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Show II t ! Jj P - The Evolution of the Steamship. I !'h Iff An interesting sketch of the development of "jsj steam navigation is found in tho Connecticut ; i! Ill Magazine. The ilrst steamer to cross was tho & In Savnnnah, In 1819, but it. requires a good deal of ; ; f I li imagination to picture that craft as a steamship. 1 , , 1 1 It was a 300-ton half clipper ship with a little en- "l ''jtyflll gine put in and paddle wheels which could be un- , 1! shipped and taken on deck when not in use. She j 1 - crossed the Atlantic in about a month, but was ' 'jfa only under steam a few hours on the voyage. Tho ) , . r jjjjjji first steamer to come across to New York was tho ' ' 'ilf Sirius. The Sirius was 178 feet long, 25 foot ",; beam and 18 feet deep from deck to keel and , t ,Mj Ml measured 703 tons. Sho was run by a sidolever . v, jj m engine with GO-inch cylinder and six-foot stroke. M Wl sno wns oisuteon days from cric to New Yrk ffltt and tho account says the wholo town wont down '1 $ fflt to 1110 wnnrf to 800 tne wonaoi' bonfires wore I 'I 1 ml buI11 and cnnnons flretl in tuo unusual enthusiasm. I m B The inauguration of stoam linos across tho WR Atlantic was due to tho efforts of a Connecticut 1 m man named Junius Smith. Ho went to England : Oj; and against fearful obstructions organized a ,,i '; steamship company and had the first ships built, if? In his efforts he met with many a rebuff. He tried l)l Hi " to get to see the Duke of Wellington to lay his '. iii jf! plans before the old fighter, but failed. The duke WW ' III' "The Duke of Wellington presents his compli- B i 'T eI ments to Mr. Smith. The duke has no desire to HI receive the visits of gentlemen who have schemes Bf ift' m contemplation for the alteration of public es- W-. 'I f'- jjj But he had worse disappointments than that. B .vS, nS Tlie London Civil Engineer pointed out the utter B- "v. '$ nl impracticability of navigating the Atlantic with Hp " fl 6 ships propelled by stoam, and closed its article Wm ' "Tho establishment of steam communication B N IS I wltu tUe 1110011 Is Q110 as feasible. Earth has its B bubbles as the water hath. And this is of B: Bfl This was in 1838, three acore and nine years Wm- Mum ago' Tne Sirius naJ a sPee(t of 8lx knots. Now B ill Hp two 8UlDB are nearing completion in England that uu Mmul w111 uave G8,000 horsepower and will make 25 jjf R knots an hour from port to port. The Sirius B ,: W started with some 350 tons of coal. The new Wm' Hw ships will burn over 1,000 tons of coal per day. ,''9 H But Iu tll,s tremendous evolution of the steam- B' ' 'IB Bnll) tue Anierlcans nave little part. Last year BJ iJiB 0111 imtry l)ai(l to foreign ship owners $185,000,- um 'Bb 000 or corrymK American freights, and in the BBt :BI i yoai i904 110 1 one AmerIcan sn'P entered or B ' Bm 1 cleared from a single port of Germany, Russia, ilaBrB Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Austria-Hungary, Bl RBBiB Greece or The Netherlands. H ImBm Tne policy that keeps American ships from BulSlIIi t,u soas is 8,mPly wicked, but it will probably iiii continue until this country Is confr nted by a B Pillil W :Teat foreign war. Then the people will realize Bf mm! 1,ow crIminal the policy has been and we will be BWm& -table to pay for it by the loss of valuable pos sessions and by the unavailing loss of some thou-. sands of splendid American lives. When tho war with Spain was declared we had not transports enough to send a little army of 12,000 men to Cuba. No nation is so groat as our own, no nation na-tion since the beginning of navigation has ever been in so much disgrace on the sea as our own. |