STEAMSHIPS FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES
We have been enabled to gain some idea by now both of the nature and
the historical evolution of the steamship liner. But not all steamships
are liners, any more than all cattle are race-horses. Steamship is a
word which covers a multitude of varying craft and embraces a large
family of different natured children. Some of them go out into the
world far beyond the horizon and vanish until a few weeks or months
later they come returning homewards proud of their achievements as the
safe carriers of mails and passengers. But there are other members of
the same family whose duty keeps them close to the home where they
first saw the light; who rarely venture out of sight of land. There
are others who, though they never carry any passengers but their
crew, nor an ounce of cargo, are yet as useful to the human race
as those great speed-makers which go rushing through night and day
across the ocean. Some of these steamships used for special purposes
have a character of their own no less distinctive than their more
elegant sisters, and the mere fact that they are not so violently
advertised, or so prominently pushed before the eyes of the average
citizen, detracts nothing from their interesting virtues. Nor, again,
do we wish to give the impression that this large class of special
steamships is in any way entirely confined to coasting or inland
voyages. The steamship nowadays, both large and small, goes everywhere,
and is ready to do almost anything, and one of the most interesting of
all mechanically-propelled craft is the tug-boat, which it is quite
possible the landsman, promenading his floating hotel, may have barely
deigned to cast his eyes upon as his big steel home is being drawn out
from the quay, or landing-stage, and swung round on her way to the
other side of the world. How frequently indispensable is the tug to
the big steamship, both when entering and leaving the comparatively
narrow harbours! You see her at Southampton, for instance, pulling
the great steel hull away from the quay; you see her at Liverpool
hauling ahead to get the mighty, towering bows of the liner clear of
the landing-stage out into the river. You see them in New York when
the mammoth comes to enter the narrow opening alongside the pier,
pressing their noses on to the mammoth’s stern and compelling her
giant dimensions to move round. Or, again, you see the tug towing her
overgrown sister through the dock at the end of her voyage, coming
slowly in as if she had captured one mightier than herself, and was
proudly conscious of her performance. Yet it is not only the big
steamships, but those beautiful modern steel sailing ships which have
to employ her help. You meet them down Channel somewhere with perhaps
only staysails and jigger set and a powerful tug ahead at the end of a
strong tow-rope. In a day or so they will have parted company. The tug
will return whence she set out; the bigger ship will spread her canvas
and begin her many-monthed voyage.
[Illustration: THE OCEAN TUG “BLACKCOCK.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of the Liverpool Screw Towing &
Lighterage Co._]
[Illustration: THE PASSENGER TENDER “SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of the Great Western Railway Co._]
It is possible that if you were not a sailorman, and your eyes chanced
to fall upon such a ship as that illustrated opposite this page,
whether in harbour or at sea, you might feel no more interest in her
than in any other craft. And yet this is a little vessel which can
go anywhere and tow almost anything from a great floating dock to a
disabled liner. Her name is the _Blackcock_, and she is one of
the famous, powerful tugs owned by the Liverpool Screw Towing and
Lighterage Company. Captain G. B. Girard, who commands the _Blackcock_,
has been aptly termed the “Grand Old Man” of deep-sea towing, and
during the last quarter of a century has covered 200,000 miles over
the seas at this work. Quite recently he took the _Blackcock_ to Fayal
in mid-Atlantic to fetch over to Oporto a dismasted Portuguese barque.
In spite of stiff breezes and heavy cross seas, the _Blackcock_ and
her tow made an average of 160 miles per day. It was this same tug
which set up an interesting record some years ago by steaming 2,600
miles from Barbados to Fayal without having to stop for coal anywhere.
She was towing a 2,000-ton German ship, named the _Ostara_, from
Barbados to Hamburg, a distance of 5,000 miles altogether. In 1894, the
_Gamecock_, a sister of this tug, towed a disabled steamer from Port
Said to Liverpool, a distance of 3,300 miles, in twenty-seven days. The
_Blackcock_ took an important part in towing from Fayal to Liverpool
the Cunard liner _Etruria_, which had been disabled, and caused the
greatest anxiety in consequence of her being lost sight of for so
long a period with hundreds of passengers aboard at the time. This
towing voyage represented a distance of a couple of thousand miles,
and there are many other equally wonderful incidents connected with
these well-known “Cock” tugs. If the reader will bear in mind what we
said some time back with reference to the origin of the bridge deck,
he will be able to see the point well-illustrated in the illustration
before us. The bridge deck and its sides are joined to the ship’s hull
in such a way that in the case of the tug being attacked by a cross-sea
she is not likely to founder through the water getting down below to
the engines, as in the sad incident that we chronicled at an earlier
stage. These tug-boats are necessarily exceptionally powerful, the
_Blackcock_ having over 1,000 horse-power.
But it is the Dutch, for some reason or other, who have specialised
more than any other country in the towing industry, and they own the
largest and finest tugs in the world. The reason for this national
development I attribute partly to the nature of the coastline
between Germany and France, with its series of nasty sandbanks and
shoals always ready to pick a ship up; partly, also, to the numerous
straightways with frequently a foul wind. In either case there is
plenty of opportunity for the tug to go out and earn a living.
[Illustration: THE 7,000 TON FLOATING DRY-DOCK UNDER TOW BY THE “ROODE
ZEE” AND “ZWARTE ZEE.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of Messrs. L. Smit & Co., Rotterdam._]
The finest fleet of ocean-going tugs is owned by Messrs. L. Smit and
Company, of Rotterdam. Besides about a score of river and harbour
craft, they have no fewer than ten bold ocean-tugs, which by reason of
their high power and large bunker capacity are enabled to undertake
towages to almost any part of the world. When the _Mauretania_ left
the Tyne for her trial trip this company’s tugs, the _Ocean_ and the
_Poolzee_, had her in tow at the bows. Tugs of this line have also
accomplished such interesting long voyages as towing floating dry-docks
from the Tyne to Trinidad; an obsolete Spanish warship from Ferrol
to Swinemünde; the s.s. _Kronprinzessin Victoria_ from Las Palmas to
Antwerp, after the liner had lost her propeller. When the old Inman
liner _City of Rome_ was put aside, she was towed by the tug _Zwarte
Zee_ from Greenock round to the Weser. The illustration facing this
page shows the tugs _Roode Zee_ and the _Zwarte Zee_ taking in tow an
enormous floating dock, capable of holding vessels up to 7,000 tons,
from Wallsend on Tyne to Callao (Peru). To tow so unwieldy a thing as
this for any distance at all is a pretty severe tax on a tug; but to
take it all the way to Peru on the west coast of South America is about
the utmost test which the most severe critic could ever impose. The
distance is 10,260 nautical miles. One of the largest and most modern
of this line’s tugs is the _Zwarte Zee_, which was launched in 1906.
