- “Columba,” famous Clyde river steamer, 1875
Fifty years later witnessed the full development of Mr. Bell’s ideal in the Columba, then as now the largest river steamer ever seen on the Clyde, and the swiftest. The Columba is built of steel, is 316 feet long and 50 feet wide. She has two oscillating engines of 220 horse-power, and attains a speed of twenty-two miles an hour. Her route is from Glasgow to Ardrishaig and back, daily in summer, when she carries from 2,000 to 3,000 persons through some of the finest scenery in Scotland. She is provided with steam machinery for steering and warping her into the piers, and with other modern appliances that make her as handy as a steam yacht. She resembles a little floating town, with shops and post-office where you can procure money orders and despatch telegrams And what is the Columba after all but an enlarged and perfected reproduction of Bell’s Comet! - Whistling bouy
Whistling bouy Less picturesque than lighthouses and lightships, and with far less of human interest about them, are the buoys of various sorts of which the Lighthouse Board has more than one thousand in place, and under constant supervision. Yet, among the sailor's safeguards, they `rank` near the head. They point out for him the tortuous pathway into different harbors; with clanging bell or dismal whistle, they warn him away from menacing shallows and sunken wrecks. The resources of science and inventive genius have been drawn upon to devise ways for making them more effective. At night they shine with electric lights fed from a submarine cable, or with steady gas drawn from a reservoir that needs refilling only three or four times a year. If sound is to be trusted rather than light, recourse is had to a bell-buoy which tolls mournfully as the waves toss it about above the danger spot, or to a whistling buoy which toots unceasingly a locomotive whistle, with air compressed by the Page 355action of the waves. The whistling buoy is the giant of his family, for the necessity for providing a heavy charge of compressed air compels the attachment to the buoy of a tube thirty-two feet or more deep, which reaches straight down into the water. The sea rising and falling in this, as the buoy tosses on the waves, acts as a sort of piston, driving out the air through the whistle, as the water rises, admitting more air as it falls. - Whale sending boat flying
Whale sending boat flying While the right whale usually takes the steel sullenly, and dies like an overgrown seal, the cachalot fights fiercely, now diving with such a rush that he has been known to break his jaw by the fury with which he strikes the bottom at the depth of 200 fathoms; now raising his enormous bulk in air, to fall with an all-obliterating crash upon the boat which holds his tormentors, or sending boat and men flying into the air with a furious blow of his gristly flukes, or turning on his back and crunching his assailants between his cavernous jaws. - Waterfront
The Waterfront of New York - 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. - 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 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. - The Whaleback
The Whaleback Another form of lake vessel of which great things were expected, but which disappointed its promotors, is the "whaleback," commonly called by the sailors "pigs." These are cigar-shaped craft, built of steel, their decks, from the bridge aft to the engine-house, rounded like the back of a whale, and carried only a few feet above the water. In a sea, the greater part of the deck is all awash, and a trip from the bridge to the engine-house means not only repeated duckings, but a fair chance of being swept overboard. - The Treachourous Kayak
The Treachourous Kayak Mastering all the literature of the Arctic, he (Charles Hall) determined to undertake himself the arduous work of the explorer. Taking passage on a whaler, he spent several years among the Esquimaux, living in their crowded and fetid igloos, devouring the blubber and uncooked fish that form their staple articles of diet, wearing their garb of furs, learning to navigate the treacherous kayak in tossing seas, to direct the yelping, quarreling team of dogs over fields of ice as rugged as the edge of some monstrous saw, studying the geography so far as known of the Arctic regions, perfecting himself in all the arts by which man has contested the supremacy of that land with the ice-king. - 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 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 Spray
In which Captain Joshua Slocum circumnavigated the globe. - The Snow. an obsolete type
The Snow. an obsolete type - The Shallop
- The Savannah
The first steamship to cross the Atlantic. - 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. - 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 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 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. - The Prison Ship 'Jersey'
