Ship
Ship names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Ship in the most vessel intended for navigating the ocean
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in the most vessel intended for navigating the ocean. general sense, a In contradistinction to boat, which is the most general term for a navigable vessel, it signifies a vessel intended for distant voyages. Ships are of various sizes, and fitted for various uses, and receive various names, according to their rig and the purposes to which they are applied, as man-of-war ships, transports, merchantmen, barks, brigs, schooners, luggers, sloops, xebecs, galleys, etc. The name as descriptive of a particular rig, and as roughly implying a certain size, has been used to designate a vessel furnished with a bowsprit and three or four masts, each of which is composed of a lower mast, a top mast, and a top-gallant mast, and carrying a certain number of square sails on each of the masts. These masts are named, beginning with the foremost, the fore, the main , and mizzen masts; and when there is a fourth it is called the jigger mast. The principal sails are named according to the masts to which they belong. There were two primitive types of shipbuilding from one or other of which, or rather perhaps from a joint development of both, all the improvements of modern times have proceeded. These were the raft and the canoe. In like manner there have been from time immemorial two distinct modes of propulsion, by oars and sails. The ancient art of ship-building, like many other arts, was lost in the overwhelming tide of barbarism which overthrew the last of the great empires of antiquity. Shipbuilding made little progress in Z-Cyc Vol 8 Europe till the discovery of the compass, which was introduced in a rude form in the 12th century, and had been improved and had come into common use in the 14th century. The opening up of the passage to India and the discovery of America made another epoch in its progress. In the building of large vessels the Spaniards long took the lead, and were followed by the French, who specially distinguished themselves in the theoretical study of the art. In the early progress of the art of shipbuilding the English took little or no part. When Henry VII. built the "Henri Grace a Dieu," which is regarded as the parent of the British navy, the English were greatly inferior to the nations of southern Europe both in navigation and in shipbuilding. In the reign of Elizabeth the English fleet proved its superiority to that of Spain in respect of fi fighting capacity, but it was afterward rivaled by that of Holland. The first three-decker was built in England in 1637. She was called the "Sovereign of the Seas" and was deemed the best man-of-war in the world. In 1768 the French adopted threedeckers. In the early part of the 19th century the lead in improvement was taken by the United States. English builders were at first skeptical as to American improvements; but in 1832 Scott Russell theoretically established the principles on which speed in sailing depends-principles which had already been practically applied not only by the Americans, but by the Spaniards. From the time of their theoretical establishment they were rapidly adopted in England, and a race of improvements began between Great Britain and the United States. The true principles of construction both in build and rig were exemplified in the celebrated Baltimore clipper schooners, which were sharp in the bow, deep in the stern, of great length, and lying low in the water, with long, slender masts, and large sails cut with great skill. A great change came over the art of shipbuilding when steam was introduced and wood gave place to iron and then to steel. The first steamer built expressly for regular voyages between Europe and America was the "Great Western," launched in 1837. She was propelled by paddles, but about the same time Ericsson invented his screw propeller, which was soon adopted in sea-going ships, and the British Admiralty possessed a screw vessel in 1842. Iron vessels were built early in the 19th century for canal service, then for river service, and later for packet service on the coasts. In 1838 the first vessel of this material was built for ocean service, but the first ocean-going steamship in its present form, built of iron and propelled by the screw, was the "Great Britain," launched in 1843. As early as 1855, iron was substituted for wood in the yards on the Clyde; and on the Mersey, the Tyne, and the Wear, iron shipbuilding was in general adoption by 1863 or earlier. Puddled steel was used as early as 1862, and since 1870 Great Britain has led the world in steel shipbuilding. Before 1890 steel had displaced iron in British shipyards. In the United States, the transition from wooden to iron ships took place at the commencement of the Civil War. Among the shipbuilding yards that survived the change was Cramp's at Philadelphia, and the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., at Wilmington, Del. Though the building of merchant vessels was interrupted (allowing England to acquire the leadership she still maintains), the American shipyards promptly turned out warships. The "New Ironsides," a pioneer type for coast service, was built at Cramp's yards and went into action at Fort Sumter. The lack of efficient yards in the Confederate States was an important factor in the Civil War. The "St. Louis" and the "St. Paul," two ocean liners built by the Cramp Co. between 1892 and 1896, were constructed entirely of domestic material, thus marking a new era in American shipbuilding. American yards now receive orders not only from foreign firms for merchant ships, but from foreign governments for warships. During the World War and especially after the United States joined the Allies in 1917, there was a great increase in shipbuilding. In 1919 the sailing vessels (exclusive of canal boats and barges) of the United States, numbered 4,260, tonnage 1,199,661; steamships 7,397, tonnage 10,027,400; gas vessels 10,254, tonnage 358,257; including canal boats and barges 27,513, tonnage 12,907,300. See SHIP- BUILDING; SHIPPING; NAVY; etc.