She resembles very closely the _Roode Zee_, seen in the foreground of
the accompanying picture, and measures 164 feet long, 30 feet wide,
18 feet deep, and has the extraordinary high horse-power (indicated)
of 1,500. It will be noticed that, like the _Blackcock_, she is well
protected by her bridge deck amidships.
The sturdy little vessel illustrated opposite page 238 shows the
salvage tug _Admiral de Ruyter_. She is owned by the Ymuiden Tug
Company, Amsterdam, and is stationed at Ymuiden in readiness to render
assistance to vessels in distress off the treacherous Dutch coast. She
is capable of facing any weather, and her high bows and bold sheer
enable her to keep fairly dry in even a pretty bad sea. An interesting
comparison will be seen between this and the _Edmund Moran_. This
represents a typical New York harbour and river tug. No one who has
ever come into the American sea-port can have failed to have been
struck instantly by the numbers of fussy little tug-boats of a peculiar
type that come running up and down the Hudson and across from the New
Jersey shore to the great city. Their prominent features include a good
deal of sheer, an exaggerated bridge deck with wheel-house in front, at
the top of which is usually a golden spread-eagle. In the winter-time,
when thick ice-floes obstruct the Hudson and the bitter cold penetrates
into the little wheel-house, there are more comfortable though less
exciting avocations than those enjoyed by the commanders of these busy
steam craft, which now carry on their work in such numbers where
little more than a century ago Fulton’s _Clermont_ was scorned and
ridiculed by those who never thought that the river and harbour would
ever see such steam-shipping.
But the tug-boat has in some cases been enlarged, and super-imposed by
a promenade deck, and even given a saloon so as to become a passenger
tender. The illustration opposite page 234, for instance, shows this
evolution. This is the _Sir Francis Drake_, one of the passenger
tenders owned by the Great Western Railway Company, and, since the
opening of Fishguard Harbour for the calling of Atlantic liners, this
vessel has been employed for landing the _Mauretania’s_ and other great
ships’ passengers without wasting time. The liner comes into harbour
from America, lets go her anchor, and immediately after there come
alongside her three of these tenders. One takes the mails as they are
shot on to her deck, another receives the baggage, while the third is
used for passengers; this third tender is also the last to leave the
liner, so that when the passengers get ashore they find their baggage
already awaiting them at the Customs platform. In the olden days the
tug was a wheezy old lady lacking the smallest attempt at smartness,
and exceedingly slow. Her hull was of wood and clinker built, her
paddle-wheels gave to her a very moderate speed, and her accommodation
was chiefly non-existent. But to-day, as the _Sir Francis Drake_ shows,
she has developed in some cases into practically an Atlantic liner in
miniature.
[Illustration: THE SALVAGE TUG “ADMIRAL DE RUYTER.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of the Ymuiden Tug Co., Amsterdam._]
[Illustration: THE NEW YORK HARBOUR AND RIVER TUG BOAT “EDMUND MORAN.”]
But although the screw-propeller has ousted the paddle-wheel in very
many instances, yet this has been by no means universal. The advantage
which the older method possesses is that it can work in less water
than the screw needs for its revolutions. In certain harbours, for
instance, and shallow rivers--especially in those extreme cases where
it is weedy--the paddle-wheel steamer is still pursuing its useful
work. It is therefore not unnatural that the tug should in many cases
be paddle-driven. The illustration facing page 240 shows one of these
paddle-tugs of a fairly modern date. She is owned by the British
Admiralty. The _Dromedary_, as she is called, is well known among the
Portsmouth craft, and just as the tug is employed for helping liners
out of port, so the Admiralty use the _Dromedary_ for assisting such
leviathans as the modern _Dreadnoughts_ out of Portsmouth harbour, and
rendering assistance in berthing in a harbour where the tides are very
strong and the water is considerably crowded.
We referred in a preceding chapter to the serious difficulty which,
owing to the gradual increase of the modern steamships, is felt in
certain ports. New York harbour had to be dredged before it could
accommodate the _Mauretania_ and _Lusitania_ with safety. Liverpool’s
depth of water is such that the two Cunarders can only enter during
twelve hours out of the twenty-four. Fishguard has had to be dredged,
whilst Southampton has been, and will need it again. In a smaller
degree most ports need constant dredging, otherwise local conditions
combine to silt up the navigation channel. Now all this is carried
out by specially designed steamships, which, like other vessels, have
gradually been increasing to enormous sizes. We might divide dredgers
into two classes--the “bucket” dredger, and the “suction” dredger. The
illustration facing page 240 gives an excellent idea of the former.
This is the _Peluse_, the largest sea-going bucket-dredger in the
world. She was built by Messrs. Lobnitz and Company, Limited, of
Renfrew, for employment on the Suez Canal.
There is nothing in the least beautiful about this type of steamship.
Ugly to look upon, splashed all over with mud and sand, covered with
machinery and unsightly erections, they are sisters of toil to the
ships of beauty. They “bring up” in a harbour or channel, and set
their series of buckets dredging away to increase the depth. These
buckets are readily seen coming down from a height in the centre of the
ship. They are revolved by an endless chain, and the ship is cut open
longitudinally to allow them to work.
It will be noticed that since the rudder, if placed in its accustomed
place in the centre line of the hull, would be in the way, it has been
duplicated and placed on either side of the stern. After the dredger
has taken aboard her full cargo of mud from the sea-bottom she proceeds
to the deep sea, and there discharges her contents through doors placed
in the bottom of the hull, though sometimes she may discharge the
mud into barges brought alongside. It will be seen that the _Peluse_
has been very efficiently protected against any damage which might
be inflicted by another vessel coming alongside her. These vessels
are given very powerful machinery, which drives both the propellers
and the dredging apparatus, an arrangement allowing the latter to be
connected with the main engines. The most modern example of this type
has triple-expansion engines and twin-screws, so that she is entitled
to more respect than her unwelcome appearance might suggest.
