THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3566, 18 July 1922, Page 59

THE SKETCHER.

THE BIGGEST SHIP. GERMANY’S COLOSSAL WAR LOSS—THE CURTAIN LIFTED FROM THE MAJESTIC MYSTERY.

By

"Skipper," in the World’s Work.

The gigantic ex-German liner Bismarck, now re-cnristened Majestic, is the largest steamer in the world, and the third of three giant ships launched prior to the World War by the Hamburg-America Steamship Company. She is the greatest achievement of modern shipping, and is likely to remain so for many years to come. In the order of building these giants are: the Imperator, now the Berengaria, of the Cunard Line (52,000 tons); the Vaterland, owned by the United States Shipping Board, and renamed Leviathan (54,000 tons); and the Bismarck, now the White Star ship Majestic (56,000 tons). In opening this description of the Majestic it will be more than usually interesting to recall certain of the incidents connected with the launching of this great ship. The Kaiser, who witnessed it from the yards of her builders, Messrs Blohm and Voss, on June 20, 1914, had issued a special order that the vessel should be christened by Countess Hanna Bismarck, the eldest granddaughter of the Iron Chancellor; but there was a slight accident at the last moment, and the ex-Emperor saved the situation. Just as, the \ ship slid down the ways the Countess attempted to break the customary bottle of wine, but she was somewhat nervous and did not strike with sufficient force to break it. The Kaiser quickly seized the bottle from her hand and smashed it on the sides of the new liner, thereby personally christening the vessel. This unusual incident was looked unon at the time as something of an ill omen, and the subsequent history of the vessel rather confirms such a view ! The selection of a title K>r the steamer was made by the Kaiser himself in commemoration of the great statesman, whose one-hundredth birthday was to be celebrated in the year following the launch (1915;, when the new vessel was expected to sail on her maiden voyage. However, little more than a week after the launch of this wonder ship, newspapers were blazing with the news that the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his morganatic wife, the Duchess of Hohenburg, had been assassinated whilst paying an official visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, This most miserable of back-street shooting episodes explains why the Bismarck did not sail on her maiden trip in 1915. During the terrible months of war announcements were made from time to time that the Kaiser had ordered the big ship to be in readiness for service against the day peace was won by Germany. It was to be a fitting emblem of Teutonic supremacy on the high seas! But the armistice found the ship no nearer completion than when launched. The Peace Treaty provided that the Germans should complete the vessel as designed, and hand her over to the Reparations Commission, from whom she was purchased by her present owners. A cool million was paid for her. and the mighty ship is an astounding bargain at that ! for it is a well-known fact in shipping circles that such a ship could not be built, to-day under four times the sum—supposing she could be considered at all! There has never been anything like this ship, and with the huge costs of postwar production it is doubtful whether there will ever be anything like her again. i Stupendous Figures.— The Majestic gives the observer impressions of huge space, and it is difficult to believe that she is intended to sail! Yet it is expected that she will soon take her rdace in the Transatlantic service, commencing her maiden voyage from Southampton on May 10. - A monster of the deep, the Majestic is 95bft long. This is nearly one-fifth of a mile, or one-fourth the height of Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Great Britain. •Stupendous figures, difficult to realise, have to be employed in describing this wonderful ship. Were she to be reared un alongside the Woolworth Building, New York, the tallest sky-scraper in the world, she would tower 164 ft above it! The Majestic’s length is 400 ft greater than the longest ship of only 40 years ago —the City of Rome. She exceeds the length of the ill-fated Lusitania and her great Tyne-built sister Mauretania .by 200 ft! She is 74ft longer than the ship which enjoys the title of “The Largest British Steamer’’—the Olympic. She is double the length of the battleship Dreadnought, one and a-half times the length of the famous Queen Elizabeth, and 146 ft longer than the world’s greatest warship, the Hood. From Great Eastern to Majestic.— It is instructive to recall that after the failure of the Great Eastern, built on the Thames 70 years ago, which had a length of nearly 600 ft, it was considered architecturally impossible to build a successful vessel having such a length. The reason of which was that the longest waves of the Atlantic being some 600 ft, any ship of this or greater length would in a storm be likely to get herself in between two waves and have either a very bad twisting time or break lier back altogether. This idea prevailed for upwards of 40 years, and it was not until those two famous record-breakers of the Cunard, the Lucania and the Campania, were built in 1893, that the “fatal six hundred’’ feet was again exceeded. The truth of the matter was that the Great Eastern was much before her time, her engines not being powerful enough to drive her through a turbulent sea. To-day the 810 ft Olympic drives her way through the trough of the seas quite unconcernedly.

