Steamships and their story

by E. Keble Chatterton

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.

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.