THE LATEST CUNARDER.

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 107, 1 November 1924, Page 24

THE LATEST CUNARDER.

. The appointments of the latest Cunard Liner Aurania, which left Liverpool last month on her maiden" voyage to New-lork, are stated to mark- a new era in. cabin and . third-class accommodation. In the former, all. the public rooms are intercommunicating, and the smoking-room and winter garden are' amongst the finest on any : ship afloat. The third-class cabins are larger than any hitherto, installed, and are all carpeted, whilst a play-room for children is also provided in that part of the vessel. Among interesting new features of the decorations ■of the Aurania are fine-hand needlework tapestries, each depicting an Italian legend of tho Middle Ages, which adorn the smokingroom. Altogether these panels cover an area of 189 square fee.t, and in their making; it is said, they have taken up approximately three million stitches.

DESIGNING, A SHIP. What is the design of a ship ? To this question (says "Engineering" in a Home journal) many answers may be given. We are all familiar with the contributions, small and large, which many men may make to a design. In merchant ships which are bought ready made, there is no doubt that the shipbuilder is responsible for the design, but in many ships of commerce, which are made to order, the shipbuilder's claim is not so undoubted. Sometimes the ships .are built to carefully prepared plans and specifications produced by the shipowner or his representatives, but even in these cases . conditions of speed, stability, and weight-carrying are usually imposed upon the 'builder which make it necessary for him to investigate the problem of the design in exactly- the same way as if no indication had been given of tho owner's requirements except such as could be contained on a "half-sheet of notepaper."

'The influence of the, Institution of Naval Architects and of. the Admiralty in course of time helped to produce trained naval architects whose knowledge of the strength, resistance, and stability of ships was such that'the best forms of the minimum weight could be produced with a fair degree of certainty, and both shipbuilders and shipowners have 'taken advantage of the services of these men to create improved types of ships.' The question of design became something more real. Designs; were produced more from first principles than from small departures from previous examples. ■ The general adoption of progressive speed trials gave the naval architect the, chance to determine what was the relative value of different forms. of hull and dimensions of propellers. The ■ continuous accumulation of tank data and the publication of results reduced the chance 3of er-. ror, until at the beginning of this century there was little excuse for the nonfulfilment of predicted speed ' conditions. Iv the earlier days of the tank work the results related mostly to fine forms, but, later, similar results were obtained for the fuller forms, so that all classes of ships could be designed with more certainty. Even in the earlier days, when tank results were available only to the favoured few, some strikingly successful results were obtained. One of these was that of an Atlantic liner which, with the same type'of machinery rivalled the existing holder of the speed record for a consumption of fuel of only two-thirds of. that-of the older ship