SHIP DESIGN.
27
long canal, the leisurely flow through which for a considérable distance causes
the sediment to be deposited before entering the dock. The material has
still to be dredged by this method, but the operation is conflned to a limited
space, and can be carried on without interfering with shipping. The system
has been successfully tried at Calcutta (fig. 11), where the feed-canal is
3,300 yards long, and it is found that the whole of the water-borne mud
brought in from the River Hooghly is deposited within the first thousand
yards.
Ship Design.—The question of ship design is so rnuch akin to that of
dock design that no apology is needed for a few passing remarks upon the
former subject. Within recent years very great strides have been made in
naval construction, and the profile of ships has undergone a considerable
change. The graceful curved outlines amidships and the deep keel of a
generation ago have now given way to a square box-like section, with a flat
bottoni and with sides perfectly upright, or having an inward inclination
towards the top. These new features, shown on fig. 3, obviously demand
quays with absolutely perpendicular faces and entrances with level silis.
Fig- 3.—Amidship Sections of Typical Vessels.
In a paper read before the Institution of Naval Architects in 1899, Mr.
B. Hunter * thus describes the design of a modern vessel, suitable for
carrying large cargoes across the Atlantic economically and safely on a
moderate draught. “With docks, harbours, and markets as they are and
will be, a typical American freight steamer of the present or early future
may be designed to carry not less than 12,000 tons deadweight, with cubic
Hunter on “Large Atlantic Cargo Steamers,” Min. Proc. Inst. N.A., 1899.