When we compare the Majestic with some of her historic ancestors, the rapidity of development is seen to be enormous. She is just 22J times the length of the Comet, the first steamship launched in Great Britain (from the yard of John Wood, of Port Glasgow, January, 1812); and in tonnage the Majestic would make nearly 2000 Comets! She is 80 times as large as the packet Sirius, that laid the foundation of Atlantic steam travel in 1837. The Sirius cost £27,000. What the Majestic cost the Germans is apparently not to be divulged. Another interesting fact is that her tonnage is equivalent to that of the whole 123 vessels of the Spanish Armada put together. -—Gargantuan Dimensions. — Dimensions of all kinds on the great ship are truly Gargantuan. Two trains could pass abreast through one of her three funnels, which are 30ft in diameter. The tops of these stacks are 144 ft above the water line of the ship and 184 ft above the keel of the ship, or a total height equal to that of an ordinary 12-storey building. When the look-out in the topmost crow’s nest on the foremast climbs into place—by means of a ladder inside the mast—he will be 189 ft above the water, in the loftiest look-out perch ever carried on a steamship. An idea of her huge size will be more fully appreciated when it is mentioned that she could take a whole town (such as Marlborough, for example), population, bag, and baggage, and transport them from one side of the Atlantic to the other! The space in the great ship occupied by her housing facilities, so to speak, and her engines and other machinery, is equal to that in 4CO average detached suburban residences of eight rooms each, or of about 800 average fourroom fiats. To accommodate its passengers with sleeping quarters the ship will have 1245 state-rooms —these being 472 in saloon, 212 in second class, and 51 in third, —besides enclosed dormitories for single men and single women respectively in the latter class. The stateroams range from neat one-bed rooms for single travellers to elaborate suites of six rooms each with sitting room, private sun verandah, private bath, and toilet, dining, and bedroomsr With homes for 5200 people, she will have a capacity for carrying that number, including 4100 passengers ,and a crew of about 1100. She has quarters for about a thousand passengers in saloon, 700 in second class, and 2400 in third. The Majestic is precisely 100 ft in beam. Her 48 boilers cover a space equivalent to five acres, and the steam from these will operate four huge turbines for driving the hull ahead and four for checking her speed and diverting her astern. The weight of a single main turbine is 375 tons! Her engines will deliver a iqaximum of 62,000 to 64,000 indicated horsepower through four shafts to the four propellers of the ship—each of which is 16ft in diameter! This horse-power is equivalent to that of about 3000 average automobiles ! At 170 revolutions per minute, the ship’s big screws will drive her through the water at about 23 knots, or more than 26 land miles an hour. At 194 revolutions they will send her rushing through the waves at 26 knots, or better than 30 land miles per hour. The weight of the complete plant for driving the ship, including bunkers, feed water, etc., amounts to 22,000 tons! She lias a bunker s~ace of 9500 tons and a displacement of 60,000. . —The Lofty Public Rooms.-—-The public rooms of the ship are great halls in dimensions, with clear spaces and lofty ceilings riot usually associated with marine architecture. The lounge has a ceiling 26ft high, and its Hoor dimensions are 76ft by 54ft. The main dining room has an area of more than a quarter of an acre, or 11466 ft, being 117 ft long by 98ft wide. Its ceiling, over an area of 2300 ft, is 31ft high—the loftiest ever built on shipboard. The Pompeiian swimming-bath will be quite large enough for those who try it, since it will cover an area of 820 square feet. Finished in mosaic and marble, it is 9ft deep and holds 130 tons of warm sea water—which can he poured in or run off in 25 minutes—more than enough to sink many an ocean-going craft! There will be 30 dressing rooms attached, and spectators will save themselves a splashing by making their observations from the balcony. Among other features is the verandah cafe on deck, enclosed in glass, with flowering shrubs and trailing vines in a great abundance. There is a playroom for children with equipment to amuse little ones from one year upwards, the walls of which are decorated with friezes depicting episodes of fairy tale days. A conservatory for preserving flowers received by passengers on sailing, a cardroom for quipt rubbers, a ballroom and winter garden, a stage which can be used for moving pictures or vaudeville, kennels, and novelty stalls are amongst the amazing number of amcnijtfiies aboard this wonder ship. A daring innovation of ocean travel is marked by the large passage, or hallway, running through the centre of the whole ship, with bedrooms opening off each side as in an hotel. The Majestic has side companionways instead of the usual one in the centre, which certainly gives more space between the decks. Nothing more spacious on shipboard could possibly be imagined. The liner is so big that it is not at all difficult to lose oneself aboard; hence the necessity for “policing” her decks and companionways with stewards who are really commissionaires, whose duty it is to direct the inhabitants of this floating city ! There are, of course, electric elevators running from keel to boat deck. One of these is placed in the engine-room, bo that the members of the force can get about quickly. Also a complete telephone system is included replete with its own exchange, many state-rooms and cabins being in the system. There is an electric switchboard 22ft long and Bft high; from this, amongst other things, some 15,000 elec-

