Coach
Racing
Tandem
Tandem
The Stage Coach - Old Times
Mail Coaches Racing - Something Wrong with the Opposition Coach
old times sketch
Johnson's Hobby Horse, 1818
Although pedal-operated carriages were known in the Middle Ages (during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many light vehicles of this type were introduced), the earliest form of the bicycle was the hobby-horse, or ‘dandy-horse' as it was sometimes called. This consisted of two wheels mounted in a kind of frame with a saddle for the rider, who was seated sufficiently low to be able to propel the vehicle forward by striking his feet on the ground. The earliest machines of this kind were in use about 1810 but their riders were so ridiculed that ' hobby horses' went out of use. In 1818 an improved form was patented by Baron von Draisin France, and brought over to England in the same year by Denis Johnson, a coachmaker of Long Acre, who called it the‘pedestrian curricle.’ It consisted of a wooden bar, or back-bone, mounted on two wheels, the front one being pivoted in a fork to allow the machine to be steered and balanced. The machine was propelled by the rider leaning his elbows on a padded support, and alternately striking the road with his feet. In this way, a speed of 10 miles an hour sometimes could be maintained on the level. Riders generally 'coasted' downhills, but when a hill had to be ascended the machine was carried on the rider's shoulders! A hobby-horse weighed about 50 pounds and cost about £10.
'Bone-shaker' bicycle, 1869
In 1839 Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a blacksmith of Courthill, Dumfriesshire, fitted pedals and cranks to the rear wheel, but again the machine was a failure. About 1864 Pierre Lallement, of Paris, adopted a front-wheel drive by fitting cranks and pedals, and, strange to say, this ‘bone-shaker,' as it was called, became the first popular bicycle The back-bone was of solid iron, and the wooden wheels had iron tires. It was introduced into England in 1868, and large numbers were made and used. In 1869 wire-spoked wheels were introduced by E.A.Cowper, and in the following year solid rubber tyres,and ball bearings in 1878.
Lawson's Bicyclette, 1879
The famous Beeton Humber bicycle ordinary, 1884
The Man-drawn sledge
Sledges have played an important part in polar exploration, and were used,in varying degree, by Sir W.E.Parry , Sir John Franklin, and other early explorers of the Arctic.
A Palanquin in India
There have been various modifications of the litter, familiar examples being the funeral bier and the modern stretcher. Another development is the palanquin, a distinctive form of transport in the East.
Velocipede
The Santa Maria, the Niña and the Pinta
The Santa Maria, the Niña and the Pinta The most famous ships that ever sailed the seas The Niña, shown in the foreground, was the smallest of the three, but in her Columbus returned to Spain after the Santa Maria was wrecked, and the captain of the Pinta seemed tempted to prove unfaithful.
A Large Egyptian Ship of the 18th Dynasty
The overhanging bow and stern were common on most early Egyptian ships, and the heavy cable, stretched from one end of the hull to the other and supported on two crutches, was used to strengthen these overhanging ends.
On The Banks
To sell the great quantities of fish they dragged up from the Banks or nearer home, foreign markets must needs be found. England and the European countries took but little of this sort of provender, and moreover England, France, Holland, and Portugal had their own fishing fleets on the Banks.
A Peruvian Balsa
These “boats” are really rafts made of reeds.
An Outrigger Canoe
Sometimes these canoes have an outrigger on each side, and sometimes they carry sails.
A 13th-Century English Ship
The Viking influence is still easily traceable in this ship, but the forecastle and the sterncastle have put in their appearance. Also the hull is heavier than and not so sharp as in the earlier Viking ships.
A 16th-Century Dutch Boat
It was on boats of this type that the jib seems first to have been used. To-day in Holland one sees a similar boat, called a schuyl, which is almost identical with this, except that it utilizes a curved gaff at the top of the mainsail.
A Birch-bark Canoe
In many parts of the world savage people have learned to build light frames over which they have stretched the best material available to them. The Indians of North America commonly utilize birch bark.
A Black Ball Packet
Ships of this type carried the transatlantic passengers of the early part of the 19th Century. Because of the demand of the owners of the Black Ball Line and of its competitors, America, where these lines were owned and where their ships were built, developed the designers who ultimately gave the world the clipper ships.
A British East Indiaman
These merchant ships, which sailed from England to the Far East, were almost as much like warships as they were like merchantmen. They were finely built, but they took their time on their voyages out and back.
A Corvette of 1780
This ship shows the new sail plan overcoming the old. The masts carry topsails, topgallantsails, and royals, and what was formerly a lateen sail on the mizzenmast has become a spanker. Furthermore, while the ship carries jibs, she has not yet parted with her spritsails.
A Galleon of the Time of Elizabeth
The extremely high stern and the low bow shown in this drawing are about as extreme as any in use during the period when high bows and low sterns were thought to be good design.
A Greek Trireme
These warships were about 120 feet in length, and the sails and spars were taken down and sent ashore if battle was expected. The oars were operated by slaves.
A Mediterranean Galley
This ship is of the type used long after the Middle Ages. Several men pulled each oar and all the oars were in one bank.
A Phœnician Bireme
Despite the fact that the Phœnicians did more with ships than any other ancient peoples before the Greeks and Romans, little is known of Phœnician ships. They developed the bireme, an oar- and sail-driven ship with two “banks” of oars, and circumnavigated Africa.
A Roman Ship
Although this ship was small the Romans built many that were not surpassed for 1,700 years, and it was not until the 19th Century was well advanced that the larger Roman ships were greatly surpassed in size.
A Viking Ship
These ships were developed by the Norse sea rovers for use in war, and as the seas they sailed were generally rough their ships had to be seaworthy. The result was a type that still leaves its mark. The seaworthy whaleboats of to-day are very similar in shape.
