THE GIGANTIC.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXII, 15 May 1912, Page 3

THE GIGANTIC.

* WORLD'S BIGGEST LINER. The Gigantic, which is to be built for the Atlantic trade of the White Star Company, will be I,oooft. in length, or 118 ft. longer than the last liner, the Titanic, and her sister ship, the Olympic. She will have 12 decks, giving her a height of 144 ft from the bottom of the vessel to the captain's bridge, thus making her equal in height to a fairly hieh office building. Placed on end, the Gigantic would far outstrip any building lon earth. The Cunard line is building the Aquntania, which will be 900 ft. long. The Hamburg-American line is building the Imperator at Stettin, which will be 910 ft. long. The Gigantic is the response to these efforts. A tremendous race is on. The Gigantic will have a beam of 114 ft, as compared with 92ft 6in on the Olympic. She will carry 4000 passengers and 1000 men in the crew,' making her a little city with a population of 5000 souls. She will carry about 1500 in the first cabin, and 2500 "in the other classes. She will have acres of deckage, miles of distances, streets of plank walks, promenades of waving palms, elevators, gardens, athletic fields, telegraph offices, theatre, opera house, arid other places of entertainment, hospitals, shops, and places where one can purchase every article needed and receive every kind of personal service. SEASICKNESS CONQUERED. Seasickness will be virtually abolished bf the Gigantic's enormous length, because she will span so many waves at a time that they will lose their power to make her pitch. The big Atlantic waves, or rollers, large enough to shake up a big liner, average 330 ft from crest to cr<^t. A ship as big as the Majestic, launched in 1890, and 565 ft long, canI not span more than two of these Avaves at once. When she passes into a certain position she is lifted up on the crest of one wave with her two ends unsupported, and under an enormous strain. In fact, "she is under a greater strain than a much smaller ship, which riries up and down the slopes or the big billoivs. ° With the 1000 ft ship all this is changed. She can span the crests of four waves 330 ft in length, and as they average nearly the same height she maintains a practically horizontal position under ali conditions. She can never span less than three such waves'. Double plates along the sides and divisions in the upper works will allow for the bending'of the ship under wave .strain. Bilaia keels, which have proved so successful in preventing rolling, will probably be doubled in number, two being placed on each side along the bottom.