The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

COALING VESSELS AT SEA 329 navies, and as such experiments cannot be made in the dark, it is certain that all nations will almost simultaneously have the necessary apparatus for coaling ships to be supplied at sea, so that they can be sent to the greatest distance without running short, at the moment of combat, of either food or coal.” Coal Supply.—The Spanish-American War and its lessons furnished the naval officers of foreign Powers with points of interest. For instance, a paper on coal supply was written by the late Vice-Admiral P. H. Colomb, R.N., entitled “Coal Supply, Speed, Guns, and Torpedoes in Naval Marine War.”1 As regards coal supply, Vice-Admiral Colomb said: “We get speed and certainty for voyages made under steam, and the full advantages are reaped in peace time, because coal supply can be exactly arranged for and calculated according to the work required of it, for that can be known ; but for the warships in war no such special arrangements and calculations are possible. Coal supply can be treated only generally before the war breaks out. No one can say beforehand whether it has been advantageously or economically allotted.” Spencer Miller’s System.—His plan, devised in 1893, was to stretch an elevated cable from the stern of the warship to the bow of the collier in tow, one encl to be securely fastened to the warship and the other end wound round a compensating engine, similar to the steam towing machines. The load running on this cable was to be conveyed by an endless rope. It was expected that the compensating engine would keep an equal strain on this elevated line irrespective of the pitch of the vessels so connected. In Fig. 468. Woodward’s Plan for Coaling at Sea. March 1898, Lieutenant J. J. Woodward, Naval Constructor, stationed at Newport News, Va., invited plans and prices for a device embodying much the same general ideas. A few weeks later, in April, a plan was sent to Mr Woodward, and he in turn transmitted it, with favourable recommendations, through the Chief Constructor, to the Secretary of the Navy. It was not, however, until August of the same year that any understanding was arrived at with the Navy Department whereby the work of construction could be begun. The plan, considerably modified, was submitted to a Board of Naval Officers, consisting of Rear-Admiral Ramsay, President; Mr Thomas Williamson, Chief Engineer; and Commander J. L. Tanner. They considered the device “ feasible in moderate weather.” Thereupon the Department contracted with the Lidger- wood Manufacturing Co., of New York City, U.S.A., to have the apparatus installed on board the collier “Marcellus.” So much time, however, was lost in negotiations, that before the work of construction was begun, the war had come to an end. On 15th October 1898 experiments were performed in New York Harbour with a tug towing a sloop, using a quarter-sized model. Shear-poles were mounted on the tug, and blocks on the mast of the sloop, the distance between points of support being 100 ft. An endless rope was employed, being used in accordance with the sketch shown in Fig. 468. The experiment was performed in a storm, which was so severe that the sloop shipped water over the bow, and both boats rolled and pitched very badly. In spite of this, however, the bags of coal were conveyed across the space as though the sea were ' This paper appeared in Cassier's Magazine, August 1898.