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34 much larger sailing vessels have been built than in Britain, some having lengths which approach 400 ft. Unfortunately I am not in a position to show anything of their design, but should imagine it' probable that they have been built much on the same plan as steamers of their size. So far as Britain is concerned, it may be said that progress in sailing-ship construction has been arrested at the stage where increasing. size had intro- duced complexity born of doubt, and if circumstances were to recreate a demand for new sailing ships, history would prob- ably repeat itself, and then construction would commence anew on simpler meth- ' ods justified by experience with steam- ers, : The story of the evolution of the very large mail and passenger steamer might justly be said to be epitomized in the papers on the Great Eastern and the two great Cunarders, the Lusitania and Mau- retania, which stand on the records of the institution; but before passing to other types, it may be instructive to re- gard the sections of these vessels as placed side by side in Fig. 6, and to con- sider their salient features together. The Great Eastern, built in 1859, was 680 ft. by 83 ft. by 58 ft., is stated to have had no sheer, and no close-spaced transverse frames; the transverse members consist- ed of webs and bulkheads which averaged 16 ft. apart, only a few of them being extended to the outer shell. The tiers of beams below the upper deck were but little better than rafters for flooring, the shell plating was only 34-in. iron (for which modern practice would call 12-20 steel the equivalent) stiffened by longi- Fig. 15. CARGO STEAMER 280 x 37. x 1885 26 Sal ed ~ ----- pe ie ae ae > sce Fy nh ees ONO. ; | ele SK 20 HR IMC ig THe Marine Review E18 13 ' §.S.410x 52.6 x 33.6 1897 cero "CHANNELS 9x3M xan x'%d Oi ' . Oo SHELL Hs PLATING |}: Ae a = e wee Ol ' "ro SHELL |) PLATING f ae fi}! CHANNELS 10'x 34x 3% x!%o ' or ea to sme a ow ae oe att eee an ce a Fig. 14. S.S. 482 x 58x42 6 41907 Sete ! i # ' t - aoe ----2----- BEAMS ON EVERY FRAME (0x S4'x SH x He WER te ae y00 FLANGES Ly AT te shee |] Pata | { 1 ; WB pe | 1 ES i ! ' 1 | . & a = BEAMS ON EVERY FRAME WS Wx3yn x Sin Seo mee Se FLANGES an aw a | 1 1 ae "UY BEAMS ON EVERY FRAME (2x3) x Skex Ko WED "ad RLANCES 4 oe ' ° ee 4 1 tee ' i }2e2 : ot eae tel tc 'e 5 i Teg hi ane eae : ' ie i Bure PLATE x x 1 ow ! ' | [53 2) shes vas (188 al | , NL" awd o'n 0 | tes Beit Sty i INT PLATE 46 | aX eS. : - ee Tt ne NS BAS zu 3: | FRAMES 74'x3W'x%9 SPACED 36° APART ; V 23 &: REVERSE FRAMES 6x 4x 'ho io" q : O45 2 ee a 1 is 1 bce oH qo08 Ey | 5 yet a <\ Bie. "J "mo SHELL {Tt 1} ' 10 PLATING | 10 Oe Scat % Ades ba a \ o eae aye ; . OS re ! ; | | { Pha BL, PLATING ae ae cs aS se a a x aan tudinals 2 ft. 6 in. apart on the bottom, 5 ft. on the bilges and sides, and 7 ft. 6 in. apart on the topsides; there was an inner skin of Y%-in. iron (equal to 8-20 steel) extending up to the fourth deck, two longitudinal bulkheads of the same thickness which extended to the full depth of the ship stiffened by plate webs 5 ft. apart. The upper deck was in two layers of two thicknesses: of 1%4-in. plating in combination with longitudinals 5 ft. apart, so. that longitudinally she - Fig. 16. S.S 344 x 45'10%x 26.8 1898 beer tern win 0 neo ae a ---- ee ees Toot aa aaa = = = athe ---- 4S SHELL PLATING: <9 =~ - - "he SHELL PLATING ~---~ ~-» - " 1 és was a single-deck ship, having relatively - narrow but very strong top members con- nected to the lower part of the struc- ture by four films of thin plating, two of which are not stiffened inside the squares of about 16 ft. by 7 ft. 6 im. formed by the deck stringers and webs. The ship was riveted through- out with %-in. rivets, all the 'plate seams were single riveted, and none of the butts had more than double riveting. There is no gainsaying the Fig 17, SS. S247 45 oes iss6. --4 t ' or ee we retest eee ~~ ee ee oer weet = , 1 5 1 aetna hey 4 8" x 4) x 2866) =e eo Tapes ---=