutscher Lloyd Company had been the _Elbe_, which was built
at Glasgow, and began service in 1881, her tonnage being 4,510. During
the ’eighties, spurred on by the competition which British steamships
were arousing, the Germans endeavoured to build for themselves vessels
of considerable proportions and send them on their long voyages. It
is when we come to the ’nineties that we find the North German Lloyd
Company entirely reorganising its fleet, scrapping the older-fashioned
members, and, incited by the success which the _Campania_ and
_Lucania_ had obtained, determined to produce from German yards such
an express steamer as should surpass both of the Cunard vessels. In
1897, therefore, was built by the Stettin Vulcan Company the famous
_Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_--of which a striking illustration will be
seen facing this page. She was longer, wider, deeper and of greater
displacement than the _Campania_, but her horse-power was inferior
to the Cunarder’s by 2,000. Nevertheless, the German outstripped the
performances of the _Campania_ and _Lucania_ by attaining a mean speed
of 22·81 knots, although her designed speed had only been 22·5 knots,
and thus for the first time in the history of the steamship, the
“blue ribbon” of the Atlantic passed over to Germany. Like the Cunard
ships, the _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_ was installed with two sets of
triple-expansion engines, and it had been expressly agreed between
the Norddeutscher Company on the one hand, and the Vulcan Company on
the other, that the ship was first to run a trial trip across the
Atlantic to New York, and, if during this she did not come up to the
requirements of the contract, then the Norddeutscher Lloyd were to be
free to reject the ship. Such a condition as this was as severe as
could ever be invented by any steamship line. However, she not merely
came up to specifications, but even surpassed them, and remains one of
the most efficient liners traversing the North Atlantic.
This steamship was built with flaring bows so as to increase her
buoyancy forward, and is propelled by twin-screws. Another instance
of the advantages which the latter possess as a means of ensuring the
safety of the ship was exhibited as recently as October, 1907. Whilst
coming across the Atlantic in that month the _Kaiser Wilhelm der
Grosse_ chanced to fracture her rudder. The weather was bad, and it
was blowing a gale, but her skipper instead of running for the nearest
port, which was Halifax, distant about 700 miles, brought her home safe
and sound to Bremerhaven, another 2,300 miles, calling at Plymouth on
the way. By means of the twin-screws the ship could be manœuvred quite
independently of the steering gear. The measurements of this ship are
as follows: length over all, 648 feet 7 inches; beam, 66 feet; moulded
depth, 43 feet; gross tonnage, 14,349; indicated horse-power, 28,000.
[Illustration: THE “OCEANIC” (1899).
_From a Photograph. By Permission of Messrs. Ismay, Imrie & Co._]
[Illustration: THE “CEDRIC.”
_From a Photograph. By Permission of Messrs. Ismay, Imrie & Co._]
The British reply to the _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_ came not in speed
but in size, for it is not always realised how costly it is to get an
extra knot or two out of a big steamship, and that such an attainment
is out of all proportion to the expense which this has involved. At
high speeds the resistance of the ship, of which we have already said
something, increases far more rapidly than it does when the speed
through the water is slow or even moderately fast. When a ship reaches
the speed of 20 knots the influential factor of wave-making comes in
prominently. Furthermore, in order to coax an extra knot or two out of
the ship, you must needs increase her weight and usurp a very serious
amount of space by larger engines and boilers. Therefore, the answer
to the German attack was seen in the comparatively slow White Star
_Oceanic_, the second steamship of that name sailing under the same
flag. This modern ship was the first vessel which exceeded the length
of the _Great Eastern_, and is about 13 feet longer, though about
14½ feet narrower than Brunel’s craft. True to the White Star type,
the latest _Oceanic_ is ten beams, and even more, to her length, her
measurements being 705 feet long over all, 68·4 feet wide, a draught
of 32½ feet, and the terrific displacement of 28,500 tons, that of
the _Great Eastern_ having been 32,000. Like the other great Atlantic
liners since the _City of Paris_, this _Oceanic_ was fitted with two
sets of triple-expansion engines driving twin-screws; she began her
voyaging at the end of 1899. As will be seen from the accompanying
photograph, in spite of her magnitude, she is so beautifully designed
that there is nothing in the least out of perfect proportion. Some
idea of the number of tiers possessed by the _Oceanic_, rising
high above the water, may be gathered if we enumerate them singly.