trie lights are controlled: whilst thousands of ventilating fans all over the ship are driven bv 103 electric motors. There are also 122 other motors which drive auxiliary machinery, winches, etc. Five dynamos generate the current for these motors. The ventilating system is 98,000 ft long, so that any one going over it would have a walk of some 18 miles! The Advantages of Oil Fuel.— Oil, of course, will be the essential'fuel on tne Majestic, and, despite the fact that her owners incurred so much outlay in purchase, further expenses were cheerfully entailed in preparing this vessel for oil-burning. This, however, will result in future economies, as may be judged from the fact that it will be possible to make at least - -, two more round voyages per aimum under oil than under coal. With oil it will not be necessary for the ship to stay more than three or four days in port, whilst with coal the vessel’s detention would average eight days ! Moreover, enough oil can be carried on her for a full round trip, but with it coal it would be essential to fuel on both ends of the voyage. In addition to the saving of time, there will be the advantage of being able to bunker with oil at the American end of the run, where this kind of fuel is much cheaper than elsewhere. And the saving in weight of fuel consumed per diem will amount to fully 25 per cent.—the daily consumption of oil being 900 tons as against 1200 tons of coal! Again, there will be a great saving in boiler repairs with oil-firing, and this will, of course, reduce the time necessary for repairing as compared with coal-fired boilers, so that the ship will be kept more constantly in service. Painting, scouring, and scaling will become rare events, instead of the regular nuisances they are to-day. About 275 men, from chief engineer to boiler-room attendants, will be required to run the huge power plant, as against the 460 men who would be required if coal were burned. The Stewards’ Department.— To look after the comfort and requirements of the thousands of passengers there will be 650 men and 25 women in the stewards’ department, which includes butchers, cooks, confectioners, bakers, and scullions. In the eight separate kitchens on the ship there will be 70 cooks, 25 bakers, and 15 butchers. In the second and third classes there will be two “Kosher” kitchens to serve Jewish travellers. It is estimated that for a single trip affcross the Atlantic it will cost the company in running expenses about £170,000. Special attention has been paid to the stability of the vessel, and every scientific precaution taken to render her immune from perils of the sea. The numerous bulkheads have been treated so as to enable them to resist enormous temperatures (2900 deg Fahr.), and it is felt that this will prevent as far as i 3 possible the spread of flames. A fire warning can be sent by telephone from numerous places on board to the bridge, in addition to which there are 450 fire alarms distributed throughout the vessel. These later indicate automatically to the officer on watch the fact that a certain temperature in a compartment is exceeded. Amongst her lifeboats the Majestic includes two fitted with wireless. Three wireless stations are installed aboard, the longest of which is capable of maintaining permanent connection with both America and England during the entire voyage across the Atlantic. Gubmarine signalling according to the most modern developments is fitted to assist navigation in foggy weather : while antirolling tanks, in addition to the customary bilge keels, have been installed. Harbour authorities have made striking comment on the Majestic’s enormous size. Major G. S. Szlumper, the Docks and Marine manager of the port of Southampton, where the ship is to have her home base, is reported to have said that when it becomes necessary to dry-dock the Majestic she will have ter return to her German builders, since there is no dry dock in Great Britain large enough to accommodate her! New York experts have expressed the same interesting opinion.

