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Men of Invention and Industry-Part47_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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secured to the ship with chains and hooks, the latter being

inserted through the side lights in her sheer strake. Early in



the following summer everything was ready. The air-tanks were

prepared and rafted together. Powerful screws were attached to



each chain, with hand-pumps for emptying the tanks, together with

a steam tender fitted with cooking appliances, berths and stores,



for all hands engaged in the enterprise. We succeeded in

attaching the hooks and chains by means of divers; the chains



being ready coiled on deck. But the weather, which before seemed

to be settled, now gave way. No sooner had we got the pair of



big tanks secured to the after body, than a fierce

north-north-easterly gale set in, and we had to run for it,



leaving the tanks partly filled, in order to lessen the strain on

everything.



When the gale had settled, we returned again, and found that no

harm had been done. The remainder of the hooks were properly



attached to the rest of the tanks, the chains were screwed

tightly up, and the tanks were pumped clear. Then the tide rose;



and before high water we had the great satisfaction of getting

the body of the vessel under weigh, and towing her about a



cable's length from her old bed. At each tide's work she was

lifted higher and higher, and towed into shallower water towards



Belfast; until at length we had her, after eight days, safely in

the harbour, ready to enter the graving dock,--not more ready,



however, than we all were for our beds, for we had neither

undressed nor shaved during that anxious time. Indeed, our



friends scarcely recognised us on our return home.

The result of the enterprise was this. The clean cut made into



the bow of the ship by the collision was soon repaired. The crop

of oysters with which she was incrusted gave place to the scraper



and the paintbrush. The Wolf came out of the dock to the

satisfaction both of the owners and underwriters; and she was



soon "ready for the road," nothing the worse for her ten months'

immersion.[2]



Meanwhile the building of new iron ships went on in the Queen's

Island. We were employed by another Liverpool Company--the



British Shipowners' Company, Limited--to supply some large

steamers. The British Empire, of 3361 gross tonnage, was the



same class of vessel as those of the White Star line, but fuller,

being intended for cargo. Though originally intended for the



Eastern trade, this vessel was eventually placed on the Liverpool

and Philadelphia line; and her working proved so satisfactory



that five more vessels were ordered like her, which were

chartered to the American Company.



The Liverpool agents, Messrs. Richardson, Spence, and Co., having

purchased the Cunard steamer Russia, sent her over to us to be



lengthened 70 feet, and entirely refitted--another proof of the

rapid change which owners of merchant ships now found it



necessary to adopt in view of the requirements of modern traffic.

Another Liverpool firm, the Messrs. T. and J. Brocklebank, of



world-wide repute for their fine East Indiamen, having given up

building for themselves at their yard at Whitehaven, commissioned



us to build for them the Alexandria, and Baroda, which were

shortly followed by the Candahar and Tenasserim. And continuing



to have a faith in the future of big iron sailing ships, they

further employed us to build for them two of yet greater tonnage,



the Belfast and the Majestic.

Indeed, there is a future for sailing ships, notwithstanding the



recent development of steam power. Sailing ships can still hold

their own, especially in the transport of heavy merchandise for



great distances. They can be built more cheaply than steamers;

they can be worked more economically, because they require no



expenditure on coal, nor on wages of engineers; besides, the

space occupied in steamers by machinery is entirely occupied by



merchandise, all of which pays its quota of freight. Another

thing may be mentioned: the telegraph enables the fact of the



sailing of a vessel, with its cargo on board, to be communicated

from Calcutta or San Francisco to Liverpool, and from that moment



the cargo becomes as marketable as if it were on the spot. There

are cases, indeed, where the freight by sailing ship is even






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