Looking at the illustration, and beginning from the top, there is the
captain’s bridge towering 43 feet above the sea. Eight feet below comes
the boat deck, and below that the promenade deck, and lower still the
upper deck. Then the first line of port-holes shows the extent of the
middle deck, and the next line the lower deck. In addition to these
five decks which stretch from one end of the ship to the other there
are two partial decks, the orlop and lower orlop respectively. Like
other modern steamships, the _Oceanic_ has a double bottom, sub-divided
into so many cells. She has been built with the intention of being
used, if necessary, as an auxiliary cruiser, and was designed with the
necessary additional strength. Keeping up an average speed at sea of
about 20 knots, this great ship is not compelled to drive headlong into
whatever weather may be waiting for her. The absence of extra powerful
engines also means the absence of that unpleasant vibration which is
not unknown to some of the “flyers” that tear across the ocean in a
hurry to get their passengers and mails to port. It will be noticed on
examining this illustration that, unlike the case of her namesake, the
turtle decks have disappeared altogether, the reason being, as already
pointed out, that the hull is so high above the water as not to need
these. In spite of her great length, the _Oceanic_ is not so unhandy as
she might seem. Her forefoot is well cut-away, and this, in addition to
the proper employment of her twin-screws, enables her to be manœuvred
with a facility that is a little surprising.
The Cunard Company resting content with the performances of their
express steamers _Campania_ and _Lucania_, still left the _Kaiser
Wilhelm der Grosse_ to maintain the reputation for pace, and,
following the example of the White Star Line, built in the _Ivernia_
and _Saxonia_ a couple of steamships of great size but comparatively
moderate speed. The _Ivernia_ is two feet shorter than the _Majestic_,
but her gross tonnage comes out at 14,027, making her in this respect
but little inferior to the _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_, though
superior to the latter in displacement tonnage. The _Ivernia’s_ speed
averages about 15¼ knots; she came into being in 1899. These vessels
belong to a class of steamship which has grown up under the title
of “intermediate,” its origin being based on the assumption that a
comfortable, economical, moderately fast type of ship would be able
to find appreciation no less than the high-powered ships. Both the
_Ivernia_ and _Saxonia_ have considerable capacities for cargo as
well as passengers, and are characterised by their exceptionally low
coal consumption. They are single-funnelled boats, and engaged on
the Liverpool-Boston route. But the _Ivernia_ was the first of the
Atlantic liners to break away from the triple-expansion system and to
be installed with the more modern quadruple-expansion type of engine.
This being the same principle as the triple-expansion pushed one stage
further, using four instead of three cylinders, we need not stop to
explain what is already clear in the mind of the reader.
[Illustration: THE “CELTIC.”
_From a Photograph. By Permission of Messrs. Ismay, Imrie & Co._]
Two other of these “Intermediates” were added to the White Star Line
in 1901 and 1903 respectively. These are the _Celtic_ and _Cedric_,
and a photograph of the latter will be seen opposite page 176. Only
in regard to speed have these handsome vessels the slightest right
to be designated “intermediate.” They both possess a tonnage about
twice that of the _City of Paris_, for the _Celtic_ is 20,880, and the
_Cedric_ 21,034 tons, and the speed of each is 16 knots. Speed is not
the main consideration to those who have the slightest affection for
ships and the sea. The beautiful motion of the _Cedric_, for instance,
in a winter’s Atlantic gale, rolling and pitching in a manner just
enough to show she is a living ship and not a dull, lifeless steel box,
pursuing her way with boldness and dignity, caring little for the great
waves mounting up astern, is a delight that lives long in one’s memory.
She has no need to break her neck hurrying and scurrying, trying to
become a large-sized submarine; she prefers to go _over_ the sea rather
than through it, and this with a movement that is comparable to that of
a well-bred lady gliding along smoothly and with dignity.
