70,000-TON SHIPS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19261, 27 August 1924, Page 5

70,000-TON SHIPS.

LEVIATHANS FOR AMERICAN SERVICE. Since Columbus crossed the Atlantic in bis cockleshell of a hundred tons or so sea going craft have increased to more than 50,000 tons. \Vhero the Santa Maria carried a crew of 20, one modern vessel in a floating home for <KX>O people. Against the few leagues a day which Columbus noted down in his log, the fastest steamship afloat has just made a record of 26j knots for an Atlantic voyage. Wo can go to Europe now in five days and a-half, anci soon we .diall do it in four. The steamships of today, instead of being smaller, as some have predicted, will be bigger, faster, and exceed in luxury anything known to-day. Such is the conclusion of Sir Ashley Sparks, resident oirector in America of the Ounard Line fsays the New York Times). ‘‘Americans have become the greatest travellers in the world,” ho said, ‘and they Want to travel faster and in better stylo than any other people. So it is idle to say that the day of the big steamship has passed. It is just beginning. We certainly shall build greater vessels in a few years exceeding anything afloat. Yos, they will embrace luxuries on a grander scale. And they will bo fatter, too. ‘How much larger? Well, there really is nothing to limit the size of a modern steamship, except harbours deep enough to admit of passage, docks with enough space end water to provide a berth, and dry docks to take care of repairs. The next of the big steamships may bo some thousands of tons smaller or larger. When a vessel passes the 50,000 mark, the matter of a few tons >s not important. But, in my opinion, we havo scon merely the beginning of the giant ships. “For the last few centuries ships have become steadily larger, faster, and more livable. There is no reason to suppose that we shall turn back now. At present only one primary obstacle prevents the launching of greater ships, and that is construction costs. A vessel of 20.000 tons built to-day represents the outlay for a craft of 45,000 tons before the war. Thus b is virtually impossible to embark upon a programme of big ships at this time. When the cost falls the bigger ships will come, maybe in a year or two, maybe in 10. But they certainly will come.

“Certainly, wo have some distance to go between fifty-odd thousand and 70,000 tons, and wo shan’t bo able to bridge it in one heap. But a ship of 70.000 tons is certainly coneeivable. Hi ere is no mechanical difficulty in tho way. I suppose that anyone of the leading naval architects could design and build a ship of that size tomorrow if a buyer came into the market. “The Mauretania made twenty-six and one-half knots on her last voyage across and was in sight of a new record when she lost a propeller. Wo shall reach that new record before long; this year, I expect. It is just a process of development until we have big ships of 30-knot speed that will leave New York on Wednesday and arrive in Southampton on Mondayfour days.

“Tho Borongaria, 52,706 tons, biggest of the Canard fleet, has accommodation for 3000 passengers and 1000 crew. Another 20,000 tons would orovide quarters for something like 2000 people additional, or a population of 6000.

“We have introduced about every luxury conceivable. Somebody will have to ihink up new applications of comfort for ibo greater ships to come. I supnose we mav see tho day when our trans-Atlantic vessels will be like your best hotels—a bath with every room. We have many staterooms with private baths now, and these accommodations are always sold out first. The ‘room-and-bath’ habit has become so strongly fixed in the American’s mind that he carries it aboard shin and is willing to pay whatever the comfort costs. “Steamships, like hotels, are built to suit tho public taste, and there can be no doubt that present-day taste runs strongly to luxuries. Yes. we may see the time when ‘a bath with every room’ can be advertised, just as it is by the big hotels. There certainly will be no reduction of (ho comforts now provided I cannot imagine American travellers going back to the past, when a rough voyage meant many days inside, lounging on the circular wall soSt of an old-fashioned saloon. Now they can slip into an easy chair and close their eyes by a cheery fire. They might ho at home in their club, save for tho roll of the ship, and that_ is reduced to tho last possible degree in the big vessels.

“The traveller who goes abroad on one of the bigger ships may pay anv price up to bIOO dollars for his ticket. That figure would entitle him to a suite of two bedrooms. sitting room, dining room, private verandah, two bathrooms, and two trunk rooms. In his imperial suite he would find every conceivable comfort of home.’ and many others besides. No lady’s boudoir could be appointed with more meticulous care. The traveller need but forget the swell of the Atlantic to be in hi? own mansion ashore. And even that lomr Atlantic swell is absorbed in large part by the bulk of the great steamships.

“Since the war Americans have travelled in increasing numbers and for greater distances than over before. This summer they are going to Eifrope as tilery used to go to Niagara. “Undoubtedly it is true that, Americans wijl bring about greeter and finer ships,” said Sir Ashley. “Such vessels as cross the North Atlantic are without rivals in the seven seas. No other nation at the present time ’ could afford to travel as Americans go. They want to go fast, on the biggest ships they can find, and to have the maximum of pleasure while aboard. If the war had not intervened, we might already have the great ships that are still to come. The movement has been held back, but by no means ended. Cost of operation really is not the point. Americans want the finest, ships afloat, even finer than those already built, and their demands wall be met. Just how soon I really couldn’t guess.”