Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

SS! THE BUILDING OF SHIPS. LAUNCHING- A TURRET VESSEL. (Photo supplied by Messrs. Doxford & Sons, Sunderland.) and the work of completing her proceeds apace. Engines and boilers are put aboard ; masts are stepped, and funnels put in position and stayed. There is still employment on her for hundreds of men ; and decks and alleyways and saloons are to a greater extent than ever littered with gear. But gradually everything visible becomes shipshape. The boats are swung on the davits, and the lighter superstructures finished off. Painters swarm along the decks, making everything glisten in the sunlight; upholsterers and polishers throng the saloons and cabins; decorators adorn this, that, and the other thing ; and electricians busy themselves with clusters and lamps and annunciators. The number of workpeople grows less and less, until the day comes for the first of the steam trials in the open sea. The crew are on board now, and the officers are busy- fitting keys with locks and locks with keys, and generally assuring themselves that the contract has been carried out to the letter. After speed trials, and consumption trials, and steering trials comes the formal cruise; then the house flag is broken out at the main and the Blue Peter at the fpre, and another shuttle in the Empire’s loom begins its work. Robert MacIntyre. TURRET VESSEL ON TRIAL TRIP. (Photo supplied by Messrs. Doxford & Sons, Sunderland.)