THE “OCEANIC” (1870).
From a Painting by W. L. Wyllie, R. A. By Permission of Messrs. Ismay, Imrie & Co.
When she came into the Mersey that memorable day in February of 1871 her immense length in comparison with her beam was instantly noticeable. I have already explained the value of length in ocean travel, but here was a ship with a beam exactly one-tenth of her 420 feet length. Sir Edward Harland knew what he was about when designing so novel a craft, and in spite of the general comments that the Oceanic would prove a bad sea-boat, and unfit to face the terrors of an Atlantic winter’s gale, she showed that science in ship-building is of more avail than the blind following of an existing convention. Nor did she encumber herself with the usual heavy, high bulwarks that we noticed in the City of Paris, but, instead, she substituted iron railings, and for a perfectly sound reason. The old method gave to a ship a false security, for it could not altogether prevent a sea from coming on board, and when the latter had come over the ship the bulwarks tended to keep it there, whereas the Oceanic’s railings allowed the sea to flow off immediately and freely, as she shook herself and rose to the next wave. The long, narrow wooden deck-house that we also noticed on the City of Paris was also discarded, but another deck of iron was added. With her, too, disappeared most of the objections to the propeller—at any rate, in the higher-priced accommodation, since the saloon passengers for the first time were placed not at the stern of the ship (where the vibration and jarring of the propeller were most felt), but amidships and forward of the machinery. The saloon extended the entire width of the ship, whilst the numerous state-rooms were forward and abaft of the saloon. Furthermore, to an extent that had never been known on an Atlantic liner, the use of glass side-lights was employed, and these were made much larger than was customary, so that the interior of the ship was rendered much lighter, as it was also made more airy.
The Oceanic also introduced an improved type of water-tight doors. The old-fashioned candle-lamps which lit the rooms were replaced by oil-lamps, and instead of the old-fashioned form for seating, the passengers had the comfort of revolving arm-chairs, which have since become such features of ocean travel. On deck, her forward and stern ends were fitted with turtle decks, so that a wave sweeping over this dome-like shape could swish across it without doing the damage it could have effected on the first City of Paris, for instance. The importance of this in a following sea of any size is obvious, and we must remember that whereas to-day the stern of a modern liner towers high above the waves, and can usually defy them, yet in those days the Oceanic and her contemporaries were still of modest altitude. From the illustration before us some conception of the bow turtle deck, painted white, may be gathered, but a much better idea may be seen of a similar arrangement at the stern of the Britannic ([facing page 154]). The addition of that extra deck of iron in the Oceanic shows the commencement of the many-decked modern liner, to which attention was drawn in the German liner and her successors, so that in the Mauretania, as we look down on her decks, she seems to be built up over every possible inch of space that is permissible.
But the Oceanic was something more than a comfortable boat and an ingenious example of the naval architect’s originality; she was also a “flyer.” With her four-cylinder compound engines she was able to reel off her 14¼ knots on an average. There were two high-pressure cylinders and two of low-pressure, the high-pressure cylinder being above the low-pressure and driving the same crank. Her indicated horse-power was 3,000, and her tonnage came out at 3,808 gross. She even attained to 14¾ knots, and showed herself to be the fastest liner afloat, faster even than the Inman liner City of Brussels. It is a proof of the excellence of her design and the perfection of her build that on her sixty-second voyage in October, 1889, after she had been transferred to the Pacific service running between San Francisco and Yokohama, she made the quickest passage on record across the Pacific.
THE “BRITANNIC” (1874).
As she appeared as a transport during the South African War.
From a Photograph by F. G. O. Stuart, Southampton.