[Illustration: THE PADDLE-TUG “DROMEDARY.”
_From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
[Illustration: THE BUCKET-DREDGER “PELUSE.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of Messrs. Lobnitz & Co., Ltd._]
The suction-dredger, on the other hand, as its name signifies, does not
scoop up the sand, but sucks it up into her holds through pipes which
reach down to the bed of the river or estuary. The largest of these
is well-named, and is illustrated opposite page 242. This represents
the _Leviathan_, which is owned by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board,
Liverpool, and it is through her work that the river is able to
be maintained in a navigable condition. This voracious animal sucks
up sand at the rate of 10,000 tons in less than an hour, by means of
centrifugal pumps, and when loaded with this heavy cargo steams out to
sea at a speed of ten knots, and then by means of doors discharges the
sand through her bottom. The doors are worked by means of hydraulic
machinery. She herself is propelled by four sets of triple-expansion
engines, which also work the centrifugal pumps. We can get some idea of
the size of this dredger when we remark that her enormous length of 500
feet makes her as long as the _Etruria_.
The owners of the _Leviathan_ are also the proprietors of the ship
shown in our next illustration. This, the _Vigilant_, is seen alongside
the crane in the Herculaneum Dock, Liverpool. The Dock and Harbour
Boards are practically local Trinity House brethren, though totally
independent bodies. Just as the Trinity House authorities have the
upkeep of the light-houses and lightships round the English coast, so
the Dock and Harbour Boards are charged with the duties of keeping the
local buoyage in efficient order for ensuring safe navigation into
and out of their ports and estuaries. Gas buoys have to be refilled
periodically, moorings have to be laid down afresh, and, in the case
of damage, replaced. Periodically these have, in any case, to be
brought ashore to be overhauled, repainted and then returned to their
duties, bobbing about to the ceaseless heave of the waves. For such
work as this the _Vigilant_ is employed. The illustration shows a gas
buoy being lowered on to her deck from the quay. Not very long ago an
out-going steamship from Liverpool fouled one of the Mersey buoys in
a curious manner. She was proceeding in such close proximity to the
latter that she actually caught her propeller in one of the mooring
chains, with, as may be expected, consequent damage.
[Illustration: THE SUCTION DREDGER “LEVIATHAN.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of the Mersey Docks and Harbour
Board._]
[Illustration: THE “VIGILANT.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of the Mersey Docks and Harbour
Board._]
The introduction of electricity and the invention of the telegraph
caused a new sphere of work for the steamship. For connecting land to
land across the sea, cables had to be laid, and for this purpose it was
thought at one time that any very large steamship would suffice. It
will be recollected that the unhappy _Great Eastern_ was thus employed
after she had given up running as an Atlantic passenger ship. Then
presently it was shown to be advisable to use specially designed ships
for this purpose. The illustration facing page 244 shows an interesting
little model of one of the older craft thus employed, the telegraph
steamer _Monarch_, a schooner-rigged, iron, screw vessel built at Port
Glasgow in 1883, for the Telegraph Department of the Post Office.
Enormous sheaves are fitted at the bows as fair-leads for the cable to
run out or for hauling it in. This particular ship was employed both in
laying and repairing submarine cables, and could carry enough fuel and
stores for six weeks’ work. She had a displacement of 2,135 tons, and
a single propeller driven by compound engines. The bow-sheave will be
easily discerned. An earlier telegraph ship was the _Medway_, launched
in 1865, and built originally for the Mediterranean trade, but she was
used in the following year to help the _Great Eastern_ in laying the
Atlantic cable. She carried the Newfoundland end of the cable after the
_Great Eastern_ had gone as near in to shore as she dared. The _Medway_
also carried 500 miles of cable in case the 2,730 miles which the
_Great Eastern_ had aboard should prove inadequate. Another converted
vessel, the _John Bowes_, was used in laying the cable from Dover to
Ostend, but modern telegraph ships have the dimensions and general
appearance of liners. The _Silvertown_, which was well-known on this
work, is still afloat and to be seen in the West India Dock, London.
Such modern cable-laying ships as the _Faraday_ are further supplied
with platforms which project from the side of the ship at the stern for
greater convenience in the work for which these vessels are intended.
As much as from three to four thousand sea-miles of telegraph cable
can be carried by some of these ships, which, in addition to the bow
fair-lead have a similar arrangement at the stern, and are supplied
with all necessary grappling apparatus in case a broken cable has to be
picked up.
[Illustration: THE TELEGRAPH STEAMER “MONARCH.”
_From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
[Illustration: DECK VIEW OF THE TELEGRAPH SHIP “FARADAY.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of Messrs. Siemens & Co._]
Another special type of steamship is the oil-tanker. Owing to the
nature of her cargo a steamship that carries oil is far more liable to
disaster through combustion than even a cotton-ship. Oil is carried not
in barrels, but in bulk. At one time it used to be carried by sailing
ships in barrels, but this meant that a great deal of trouble and
space were unnecessarily expended. The first tank steamer was built in
1886 by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell and Company. Carrying a cargo
of petroleum in bulk is obviously a fairly risky proceeding. Firstly,
there is the terrible risk of fire, more especially as the ship must
have engines and furnaces; but there is also the risk of the oil
obtaining a good deal of impetus, unless guarded against, as the ship
rolls. It can easily be understood that so considerable a weight moving
about in liquid form--a shifting cargo, in fact, of a peculiar type--is
likely to cause the gravest anxiety. The illustration facing page 246
will show to what trouble the designers and builders have been put in
order to devise a safe oil-carrier. This represents the interior of a
modern tank steamer built by Messrs. Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth
and Company, Limited, by whose courtesy this photograph of a model is
here reproduced. First of all, it will be seen that the whole of the
engines are placed aft, so as to be away from the dangerous oil. This
characteristic, however, has recently been departed from, and in some
ships the engines have been placed amidships, as in most steamships.
