The Steam-Packet: A Tale of the River and the Ocean — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE STEAM PACKET. o ants of the Ladrone Islands navigate the most boisterous seas in their frail proas ;—the savages of north-western America dare the rolling billows in their skin-covered barks, which are fashioned with an admirable symmetry ;—and the denizens of Polynesia are not the less hardy in vessels equally simple in manufacture, and rude in material. The Chinese were amongst the first who excelled in the art of ship- building, and the foremost amongst those with whom that art has re- mained completely stationary. Possessing within themselves resources to supply every want, and situate upon the shores of a circumscribed sea, filled with islands, the Chinese were not likely to improve in the art of ship-building; and the natural immobility of their genius aided natural circumstances in retaining them in ignorance in this respect. During three thousand years have the Chinese followed the same models in the construction of their vessels—models which were master- pieces of art at the epoch of their invention, but which can now do nought save excite the ridicule of the sailors navigating the great ships of Europe which visit the Chinese seas. Amongst the Phcenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks, the earlier ships were flat-floored, broad, and shallow. A long time elapsed before the keel was added, to diminish the drifting of the vessel in a side wind; and another considerable interval occurred ere the keelson was super- added, to augment the strength of the structure. The ancients found that iron nails rotted the wood; and copper was substituted in the manufacture of the bolts. Care was taken to dovetail the ends of the planks in each other, in order to prevent them from starting—a danger which occasionally occurs even in the present time. Lime and pounded shells were applied, in the first instance, to seal the joints ; then wax, resin, and pitch, were substituted; and caulking with flax was eventually introduced. Large merchant vessels were sheathed with leather instead of copper; and even lead was occasionally used for this purpose. Oak and pine were the trees most in favour with the ancients for ship-building ; but the bottom part was not unfrequently made of cypress. The Greeks built many of their ships of cedar, to which they gave the name of the “‘ everlasting wood.” Of course, the magnitude of the vessels of the ancients increased as their knowledge of the art of ship-building progressed. Their war- ships were at first common rowing boats;—they then became galleys with two or more decks;—and the complexity of the rigging in- creased in proportion. Anchors at first were but large stones ;—it was next found expedient to construct a peculiar machine of wood and stone combined to retain the ship at a due distance from the land ;— and lastly, iron was called into use. B2 Gomichbooks (E(0)