No one doubts the ability of our shipbuilding yards to turn out these monsters; and on the measured mile, and for a good long distance, we shall certainly see the contract speeds attained and some excelled. But the whole difficulty turns on the question of the coal capacity, and whether it is sufficient to last for even five days or for 3,000 miles. Every effort then must be made to shorten the length of the voyage from port to port; and we may yet see Galway and Halifax, only 2,200 miles apart, once more mentioned as the starting points of the voyage as of old, in the earliest days of steam navigation. In those days the question of fuel supply was a difficulty, even at the then slow speeds, in consequence of the wasteful character of the engines, burning from 7 lb. of coal and upward per horse power hour. Dr. Lardner's calculations, based upon the average performance of those days, justified him in saying that steam navigation could not pay—as was really the case until the introduction of the compound engine.
It is recorded in Admiral Preble's "Origin and Development of Steam Navigation," Philadelphia, 1883, page 160, that the Sirius, 700 tons and 320 horse power, on her return voyage had to burn up all that old be spared on board, and took seventeen days to reach Falmouth. An interesting old book to consult now is Atherton's "Tables of Steamship Capacity," 1854, based as they are upon the performance of the marine engine of the day. Atherton calculates that a 10,000 ton vessel could at 20 knots carry only 204 tons of cargo 1,676 miles, while a 5,000 ton vessel at 18 knots on a voyage of 3,000 miles could carry no cargo at all. Also that the cost per ton of cargo at 16 knots would be twenty times the cost at eight knots, implying a coal consumption reaching to 12 lb. per horse power hour. It is quite possible that some invention is still latent which will enable us to go considerably below the present average consumption of 2 lb. to 1½ lb. per horse power hour; but at present our rate of progress appears asymptotic to a definite limit.
To conclude, the whole difficulty is one of fuel supply, and it is useless to employ a fast torpedo boat as our model, except at the speed at which the torpedo boat can carry her own fuel to cross the Atlantic. If the voyage must be reduced in time, let it be reduced from six days to four, by running between Galway and Halifax, a problem not too extravagant in its demands for modern engineering capabilities. A statement has recently gained a certain amount of circulation to the effect that the Inman Company was about to use petroleum as fuel, in order to obtain more steam. We have the best possible authority for saying there is not the least syllable of truth in this rumor. It has also been stated that since solid piston valves have been fitted to the Teutonic in lieu of the original spring ring valves, she has steamed faster. This rumor is only partially true. Her record, outward passage, of 5 days 16 hours 31 minutes, was made on her previous voyage. She has, however, since made her three fastest trips homeward.—The Engineer.
THE MILITARY ENGINEER AND HIS WORK.[1]
By Col. W.R. KING.
It is not an easy matter to present a dry subject in such an attractive form as to excite a thrilling interest in it, and military science is no exception to this rule. An ingenious military instructor at one of our universities has succeeded in pointing out certain analogies between grand tactics and the festive game of football, which appears to have greatly improved the football, if we may judge from the recent victories of the blue over the red and the black and orange, but it is not so clear that the effect of the union has been very beneficial to military science; and even if such had been the case, I fear there are no similar analogies that would be useful in enlivening the subject of military engineering.
From the earliest times of which we have record man has been disposed to strive with his fellow man, either to maintain his own rights or to possess himself of some rights or material advantage enjoyed by others. When one or only a few men encroach on the rights of others in an organized community, they may be restrained by the legal machinery of the state, such as courts, police, and prisons, but when a whole community or state rises against another, the civil law becomes powerless and a state of war ensues. It is not proposed here to discuss the ethics of this question, nor the desirability of providing a suitable court of nations for settling all international difficulties without war. The great advantage of such a system of avoiding war is admitted by all intelligent people. We notice here a singular inconsistency in the principles upon which this strife is carried on, viz.: If it be a single combat, either a friendly contest or a deadly one, the parties are expected to contest on equal terms as nearly as may be arranged; but if large numbers are engaged, or in other words, when the contest becomes war, the rule is reversed and each party is expected to take every possible advantage of his adversary, even to the extent of stratagem or deception. In fact, it has passed into a proverb that "all things are fair in love and war."
Now one of the first things resorted to, in order to gain an advantage over the enemy, was to bring in material appliances, such as walls, ditches, catapults, scaling ladders, battering rams, and subsequently the more modern appliances, such as guns, forts, and torpedoes, all of which are known as engines of war, and the men who built and operated these engines were very naturally called engineers. It is this kind of an artificer that Shakespeare refers to when he playfully suggests that "'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard."
The early military engineer has left ample records and monuments of his genius. The walls of ancient cities, castles that still crown many hills in both hemispheres, the great Chinese wall, the historical bridge of Julius Cæsar, which with charming simplicity he tells us was built because it did not comport with his dignity to cross the stream in boats, the bridge of boats across the Hellespont, by Xerxes, are all examples of early military engineering. The Bible tells us "King Uzziah built towers at the gates of Jerusalem, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them." We may note in passing that the buttresses, battlements, and bartizans with which our modern architects ornament or disfigure churches, peaceful dwellings, and public buildings, are copied from the early works of the military engineer.