A sailing ship
The American Frigate Constitution
A British Line-of-Battle Ship, 1790
This awkward ship is one of the type that made up the great fleets that fought, for instance, at Trafalgar. Nelson’s flagship, the Victory, is of this type.
A Cargo Liner
A cargo liner is a freight ship that sails on scheduled dates and routes, and is different in this from a “tramp” which takes what cargoes it can at any time and to any port.
A European Side-wheeler
These steamers are often seen in European waters and are widely used as excursion boats.
A Few Types of Sailing Boats to Be Found Around the World
A Few Types of Sailing Ships Common in European and American Waters
A Floating Dry Dock
And a ship undergoing repairs.
A Battle Cruiser
A ship carrying the heaviest of guns but lacking the heavy armour of the dreadnaughts. Its speed is greatly superior to that of dreadnaughts.
Using a Cross Staff
This crude instrument was used in an attempt to work out problems in latitude. After holding one end of the staff to the eye and sliding the cross staff along until the observer sighted over one end at the sun and under the other at the horizon, the instrument was placed on a circle marked in degrees, and the angle was determined.
Using a Pelorus
This apparatus consists of a movable plate marked with compass bearings, set in a stand. The observer sets the plate to correspond to the standard compass, and then sights across it in determining the compass bearings of points ashore from which he wishes to learn his exact position.
Using an Astrolabe
This instrument was meant to improve on the cross staff. One man held it, when it was supposed to hang with the horizon line horizontal. Another man sighted at the sun or the stars, and a third read and recorded the angle. Needless to say the instrument was very inaccurate.
The Savannah
The first steamship to cross the Atlantic.
The Spray
In which Captain Joshua Slocum circumnavigated the globe.
The Steamship Oceanic
This ship may be said to be the first of the transatlantic liners, for in her, for the first time, great concessions were made for the comfort and convenience of the passengers.
The Tillamook Rock Light Station
This great rock, which lies about a mile off the coast of Oregon, was formerly a spot of terrible danger to ships. Great difficulties had to be overcome in order to erect this lighthouse, but now its 160,000-candle-power light is visible, in clear weather, for eighteen miles.
The Paris
The greatest French Merchant ship, operated by the French Line.
The Pharos at Alexandria
One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and one of the first great lighthouses.
The Rigging of a Three-masted Ship
(1) Foremast; (2) Mainmast; (3) Mizzenmast; (4) Fore, main, and mizzen-topmasts; (5) Fore, main, and mizzen topgallant masts; (6) Fore, main, and mizzen royal and skysail masts; (7) Fore yard; (8) Main yard; (9) Crossjack yard; (10) Fore, main, and mizzen lower topsail yards; (11) Fore, main, and mizzen upper topsail yards; (12) Fore, main, and mizzen lower topgallant yards; (13) Fore, main, and mizzen upper topgallant yards; (14) Fore, main, and mizzen royal yards; (15) Fore, main, and mizzen skysail yards; (16) Spanker gaff; (17) Fore and main trysail gaffs; (18) Lower shrouds; (19) Topmast shrouds; (20) Back stays; (21) Fore skysail stay; (22) Fore royal stay; (23) Flying jib stay; (24) Fore topgallant stay; (25) Jib stay; (26) Fore topmast stays; (27) Fore stays; (28) Main skysail stay; (29) Main topgallant stay; (30) Main topmast stay; (31) Mizzen skysail stay; (32) Fore and main lifts; (33) Topsail lifts; (34) Topgallant lifts; (35) Spanker boom; (36) Bowsprit; (37) Jib boom; (38) Flying jib-boom; (39) Martingale or dolphin striker; (40) Braces (named from the yard to which they are attached); (41) Bobstays; (42) Martingale stays.
The Sails of a Four-masted Ship
(1) Foresail; (2) Mainsail; (3) Crossjack; (4) Jigger; (5) Lower foretopsail; (6) Lower main topsail; (7) Lower mizzen topsail; (8) Lower jigger topsail; (9) Upper fore topsail; (10) Upper main topsail; (11) Upper mizzen topsail; (12) Upper jigger topsail; (13) Fore topgallant sail; (14) Main topgallant sail; (15) Mizzen topgallant sail; (16) Jigger topgallant sail; (17) Fore royal; (18) Main royal; (19) Mizzen royal; (20) Jigger royal; (21) Fore skysail; (22) Main skysail; (23) Mizzen skysail; (24) Jigger skysail; (25) Flying jib; (26) Outer jib; (27) Jib; (28) Fore topmast staysail; (29) Spanker; (30) Buntlines; (31) Leechlines; (32) Reeftackles; (33) Braces; (34) Foresheet; (35) Fore topmast staysail sheet; (36) Jib-sheet; (37) Outer jib-sheet; (38) Flying jib-sheet.
The Mauretania
A British liner of the Cunard Line.
The Merrimac
An ironclad built by the Confederates during the American Civil War. This ship proved how superior to wooden ships armoured ships could be. She was armed with a ram with which she sank the Cumberland, and her armour amply protected her from the enemy’s guns.
The Monitor
The first armoured ship to mount a turret. This is the ship that fought with the Merrimac the first battle between armoured ships.
The Olympic
A sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic, and operated by the White Star Line.
The Great Eastern
A ship that was built half a century too early. This huge vessel, built in 1857, was designed to make the voyage from England to Australia without refuelling. She never made the voyage to Australia, but was used to lay the Atlantic cable. She was ahead of her time, for engines had not developed to the point where she could be properly propelled.
The Great Republic
The greatest clipper ship ever built. Unfortunately, before she made her first voyage she caught fire and had to be sunk. She was refloated and refitted, but never made a voyage in her original rig. When new masts were put in her they were made smaller than the first ones. Still she turned out to be one of the very fastest of the clippers.
