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306 building wooden vessels till 1866. C. M. Palmer commenced shipbuilding at Jarrow about the year 1851. C. Mitchel commenced the business at Walker in 1852, which was afterwards--about thirty years later--amalgamated with that of Messrs. Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co.; and Andrew Leslie, another Aberdonian, about the year 1853, com- menced the shipyard at Hebburn-on- Tyne, now owned by Messrs. R. and. W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. The John Bowes. During the eight or ten years fol- lowing 1842 but' little progress appears to have been made in iron shipbuild- ing on the North-East Coast. The ves- sels then mostly in demand were col- liers, and coal-carrying interests were vested in the fleet of wooden vessels already employed in the trade. About the year 1850 the carriage of coal to the London @market by rail so seriously affected the sea-borne trade by its com- petition that it called for the introduc- tion of an improved type of collier ship which could be worked more economically and deliver its cargo more expeditiously and in better condition. The enterprising firm of Palmer Bros. & Co., of Jarrow, met the need in 1852 by building the John Bowes. She is a vessel of 167 ft. long over all;. her register dimensions being 151.9 ft. by 26.3 ft. by 15.2 ft.; gross tonnage 459; her engines, of 70 H. P., consist of two cylinders, and she carried about 540 tons. There was a !arge hatchway 60 ft. long to minimize trimming. The water-ballast tanks were pumped out by the main engines. £18 10s Per Ton. It is on record, to arouse the envy of future generations of shipbuilders, that her price was about £10,000, or £18 10s per ton deadweight. were the good old days! Need we say it was prophesied that she would prove a pecuniary failure? But happily the prophets were disappointed. She made more than four voyages to one of the old sailing colliers; and a new era in shipbuilding was inaugurated, and an impetus given to local iron shipbui ding, which before long made the North-East Coast famous for building cargo steam- ships. The John Bowes is still running, but under the name of the Carolina. She has recently discharged a cargo of oats in the Tyne, and it is worthy of record*that but few of the plates or frames have been renewed. The latter are about 15 in. apart, and are now-- as might be expected--somewhat thin at their edges. She is said to be as tight and dry as ever, with a reputation for be-ng a good sea boat. These © THE Marine REVIEW Ballasting. It is of interest to read the remarks made by C. M. Palmer when writing on the ccnstruction of iron ships in 1864:--"One of the great difficulties we had to encounter in perfecting these vessels was in the ballasting. To dis- pense with the necessity of shipping shingle or chalk as ballast, many cost y experiments were tried, and at length, by a system of double bottom, the con- struction of which adds to the strength of the ships, the ballasting of the ves- sels with water was brought to a highly satisfactory result." The importance of this. improvement will be best realized by anyone who contemplates the amount of labor expended in the transportation and formation of those miniature moun- tain ranges of shingle, called ba last heaps, which decorate the banks of the Tyne. It should be noticed that as early as 1844 a small sailing vessel, the O. KD, of 27) fons, . was fitted to carry water ballast, and was equipped with auxiliary steam power by R. and W. Hawthorn, and employed in the coal trade. The engines were placed aft and the screw propeller was made to disconnect so that the vessel could be navigated under sail only. Tanks. To John McIntyre--Messrs. Palmers' first manager--belongs the credit of im- proving the details of design and con- struction of water ballast tanks, and a certain type of tank was identified with his name. In this type the floors were of the normal depth, and on them were built continuous keelsons about 18 in. deep, to which the tank top was riveted. The steamship Black Swan, built by Thomas and William Smith on the Tyne, in 1864, was constructed with water ballast tank tops of elm, which is said to have proved as tight as iron, and it is stated of this ship, "She is as good for all purposes today as when she was built." In those early days: less care was taken in construct- ing, making tight, and testing water ballast tanks than at present. They were sometimes tested without closing the manhole doors on the tank top, with the result that cargoes were dam- aged and water ballast tanks fell: tem- porarily into disrepute. Cellular Double Bottoms. In 1876 the present method of con- structing ships with cellular double bot- toms, with transverse continuous frames of the ordinary spacing, intercostal keelsons connected to the shell and tank top and deep floors, was intro- duced at Sunder'and in the steamship Fenton, built by S. P. Austin & Hun- Séptember 1909 ter. The Board of Trade at first ; cluded in the. gross tonnage the part of the ballast tank which was above the normal height of the ordinary floors, a space of about 18 in. in depth, but the late William Denny contested -- this practice with the Board of Trade, which resulted in the double bottom | ard other permanent spaces used for water ballast and not available for car- go being excluded from the register tonnage. In 1854, when the commissariat de--- partment of our army in the Crimea had broken down, it was found that screw colliers were admirably stiitable for the work of rapid carriage of sup- pies and despatches, the government stating that these vessels had proved to be more useful than any other class it had employed. It is of interest to note, on the authority of B. Martell, that the general adoption of iron on~ the Wear for shipbuilding dates from about 1863, and that by 1880 this ma--- terial had almost entirely taken the place of wood in that district. On the Clyde and Mersey as well as on the Tyne iron. shipbuilding was originally adopted at an earlier date. War Vessels. To the north-east coast, a'so, be- longs the prestige of having constructed the first iron" vessel for war purposes. She was built by the Palmers' Co. in 1856, and. was named Terror. She was built with commendable patriotic energy in about three months. Her displace- -ment was 2,000 tons; she mounted 16 300-lb. guns and was propelled by en- gines of 200 H. P. The hull was built of iron in the ordinary way, but with sides sloping to an angle of 25 degrees, which were protected from shot by iron armor plates 4 in. thick, tongued and grooved together, and backed by 0-in. teak, all bo'ted to the main structure. Prior to this, wooden war vessels pro- tected by hammered iron plates were used, but Messrs. Palfer & Co. made the armor of rolled iron p'ates, which proved on testing to have more shot- resisting power than hammered. They were known as "Palmer's rolled plates" and this system of manufacture has now been generally adopted. Suez and Steam. When the Suez canal was opened in 1869 great impetus was given to the building of which majestic steam propelled -- vessels, soon c'eared the the and beautiful sailing com- posite vessels for which this and other districts seas of famous; some of had become which made very fast passages on the annual race homeward from China with