SHIPS' HOSPITALS.

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 149, 27 June 1925, Page 24

SHIPS' HOSPITALS.

The floating dock has ono great advantage over the stationary dock, and that^ that" ,fr can he taken from'placeto place, wherever ,fc i 3 wanted most whereas a W permanent dock would take at least three-or four years to build. On the other hand, • it is not every port that can accommodate" a bio "floatar " for the giants of to-day ca ?r only ju 3 t scrape mto some of them. The figures often quoted to show how muck, cheaper a , floater is than a stationary dock, aie to be deceptive, says an English weekly The first cost is admittedly lower, but once a permanent dock is-built, it is done Wl th for a long time, and barring such accidents as the collapse of a. wall—this occurred recently in Spain —very"few heavy repairs aro likely to be needed. Floating docks, on the other hand, cost a. greatdealto maintain and the machinery to operate them is expensive. One good point about floating docks, however, is that if they prove too small for their work, it is not at all difficult to lengthen them by adding a section or .two, while the task of permitting them to take a much wider ship would not be out of the question either. When a permanent dock has to be length-' ened it is"always a troublesome and expensive business. There is the point, top, that once a ship is in a stone dock she' may be regarded as safe. Accidents have happened,, however, with ''Hoaters." Ihey have foundered or capsized in a gale ;| or broken away from their moorings and blown ashore, which meann.of course, a very bad time for the ship being repaired. :