From the owners’ point of view these are economical ships to run, for
with 16 knots the coal consumption is very moderate, whilst at the
same time their size enables them to carry large numbers of passengers
and considerable quantities of cargo. As evidence of the remarkable
evolution in type, I would ask the reader to compare the accompanying
illustration of the _Cedric_ with that of the _Great Eastern_. Both are
of about the same length, although the latter was about 8 feet wider,
and at the time of her launch the _Cedric_ was the largest ship of
any kind that had hitherto been constructed. Another “intermediate,”
the _Arabic_, followed in the same year, possessing the same speed of
16 knots, but a tonnage only of 15,801. This is one of the vessels
employed on the Liverpool-New York route, the Southampton-New York
White Star service being supplied by the _Adriatic_ (to which I shall
refer presently), together with the _Oceanic_, the _Majestic_ and the
_Teutonic_.
The German success in the _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_ was now to be
followed up by a still more wonderful achievement in the _Kaiser
Wilhelm II._, a photograph of which is here reproduced. Her coming in
1903 caused a sensation in the shipping world, for she represented not
merely the extraordinary capabilities which the German shipbuilders had
already attained, but was superior in speed not only to all the British
steamships, but to her own sister, the _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_.
Two and a half feet longer than the _Oceanic_, about 4 feet wider,
but with 5 feet less depth, she was, like the _Ivernia_, fitted with
two sets of quadruple-expansion engines to drive her twin-screws. Her
gross tonnage exceeded that of the _Oceanic_ and the _Great Eastern_
as well, and with a speed of 23½ knots was a knot faster than the
_Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_. This vessel and the Hamburg-American liner
_Deutschland_ were able to give to Germany the proud possession of the
fastest liners in the world until the _Lusitania_ arrived on the scene.
The _Kaiser Wilhelm II.’s_ best day’s run is 583 knots, and she has
maintained an average speed from New York to Plymouth of 23·58 knots.
To obtain this the phenomenal amount of 45,000 horse-power has to be
developed by means of a double set of quadruple-expansion engines--two
for each propeller shaft--necessitating sixteen cylinders, steam being
generated from nineteen boilers fired by no fewer than 124 furnaces.
But no one could assert that such a ship as this is economical to run,
for although her speed is only one knot faster than the _Kaiser Wilhelm
der Grosse_, yet each day she burns about another 200 tons of coal in
doing it, and supposing we were to take the cost of fuel at 20s. a ton,
we can easily see that each Atlantic voyage means an _extra_ expense of
much more than £1,000.
[Illustration: THE “KAISER WILHELM II.”
_From a Photograph by West & Son, Southsea._]
Now, since the steamship is run for the purpose of making money, it is
essential that over-seas trade should not show any signs of lagging;
otherwise it becomes commercially impossible to run these fast
ships from one continent to the other. The craze for speed is one
that may go on and on for just such a time as the financial support
continues; but as soon as a diminution in trade sets in, and with it a
falling-off in revenue, this wild, reckless race for speed-supremacy
must automatically cease. At present it is but a reflection of the
restless activity on shore. May the time not come when rest and
simplicity will again replace excessive strenuousness and restore to
the Atlantic something of its plain expansiveness, and take back the
character which it has now developed as being merely a race-track for
ocean greyhounds? However much designers, shipbuilders and engineers
may conspire together; whatever inventions man in his brilliant efforts
may succeed in bringing about, the solid fact remains that Nature is
superior in force to all these. The winds will blow and the great seas
will roll up against all the mighty ships man may build. Among the
gifts to humanity there is not included that of taming the sea. She is
tyrannical in her strength, untamable, dominant; and when you launch
into her bosom heavy masses of iron or steel, and deceive yourself
with high-sounding names--call them _Great Easterns_, _Majestics_,
_Indomitables_, _Titanics_, and the rest--the Sea only laughs at
you, for she knows perfectly well that a blow or two from her mighty
arm will end their days and settle their fate for all time. To fight
against Nature is to contend against heavy odds, to engage in a contest
whose result is known long beforehand; and the most that man can ever
do is make a truce with his superior foe, so that he may be able to
rush across her expanse much as he would hurry past the open cage of a
tigress. For that reason speed is appreciated by some as the greatest
weapon which was ever given to the ship, but even then it cannot
terrify a much mightier power. In spite of wireless gear, submarine
bells, navigational science, expert seamanship, perfect ship-building
and design, well-found ships still put to sea and disappear presently
never to be seen again. The case of the _Waratah_ is not an isolated
incident, but an example of the universal law that human achievement
in comparison with the eternal sovereignty of the Sea must take only a
second place, and learn to obey, when bidden, a power of far older, far
superior strength.