Of this we might instance the s.s. _Phœbus_, built by Messrs. David
J. Dunlop and Company, for the carrying of 9,000 tons of bulk oil. In
such cases as these it is essential to insert a long, oil-tight tunnel
which encloses the propeller shaft, but the drawback is that it takes
up a good deal of valuable space from the ship’s hold. The accompanying
illustration shows the holds divided up into a number of separate
compartments by means of oil-tight bulkheads, which are further
subdivided by a longitudinal bulkhead. But oil possesses the properties
of expansion and varies according to the prevailing temperature. It
is obvious, therefore, that room must be left for expansion. To meet
this, then, a long trunk or slit is left to allow the oil to expand,
so that after the ship has filled her holds to the proper height the
cargo may yet be allowed to become larger in bulk. The model before us
shows slits at the sides at the ’tween deck, so that this expansion
may take place. It will be recognised where the ladders lead down to
the holds beneath. These vessels carry powerful pumps, the oil being
taken on board and discharged by this means. Oil is also employed as
the ship’s fuel, and the boiler is kept as far away from the cargo as
possible, but in order to counteract the possibility of the oil getting
adrift and leaking into the after part of the ship, a separate small
compartment is also added, so as more completely to divide the hold
from the boiler and engines. This will be easily recognised in the
illustration. The other illustration facing page 246 shows a model
of the _Silverlip_, also with her engines placed well aft; but this,
with her derricks and her deck-houses, represents a larger and more
complex ship.
We come now to a type of steamship, which, by reason of its peculiar
construction, is deserving of more than ordinary consideration.
Opposite page 248 we give the latest example of this type--the s.s.
_Inland_. The “turret-ship,” as the class is called, is of quite
modern origin, and no one can come face to face with her without being
instantly struck with her unusual appearance. She owes her birth to
Messrs. William Doxford and Sons, Limited, of Sunderland, who are the
patentees and builders of this kind of ship. It is needless to say
that when this novel class of steamship first appeared in the early
’nineties there was aroused the usual prejudice; indeed, having in mind
what has been the experience of other inventors in connection with
our subject, the reader could hardly expect otherwise. Firstly, let
us consider her with regard to her appearance. It will be seen that
she differs from the usual cargo and passenger ship in that her sides
tumble right in above the water-line. This forms a kind of half turtle
deck, and is known as the harbour deck. But the upper deck of the
“turret-ship” is extremely narrow. (This will be seen more easily by
reference to the next illustration, which gives a model of the midship
section of such a ship.) The harbour deck need not be used except when
in port, but it can be employed for stowing long timbers or even iron
girders if required. Like the oil-tanker, many of the turret-ships have
their engines placed right aft, so that there is a long clear space
for stowing the cargo in the hold, an advantage which is especially
appreciated in the carrying of certain kinds of cargoes. Just as we saw
there was great danger to a ship in the possibility of oil washing
about the hull and shifting in a perilous manner, so also there is a
danger in such cargoes as rice and grain. With regard to the latter,
I remember the case of a big cargo ship which had the misfortune to
spring a leak and the water swelled the rice to such an extent that the
ship, strong as she was, burst her sides. But in the case of grain the
danger is not merely that, but also of shifting. As guarding against
this possibility the turret-ship, by reason of her special design, is
specially suitable, for any shifting that may take place in the turret
matters but little, and whatever shifting may take place in the hold
is compensated for by the turret; the cargo can be shot into the hold
without needing any trimming. The deck of the “turret” portion will
be seen from the illustration facing page 248 to form a navigating
platform.
[Illustration: SECTION OF MODERN OIL-TANK STEAMER.
_Photograph from a Model. By permission of Messrs. Sir W. G. Armstrong,
Whitworth & Co., Ltd._]
[Illustration: THE “SILVERLIP.”
_From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
Some of the modern turret-ships are fitted with twelve or fourteen
masts arranged in pairs, each pair being across the ship instead of
fore-and-aft-wise. These vessels have proved themselves to be excellent
sea-boats, and owing to their high freeboard and the harbour deck,
which acts as a kind of breakwater, it has to be a very bad sea indeed
that will break over the ship. Furthermore, the harbour deck tends to
reduce the rolling of the ship, for when one side of the ship heels
over so that one harbour deck is under water, the windward side, when
it holds a certain amount of water, actually tends to bring the ship
back to her level. Moreover, since these decks are unencumbered with
obstructions, they can suffer no damage through the wash of the sea.
They are also extremely strong ships, for the sides of the turrets
increase the strength of the vessel longitudinally, while the curved
formation of the harbour deck augments their strength transversely;
their simplicity of construction and their adaptability for almost
any cargo still further add to their virtues. But from the view-point
of the owners the turret-ship is even still more a welcome type of
craft, in that since dues are paid on a ship’s registered tonnage the
turret-ship is able to carry far more cargo in proportion to her size
than most vessels. On a small registered tonnage the turret-ship has an
exceptionally large dead-weight capacity, and those parts of her which
are liable to be taxed are diminished as far as is possible, whilst at
the same time greater space is allowed to the carrying and handling of
the cargo. Economically, then, the turret-ship, with her odd shape, her
many masts and derricks, is a very advantageous carrier.
A good deal of interest has recently been aroused by the peculiarities
of a steamship named the _Monitoria_, which, though not a turret-ship,
is sufficiently out of the ordinary design to warrant special mention.
She is just an ordinary single-deck cargo steamer, but instead of the
usual wall-sided shell-plating has two longitudinal corrugations along
the outside of her hull. These swellings, so to speak, extend below the
water-line and gradually merge into the ship’s lines at bow and stern.
The claim made for this novelty is that it is effective in reducing
the wave-like irregularities, and allows of more power being available
for propulsion, whilst it also lessens the rolling and pitching of the
ship. The captain of this ship is reported to have said that these
corrugations had a beneficial effect on the steering, whilst the wake
of the ship was found to be smooth and about half the width instead of
the full breadth of the ship. Very interesting as practical comment
on a subject that we have treated elsewhere in this volume, is her
commander’s remark that whilst in a diagonal sea, which was running at
a height of 9 feet or 10 feet, a ship of ordinary form and the same
dimensions as the _Monitoria_ would have been safe proceeding at no
higher speed than 6 or 6½ knots, yet the _Monitoria_ was safe going
ahead at 7¼ to 7½ knots. The corrugations are said also to increase the
ship’s buoyancy, and thus admit of three per cent. more cargo being
carried, while the hull is more readily able to resist the strains than
vessels of ordinary shape. It is probable that this novel principle
will be presently exemplified in a first-class liner, and in a foreign
cruiser.
