KNOTS IN A STEAMER'S LOG LINE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 145, 20 June 1936, Page 29

KNOTS IN A STEAMER'S LOG LINE

The achievement of a superliner as j immense as the Queen Mary represents many steps of progress since the first commercial steamer carried passengers across the Atlantic, says the "Christian Science Monitor." The following are some of the nautical milestones along the way:— 1812—The Comet, the first steamer to carry passengers commercially in Europe, began running between Glasgow and Greenock. 1814—Steamboats for the first time appeared on the River Thames and began to ply between Liverpool and Glasgow. 1819—Paddle steamer Savannah, built in Georgia, U.S.A., crossed the Atlantic to Liverpool in 25 days, steaming and sailing. 1833—The Royal William, a wooden paddle steamer, relying entirely upon its engines, crossed the Atlantic from Canada in 19 days. 1835—Sir Francis Pcttit Smith began experiments on a pond at Hcndon, England, with a toy steamer driven by a screw propeller instead of by paddles 1838—The British Government agreed with Samuel Cunard, merchant, o£ Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the starting of a subsidised mail steamer service across the Atlantic. 1840—The Britannia, first of Samuel Cunard's four Clyde-built wooden mail steamers, crossed the Atlantic to Boston in 14 days, with Cunard himself aboard. 1855—The 1200-ton steamship Persia set a new standard in all-metal con-

struction, being lighter than any wooden ship. 1857—The Great Eastern, a steamer 680 feet long, was built on the Thames, but proved a comparative failure, and was not exceeded in size until the year 1900. 1869—For the first time steamers beat "clippers" sailing ships with raking masts) on the voyage between Europe and China. 1885—For the first time there were afloat in the world more steamers than sailing ships. 1888—The City of New York, the first twin-screw ocean liner, was built. 1894—Germany became a keen competitor with Britain in the transatlantic emigrant carrying trade. 1897—Steam turbine introduced by Mr. C. S. Parsons, who went uninvited to a Royal Navy review at Spdthead in his little turbine-driven yacht Turbinia I and outpaced the fastest dispatch boats of the Royal Navy, which then had steam reciprocating engines. 1901—The King Edward, first large passenger vessel with steam turbine engines, built. 1911 —The geared turbine to attune with efficient propeller speed installed on cross-Channel packets, Normannia and Ilantonia. IJ»l2—lnternal combustion engine used for the first time on an ocean liner, the Selandia. 1928—Building of the American liner California, the first big passenger ship to be driven by electrical power generated on board by steam turbine engines. 1930 —Queen Mary completed.