Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

316 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. able numbers, a fact which was due largely to the country’s immense resources of timber. For some time after 1840, when steamers com- menced to cross the Atlantic regularly, much faster sailing packets than had previously been built continued to compete for both the passenger and cargo trade between the Old and New Worlds ; but gradually only the longer sea journeys, such as between the British Isles and China or Australia, were left open to the sailing ship. British shipbuilders at length, began to compete successfully with the American builders of sailing vessels, and about 1855 the English-built clippers began to race the American-built ships in the run from China to this country with the early season’s teas. The time made by some of these fine clippers was remarkable, and the public interest taken at this time in their per- formances is hardly exceeded by that evinced in the recent record-breaking by the great Cunarders in the Atlantic. It is interesting to conjecture whether North America would have maintained her position as a centre of the shipbuilding industry if wood had continued to be the principal material used in the construction of ships. The high cost and growing scarcity of suitable timber, however, and the structural difficulties encountered in building wooden ships nearly 300 feet long stout enough for heavy ocean work, caused the naval architect to search for another build- ing material. Iron began to be introduced in the construction of large wooden sailing ships and steamers for stiffening and strengthening the hulls, the vessels so built being known as “ composite ” ships ; and this practice was in vogue for a good many years. The use of iron as a recognized ship material—that is, for the whole of the hull—is said to date from about the year 1818, but it was many years later before it became general for sea-going vessels. In 1839 the construction of a remarkable Wood, Composite, and Iron Ships. at Bristol, to The “ Great Britain ” Screw Steamship. steamship, afterwards to be known as the Great Britain, was commenced the designs of Mr. T. K. Brunel. This ship has special claims on our attention as one of the first iron steamships and the pioneer screw-propelled vessel built for the Atlantic trade, only paddle-wheel ships having been employed previously between Britain and America. Her dimensions at that time were considered marvellous. She had a length between perpendiculars of 289 feet, an extreme breadth of 50 feet, and at her load draught she displaced 3,618 tons. Like all early ocean-going steamers she had consider- able sail power. When she left her builders’ yard she was fitted with six masts, and her total spread of canvas was 1,700 square yards —more than one-third of an acre ! The average speed of the Great Britain on her first voyage was 9 knots. In this vessel were anticipated, to a remarkable extent, the prin- ciples of ship construction in favour at the present clay, for in her was exemplified a strongly-built and well-shaped iron hull with- out external keel, a “ balanced ” rudder, and a double bottom. The year 1858 saw the launch on the Thames, after many attempts, of the Great Eastern, the most remarkable iron structure the world has ever seen. Mr. I. K. Brunel, the designer of the Great • Great Britain, conceived the idea of . Eastern, building this mammoth vessel. Designed to make the voyage between Britain and Australia without calling anywhere en route for the purpose of coaling, she was ex- pected to attain high speed, thanks to her enormous length, and to be financially success- ful owing to her immense carrying power. Eventually the building of the ship was en- trusted to Messrs. John Scott Russell and Com- pany of Mill wall. Mr. Brunel watched the con- struction on behalf of the owners (the Eastern Steam Navigation Company), and he and Mr.