and bolts, the ship rises stage by stage until the main skeleton stands before us; after which the thick planking is fastened to the ribs by bolts, the solid beams which support the frame and decks are laid down; all the spaces are filled up with planking, the seams are caulked, and the ship is at last ready for launching.* "All is finished! and at length Has come the bridal day Of beauty and of strength; TO-DAY the vessel shall be LAUNCHED!"† One of the most impressive spectacles we had ever seen was afforded us on the 1st of July in the launch of the Mars. Great preparations had been made for the event. The rigid economy subsequently adopted by the Admiralty had not then been introduced; the occasion was regarded, as had been customary, as a great festival calling for a generous and even profuse liberality, and a considerable expenditure had been incurred in providing comfortable accommodation for the employés and the public. It was, indeed, a great occasion. The labour of years had combined with the most advanced science and practical skill of the age to produce a war vessel worthy the name and fame of our country, and all had been successfully completed. The great ship was enclosed on three sides by rows of seats * If any further detail is desired, it may be thus concisely given in the words of an expert :-Ship laid off; moulds made for the various parts of the structure; timbers, etc., sawn and trimmed to exact shape by the shipwrights; blocks prepared; keel laid; stem and stern posts erected; floors and other lower timbers of frame placed in position across the keel; all other timbers of frame gradually built up tier upon tier, each successive tier being secured in position and supported by ribands, harpings and shores; keelson, or inner keel, laid, and at bow and stern the deadwoods, apron, stemson and sternson, all completing the backbone of the ship. Outside and inside the surfaces of the frames trimmed fair and even, ready for the reception of the planking, etc. Lines got in on inside of frames for the various decks; shelf-pieces fitted; beams made and got into position; waterways worked on ends of beams; principal assemblages of outside planking termed wales abreast the principal decks; remainder of bottom and topside planking, also various lines of internal planking with the diagonal trusses between them to prevent the vessel bending longitudinally; laying the planks on the various deck-beams; building the bulkheads for dividing the hold spaces; laying engine and boiler bearers; fitting rudder, false keels and other external work; fastening the vessel throughout with bolts, treenails, etc.; preparing for launching. Longfellow, whose "Building of the Ship" can never be forgotten by any connected with naval architecture. rising from the floor to a great height, covered with canvas and decorated with flags; while the vessel herself, in all her splendour, occupied the slip from end to end, and from the base almost to the summit. As the hour for the launch approached, crowds of people began to assemble, the Dockyard gates being thrown open to the public, while the band of the Royal Marines marched in, and took up a position near the head of the ship. Great numbers of naval officers from the various war vessels in the Medway and from Sheerness, and military officers from the garrison, all in uniform, and accompanied by their wives and daughters, also arrived, and took up the places assigned them. Soon every spot from which the launch could be seen, including the bank on the opposite side of the river, was occupied. A brilliant group, consisting of the Admiralty officials, the Superintendent of the Yard, and some distinguished visitors, were gathered round the head of the ship; the Master Shipwright, the builder of the vessel, and his assistants, were superintending, and as the tide approached its height a word was given, and the heavy hammers in a rapid succession of mighty blows were heard knocking away the shores and blocks. This went on for awhile, for the supports were firmly fixed; and then came a pause-the lady who was to perform the ceremony of naming the ship was conducted to the front; she loosed a cord that dashed a bottle of wine over the bows, and cut away the last support. It was a moment of supreme anxiety, for the vessel might "hang fire," she might meet with some check on her way to the water-many things might happen. * "But see-she stirs ! She starts, she moves, she seems to feel And amid the cheers of the assembled thousands, the waving of hats and handkerchiefs, and the loud and triumphal strains of "Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves!" she slips majestically down her "ways" into the stream, The Master Shipwright was allowed a gratuity of £50 on the occasion of a launch. VOL. II. 8 ΤΗ CHAPTER VII. LIFE AND WORK IN CHATHAM DOCKYARD. HE staff of Chatham Dockyard at this time consisted of the following Officers, whose salaries are annexed: Captain Superintendent, £360 per annum, and his pay and allowances as Captain of a third-rate; Master Attendant, £480; Assistant Master Attendant, £300; Master Shipwright, £650, with two assistants at £400 each; Storekeeper, £600; Store-receiver, £450; Engineer, £500; Surgeon, £500, and Assistant Surgeon, £200; Timber Inspector, £400; Boatswain, £200; Lieutenant Director of Police, £250; and Chaplain, £350. The Clerical Staff consisted of two First-Class Clerks, £300 to £450; six SecondClass, £150 to £300; and eight Third-Class, £80 to £150. The subordinate officers were, six Foremen of the Yard at £250 (with a