THE CRUISE OF THE DREAM SHIP. An ideal book for this time of the vear is Ralph Stock’s “The Cruise of the bream Ship” (Heinemann). It is a hook about a voyage from England to the South Sea- Islands by three amateur sailors in a tinv ship of only twenty-three •tons, and it is unlike any other hook on sea or land travel. It is a joyous narrative which it is impossible to read without longing to embark on a similar adventure—unless one is an incurable land-lubuer. Raising the Money.— The author, his sister, and a demobilised officer had no money and practically no knowledge of navigation, yet they got their ship without be,gging, borrowing, or stealing, and sailed the 12,000 miles unaided, with the exception of the assistance of a retired skipper, who guided them as far as Spain. The author, by the aid of his war gratuity and sundry earnings with his pen. was able to by a Norwegian-built cutter designed as a lifeboat, but costly alterations an-d equipment were needed for such a voyage, so he joined the Devonshire fishing fleet, and went trawling until he had acquired sufficient capital. His sister, meanwhile took a job as a “useful maidwhile “Steve,” the demobilized officer, “faded into the smoke of a great city on a mission the details of which he'has never divulged till this day.” Mid-Atlantic.— At last, after many lessons in the theory of navigation from the old ekipper already mentioned, they set sail. The description of their voyage across the Atlantic is delightful and thrilling reading. Tliere was one awful moment when,