The "Jersey" prison-ship was not an uncommon lot for the bold privateersman, who, when once consigned to it, found that the reward of a sea-rover was not always wealth and pleasure. The "Jersey," which had been originally a 74-gun ship, then cut down to a hulk and moored at the Wallabout, at that time a lonely and deserted place on the Long Island shore, now about the center of the Brooklyn river front. - The Pharos at Alexandria
One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and one of the first great lighthouses. - The Paris
The greatest French Merchant ship, operated by the French Line. - The Olympic
A sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic, and operated by the White Star Line. - 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 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 Mauretania
A British liner of the Cunard Line. - The Majestic
Formerly the German liner Bismarck. It is now the property of the White Star Line. - The Leviathan
Formerly the German liner Vaterland, and taken over by the United States during the World War. - The Ketch
The ketch was a two-master, sometimes rigged with lanteen sails, but more often with the foremast square-rigged, like a ship's foremast, and the mainmast like the mizzen of a modern bark, with a square topsail surmounting a fore-and-aft mainsail. The foremast was set very much aft—often nearly amidships. - The Homeric
A British liner belonging to the White Star Line. - The Gun was disharged
Piracy was an everyday occurence for the sailors. - The Great Harry
Some of the earliest three-deckers, or, as we may almost call them, five-deckers, were built at this dockyard; and of these the most famous was the Great Harry, so named after the king, which was launched here in 1514. For the period, the ship was a large one, being of a thousand tons burden; though we should not think much of her size now, when we have ironclads of over eleven thousand tons. There are models of her in the Greenwich Naval Museum, which is not far from Woolwich; and a curious lofty wooden castle she is, rising far up above the water-line, and offering a fair target, if the cannon of those days had any accuracy. - 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 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 George Washington
An American liner, formerly a German ship. She was taken over by the United States during the World War. - The Dreadnaught
The Dreadnaught - The Deutschland
Formerly the holder of the transatlantic record. - The Detroit
This 35-foot motorboat made the voyage from Detroit, Michigan, to St. Petersburg, Russia. - The Bug-Eye
For the fisheries a multitude of smaller types were constructed—such as the lugger, the shallop, the sharpie, the bug-eye, the smack. - The Berengaria
A former German ship now belonging to the Cunard Line. - The Belgenland
Belonging to the Red Star Line. - 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 Aquitania
A British built ship operated by the Cunard Line - The American Frigate Constitution
- The American Frigate Constitution
- 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. - 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 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. - The 'Minotaur'
Launched in 1863 Among the numerous huge monsters constituting the iron-clad fleet of England, the Minotaur, is one of the most gigantic and formidable; and the sister ships, the Agincourt and Northumberland, all of precisely the same tonnage, power, rig, and equipment, are the largest and most powerful ships in the navy. The Minotaur was built at Blackwall, by the Thames Ship Building company and the engines were constructed by Messrs. Penn, of Deptford. She is 6,621 ton's measurement, and propelled by screw engins of 1,350 horsepower, with a speed of 15 knots an hour. She is 400 feet in length by 59 in width, and carries in all thirty-four of the heaviest guns used afloat. Among these which form her chief batter on the main deck are four 300-pounder Armstrongs. - Taking it in his jaws
Taking it in his jaws - Symington’s ‘Charlotte Dundas,’ 1802
In 1801 the London newspapers contained the announcement that an experiment had taken place on the Thames, on July 1st, for the purpose of propelling a laden barge, or other craft, against the tide, by means of a steam-engine of a very simple construction. “The moment the engine was set to work the barge was brought about, answering her helm quickly, and she made way against a strong current, at the rate of two and a half miles an hour.” In 1802 a new vessel was built expressly for steam navigation, on the Forth and Clyde Canal, under Symington’s supervision, the Charlotte Dundas, which was minutely inspected on the same day by Robert Fulton, of New York, and Henry Bell, of Glasgow, both of whom took sketches of the machinery to good purpose. This boat drew a load of seventy tons, at a speed of three and a half miles an hour, against a strong gale of wind. Under ordinary conditions she made six miles an hour, but her admitted success was cut short by the Canal Trust, who alleged that the wash of the steamer would destroy the embankment. - Striving to reach her decks
