OLD SHIPS NEVER DIE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23037, 14 May 1938, Page 13 (Supplement)

OLD SHIPS NEVER DIE

Many Liners Begin After B

JAPAN'S BID FOR THE LEVIATHAN

By E. MAREHAY—(Copyright)

RECENTLY the famous Atlantic liner Leviathan made her last » trip, and perhaps this was the trickiest passage she ever experienced in her long career, which began in 1914. On her voyage up the River Forth fa Rosyth. where sonic of her beatfcnown contemporaries have already fceen reduced to scrap, at one point Mere was only four inches margin on fcach side of her hull, and an estimated jflepth of water under the keel of two feet. Her shortened masts and funnels enabled her to pass under the Forth Jkidge, and she was then gently coaxed Snto the entrance of the dock which is jiow to be her last resting-place. While there cannot fail to be regrets the passing of such a magnificent yessel as this 49,000-ton liner, its dis-

pression that a shipbreaker's yard resembles an old junk heap. Nothing could be further from the truth, for ship-breaking as a science has developed greatly within recent years, and now huge vessels are reduced to vanishing point with a minimum of waste. Ship-breaking, indeed, is one of the most highly-specialised industries in existence, and extremely valuable from the point of view of employment, for the reduction of vessels to scrap requires large numbers of skilled workmen, including those in inland transport. The process also leads to the using of appreciable quantities of coal, the fuel being needed to convert scrap metal into fresh material. For these reasons many of thoso in closest touch with the shipping industry declare the scrapping of ships should be encouraged to the utmost, not only be-

posal in British yards is the most satisfactory ending to a career which has Jsrought credit to itself and its owners. There is another and more cheerful jcde to the picture. Sailors always regard a ship as having a distinctive life and character of its own. It is this feeling that makes the seafarer say "she" and not "it" when talking of a fchip. In some uncanny way they believe the "soul" of a ship lives on, and in a literal sense, like old soldiers, "old ships lievpr die."

cause it is good for the shipbuilding industry, but also because it leads to the employment of men and the greater use of British coal. Far from being useless at the ends of their careers, ships provide work for hundreds of men for many months. Because of the demand for steel all over the world, during recent years the trade in old ships has been good and there has been keen international competition to purchase them. The Japanese, for example, made a keen bid for the Leviathan, but it was eventually purchased by a British firm for £160,000. This is an unusually large sum but quite small vessels will fetch between £IO,OOO and £30,000. The dismantling of an old ship, which may represent the toil of thousands of skilled men from a score or so different industries, working several years, is almost as complicated a task as the

With a ship destruction means reconstruction, and the greater part of a Vessel lives again in other forms. No Jess than 95 per cent of a ship's structure finds its way to the steel works, ifche iron foundries, the engineers' shops and the sawmills. Old steel passes through furnaces to emerge as new Bteel, and is built again into a new ship. Some people have the mistaken im-

building. When a ship is booked for the breaker's yard, all the luxury equipment, including such things as carpets, pictures and furniture, is first removed. There is always a great demand for souvenirs, and in the case of vessels such as the Leviathan and the Maurotania, the breakers are hard put to it to supply them. In the case of the latter famous liner, some of the best panelling was "grafted" on to her big sister, Queen Mary.

When a scrapped liner has been reduced to an empty shell, powerful machinery soon begins to lay bare the great hull. Gigantic cranes lift the huge steel plates with ease, and electricallydriven shears slice through three-inch steel as if it were paper. It is said that much of the work still requires tho use of the heavy hammer, the chisel, the punch, and the saw, but of late years the increasing use of the acetylene blowpipe has greatly reduced the amount of physical effort. Valuable Timber A large liner contains thousands of tons of material. Some of the timbers used in the fittings are very valuable, and there is little trouble in finding a market for them. Beautiful specimens of oak, walnut, and mahogany fetch high prices. There are massive dynamos, capable of generating {sufficient power to light, and heat a small town. There are thousands of electric switches, and hundreds of tons of lead, zinc, eopper, brass, bronze and gun metal. Besides these the huge boilers and engines are worth large sums, and many of the steel plates can be used again. There are huge quantities of brass, and accessories like port-hole covers are

used in other vessels. There are hundreds of thousands of screws from all over the ship. Most of these can be used again. Sheffield is always a large buyer of materials of this kind. When a great ship is doomed to pass, everybody who has had any connection with her feels regret. Passengers, crew, and officers never forget the days they have spent on her. But of them all, infinitely the saddest are those that have commanded her. When Commodore Sir Bertram Fox Hayes heard that the Majestic, of which he was the most famous captain,- had made her last passage across the Western Ocean, he said: "She was the truest and best ship I ever commanded. You may talk about soldiers loving their horses and about landsmen loving their homes. Neither of them can show a tittle of tho love that a skipper feels for his ship."—K.P.F.