Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

SOME EXTRAORDINARY SHIPBUILDING FEATS. Fig. 1.—S.S. “ WITTEKIND ” IN DRY DOCK AT THE YARDS OF MESSRS. SWAN, HUNTER, AND WIGHAM RICHARDSON, LIMITED, WALLSEND, FOR LENGTHENING 60 FEET. NEW FLOORS IN POSITION. BY ALBERT G. HOOD, Editor of “ The Shipbuilder.” AN account of ships and shipbuilding would be incomplete without some reference to what may be termed extraordinary shipbuilding feats. Occasion- ally the requirements which have to be ful- filled aro so unusual that the naval architect finds it necessary to evolve an entirely new type of vessel, and of the ingenuity displayed under these circumstances a very interesting chapter might be written. To meet, for example, the needs of navi- gators in waters which are frozen over in winter, many vessels have been specially de- signed for forcing their way through ice. The Ice-Breaker “ Ermack.” The most remarkable ice-breaker so far constructed is the Ermack, built by Messrs. Armstrong, Whitworth, and Company, to the designs of the late Admiral Makaroff, the brave Russian commander who perished at Port Arthur during the Russo- Japanese War. As originally constructed, she was 305 feet long, of 71 feet beam, and 42 feet 6 inches deep to the upper deck, with a displacement of 8,000 tons. Her engines indicate 8,000 horse-power, and give th© vessel a speed in open water of 15 knots. Built of steel, she has very great strength, her bow particularly being strong enough to with-