The Homeric
A British liner belonging to the White Star Line.
The Leviathan
Formerly the German liner Vaterland, and taken over by the United States during the World War.
The Majestic
Formerly the German liner Bismarck. It is now the property of the White Star Line.
The Detroit
This 35-foot motorboat made the voyage from Detroit, Michigan, to St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Deutschland
Formerly the holder of the transatlantic record.
The George Washington
An American liner, formerly a German ship. She was taken over by the United States during the World War.
The Great Britain
An awkward and unsuccessful ship. She proved, however, when she was wrecked, that for ship construction iron is stronger than wood, and proved, too, that double bottoms, bulkheads, and bilge keels, which were new departures when she was built, were most desirable in ships of her size.
The Ariel, 1866
Which, with the Fiery Cross, Taeping, Serica, and Taitsing, sailed what was, perhaps, the greatest race ever run. After sailing 16,000 miles from Foo-Chow, China, to London, the Ariel, Taeping, and Serica docked in London on the same tide, the Taeping the winner by only a few minutes. The other two were only two days behind, although the first three took 99 days.
The Belgenland
Belonging to the Red Star Line.
The Berengaria
A former German ship now belonging to the Cunard Line.
The Charlotte Dundas
Before the Clermont was built, this boat had operated successfully on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland. The objection to her was that she stirred the water up so that she injured the banks of the canal.
Robert Fulton’s Clermont
The first completely successful steamboat ever built. Others built before the Clermont were made to go, but this ship carried passengers for years.
Sounding by Machine
A glass tube with the upper end closed and the lower end open is lowered in a special case to the sea bottom, and then brought to the surface. As the tube descends, the water compresses the air in the tube, and gradually creeps up inside. The inside of the tube being of ground glass the water leaves a mark showing how far it has entered the tube. By laying the tube on a special scale the depth to which the glass was carried can be gauged. There are other methods not greatly dissimilar from this.
The American Frigate Constitution
The Aquitania
A British built ship operated by the Cunard Line
Bishop Rock Lighthouse
On a cluster of rocks off the Scilly Islands near the entrance to the English Channel where converge the most important of all the world’s shipping lanes.
Cape Race Lighthouse
A 1,100,000-candle-power light now marks the great Newfoundland headland of Cape Race. Near this cape lies the shortest sea route from the English Channel to Boston and New York, and ships entering the St. Lawrence River also must pass near it.
Fire Island Lightship
This lightship is anchored off Fire Island, near the southern coast of Long Island, U. S. A. Lightships sometimes mark shoals, and sometimes mark the entrances to harbours. They are always kept anchored in given spots and are merely floating lighthouses, although, of course, they are sometimes relieved by other lightships so that they may undergo repairs.
H. M. S. Dreadnaught
The first all-big-gun ship, and the one that gave its name to present-day battleships, which are universally called dreadnaughts or super-dreadnaughts.
Minot’s Ledge Light
Which marks, near the entrance to Boston Harbour, a rocky reef seldom seen above the surface of the water. From this spot, the famous old skeleton iron lighthouse that formerly marked the reef was swept by a gale in 1851.
An English Warship of the Time of Henry V
By the time this ship was built hulls had grown considerably in size over what they had been at the time of William the Conqueror, and the era of lavish decoration was well under way. The numerous decks of this ship were not unusual for the time.
An Experiment of 1924
This ship, designed by a German, is propelled by the wind blowing against the two strange towers. These towers are rotated by a motor with the result that, according to the Magnus law, the pressure of the wind becomes greater on one side of each tower than on the other, thus tending to move the ship. It seems hardly likely, at the time this book goes to press, that this application of a formerly unused physical law will revolutionize the propulsion of ships.
An Oil Tanker
These ships have come to the seas in very recent years. They are used only for the transportation of oil, and are owned largely by the great oil companies.
Automatic Buoys
The whistle buoy at the left utilizes the motion of the waves to blow a whistle. The light buoy in the centre has an automatic light that burns gas stored in the body of the buoy. The bell buoy at the right carries a bell, against which four clappers are pounded by the action of the waves.
Bearings and Points of Sailing
A Whaleback
A strange type of cargo steamer once common on the American Great Lakes, but gradually disappearing.
An Airplane View of the U. S. S. Langley
An airplane carrier. In order to build the great flying deck the funnel had to be led to the port side, where it projects only slightly above the deck.
An American Coasting Schooner
Square-rigged ships have largely disappeared because, among other things, their crews were large. These schooners, which sometimes have four or five masts, can be handled by small crews and consequently are able to continue to vie with steam.
An American Intermediate Liner
Ships of this type were developed during the World War.
A Torpedo Boat
About the time of the Spanish-American War these boats were common in the navies of the world. Now they are eliminated, and their successors are the torpedo-boat destroyers, now called destroyers.
A Tramp Steamer
Perhaps the hardest-working machine ever designed by man, and undoubtedly the most romantic of all steam-driven ships.
A Tug Boat
The bows of these boats are often protected by pads to which much wear often gives an appearance of a tangled beard.
A Turret Steamer
These strange vessels are comparatively rare, and seem to be passing away entirely. The turret steamer falls into almost any category. It is built in order to save money on certain port and canal dues and other taxes, and its appearance is perhaps the weirdest of that of any ship, save, perhaps, the antediluvian whalebacks once so common on the Great Lakes. Below the water line these turret steamers are much the same as other freighters, but from there up they are vastly different. Just above the water line their sides are turned in until they are almost a deck. These “decks” run forward nearly to the bow and aft almost to the stern. But the central portion of the ship from bow to stern is raised ten or a dozen feet above these strange side “decks,” which in reality are not decks at all, but only sections of the sides of these strange hulls.
A Submarine