with the ship becalmed in mid-Atlantic, the two men swimming and the lady below, a sudden breeZ j took the ship away from the bathers. If the lady had been asleep, she would hive had a terrible awakening. As it happened, she came on deck in time. Thf subsequent experiences of the voyagtVs suggest that the world is a very friendly place for mariners. Everywhere these amateurs were most hospitably entertained. But they had a shock going through the Panama Canal. The toll for this little craft was fifteen dollars, but their little engine Nailed, and they were towed at the rate of six dollars an hour, and the cost swallowed up most of their capital. They were saved financially by the unexpected find of a. cheque awaiting the author at Panama for the film rights of one of his stories. The Old Man of Cristobal.— When they reached Oristobal, one of the Galapagos Islands, they met a little old man, who startled them by speaking in cultured English:— “What about this Dutch war he Had heard rumours of during the last year or two: With Germany, was it? Well, now, and who was winning? Over, eh? —-and with the Allies on top ? That was good, that was good!” This avas the second time he had spoken English in fifty years. “He was here,” says the author, “when the pirates of the South American coast murdered for money, even as they have a Jinack of doing to this day, and hid the loot at their headquarters in the Galapagos Islands, silver and gold, boatloads of it. He had built a cutter with his own hands, and sailed in search of this same loot, only to encounter the sole owner, still guarding his ill-gotten gains though reduced to nakedness and hair. At a distance Dad had seen him first, and, mistaking him for a mountain goat, had shot him through the heart. It was the first man lie had killed, and he could not stay on the island after that—especially at night. Where There is Treasure.—“Afterwards, I asked the owner of Cristobal if one might believe half the old man said, and he nodded gravely. “There is much also that he does not say,’ he added, with a smile. “ ‘There is undoubtedly treasure still lying hidden in the Galapagos Islands, two caches have been unearthed, silver ingots and pieces of eight respectively. The finder of one built himself a handsome hotel in Ecuador, and the other drank himself to death in short order. But there is definite proof that there is more.” Witchcraft.— At the island of Moorea they learned something about witchcraft from a retired police officer. Describing a secret watch he kept on ja house fpr cannibal practices, he said : f “ ‘There must have been close on a hundred Kanakas squatting round the walls of the house in stony silence, when a wind sprang up that nearly blew the roof off, and yet never as much a.s stirred the leaves on the palms twenty yards away. It was still blowing when something dropped through the roof, and squatted on the mats in the middle of the house. “ ‘There wasn’t much light—there never is at these chivarees —but there was enough for me to see that, whatever it was, it was a leper. It wasn’t all there. It wasn’t the right shape or colour, but it bloomed out answers to questions that the others put to it, and, knowing the lingo, I listened. It was the usual business So-and-so’s father was all right, hut hoped that his son would join him before long, as he was a trifle lonely. And somebody else’s- brother was having the time of his life with a brand-new sailing canoe that was the fastest thing yet. And somebody else was going to die soon.’ ” “A clever fake,” was this officer s opinion. —The Owner of Palmerston Island.— At Palmerston Island they met the present owner: “One W illiam Masters, aa fine an old English sea-dog as ever came off a, whaler, took a fancy to the place in 1862, leased it from the British Government, and. not believing in halfmeasures. took unto himself three native wives. By each he ihad a large and healthy family that he reared in strict accordance with his own standards of social usage. “That thev were sound standards is evidenced in the people of Palmerston to-dav. Thev read, write, and speak English, this last with an accent vaguely reminiscent of the south-west of England. They are courteous,, hospitable, and honest to a degree little short of startling these days, and although naturally inbred, they do' not show it mentally or physically. “The islets scattered round the reef have been equally distributed amongst the d ascendants of William Masters s three wives, who now number ninetyeight, and under the authority of the island council, presided over by ‘Mister Masters himself,’ are worked to such purpose that they produce a thousand pounds’ worth of copra per year.” —• Sewing-Machine as Monument.— At Niue (Savage Island) they heard some curious things about the burial rites of the Niueans: — “ ‘They’ve always buried their dead alongside the tracks (roads), and we saw no reason to interfere,’ said a resident. “Good grave, coral, like a sponge—everything into the sea in no time. On top? Oh, that may be anything from a canoe to a pair of old boots! Thay have the same idea of “laying the table” with the deceased’s personal belongings as so many others. I nearly stole one of them once. It was a perfectly g004.' sewingmachine, and my wife had nothing to run up curtains and things with when we came here. But I thought better of it. You have to go warily with these gentry.’ ”

The saddest event in this joyous cruiee happened at Nukualofa, the capital of the Friendly Islands, when the author in an unguarded moment mentioned what he thought was a prohibitive price for his ship, and the money was promptly paid. There was no going back on the transaction. They found a steamer voyage very wearisome after their own little craft. But Mr Stock has found another dream ship, and no doubt we shall have, one day, another fine book.