Americans on board "General Armstrong" repelling attempts to board her while in a Portugese harbour. - 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. - Section of the Goubet Submarine Boat
The Goubet class are of iron, sixteen feet long, three feet wide, and about six feet deep. The motive power is a Siemens motor driven by storage batteries. Fifty of these boats were purchased by the Russian government. They have no rudder, but a universal joint in the screw shaft permits of the screw being moved through an arc of ninety degrees. The torpedo is carried outside the boat, secured by a catch worked from inside. On arriving under the enemy, the torpedo is released, and striking the ship's bottom, is held there by spikes. The boat then withdraws, unreeling a connecting wire; and when at a safe distance, fires. The absence of a rudder, however, causes erratic steering, and the spikes with which the torpedo is fitted might fail to stick in steel-bottomed ships. - Section of First-rate Man-of-War
I will now give you a sectional division of a first-rate line-of-battle ship. Such a ship, carrying 120 or more guns, has four decks on which her guns are placed. The highest is open to the air, and is called the UPPER DECK At the after part, extending a little way beyond the mizen-mast, there is a raised platform, called the POOP. It has no guns on it. On the main deck is the steering-wheel, with the binnacle in front of it. The after part of this deck between the poop and the main-mast is called the quarter-deck, and is the place where the officers especially walk. The part under the poop is divided into cabins, appropriated to the use of the captain. Here, also, is a clerk's office and a pantry. Between the main and fore-mast the large boats are stowed, and on either side are the gangways at which sentries are stationed. The next deck under this is called the MAIN DECK. In the after part is the admiral's cabin. Immediately under the boats is a pen for the officers' live-stock ; and just abaft the fore-mast is the galley, or kitchen. The third deck from the upper is called the MIDDLE DECK. The after part is fitted up for the lieutenants, chaplain, surgeon, paymaster, marine officers, &c., and called the WARD-ROOM. In the fore part of the deck is placed the sick-bay, a compartment fitted up as a hospital ; about the centre of this deck is one of the capstans. The fourth from the upper is called the LOWER or GUN DECK. In the after part is the GUN-ROOM, where the midshipmen, and other junior officers, mess. The tiller of the rudder works through the gun-room just above their heads. A second capstan is placed on this deck ; and forward are the riding-bitts for securing the cables. It is the lowest deck on which guns are carried. The ORLOP DECK is the fifth deck from the upper. It has no guns or ports, though lighted up by bull's eyes or scuttles. In the after part is the purser's issue-room ; next to it is the after cockpit, where the midshipmen and other junior officers sleep in hammocks. Before it again will be found the sail-room, where the sails are kept, and the cable-tiers, where the cables are stowed. Before it again, just abaft the fore-mast, is the fore cockpit, and the warrant officers' cabins, while right in the head of the ship are the carpenter's and boatswain's stores. Low as we have got, we have still further to go down to the HOLD, which, if it may be so called, is the sixth deck from the highest. It is often divided into two decks for the greater convenience of stowage. Here are the FORE AND AFTER MAGAZINES, WATER TANKS, WINE AND SPIRIT ROOM, CHAIN CABLE LOCKERS, SHOT LOCKERS, BREAD ROOM, SHELL ROOM, GUNNER'S STORE ROOM, DRY PROVISION, and BEEF AND PORK IN CASKS. Since the introduction of auxiliary steam-power into ships of war, a large portion of the hold is devoted to the steam-engine and boilers, coal bunkers, and the shaft of the screw, while the funnel runs up through all the decks ; but it is wonderful, comparatively, how little space these are allowed to occupy, considering the great aid the steam-engine affords to the movements of the ship. - 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. - Schooner rigged Sharpie
Schooner rigged Sharpie For the fisheries a multitude of smaller types were constructed—such as the lugger, the shallop, the sharpie, the bug-eye, the smack. - Rot at Mouldering Wharves
The old-fashioned whaling tubs kept the seas, while the growing scarcity of the whales and the blow to the demand for oil dealt by the discovery of petroleum, checked the development of the industry. Now the rows of whalers rotting at New Bedford's wharves, and the somnolence of Nantucket, tell of its virtual demise. - 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. - Revenue Cutter