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SHIPBUILDING were the great builders of ancient ships. Their progress was chiefly in the direction of building galleys, vessels propelled by oars, in which the rowers commonly sat in two or three decks, one above the other. The rowers' benches gave strength to the structure. A ship 140 feet long and 18 feet wide was considered very large. The vikings of northern Europe had still smaller vessels, in which, however they made more adventurous voyages, sailing to Iceland, Greenland and North America. In 1880 there was unearthed from a burial-mound a viking warship, buried perhaps nine centuries before. It was only 78 feet long and seven wide; its depth was 5¾ feet. The mast was 40 feet high, and it seems to have had one great, square sail. There was no deck. During the middle ages the largest and most formidable warships and the most valued merchant-vessels were galleys, which seldom ventured on oceanic voyages. By 1500 larger vessels began to be built, and in 1511 we find that Scotland built The Great Michael, 240 feet long and perhaps 50 wide. The Santa Maria, in which Columbus sailed across the Atlantic, was 90 feet long and 29 wide. The great proportionate width, when compared with the viking vessel, is noteworthy. In the 17th century, largely stimulated by the necessity of ocean-voyages to America and the Indies and by naval warfare, much more attention was paid to methods of strengthening the frame. In consequence by 1800 there were built vessels of three decks, strong enough to stand the pressure of the tremendous sail-spread that is familiar to us from pictures. By the same time the custom of building ships with very high decks fore and aft, with only a low deck in the center, had disappeared. Galleys, also, had by this time disappeared, except for a few special purposes. England had for a time fallen behind the continent, but at this date we find her stepping to the front of shipbuilding nations. Most remarkable, however, is the prominence of the New England colonies and states. Salem and other ports were active in this line of industry by 1650, though 300 tons was probably the largest size then attempted. By 1800, however, the industry was firmly established, and in the War of 1812 it was the superior construction and design of the American vessels which contributed not a little to the success they enjoyed. American vessels then gained and still retain the first place for speed. In 1862 The Dreadnought, an American built “clipper” ship, sailed from Sandy Hook to Queenstown in 9 days and 17 hours, which is the record still for sailing-vessels.

As early as 1701 Denis Papin had experimented with a paddle-wheel steamboat on Fulda River in Germany, Fitch of Connecticut had in 1785 constructed a steamboat, and in 1802 Symington made a steamboat which towed, vessels upon the Clyde in Scotland. In 1807 Robert Fulton built The Clermont, which for many years carried passengers on the Hudson. In 1819 The Savannah, built in New York, crossed the Atlantic, using paddle-wheels in calm weather to supplement her sails. In 1833 The Royal William, built in Quebec, steamed across the Atlantic in 22 days. All these vessels were wooden, and combined steam and sail power. American shipyards held their own until iron-vessels were introduced, when British yards rapidly took the business from us, and the ownership of the vessels followed in the same direction. In 1821 the first iron-vessel, a steam canal-boat, The Aaron Manby, was built in England. In 1837 the screw-propeller, as invented by Ericsson, took the place of the paddle-wheel for the first time, and rapidly gained in favor. In 1845, The Great Britain, an iron screw-steamer, crossed the Atlantic. It was 322 feet long, with a tonnage of 3,270, and was the first vessel of the type of the modern ocean-liner. In 1858 The Great Eastern, 680 feet long, of 18,918 tons and of 14 knots' speed, with a combination of paddle-wheel and screw propulsion, set a mark for size which was not equalled till 1901. The Celtic, built in that year, exceeded 20,000 tons.

The Alaska, built in 1882, of 6,400 tons, steamed from Queenstown to Sandy Hook in less, than seven days; in 1889 The City of Paris (10,669 tons) reduced this time to less than six days; and in 1907 The Lusitania, soon followed by a sister-ship, easily and regularly completed the passage in much less than five days. There are about 22 ocean-liners that regularly exceed 20 knots an hour on their voyages. Of these England owns nine, Germany five and the United States and France four each. Of about 200 ocean merchant-steamers that exceed 16 knots England owns 100 and the United States 40. The United States also has large, swift steamers on the Great Lakes and magnificent paddle-wheel steamers that sail the Hudson, Long Island Sound and other comparatively smooth waters.

Excepting those of Japan and a few other nations of much less importance, there are in the world about 31,000 ships of more than 100 tons, with a total tonnage of nearly 40,000,000 tons. Of this total about 32 million tons are steam-vessels, and of the steam-vessels about 27 million tons are steel and about 5,000,000 iron tonnage. Of the sailing-tonnage about four and a half millions or more than half are of steel or iron. In 1908 Britain had 17,499,542 tons of the world's steamers, Germany 3,839,378 and the United States 3,549,461.

Of all steamers Great Britain owns a little more than half, Germany about one