BIGGEST SHIP IN THE WORLD

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3714, 12 October 1926, Page 2

BIGGEST SHIP IN THE WORLD

C2.U00-TON WHITE STAR LINKU. 'fho announcement that has been made by the International Mercantile Marine * Company that it intends to build a. 62,0U0-ton ship for tlie White Star Line does not come as a surprise to the shipping world, for it has been known that it has been thinking very seriously of the matter for some time, and that Messrs Harland and Wolff, the famous Belfast shipbuilders, have had rough plans prepared for many years past (says Frank G. Bowen, in the ‘Daily News’). This will put an end to the dispute as to which is the biggest ship in the world once and for all. According to register figures, the American Leviathan holds the position with her gross tonnage of 09,907, while tin* British Maicstie is only 5(5,551. As a matter of fact, these figures are very deceptive; for, while the beam and depth of the two ships are precisely the same, the length of the Leviathan is 907.911, while that of the Majestic is 915,5. The German doctor who designed both ships has described how the Majestic came into being when her owners took the very successful design of the Leviathan and put in a few extra frames to give her more space for additional lealures.

The difference in size is purely owing to the American methods of measurement, which apply both to the gross tonnage, which is always taken as an indication of the ship’s size, and the net tonnage, on which they pay their harbor dues and the like. By this measurement the Leviathan is quite artificially given a net tonnage of nearly 1,500 more than the bigger Majestic. It was only a. short time ago that people were confidently asserting that the giant liner would never he made to pay. That was soon after the war, when shipbuilding costs were very high and ship owners found it more economical to construct ships of about 20,000 tons apiece. Later the position appeared to lie getting more hopeless still, owing to the Dillingham Immigration Act having cut into the thirdclass business on which these giant ships very largely depend. The Majestic, for instance, carries well over 2,000 third class passengers in accommodation, which compares favorably with the first class of forty years ago. The regular emigrant business is still dead, but in its place has conic the third class tourist trade, which is now making huge strides on the North Atlantic, bids fair to fill up the empty third class quarters, and is no doubt largely responsible for the International Mercantile Marino Company’s decision.