gratuity of £50 to one of them); Master Smith, £250; Conductor of Metal Mills, £200; two Assistant. Timber Converters at £180 and £160; Foreman of Joiners, £180; eleven Inspectors, three at £150 and eight at £125; four Measurers, one at £150 and three at £125; Master Ropemaker, £250; Master Sailmaker, £250; Master Rigger, £200; Foreman of Smiths, £150; Foreman of Painters, £200; Foreman of Ropemakers, £200; three Layers in Ropery at £100 each; three Leading Men of Storehouses, one at £120, one at £100, one at £85; Schoolmaster at £150; Clerk of Works, £180. The number of men in the Yard was upwards of 2,000. The estimated wages for the year 1848-9 for Artificers, etc., was £101,300;* for Teams, £1,373; for Police, £3,306; and for New Works, £68,183. * In the previous year it had been £102,200; in 1846-47, £95,500. One of the most interesting of all things to an intelligent mind is to watch the building of a ship from its commencement to its completion.* The drawings having first been made at the Admiralty, and the sections laid off from them on the mould-loft floor, the blocks to receive the keel are duly placed with a slope to the horizon of the utmost exactness for ultimate launching, the KEEL is laid "The keel of oak† for a noble ship Scarfed and bolted, straight and strong " the ribs, the stem, and the stern-posts are gradually seen springing from it; the timbers, one after another, are laid in their places, and the spaces between the ribs above the water-line, requiring great strength, and those below the water-line from the keel to the upper turn of bilge, in each case, filled in with solid timbers; while in the midship-body the keel is crossed at right angles by the timbers that form the floor, and the planking and all longitudinal supports are secured to the stem and stern. Multitudes of men are em. ployed on the ship, and swarm as ants all about it, and the noise of their hammers, axes and mallets is heard afar off. "Ah! what a wondrous thing it is To note how many wheels of toil, One thought, one word, can set in motion ! But every climate, every soil, Must bring its tribute, great or small, And help to build the wooden wall." One great presiding mind overlooks all-that of the Master Shipwright; who-aided by his several Assistants, under whom is a foreman, with his gangs of shipwrights, smiths, joiners, and other artisans and labourers-carries on the work from beginning to end, the whole being thoroughly done under close inspection. Strengthened with keelsons * The designs of all ships were sent from the Admiralty. They were prepared by the Surveyor-later on by the Chief Constructor- of the Navy, under the direction of the Board, and were subject to any alteration thought desirable by their Lordships, while under construction, in the course of which they were frequently inspected by the Admiralty officers. †This is-now, at least-only a poetic fancy. English elm has been used for a considerable time for the keels of wooden ships. It is a wood which lasts a long while under water, and with its twisted grain can receive the large number of bolts passed through it without splitting. where, proudly bearing the royal standard and the Admiralty flag, "She walks the waters like a thing of life, "Take it all in all," says Ruskin, "a ship of the line is the most honourable thing that man, as a gregarious animal, has ever produced. By himself, unhelped, he can do better things than ships of the line: he can make poems and pictures, and other such concentrations of what is best in him. But as a being living in flocks, and hammering out with alternate strokes and mutual agreement what it is necessary for him in these flocks to get or produce, the ship of the line is his first work. Into that he has put as much of his human patience, common-sense, forethought, experimental philosophy, self-control, habits of order and obedience, thoroughly wrought hand work, defiance of brute elements, careless courage, careful patriotism, and calm expectation of the judgment of God, as can well be put into a space of 300 feet long by 80 broad."* And who can help thinking of the possible future of such a vessel when launched, or of the many emblems it affords us of human life? I have seen many launches since that day, but none impressed me so much as the launch of the Mars. (It should be observed that after launching, it takes one or two years to complete a ship by getting in her machinery, masts and rigging, and guns, with all the thousand and one fittings * "Harbours of England." †The question, however, may be asked, Why give such names as that of Mars to our warships? Why not give them in every instance-as has been done in some cases-that of one of our great Admirals, Naval Captains, Commanders, famous old ships, or great Military heroes? Such names as Mars have no meaning for our sailors; but such as Nelson, Drake, Napier, and others like them, are inspiring. It may be hoped that names like these will be perpetuated in our Navy, and that the present and future generations of Admirals and other brave and distinguished officers may be commemorated in the same manner by their names being given to the ships of the day.1 Great events may be in like manner commemorated (as, indeed, it must be admitted, has been sometimes done), and there would be no necessity to resort to mythological fables for names which are meaningless to those who fight in the ships that bear them. 1 This was afterwards done in a series of vessels known as the "Admiral Class," because each bore the name of a distinguished British Admiral. |