The Thousand-foot Ship and What It Means

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 10, 2 September 1908, Page 57

The Thousand-foot Ship and What It Means

n it a rapid age in which we lite. So new are the new Cunarders that one has not had time to lose wonder over these gigantic liners, to cease to marvel at their immensity of length and tremendous power. It looked as though these 790-foot steamships were to be the last word in murine construction and that their 68.060 horse-power marked the limit of motive strength. “These two steamships,” said Mr. Ismay. “are intended to be far ahead of anything yet designed. They are' to be approximately 1,000 feet in length, perhaps a few feet more or perhaps a few feet less. But if not exactly of 1,000 feet it will be but a trilling difference from that figure, one way or the other. That length will make them considerably greater than any vessel yet produced. I do not know what beam has been decided upon, but this will naturally be commensurate with their length. WILL NEED LONGER PIERS. *RRb» is the first time in its history

that the White Star Line has been able to enter the field of ship construction without a handicap. Hitherto we have been restricted by the limitations of our former home terminal —that of Liverpool : and in planning for new ships it had always been necessary for us to keep in mind the fact that our vessels must be kept within certain limitations. But now that We have moved our terminal to Southampton, that restriction no longer exists, and so, for the first time, wg are how able to enteg the field without any handicap of this nature. Southampton being a spacious hafbour and its waters so wide and deep that so far as that port is concerned We may build ships of any size.” i “What new or unusual features will these new vessels have?” Mr. Ismay was asked. “I may not tell you that,” he replied, “for if I did all of our competitors will know, but J will repeat what I just said, that they will be far ahead of anything that has yet bwm projected.

But there were some features which Mr. Ismay felt free to discuss. The new Cunarders, as all the world knows, are fitted with turbine engines. Mr. Ismay said that the new White Star vessels would be equipped with both turbine and reciprocating engines. These will operate triple screws, the two wing screws being propelled by engines of the reciprocating type, the central one being driven by a turbine. The company already has under construction two other vessels whose motive power is of this combination type. But these are very much smaller. They are the Alberta and the Albany, which are now under construction in the Belfast yards of Harland and Wolff. These two are to be placed in the Canadian service of the company in the coining spring, but they are of relatively small size, their displacement being only 14,000 tons. The new ships will probably displace about 60,000 tons. ‘■Extraordinary speed,” Mr. Ismay continued, “will not be sought for in these

larger vessels. About twenty knots an hour, I should Say, will be their gait. We have some Very good reasons for not filling them up with engines and coal bunkers. There is always a certain percentage of people who are always in a hurry, but we do not believe that that percentage is large, nor is there any reason to believe that it is considerably increasing. To the ordinary voyager a day more or less is not a matter of extreme importance, but two or three additional knots an hour is a matter of extreme importance to the operating company. That the vast majority of ocean travellers are not insistent on high speed seems to be proved by the popularity of such vessels as the Amerika of the Hamburg-Ameri-can Line and our Adriatic.” The two vessels which Mr. Ismay had selected as an example have no pretensions to extraordinary speed, but it is a well-known fact that these two and the type which they represent are exceedingly popular with the travelling public. The patrons of thia class know of the

many features which by the sacrifice of a knot or two of speed it Was found possible to install in them. One therefore wonders about the many unknown features which the White Star Company can place in these tremendously big vessels of a relatively slow speed. Elevators are already a familiar feature. Will these roomy new leviathans have trolleys or moving sidewalks to carry passengers up and down their fur-reaching decks? Will they have theatres and shopping arcades? When the bow reaches port Will it be necessary to telephone the fact to the other end?