Similar to the turret-type is the “trunk-deck” steamer, which possesses
like advantages. She resembles in appearance the former type, but
instead of the curves (seen in the _Inland_) at the gunwale and bases
of the turret or “trunk,” the sides of the trunk rise from the main
deck nearly at right angles, the harbour deck being really a true
deck. This kind of ship owes her birth to Messrs. Ropner and Sons, of
Stockton-on-Tees. Such vessels afford even more than the turret-ships
the appearance of a kind of up-to-date man-of-war, without the guns
which one would almost expect to see protruding from behind some of her
steel plates. It should be borne in mind that both the turret and the
trunk type possess an absence of sheer, for the height of the lofty
turret, or trunk, enables this to be dispensed with, while to make up
for this lack of sheer from the bows to the stern, the vessel is given
a top-gallant forecastle.
[Illustration: THE TURRET-SHIP “INLAND.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of Messrs. W. Doxford & Sons, Ltd._]
[Illustration: MIDSHIP SECTION OF A TURRET-SHIP.
_From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
When a vessel is carrying her full cargo her stern is sufficiently
immersed to prevent her propeller from racing badly in a heavy sea.
But when she is making a voyage “light” there is great danger of
damage to the ship through the fracturing of the propeller shaft as
the ship dips her bows and raises her tail in the air. Everyone who
has had experience of handling small craft of any kind is aware
that the lower the ballast is placed the more the ship will roll. In
an extreme case, when all the ballast is placed outside the ship on to
her keel, the motion in a sea-way is more like that of the pendulum
than anything else. The method which we are now about to discuss
allows of water-ballast tanks being placed sufficiently high at the
“wings” to counteract this rolling. Opposite page 250 will be seen two
illustrations of the patent cantilever-framed steamers which are built
by Messrs. Sir Raylton Dixon and Company, Limited, of Middlesbrough,
through whose courtesy the photographs are reproduced. By examining
them it will be seen that water-ballast can be carried not only in the
usual tank at the bottom of the ship, but in the wing tanks at the
sides of the ship, and at such a height that when the ship is crossing
the ocean without cargo, she will have an easy motion.
The lower illustration shows a section of one of these cantilever
ships, and the water-ballast tanks, above which is a shelter deck
that in the case of a passenger ship can be used as a promenade, or
can accommodate live cargo in cattle-ships. It will be noticed that
the ship’s frames are bent inwards, and that these, together with
the vertical sides of the hull, form the triangular spaces for the
tanks. Now these tanks run fore and aft on both sides and increase the
strength of the ship, not merely longitudinally, but transversely.
Owing to this the necessity of adding such obstructions to the hold as
pillars and beams vanishes, and as will be seen in the illustrations,
the hold is thus free and unencumbered for all manner of cargo. It
is further claimed for this cantilever craft that she can carry a
dead-weight more than three times the net register, and since these
tanks are not reckoned into the tonnage they increase the safety and
comfort of the ship without detracting from her utility. The reader
will also notice in the upper picture to what an enormous extent the
modern steamship is now being fitted with extra derricks, with a
cross-piece up the mast to take the strain involved in working the
latter.
As the reverse of being specially adapted for a particular service,
the steam tramp is built so that she can readily engage in almost any
carrying trade. Unlike the liner with her fixed routes and set times
of departure and arrival, the tramp is a nomad, and wanders over the
world picking up a cargo here and there, and taking it across the ocean
at her economical but jog-trot speed. If there is nothing for her to
pick up at the last port of call she betakes herself elsewhere with
the hope of better luck. Her main income is derived as a coal-carrier,
and for this she is quite suited. But the modern collier--the kind
of ship which is expressly built for the coal trade--is fitted with
numbers of steam winches in keeping with the modern feverish haste and
hurry, so that no sooner has she come alongside than she may instantly
begin to unload. In old-fashioned times the discharging was done from
the shore, but nowadays the up-to-date turret-ship makes short work
of handling her black diamonds. Special appliances are also provided
for those steamships which bring over the seas vast quantities of New
Zealand mutton, fruit, and other perishable articles of food. Elaborate
refrigerating machinery has to be installed in the ship, and special
means employed to facilitate the disembarking of the cargo, especially
in the case of the former.
[Illustration: CANTILEVER-FRAMED SHIP.
_By permission of Sir Raylton Dixon & Co., Ltd._]
To a still more exceptional purpose has the steamship been adapted in
order to act as an ice-breaker and give liberty to those ships which,
in certain parts of the world, have, with the approach of winter, been
compelled to enter a lengthy imprisonment. Such localities are
found in both Canada and Russia. Thanks to the ice-breaker steamship
it has been made possible to keep open the Baltic ports with a passage
of sufficient width. Constructed of a strength which is possessed
by no other vessel than a man-of-war, the ice-breaker attacks the
frozen masses as a battleship used to ram her foe. She goes for the
ship’s enemy with her curved bow, and wages war with all the ability
which the ship-builder and naval architect have given her. Her bow is
specially strengthened to suffer the force of the contact with the
heavy ice masses, and the lines of the hull are such that the ice in
its endeavour to crush the ship finds difficulty in getting a good grip
upon it. Nevertheless, these ships are fitted with numerous water-tight
compartments. Their means of propulsion are, of course, screws.
Similarly, across the North Atlantic, the steamship on the Great
Lakes, where for one third of the year the water is frozen, has to
battle with the ice-fiend. Ordinary steamers have to be laid aside,
but the train-ferry steamship still goes on with her work, being
specially designed to break through the impeding ice. As in the Russian
ice-breakers, so here the principle employed is that the ship shall
forge her way unto the ice, and by means of her overhanging bow, and
its weight, shall break through the obstruction.
Across the wide harbour of New York the steamship train ferries,
carrying rolling stock run aboard by lines, are employed to an extent
that is strange in comparison with English customs, although the idea
is not new to the Mersey, and the evergreen scheme of instituting a
ferry of this nature across the English Channel to France, so that
international travellers can go from Charing Cross to the other end
of the world without having to change their compartments, is still
advocated with enthusiasm.
