In conclusion I might truly say that the modern ocean steamship of the great lines I have mentioned is the embodiment of the latest achievements of science and art of this enlightened age. So recent are many of the inventions that such a ship as the City of Paris or the Majestic could not have been built ten years ago at any price. The practical effect of all this to the traveller is to bring him very much nearer to the Old World than his father was, and to make the time spent in crossing the once dreaded ocean a delightful series of summer holidays.
[16] See the chapter on The Development of the Ocean Steamship.
[17] Through the courtesy of Mr. George W. Esslinger, assistant to Captain John E. Moore, landing agent.
BY LIEUTENANT J. D. JERROLD KELLEY, U. S. NAVY.
HAS STEAM RUINED THE GENUINE SAILORS OF STORY AND SONG?—HAULING A LINER OUT OF THE LIVERPOOL DOCKS—THE TRAITS OF MASTER-MARINERS—EDUCATION OF JUNIOR OFFICERS—A FIRE DRILL—STOWING THE CARGO—DOWN THE CHANNEL IN A FOG—THE ROUTINE LIFE AT SEA—THE TRIALS OF KEEPING WATCH—A BO’S’N’S RIGHT TO BLUSTER—STEERING BY STEAM—SCRUBBING THE DECKS IN THE MIDDLE WATCHES—FORMALITIES OF INSPECTION—THE MAGIC DOMAIN OF THE ENGINE-ROOM—PICTURESQUENESS OF THE STOKE-HOLE—MESSES OF THE CREW—THE NOON OBSERVATION—LIFE AMONG THE CABIN PASSENGERS—BOAT DRILL—PLEASURES TOWARD THE END OF THE VOYAGE—THE CONCERT—SCENES IN THE SMOKING-ROOM—WAGERS ON THE PILOT-BOAT NUMBER—FIRE ISLAND LIGHT, AND THE END OF THE VOYAGE.
When the breeze is piping free and the tide is running strong none but a master-seaman may be trusted to haul out of the Liverpool docks a great Atlantic liner. Should it be a leeward ebb, with the Mersey spinning under a flurry of squalls and snarling in angry eddies, a quick eye must mate a clear wit to make the trick a deft one. The manœuvre is always a delight to the mariner, let bo’s’ns, hopelessly spliced to such traditions as topsails reefed in stays bawl what they may about the dead days of seamanship. For here are unfolded the mysteries of the art, and here are exercised all the higher qualities of the sailor, and just as much, believe me, as in the old times when the gray piers and oozy quays were crowded to cheer our famous clippers warping in and out to the music of barbaric “chanties.”