ALMOST READY FOR LAUNCHING.
ERE we have a picture of a ship on the stocks, with a gang of men hard at work giving her the finishing touches. There are full twenty-six men in sight.
What are they doing? Well, most of them, I think, are calkers. Do you know what that means? I will tell you.
After the frame of a ship is set up, the timbers firmly bolted and braced, and the planking put on and fastened, inside and out, the next thing to be done is to make the seams water-tight.
For this purpose, slivers of oakum, rolled up in the hand, are driven into the seams between the planks. When the seams are filled, they are covered with melted pitch or rosin to preserve the oakum from decay. This process is called calking.
Most of the men seen in the picture are doing this work, but not all of them. Some are driving in the oakum with a tool called a calking-iron. Some are putting on the pitch. I will leave it for you to find out what the others are doing.
If we could look on deck and on the other side of the ship, we should see men at work there too. Hark! Don't you hear the sound of their hammers? All is bustle, but there is no confusion. Every man knows what to do, and does his work with a will.
After the calking is done, the painters will take their turn. They will put on two or three coats of paint; then the carvers and gilders will make a handsome figure-head; every thing will look as neat as a new pin; and then it will be time to be thinking of a name for the vessel, for, if I am not mistaken, the ship will be ready for launching. Let us fancy that we are present at the launch. I think I see her now gliding into the deep water that awaits her.
She floats away from her cradle. She sits like a duck upon the water. She is staunch and strong and tight. So far the work has been well done. What comes next?
The riggers will now take her in hand. Masts and yards and shrouds and sails will soon be in their places. Soon we shall see her in the harbor all ready for sea; and by and by, with sails all set and streamers all afloat, she will move gracefully down the bay. May she always have fair winds and prosperous voyages!
UNCLE CHARLES.
