Steamships and their storyChatterton, E. Keble (Edward Keble)
History
Steamships and their story
Chatterton, E. Keble (Edward Keble)
Shipbuilding; Steamboats
Her genesis begins when the future owners resolve to have her built.
Before any plans are drawn out there must first be decided the
dimensions, the displacement and the general features which she is
to possess, whether she is to be a slow ship, a fast ship, engaged
in passenger work, cargo-carrying, on the North Atlantic route, for
the East through the Suez Canal, and so on; for all these factors
combine to determine the lines on which she is to be built. Before
we progress any farther, let us get into our minds the nine different
types which separate the generic class of steamships. If the reader
will follow the accompanying illustrations, we shall not run the
risk of being obscure in our argument. Fig. 1, shows the steamship
in its elementary form, just a flush-decked craft, with casings for
the protection of the engines as explained on an earlier page. This
represents the type of which the coasting steamer illustrated opposite
page 134 is an example. This casing in the diagram before us is, so to
speak, an island on the deck, but presently it was so developed that
it extended to the sides of the ship, and, rising up as a continuation
of the hull, became a bridge. At the same time a monkey forecastle and
a short poop were added to make her the better protected against the
seas. This will be seen in Fig. 2. This is known as the “three-island”
type for obvious reasons. It must be understood that on either side a
passage leads beneath the bridge-deck so as to allow the crew to get
about the ship. But from being merely a protection for the bows of
the ship, the monkey forecastle became several feet higher, so that
it could accommodate the quarters of the crew, and this “top-gallant”
forecastle, as it is known, will be seen in Fig. 3. At the same time,
the short poop or hood at the stern has now become lengthened into
something longer. But in Fig. 4 we find the lengthened poop becoming
a raised quarter-deck--that is, not a mere structure raised over
the deck, but literally a deck raised at the quarter. This raised
quarter-deck was the better able to withstand the violent force of the
sea when it broke over the ship. In Fig. 5 we have a still further
development in which the topgallant forecastle is retained as before,
but the long poop and the after end of the bridge are lengthened until
they meet and form one long combination. This is one of the “well-deck”
types, the “well” being between the after end of the forecastle
and the forward end of the bridge-deck. This well was left for the
reason that it was not required for carrying cargo, because it was not
desirable to load the ship forward lest she might be down at the head
(which in itself would be bad), whilst at the same time it would raise
the stern so that the propeller was the more likely to race. But in the
modern evolution of the steamship it is not only a question of trim and
seaworthiness that have been taken into consideration, but also there
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