Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1899 — GREAT SHIP OCEANIC. [ARTICLE]

GREAT SHIP OCEANIC.

LATEST OF MONSTER ATLANTIC BTEAMSHIRS. Evolution in Naval Construction Since Launch of the Flrat Oceanic— History of Transatlantic Maritime Development of the Century.

The new steamship Oceanic of the White Star Line has broken all maritime records and her appearance on the Atlantic marks an epoch in the history of ocean steamship building. The advent commemorates a development of upward of eighty years. The Oceanic is the largest steamship in the world, larger even than that fabled failure, the Great Eastern. The enormous dimensions of the Oceanic appeal to the imagination. She is an unprecedented feat in engineering, but aside from this her appointments are on a scale of magnificence made possible only by her size. This is concealed largely by her graceful line. The Great Eastern, with her great height above the water line and her enormous paddle boxes, looked more than her size, while in the Oceanic the long, trim forecastle deck and poop turtleback deck and the central arrangement of the deckhouses, all tend to relieve her of the appearance of mere bulk. The Great Eastern’s length was 601 feet. The Oceanic’s Is 704 feet. The former’s light draught was 15 feet; the later’s is 22 feet. The respective displacements are 11,844 tons and 12,500 tons, and when laden it la estimated that the Oceanic will weigh 28,000 tons, as against the Great Eastern’s 25,000 tons. The Oceanic is well able to steam 23,400 knots at cruising speed (twelve knots an hour) without coaling, or about the earth’s girdle. Her saloon Is 80 feet by 64 feet and 9 feet high, with a dome In the center of great beauty. Some of the state-

rooms are 13 feet 6 inches by 9 feet and the vessel surpasses the wildest conceptions of Jules Verne’s “Floating City.” Her speed on her trial trip was twentythree knots. The main saloon will accommodate 850 pasemgers at one sitting. There la accommodation for 410 first-class, 300 second-class and 1,000 third-class passengers. Besides the transients, me vessel will carry 300 in the crew, and when filled, in the season, she will have on board 2,100 souls. Used as a transport the Oceanic could accommodate an army of 10,000 men. The first steamship to cross the Atlantic was the Savannah, an American ship built at Corlears Hook, on the East Elver, and launched Aug. 22, 1818. She was originally built for a sailing packet between New York and Liverpool, but was purchased before completion by William Scarborough & Co., of Savannah aid fitted with machinery. The paddle wheels were so constructed as to fold up and be stored on deck In stormy weather; the wheel was tndosed ln canvas held in place by Iron rtms. Her model was considered floe anil her passenger accommodations were thought elegant, She went to Savannah In 1816 and left that port for Liverpool May 26, 1819. She arrived In twenty-two days, paving used her engine for fourteen days. She then went to St Petersburg, returning to Savannah In November, 1819. Her machinery was afterwards thken out and she was converted Into a soiling packet She ran some time between New York and Savannah, finally running ashore on Long Island. She was of 380 tons burden. The first ship to cross the Atlantic propelled all the way by steam was the Royal William, a Canadian boat built In 1883. Within the next decade the first iron trans-Atlantic steamship was launched In England. This was the Great Britain, the forerunner of, the Great Eastern, and designed by the same engineer, Brunei. This ship was provided with a screw propeller and crossed the sea in fifteen days at an average speed of nine knots an hour. It was the famous Cunard line which first established a regular trans-Atlan-tic service with regular dates of departure. The Britannia, the first of the four ships, left Liverpool on her maiden trip on July 4, 1840, and reached Boston on July 19. The Cunard Line made such Inroads on the business of the American packets that Congress, Impelled by the clamor of American patriotism, granted a subsidy to E. K. Collins, of New York, for an American line between this port and Liverpool. The new vessels were swifter and more elegant than the Cunarders, and, like

tbe sailing ships of the old Collins Rue, won many laurels. The Cunard vessels stopped calling at Halifax, bat in spite of this were easily beaten by their American competitors. The Pacific, of tiie new line, made the passage from New York to Liverpool In less than ten days, her time In May, 1851, being 9 days 20 hours and 16 minutes. The next year the Atlantic crossed in 9 days 6 hours and 18 minutes. The line, however, wound up with disaster. The Arctic was sunk by a collision In 1854 and went down with 540 souls. The Pacific left Liverpool the next year and waa never heard from. The American capital which had been Invested in the Collins line was transferred to the Inman Hue, for years one of the most successful, and It subsequently became the American line.

The Scotia, the last paddle-wheel steamer built tot the Cunard line, waa the first to make the passage in less than nine days, her time being 8 days 3 hours in 1863. The City of Brussels of the Inman line brought it under eight days in 1869, with a record of 7 days 22 hours and 3 minutes. The sev-en-day limit was reduced by the Alaska of the Galon line, which crossed in 6 days 22 hours in 1882. The CKy of Paris of the Inman line, afterward the Paris of the American line, reduced it under six days, making the westward passage in 5 days 19 hours and 18 minutes in 1889. The Lucanla of the Cunard line holds the present record of 5 days 7 hours and 23 minutes. • The Southampton record Is held by the big KaJeer Wilhelm der Grosse of" the North German Lloyd line, which reduced the westward time to 5 days 18 hours and 15 minutes on her last voyage to this port, which ended lost week. She covered 3,049 knots at an average speed of 22.08 knots an hoar.

But the present-day ship must look to her laurels, for the blgnesß of the Oceanic proclaims her speed. Certainly great things may be expected from her powerful engines.