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HE phrase, "The king is dead; l long live the king," is familiar to all: If one -may be' per- mitted to make use of an analogy, it may: be stated, with true Irish wit, "The longest ship in the world is no longer the longest ship in the world; the longest ship in the world has just been launched." This process, whether applied to the longest or the largest ship in the world, has been recurring with persistent regularity for the last seventy years, ever since, in fact, ves- sels completely built of iron or steel came into being, with the exception of the period during which the famous Great Eastern was in existence. The Aquitania marks the nearest approach to the "thousand-foot ship" that has been so far attained, being within the length of a cricket pitch of that di- mension, but it is scarcely probable that she will hold that distinction for any considerable time in view of the rapidity with which new designs and "biggest ships" are nowadays being evolved. | Bewildering Progress At no time during the above men- tioned period has the evolution of these wonderful productions of men's brains proceeded with more rapid strides than during the last' few years, when the progress that has been made in the design and construction of the vessels themselves and also in the means of propulsion can only be de- scribed as "stupendous." In the short space of a few years we have seen the epoch-making results of the appli- cation of steam turbines to marine propulsion, the Atlantic being regu- larly crossed at a speed equal to that of many express trains, while a. daily paper containing the same up-to-date news that is published each morning on shore is actually printed aboard with the aid of that still more wonder- ful application of modern science, wireless telegraphy. Such almost bewildering progress gives plenty of scope to the imagina- tion for reflection as to what further improvements are likely to be wit- nessed in the near future, especially when one considers the clock-like reg- "which tend to. retard such Dimensions -- of Ships Their Limit of Size Intelligently Dis- cussed by a British Naval Architect ularity with which these modern liners leave and arrive at their various ports of call, only the very worst of gales being sufficient to make them more than an hour or so late. In particular there is one question of extreme inter- est to those engaged in the shipping industry or those whose business or pleasure necessitates frequent voyages across the ocean, namely, "Is there any limit to this continued increase of size of vessels, and, if so, what is it?' This question has been frequently discussed by and received close atten- tion of naval architects and others; but it has been more particularly in evidence during the last year or so when we have reached such huge di- mensions as those of the Aquitania, with its gross tonnage of nearly 50,- 000 tons. It is therefore of great interest to examine the various factors which tend toward further increase and _ those increase, bearing in mind the tact that up to the present the tendency appears to be to the former rather than the latter. ' Before proceeding to the discussion of this question, it will be helpful to quote the actual sizes of some of the largest vessels of 'recent years, as given in table below: Length between Length Year of perpen- over comple- diculars, all, Breadth, ft. ft. Ship-- tion. ft: Wimbrid (3.55: 1884 501 sess 57 Teutonic 1889 565 aes 58 Oceanic 1899 685 Geer 68 IBAIIC 250s a. 1904 700 ane 75% Mauretania 1907 762 ete 88 Olympic 1911 852 ats 92% Imperator 1913 879 920 98 1914 901 940* 97 Aquitania ... * Approximately. It will be noted that in the short space of the last ten years, gross ton- nages have been more than doubled, while the last three years has seen an increase of over 10 per cent in this di- rection. It will also be noted that, as referred to later, the average an- nual increase in length, whether taken over the last ten years or over the last 30 years, has been 3 per cent, and is fairly constant over the various periods. A rather striking contrast is revealed if the figures for any of the vessels given inthe table are compared with those of a typical wooden vessel of the eighteenth century, of which the Victory, commenced in 1759, may be taken as an example. The dimen- sions of this vessel were: Length -be- tween perpendiculars, 186 feet; breadth 52 feet; and burden, as calculated by the tonnage rules existing in those days, a little over 2,000 tons, Interesting Comparisons An especially interesting compari- son, however, may be made with three particular vessels: 1. The British Queen, completed in 1839, which was the largest wood- en steamship ever built. 2. The Great Britain, completed in 1840, which may be taken as the first representative of the successful iron shipbuilding for) long sea voyages; and 3. The Great Eastern, completed about 1858, which was' the biggest vessel in existence for 40 years. The corresponding figures are: Length inft. Breadth Gross over all. in ft. tons. British Oucen | 20. as Zhe 42 1,860 Great "Britain (2.55. 322 Gul 3,270 Great Bactermt (2... 5... 680 83 19,000 This last-named most extraordinary vessel created such a sensation that, quite apart from the historical side, volumes have been filled with descrip- tions and criticisms of her design; and, as it- has some bearing on the subject under discussion, a brief ref- erence to her will not be out of place here. She has been justly described as a "leviathan born before her time," which bears high testimony to the genius of her designers, Brunel and Scott Russell. As is only natural, im- provement in ship design is a process of evolution, each step forward be- ing a gradual one, enabling the knowl- edge gained as a result of exper- ience with the preceding step to be embodied in the succeeding stage. This is well illustrated in the first table given, from which it can be seen that the average annual increase in length of the vessels quoted is only about 3 per cent. The Great East- ern, however, which was nearly. dou-