SUBST3TUTE FOR LEATHER. Henrv Ford is now reported as turning out daily 27,000 yards of leather-substi-tute for use in the seats, tops, and curtains of Ford ears. In 1920, we are told by Kenneth IX Cassidy in an article m the Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record (Detroit), the l'ord Motor Company built 910,000 motor cars, necessitating a purchase of approximately 81,875,000 square feet of rubber cloth material for tops alone. Hie process by which Ford is producing this great quantity of artificial leather substitute daily with a working force of 63 men may well be classed, the writer asserts, among the wonders of the Ford industry, and is one of the answers to, “How does Ford do it?” He continues: “The story of this branch of the giant industry, its gradual evolution from a struggling infancy, and the radical departure from all previous methods involved, forms an interesting chapter in Ford’s industrial progression. Prior to 1919 an engineer in Ford's employ conducted experiments in leather substitute making for more than two years. In the latter part of 1918 preparations were made for actual production. On January 6. 1919, 840 yards of sateen were given the first two coats of ‘ mixture,’ as it is called. Singe that time the growth of the industry has been rapid, until the estimated output for the current is in excess of 8,000,G00 vards. “Three grades of leather substitute are being manufactured. The raw material is sateen. A 20 days’ supply of cloth is kept on hand. “The roll is first weighed and inspected. Then it is .placed on the unwinder, a special machine equipped with a regular Ford brake which regulates the flow of cloth into the evens. ‘From this machine the cloth enters the ovens. Seven feet square at their base, they extend 30ft unward through the roof. Within each oven are coils of steam pipes and a temperature of 190 deg is maintained. “Before the cloth enters the ovens from the unwinder it is given its first coat of ‘mixture.’ It is this mixture that changes the sateen into leather substitute. The-,ingredients and the amount required for a batch are as follows: “Nitrated cotton, 14201 b; blended oil, 11201 b ; drop black, 13001 b : butyl acetate, 33 gallons; ethyl acetate. 320 gallons; benzol, 650 gallons. “The nitrated cotton used is not quite as highly nitrated as that utilised in the manufacture of guncotton and is non-ex-plosive. This is dissolved in the acetates, thinned with benzol, and the other ingredients added. Blended oil is used to assure flexibility. “At the present time this mixture is received in barrels already mixed. Ford, however, in the near future plans t-o do his own mixing. “The mixture flows from the supply tank through a pipe directly above the cloth in a thick, black stream. It is spread out and the coat made uniform by means of a knife, which scrapes over the cloth and the excess mixture flows into a trough and is pumped back into the supply tank. “The prepared cloth passes into the oven, travels to the top of it and down again, and then emerges on the opposite side. By this time the first coat of composition has been baked on. The sateen then receives a second coat of the mixture and travels into another room. This process is repeated in seven ovens. Coats one and two are not as heavy as the other five, thus providing a thorough penetration of the cloth, which travels on rollers moving at a uniform rate of 18 yards per minute. ‘ After emerging from the ovens, the cloth is cooled by merely running it up and down in tbg open. “From the ovens the roll of cloth is carried to an embossing press, which exercises a pressure of 200 tans and makes seven and a half presses a minute. After the leather has been grained, a finishing coat, of mixture is apolied. When the coating process is finished the material is inspected, rolled, packed into box cars, and shipped to the assembly building where it is made into seats and backs" The vardage of finished leather exceeds the original yardage of cloth, due to a slight stretching of the material.” The foregoing details are of the manufacture of heavy material for seats. In making top and curtain leather a different grade of sateen is used. Only four coats Of mixture are applied and onlv four ovens ■re necessary. More oil is also used to ffive increased flexibility. Mr Cassidy proceeds : “-Approximately 20001 b of nitrated cotton are used every day. The ingredients are mixed in a large revolving tank having a capacity of 1500 gallons. The mixing" of a single batch requires from six to eight hours. “Prior to Ford’s experiments all ovens used in making artificial leather were of the horizontal tvpe. With the horizontal oven there is the necessity of transporting the cloth from one oven to another, and a forced draft is necessary to carrv off the heavv fumes, while in the -cortical oven natural draft is sufficient. Finally, danger from fires is greatly lessened. With the vertical oven the flames are confined to the oven and escape through the roof. Ford has taken every precaution to avoid fire. Fverything is grounded for static eleetricitv. All lights are outside of the building and so arranged that they shine through the windows. “There are some interesting hits of salvage work in connection with this pro-

duction. It was noticed that when the barrels of cellulose were emptied considerable of the material adhered to the sides of the barrels and was wasted. By rigging up a barrel: tumbler—a revolving platform to which the barrel is fastened — and by the addition of a thin oil most of this loss is now recovered. “Another saving has been made in the photographic department. All Ford Weekly films and negatives of pictures that are discarded are sent to the artificial leather building, where they are soaked in hot water and the cellulose recovered. This is used in the ‘mixture.’ “Ford also is preparing to make his own cloth, and, from present indications, will, in the near future, be able to manufacture enough for his. own use. At this time three looms are turning out 120 yards daily. “Should Ford obtain possession of the nitrate plant at Muscle Shoals, one- operation there will be the nitration of cotton. If this can be accomplished, Ford will be weaving his own cloth, nitrating his own cotton, preparing his own mixture, and manufacturing his own leather substitute. It is possible that should matters turn out as expected, this entire plant will be transferred to Muscle Shoals. At this time, 63 men are turning out from 27,000 to 36,000 yards a day.”