We pass now to another type of steamship, which is endowed with as
much distinctive character as the steam tug. The steam trawler may not
be as smart as a steam yacht nor as fast as a torpedo destroyer; yet,
for all that, she is able to encounter as bad weather and--size for
size--is perhaps a good deal better sea-boat. In the North Sea, which
has been the favourite cruising ground of the steam trawler, there is
to be encountered as nasty and dangerous a short sea as can be found,
perhaps, in any other part of the world. In all weathers, and at all
times of the year, the trawler has to go about her business, and the
comparatively few disasters that overtake her is a credit at once to
the seamanship of her skipper and the seaworthiness of the little ship
herself. Opposite this page we show a photograph of a typical North
Sea steam trawler. This is the _Orontes_ of Hull, built in 1895, of
iron, by Messrs. Cochrane and Sons, of Selby. She measures 110 feet
long, 21 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, her net tonnage being 76, and her
horse-power 60. The evolution of the steam trawler was on this wise:
When the value of steam had been shown to be worth the consideration of
the fisherman he responded. At first the old-fashioned paddle-steamer
was used tentatively on the north-east coast of England, and the writer
remembers in the early ’eighties the singular unattractiveness--the
total absence of beauty, indeed--which these vessels possessed. By
birth and adoption these were properly tugs, but they did a bit of
trawling on their own account when not otherwise required, and met with
sufficient success to repeat the experiment many times. Some of these
ugly old craft are still to be seen in the neighbourhood of Scarborough
and Whitby.
[Illustration: THE NORTH SEA TRAWLER “ORONTES.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of Messrs. Cochrane & Son, Selby._]
[Illustration: THE STEAM TRAWLER “NOTRE DAME DES DUNES.”
_From a Photograph. By permission of Messrs. Cochrane & Son, Selby._]
But since the fishing fleets were at sea for weeks together, and
something faster than a sailing ship was required to hurry the cargoes
to market, a special steam fish-carrier came in which plied her voyages
from the Dogger to London and the east coast ports. From that it was
an easy step to building a steamship for use not as a carrier but as a
trawler. Already steam had been in use on board the sailing trawler,
but that had been for hauling the nets and warping into dock. The
increase of competition, the loss of a market through calms and the
prevalence of head winds, clearly marked the way for the coming of the
steam trawler. Recently it has been shown that the employment of the
motor-propelled trawler means a saving of cost and a greater share of
profits to all concerned, and perhaps in the next decade the steam
trawler may find the more modern form of propulsion to be a serious
rival. But even now sail has anything but vanished, and there are many
purely sail-driven trawlers, as also there are many steam trawlers
with auxiliary sails. Within the last few years the steam fishing ship
has grown to be of considerable size, with topgallant forecastle,
high freeboard and lofty wheel-house, so that it penetrates to oceans
thousands of miles away from the North Sea, being enabled by reason of
its size to carry sufficient quantities of coal for many miles. The
lower illustration facing page 252 shows one of the modern type of
steam trawler. This is the _Notre Dame des Dunes_, built by the same
makers as the _Orontes_. Her substantial forecastle, her bold sheer and
high bows, together with her length (rather more than six beams to the
longitudinal expanse), eminently fit her for her work in most trying
circumstances. A curious survival of the old-fashioned sailing ship
is seen in the retention in a twentieth century ship of the imitation
square ports painted along her topsides. The _Notre Dame_ measures 160
feet long, 25 feet wide, and 14½ feet deep.
[Illustration: HYDRAULIC LIFEBOAT.
_By permission from “The Yachting Monthly.”_]
But to-day, even with all the modern improvements which have been
put into the ship, both sailing and steam-propelled; notwithstanding
all the navigational appliances, the water-tight compartments, the
size of ships and the excellence with which they are sent on their
voyages, there is still need for the lifeboat, which has to go out
many times during a bad winter at the summons of necessity. Although
it is possible that the motor, as in the trawler, will eventually oust
steam from this special type of craft, that stage has not yet been
reached. Steam is a comparatively recent innovation to the lifeboat,
and this is partially explainable by the deep-rooted prejudice of the
local seamen. It is also owing to the fact that when the lifeboat has
to go out at all the seas are very bad, and the craft is subjected to
the water breaking over, and unless special precautions were taken to
guard against this the fires would be put out, and the boat would be
rather worse off than if she had no engines. There are only a few steam
lifeboats along our shores, and they are placed at such stations where
they can lie afloat instead of having to be launched down the beach or
from a specially constructed slipway. The first form of steam lifeboat
was to some extent on the lines of the ship which John Allen had
suggested as far back as 1730, of which we spoke in an earlier chapter.
It will be remembered that he advocated a system which was actually
employed by James Rumsey in 1787. The principle was that of sucking
water in at the bows and ejecting it at the stern. A more recent
instance of the use of this idea will be found in the boat illustrated
on the opposite page which shows a hydraulic lifeboat. The disadvantage
of having a screw propeller is that it stands a very good chance
of being fouled, if not damaged, by wreckage and ropes. Therefore
engines were installed which sucked in the water by means of a “scoop,”
placed at the bottom of the boat amidships. The water thus indrawn is
discharged aft on either side of the hull, and if the craft is desired
to go astern, then this is easily done by discharging water forward.
This type has been in actual use, and has been highly efficacious in
saving human life from shipwreck. By referring to the lower figure
of the illustration on page 255, which shows the midship section of
one of the hydraulic type, some idea will be gained of the placing
of the “scoop.” By using alternately one of the after pipes the ship
can be manœuvred to port or starboard just like a vessel fitted with
twin-screws. But there are corresponding disadvantages which require to
be weighed. It is distinctly not an economical method of propulsion,
and if the sea happens to contain much sand considerable damage may
happen to the engines, and other undesirable matter also may work still
greater havoc.
[Illustration: A SCREW LIFEBOAT.
_By permission from “The Yachting Monthly.”_]
On the other hand, we have mentioned that the screw has its drawbacks
owing to the possibility of its suffering injury. It was therefore
decided that this could be avoided by placing it in a tunnel some
distance forward of the stern, and thus protected against all likely
damage. (A similar method is also employed in the steam fire-boats
which are used by the London Fire Brigade on the Thames, and are
summoned whenever a river-side warehouse or factory gets ablaze.) If
reference is made to the illustration on page 257, this tunnel will be
discernible. In order to leave nothing to chance a water-tight hatch
is placed in the cock-pit floor just over the propeller, through which
any pieces of sea-weed, rope, or other undesirable matter can easily be
removed without having to beach the craft first. These little ships
measure about 50 feet long, and about 15 feet wide; they are driven by
direct-acting, compound, surface-condensing engines, which give to them
a speed of about nine knots.
