FREAK SHIPS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17348, 20 December 1919, Page 5 (Supplement)

FREAK SHIPS.

SOME EXTRAORDINARY : VESSELS THAT HAVE BEEN BUILT.

Since that 1 memorable day" long ago when our rude forefathers first ventured afloat in their. dug-out. very curious ships have been bmlfe Perhaps the most extraordinary of all these freaks was the steamer-Connector, : : v which was launched in 1863. /' '*" V"'

. The Connector was built:; .'in, three sections, each of which ,was, 'so 'to speak, a ship of itself. ..The how, or forward section, which was fitted, up-in: the usual way, was jointed to the-midship section by, an §.of . a huge- bolt in'siieh a manner that, as' '"the ship pitched, it could rise or fall quite independently of the other two sections. "Thus,,,,as the ship met the ' waves a kind of " "Wriggle " ran along . the hull. . First the-Sow section rose, ' then '"■ the"*- midship *' section followed . suit, and finally the stem section wriggled '"".''-" ~'",~''J. —'■"■- The. craft passed safely Jfirpugh some yery severe,trials, and even, out in heavy weather. The. jSea/fl&s to build up '* ships- in 'sections like Iraqis/ so that any particular section could Be'"dropped" at the various ports of"ca,ll." A few years ago tw.o_ remarkable ships were to be seen, moored off ,_the Koyal Her at Southampton, an.d these vessels were always referred to locally ,as the "cigar boats." They were "invented by Messrs. Winaris, of Baltimore, United States America, and had four funnels and a flagstaff or polemast; but, there was no super-structure of any kind—rjust a big metal cigar. These ships behaved very well in rough weather; but, . for obvious reasons, shipbuilders were not'inclined to give up the normal type of craft in favour of these strange-looking and uncomfortable freaks.

The Russians built some very extraordinary ships in the eighties, but the most remarkable of all these freaks was the Royal " yacht " Livadia, built in Glasgow for the Tsar Alexander IT. in 1880. The ship's hull was built of iron, "shaped like a turbot," and upon this rested the upper part of the craft, which was like a normal steamer. The Hat-fish bottom had an area of more than one-third of an acre. The. ship was, therefore, almost as broad as she was long, and rl'splficed 7700 tons of water. She was fitted tip as a palace, but failed to complete her journey to .Russia. —'—--"'