A Whaling Bark
With a lookout at the masthead these ships cruised all over the earth in the first half of the 19th Century.
An African Dugout
In this boat the builders have hollowed out the log but have not otherwise changed it. It is a present-day counterpart of boats known and used long before the dawn of history.
An early 16th-Century Ship
This ship, while similar in many respects to Columbus’s Santa Maria, has made some advances over that famous vessel. The foremast is fitted to carry a topsail in addition to the large foresail shown set in this picture. On ships somewhat later than this one a small spar was sometimes erected perpendicularly at the end of the bowsprit, and a sprit topsail was set above the spritsail which is shown below the bowsprit here.
An Egyptian Boat of the 5th Dynasty
The double mast, shown in this drawing, was in common use in Egypt about 3000 B. C. It is occasionally to be seen on native boats in the Orient to-day.
An Egyptian Ship of the 12th Dynasty
It is possible that ships of this type were able, under ideal conditions, to make a little headway, while under sail, against the wind. It was not for many, many centuries, however, that sailing ships were able definitely to make much headway in that direction.
An Eskimo Kayak
These small canoes are made of a light frame covered with skins.
An Eskimo Umiak
This boat is structurally similar to the kayak except that it has no deck. It is a larger boat, and will carry heavy loads and perhaps as many as a dozen people. It is made by covering a frame with skins.
The Red Jacket
The clipper ship that made the fastest trip across the Atlantic ever made under sail. Her record from Sandy Hook to Rock Light was thirteen days, one hour.
Seating Arrangement of Rowers in a Greek Trireme
While there were other arrangements that were sometimes used, this seems to have been much the most common. The slaves who operated the oars were chained in place, and in case of shipwreck or disaster were usually left to their fate.
The Amaranthe
A British warship of 1654. This ship is an excellent example of the ships that were in use just before the jib began to put in its appearance. The lateen sail on the mizzenmast is similar to the one used on the caravels, but both the rigging and the hull are greatly refined as compared with the ships of the time of Columbus.
A Freighter Tied Up to a Pier
The lines shown running from the ship to the pier are often used in slightly different arrangements, but always it is advisable to run lines diagonally in order that slight movements of the ship away from the pier may be checked gradually and without breaking the lines. Furthermore, this arrangement prevents movement ahead or astern.
A Gloucester Fisherman
Such schooners as this are common in the New England fishing fleets. They are seaworthy and fast, and probably the men who sail them are the greatest seamen of our time.
A Great Lakes Freight Carrier
This type of ship is eliminating the whaleback on the Great Lakes, and is used largely to transport ore and grain.
A Hudson River Steamer
The passenger steamers of the Hudson are large, speedy, and are capable of carrying thousand of excursionists.
A Mail Liner
These ships, while somewhat smaller than the biggest ships and not quite so fast, are perhaps the most popular of passenger ships, for their rates are not so high as those of the great ships, and their accommodations are more or less comparable.
A Map of the Port of Cape Town
Table Bay is open to the force of north and northwest winds. Before the bay could protect ships from the frequent storms blowing from these directions a series of breakwaters had to be built, in the lee of which ships could anchor.
A Map of the Port of Liverpool
While Liverpool is much smaller, so far as mere area is concerned, than New York, it handles about the same amount of freight. Freight ships load and unload in the tidal basins while passenger steamers use floating landing stages.
A Map of the Port of Marseilles
In this case the city grew up practically without a harbour. Finally a breakwater was erected parallel to the shore in order that ships might be protected from the sea.
A Map of the Port of New York
The Lower Bay has not yet been developed, but about the Upper Bay and along the Hudson and East rivers hundreds of piers are in everyday use. While New York is a huge port and while it can continue to grow for many years it has numerous disadvantages, one of the chief of which is the absence of a belt line railroad
A Map of the Port of Rio de Janeiro
Rio Bay is probably the finest in the world, but mountains paralleling the coast form a handicap to the easy transportation of goods inland.
A Mississippi River Stern-wheeler
A Modern Destroyer
This type of ship was originally designed to protect the larger ships from torpedo boats, but now that duty has been eliminated by the elimination of torpedo boats, and destroyers have many uses with the fleets to which they belong.
A Modern Super-dreadnaught
Which carries the heaviest type of guns, and is protected by heavy armour. Its speed is less than that of cruisers.
A Modern Venetian Cargo Boat
This is hardly more than a barge, with a sail plan of a modified form, somewhat suggesting the lateen rig common in the Mediterranean, and something like the lug sails common in French waters.
A New York Harbour Ferry
While these double-ended ships are large, they do not compare in size with the liners. Yet they carry hundreds of thousands of passengers to and fro across the Hudson and the Upper Bay.
A New York Harbour Lighter
Lighters take various forms and perform various tasks. European lighters are more likely to have pointed ends. American lighters very often have square ends. Occasionally they have engines of their own, but generally they depend on tugs for power.
A Reconstruction of One of Caligula’s Galleys
This luxurious ship was built on Lake Nemi, Italy, during the reign of the Emperor Caligula (37-41 A. D.). It sank to the bottom at some unknown period, and has often been examined by divers, for it is still in a fair state of preservation. It is 250 feet long, and its equipment was of the most luxurious kind. Suggestions for its recovery have been made, and it is possible that the lake, which is a small one, may be drained in order to study this old ship and another one that is lying near it.
A Scout Cruiser
This ship is one of the Omaha class, built after the World War for the U. S. Navy.
A Sextant in Use
Sextants are used to measure the elevation of celestial bodies—the sun, moon, or stars—in working problems in latitude and longitude.