In certain parts of the world where the rivers are shallow, either at
their banks or in mid-stream, steam navigation is only possible by
means of “stern-wheelers.” Such instances occur on the West Coast of
Africa, and also in America. In general idea, though not in detail,
this method is a reversion to the antiquated ship already discussed
in Hulls’ idea for a tow-boat. The stern of these steamships to which
we are referring is not ended in the same continuous straight line,
but is raised slightly upwards at an angle so that the paddle-wheel
is able to revolve freely without requiring such a draught of water
as otherwise it would have needed if placed on the ship’s side in the
usual manner. This will be seen on examining the stern of the _Inez
Clarke_, illustrated opposite this page. This stern-wheeler was built
as far back as 1879, but the points on which we are insisting are
here well demonstrated. The draught of the ship, notwithstanding the
weight of her engines, was only 15 inches, so that she was enabled to
go into the very shallowest water, where even a bottle could float.
Nevertheless her stern-wheel was sufficiently powerful to send her
along at 15 miles per hour. Her measurements are 130 feet long, and 28
feet wide. Steamboats possessing a similar principle to that exhibited
in the _Inez Clarke_, but much different in the arrangement, are to-day
in use on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, being used as tugs to tow
along a large fleet of flat-boats containing coal. As much as fifty to
sixty thousand tons are taken in tow at one time.
[Illustration: THE “INEZ CLARKE.”
_From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
[Illustration: THE “NATCHEZ” AND THE “ECLIPSE” (1855).]
[Illustration: THE “EMPIRE.”
_From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
To North America, with its fine long rivers, the steamboat has been,
as Fulton in his foresight prophesied it would be, a highly useful
institution. To the European mind the vast possibilities of the
mighty Mississippi come as a shock when fully realised. To quote the
very first sentence in one of the most popular books which that most
popular writer, Mark Twain, ever wrote, “The Mississippi is well worth
reading about”; so, also, we might add, are its steamboats, but in
our limited space we can only barely indicate some of their essential
features. The illustration facing page 258 shows a couple of these,
the _Natchez_ and the _Eclipse_, racing against each other along this
great river by the light of the moon at midnight. The first thing that
strikes the attention is the enormous height to which the decks of
these steamboats are raised. The pilot-house is higher still, and will
be recognised as about midway between the water-line and the top of
the long, lanky funnels. Even to Mark Twain the height seemed to be
terrific. “When I stood in her pilot-house,” says the author of “Life
on the Mississippi,” “I was so far above the water that I seemed to be
perched on a mountain; and her decks stretched so far away, fore and
aft, below me, that I wondered how I could ever have considered the
little _Paul Jones_ a large craft. When I looked down her long, gilded
saloon, it was like gazing through a splendid tunnel.... The boiler
deck--i.e. the second storey of the boat, so to speak--was as spacious
as a church, it seemed to me; so with the forecastle; and there was no
pitiful handful of deck-hands, firemen, and roustabouts down there, but
a whole battalion of men. The fires were fiercely glaring from a long
row of furnaces, and over them were eight huge boilers.”
The accompanying picture, which is taken from a lithograph printed in
1855, shows two of the finest contemporary Mississippi steamboats.
The _Eclipse_ was propelled by a high-pressure engine with a single
cylinder, the paddle-wheels being 40 feet wide. Her two boilers were
placed forward about 3½ feet above the deck, having internal return
tubes, such as we discussed at an earlier stage. The waste gases
returned through the tubes and escaped through the funnels, which rose
50 feet above the hurricane deck. This ship only drew 5 feet, and
measured 360 feet long and 42 feet wide, whilst the hull was 8 feet
deep. For fuel, rosin and pitch pine as well as coal were used. Mark
Twain has left us some details of the keenness with which these and
similar Mississippi steamboats used to race.
“In the olden times,” he wrote, “whenever two fast boats started out on
a race, with a big crowd of people looking on, it was inspiriting to
hear the crews sing, especially if the time were night-fall, and the
forecastle lit up with the red glare of the torch-baskets. Racing was
royal fun. The public always had the idea that racing was dangerous;
whereas the opposite was the case.... No engineer was ever sleepy or
careless when his heart was in a race. He was constantly on the alert,
trying gauge-cocks and watching things. The dangerous place was on
slow, plodding boats, where the engineers drowsed around and allowed
chips to get into the ‘doctor,’ and shut off the water supply from the
boilers. In the ‘flush times’ of steam-boating, a race between two
notorious fleet steamers was an event of vast importance.... Every
encumbrance that added weight, or exposed a resisting surface to wind
or water, was removed.... When the _Eclipse_ and the _A. L. Shotwell_
ran their great race many years ago, it was said that pains were taken
to scrape the gilding off the fanciful device which hung between the
_Eclipse’s_ chimneys and that for one trip the captain left off his
kid gloves and had his head shaved. But I always doubted these things.”
In 1870 the _Natchez_ ran from New Orleans to Natchez, a distance of
268 miles, in seventeen days seventeen hours. The most famous race of
all, and one that created national interest, was that in the year 1870,
between the _Robert E. Lee_ and the _Natchez_, from New Orleans to St.
Louis, a distance of 1,218 miles. The former covered the journey in
three days eighteen hours fourteen minutes, the latter in three days
twenty-one hours fifty-eight minutes, but the officers of the _Natchez_
claimed seven hours for having had to stop through fog, and repairs to
the machinery.
But let us pass further North. The Hudson has, since the time of
Fulton, been famous for its steam-craft, and the impetus which
necessarily followed after the success of the _Clermont_, and her
successors, has not yet ceased to exist. As representative of the
Hudson River type of boats in vogue during the ’sixties, the model of
the steamer _Empire_ facing page 258 is not without interest, since
it shows, the half-way transition between the _Clermont_ and the
ultra-modern built-up ship as in the illustration facing page 262.
Like her other sisters, the _Empire_, it will be seen, has a very
light draught, and a characteristic feature of the development of
the North American passenger side-wheel steamer is here to be noted
in embryo, and as pushed to its furthest limits, in the case of the
_Commonwealth_. I am calling attention to the manner in which the
American custom extends the steamship’s sponsons or “guards” (as they
are called). In a British paddle-wheel steamer, such as one finds
employed on passenger or tug service, the sponsons are quite short.
