15. In collecting ship-timber, the greatest difficulty is found in procuring the crooked sticks, which form the sides or ribs of the skeleton of a vessel. In countries where ship-timber has become an object of careful cultivation, this difficulty is anticipated by bending the young trees to the desired form, and confining them there, until they have permanently received the proper inclination. The timber is brought to market in its rough state, and sold by the foot.
16. The timber having been selected, the workmen proceed to fashion the various parts of the proposed vessel with appropriate tools, being guided in their operations by patterns, which have been made after the exact form of the various parts of the model. Much care is taken to avoid cutting the wood contrary to the grain, that its strength may not be impaired.
17. After all the parts of the frame have been made ready, they are put together. The several blocks of timber on which the vessel is raised, are called the stocks; and to these pieces, the foundation, called the keel, is temporarily fastened in an inclined position. The keel is inserted into the stern-post at one end, and into the stem at the other. The floor-timbers are next fixed in the keel, every other one being there firmly bolted and riveted. Each of these timbers is a branch and part of the body of a tree; and, when composing a part of a vessel, they bear the same relation to it as the ribs to the human body. With equal propriety, the keel has been compared to the vertebral column, or back-bone.
18. The next step is to apply and fasten the planks, which serve not only to exclude the water, but to bind all the parts firmly and harmoniously together. Simple as this part of the operation may seem to be, it is the most difficult to be effected, and requires a pre-concerted plan as much as any other part of the fabric. When it is necessary to bend a plank at the bow or stern, it is heated by steam, and then forced into place with screws and levers. The planks are fastened with iron or copper bolts.
19. The planking having been finished, and several particulars attended to, which cannot be well understood from description, the vessel is ready for the work of the caulker, who carefully stops all the seams with oakum, and smears them with pitch. After the superfluous pitch has been cleared away with the scraper, water is pumped into the hold, to ascertain if there is any leak.
20. The bottom of the vessel is next sheathed either with sheets of copper or pine boards, to protect it from the worms. The latter materials are employed when the planks have been fastened with iron since the copper would cause the bolt-heads to corrode, if placed against them. In either case, sheets of paper, soaked in hot pitch, are interposed between the planks and the sheathing.
21. The vessel is now ready to be removed from the stocks to the water. This removal is called launching, which, in many cases, requires much skill in the preparation and successive management. If there is no permanent inclined plane in the slip, on which the vessel may glide into the water, a temporary one is prepared, consisting of two platforms of solid timber, erected one on each side of the keel, at a distance of a few feet from it, and extending from the stem into the water. Upon this double platform which is called the ways, is erected another set of timbers, and the space between these and the vessel is filled all along with wedges. The whole of this superstructure is called the cradle, and the extremities of it are fastened to the keel, at the bow and stern, with chains and ropes.
22. Every thing having been thus prepared, the wedges are simultaneously driven on both sides. By this means, the vessel is raised from the stocks, and made to rest entirely on the cradle. After the shores have been all removed, the cradle, with its weighty burden, begins to move; and, in a moment, the vessel is launched upon its destined element.
23. Among the ancients, a launch was ever an occasion of great festivity. The mariners were crowned with wreaths, and the ship was bedecked with streamers and garlands. Safely afloat, she was purified with a lighted torch, an egg, and brimstone, and solemnly consecrated to the god whose image she bore. In our less poetic times, there is no lack of feasting and merriment; although the ceremony of consecration is different, the oldest sailor on board merely breaking a bottle of wine or rum over the figure-head—still, perchance, the image of father Neptune or Apollo.
24. The vessel, now brought to the wharf, is to be equipped. The mode of doing this, is varied according as it may be a ship, brig, hermaphrodite brig, schooner, or sloop. The masts are first erected, and these are supplied with the necessary apparatus of spars, rigging, and sails. The latter are furnished by the sail-maker, who is sometimes denominated the ship's tailor.