AROUND THE WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 96, 24 April 1931, Page 4

AROUND THE WORLD.

GOSSIP OF THE PORTS.

EVOLUTION OF THE SHrP.

SAIL, STEAM AND MOTOR

(By LEE FORE BRACE.)

(Concluded.)

Iln last Saturday's issue we traced the 'history of the ship from the earliest times I up to the days of Henry VIII., but it is most interesting to study the several peculiar types of ocean-going ships evolved in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. For instance, on the great seal of fie Dover Barons (1305) there is engraved a most excellent picture of the flagship of the Cinque Ports. She is described as "Ye Great Shippe of ye Admiral," and we are told was of ISO tons burden —at that time the largest ship out of England. She was a single-masted vessel carrying a_ large square sail, with a large "steerbord" hanging over the quarter. Later _m i'i the century the Cinque Ports possessed no less than 28 of these vessels, and we are told, they ventured as far as tlie Levant in search of cargoes. The "carrack"' style of ship fiist appeared in the year 1420. The earliest ones would range from 300 to 500 tons displacement, but towards the end of the century there were two {arracks buiit at Deptford which exceeded JOOO tons. In 1530 we read where 300 Knights of St. John of Jerusalem embarked at Dover on four "Royal Carracks" 'bound for Malta and the Holy Land. The existing pictures and engraving of these great ships shoiv them to -be formidable vessels, and they were the only vessels then sailing the seas which could hold their own with the corsairs of the Mediterranean. The larger ones had three masts and carried upwards of 100 cannon. They were heavily malted iships, and one of them, the Knight Templar, had a main yard 95 feet Irtig, which was never equalled in any vessel until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Like all ships of her time the Knight Templar had a wonderful wealth of carving on her hull. An old document relating to her specifications is now_in the British Museum and it informs the'"reader that the cost of the carving equalled the cost of the building of the hull. Columbus' Ships. When Columbus made his voyage across the Atlantic at the end of the fifteenth century his flagship had an overall length of 128 feet, and her displacement was 233 tons. She carried a crew of 59 men and the two caravels which accompanied her had crews of 30 and 24 respectively. Although these vessels appear small with modern comparisons, they were, nevertheless, the largest vessels then under the flag of Spain.

The only important improvement in shipbuilding which can 'be noted beween the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries was the building of the first three-decker 111 1637, and this was the type which 'held pride of place on the seven seas until t.ic rear 1807, when the first steamship made its appearance. The Clermont was running on the Hudson in that year, ani in ISI2 Britain followed suit when the Comet was plying between Glasgow and Greenock. The first steamer to cross the Atlantic was the Savannah, which reached Liverpool in the summer of 1819. tout the greater part of the voyage was accomplished unler sail. ' It is correct, perhaps, to say that t.ie termination of the monopoly held by the Honourable East India Company did movi to advance shipbuilding than any other cause known in history. Time and speed were not looked for in stately Lnst Indiamen, and it was usual for any of tue company's ships to take up to six moatus on a parage to the Indies. The radian Mutiny in 1557 caused a demand for fast ships to transport troops from England, and this was the cause which broua'.t •about the building of those vessels whirh are now known as clipper ships-. Between 1857 and 1885 the sailing ships reached the height of their fame, but such fame d d not last long: the steamer had arrived, and with the opening of the Suez Canal trie eailing ship trade to India and China came to an end.

Modern Developments. From the middle of last century progress in shipbuilding was more rapid than ever known before. First of all was witnessed the evolution from wood to iron, thence iron to steel, and. with the greater strength and less weight of the latter material for shipbuilding, there was practically no end to the size of ships. In ISSS the march of events was anticipated by the launch of the leviathan, better known as the Great Eastern, a steamer infinitely larger than anything tha* had been previously attempted. Her length was 680 ft. beam 82ft, and gross tonnage no less than 18,914. Writing of li£r some twenty years after her launch a well-known sea writer stated: " The time may come, however, when such floating islands may be of use, but it shall not be in this or in the next century. Thai writer was well out in- iiis prophecy, for only half a century later there were over fifty vessels exceeding the Great Eastern in size sailing up and down the oceans, and little notice was taken in their comings and goings. The new Cunarder now being built on the Clyde will be over four times the size of the Great Eastern in toDuage and nearly twice the length. Sail and Steam. As in the ancient galleys two motive powers, oars and sails, were combined, so in the early steamships sails invariably formed part of the equipment, and right up to the end of the nineteenth century they were used in conjunction with steam, j There are many old sailormen still in Auckland who have sailed in the magnificent steamers of the New Zealand Shipping Company or the Shaw, Savill, and Albion, running the easting down under a press of canvas which would have set an example to a clipper ship skipper in the art of " carrying on." The evolution of the ship presents many interesting features. If we take it as a fact that some 6000 years ago there were in existence galleys of great size, progress indeed seems slow. But until two essential factors were discovered and made use of little progress was possible. It is difficult to say when the mariner's compass was discovered. It is referred to in Chinese history as being known as early as 2634 B.C. The earliest record where it w-as first used for navigational purposes was in the year 265 A.D. However, it is evident that until the compass was in general use as an aid to guide the seafarer, voyages must have been confined to the vicinity of the land. It was only after this occurred that there was any incentive to build ships capable of performing long voyages, and so we had to wait until the Middle Ages before we find much development to the sailing ship. Similarly, the discovery and utilisation of steam in the course of a little over fifty years has been little short of marvellous. And we have now arrived at a stage when it would almost appear that the pinnacle of steamship development has been reached. Without a doubt the internal combustion engine is the ship propulsion of the future. Within the next decade or two the steamer will be as great a curiosity as the windjammer is now. Yet, hand in hand with the scientific products of the twentieth century, there can still be seen the old " dug-out" paddling down the unfrequented rivers of the back countries, just as has been done from the dawn of history; a replica of one of the first craft that carried prehistoric man on the mysterious waters in those dim and far off days.