(This can easily be seen by reference to the _Dromedary_ opposite page
240.) But the American fashion is to allow these not to end suddenly,
but gradually fine off at bow and stern so that the deck is carried
well out-board. Forward is the pilot house, the passenger accommodation
being provided in the centre of the “guard” deck and upper deck. The
length of this vessel was 336 feet, whilst the breadth of the hull
proper was 28 feet, though including “guards” 61 feet. In many of the
Hudson steamers the strange sight is still seen of the use of the old
walking-beam which penetrates through the top of the deck. As we have
already discussed this elsewhere, it is scarcely necessary here to
refer to it further, but the sectional model illustrated opposite this
page will show quite clearly this principle.
[Illustration: THE “COMMONWEALTH.”]
[Illustration: BEAM ENGINE OF AN AMERICAN RIVER STEAMER.
_From the Sectional Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
One of the best known steamship companies in the United States is the
Fall River Line, belonging to the New England Navigation Company.
The Fall River Line runs from New York to Boston, and their vessels
are of exceptional interest as being propelled by paddle-wheels
notwithstanding that their size is in some cases of from four to six
thousand tons. Characteristic, too, is the extent to which the decks
tier aloft and spread out beyond the hull of the ship. Among their
fleet may be reckoned the _Priscilla_, _Puritan_, and _Providence_,
vessels which vary in length from over, to just under, 400 feet, with
a beam of about 50 feet, but including “guards” about another 30 feet.
Opposite this page will be seen the _Commonwealth_, the flagship of
this celebrated fleet, and the most modern. Instead of the paddle-boxes
rising to a great height, they are absorbed by the excessive amount of
top-hamper. To such an extent, also, has the widest beam of the ship
been pushed that the paddle-wheels are scarcely discernible, being
quite underneath the “guards,” instead of projecting from the hull.
The _Commonwealth_ plies between New York and Boston via Newport
and the Fall River, and is the largest and most magnificent steamship
built for service on inland waters. Some idea of her value may be
gathered when we remark that she cost £400,000 to build. It will be
seen that she has been given a high bow, for the reason that she must
be a good sea-boat, since part of her route is exposed to the Atlantic.
She is 456 feet long, 96 feet wide (reckoning in the “guards”), and
has sleeping accommodation for two thousand people. This voyage is
performed in about twelve hours, mostly by night, from New York to the
Fall River, and the retention of the paddle-wheel gives an absence of
vibration, and enables the nerve-wrecked citizen to sleep as peacefully
as on shore. The _Commonwealth_ is steady in a sea-way, and has pushed
the cult of luxury just about as far as it can go, whilst yet retaining
any of the accustomed characteristics of the ship. Practically
these craft are remarkably up-to-date hotels moved by a pair of
paddle-wheels. Replete with their barber’s shops, cafés, libraries,
saloons, orchestra, galleries, stairways, dining-rooms, spacious
bedrooms, kitchens, and other features too numerous to mention, they
are representative afloat of the prevailing passion ashore for luxury
and personal comfort. The _Commonwealth_, like her sisters of the
same fleet, is built of steel, and for greater safety she has seven
bulkheads, which extend to the main deck, and are so installed that no
carelessness can leave the doors open. Her hull is double and the space
between the bottoms is divided into numerous water-tight compartments,
whilst collision bulkheads are also placed at each side of the steamer
at the “guards.” Her speed is twenty-two knots per hour, which is
obtained by compound engines, with two high-pressure cylinders. The
paddle-wheels are of the feathering type, with curved steel buckets,
and in addition to the usual steam pumps, there is a large pump for use
on the fire-sprinkler system which covers the whole interior of the
ship. The ship has a powerful search-light, and an electric lift to the
kitchen. In case both her steam-steering and hand-gear should get out
of order the ship can be steered by independent auxiliary gear attached
direct to the rudder stock.
Having regard to the fact that it was North America which played so
prominent a part in the history and introduction of the steamship, it
is by no means unfitting that that country should also have developed
the paddle-wheel steamboat to an extent that is entirely unknown
in Great Britain. The difference in types is partly owing to the
difference in tastes and habits between the two peoples, but also owing
to the contrast in geographical arrangement. We in England have nothing
comparable with the Hudson, for instance, and its fine, long sweep of
navigable water; nor with the vast American Great Lakes, which, in a
unique manner, have held out a special kind of encouragement to the
steamship. As carriers not merely of cargoes, but also of passengers,
especially during the tourist seasons, the steamships on the Great
Lakes have attained the character rather analogous to the ocean liner
than to the inland steamboat. The spirit of luxury is not concealed in
these Lake liners, and some idea of one of the two-funnelled passenger
steamboats now plying on the Great Lakes of America may be seen in
the illustration facing this page of the _City of Cleveland_. The two
characteristics already noted in the case of the Hudson and the Fall
River steamships will here be noticed still further. We refer to the
extent of the added decks, and to the increased beam which is given to
the ship by means of the “guards.”
[Illustration: THE “CITY OF CLEVELAND.”]
[Illustration: AN AMERICAN “WHALE-BACK” STEAMER.]
But perhaps the most extraordinary looking American steamship is
the well-known “whale-back” which is in use on the Great Lakes as a
cargo-carrier. Practically speaking she is just a whale-like steel
tank with an engine and propeller at the stern. Anything but comely
in appearance, she is something of the American counterpart of the
British turret-ship, but with one difference. The American type has
no turret, but is just a long curved box with two comparatively small
erections at bow and stern respectively, as will be seen by examining
the photograph of one of these vessels reproduced opposite page 264.
But the design of these Lake steamers is to carry the largest amount of
cargo with the lowest registered tonnage, and this object is attained
with satisfactory results, for there is scarcely any space at all in
the ships but is thus employed.
And with this we may bring our chapter to an end. We have now seen
the rise, the gradual growth, and the specialisation of the steamship
in many ways, and in many different localities whenever employed as a
commercial money-earning concern. But the steamship, like the sailing
ship, is not exclusively employed either for commerce or for war. With
the latter kind of ships we have in the present volume no concern; but
with regard to the development of the steam yacht we shall now have
something to say.