Ship ARMORED. The earliest plans for the building of armored
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ARMORED. The earliest plans for the building of armored steamships appear to have been made by John Stevens of New Jersey in 1812. The idea did not then take practical shape but it was developed by his son, Robert Los who secured acceptance by the United States Government of a plan for the construction of an ironclad steamship in which all the machinery would be below the water-level. The keel was laid in 1854, but the French meanwhile produced the "Gloire," which, speedily followed by the sister ships "Invincible" and "Normandie," was the first ocean-going ironclad. In 1861 the United States provided for the building of the "Galena," "New each of which had distinctive features, which included inward-inclined sides, ram bows, retreating sterns, coverings of iron plate, and powerful batteries. The "Monitor" was really a floating battery, unsafe at sea, and her usefulness was proved in the fight with the "Merrimac" in the Civil War. Progress from that time on was marked by a development that alternated between the turret ship and the ship fitted for broadside fire from many guns. Italy, France, and Great Britain built both turret ships and broadside and central battery ships, and in the seventies a definite return was made by Italy and Great Britain to the turret ship with thick armor, central citadel, and battery of heavy guns. The caliber of the auxiliary guns was increased till the British in 1906 finally evolved the dreadnaught. This new type involved a concentration of force which made many other vessels obsolete. Turbine engines were introduced, the speed increased, and the principle of single caliber guns was adopted in all the great navies. The first battleship laid down in the United States was the "Texas" in 1889, and the improvement was uniform till the building of the "California" and "Oklahoma." The British super-dreadnaught "Queen Elizabeth" represented the utmost concentration of power during the World War, and its work in the Dardanelles in February, 1915, was an interesting exhibition of relative power between naval guns and land guns. SHIPBUILDING. The development of shipbuilding is represented in its main stages by the evolution of the hull and the introduction of the machinery of propulsion. The first carries us back almost to the prehistoric period and to an idea as simple as the floating log. The line of development through the raft, the hollowed-out trunk, the boat of skins stretched on frames, and the vessel of planks tied together brings us finally to the wooden and iron ship of modern times. From very early times the idea of the oars and the sail had already been evolved. Early Egyptian drawings show vessels of sawn planks with sails and The Greeks and Romans enlarged oars. the size of their vessels, but they still remained dependent on man-power. In mediæval times Irish mariners sailed in vessels propelled by sails and oars to the Faroe Islands and Iceland, which they discovered, and Columcille at Iona commanded fleets of vessels which passed constantly between Iona, Derry, and other Irish ports. Ships remained dependent on sails and man-power for propulsion down to modern times, but the arrival Ironsides," and the famous "Monitor," of steam engines resulted in a general awakening of the possibilities that lay in natural forces and shipbuilding, like other mechanical arts, took an upward bound. The general shape of vessels had to be modified to the new methods of propulsion, and gradual perfection was reached. Attention was given in the changed circumstances to greater stability and speed, simplicity was sought in the mechanical apparatus, and the structural arrangement was developed to secure greater habitability. The substitution of iron for wood and of steel for iron had reference not merely to increased resistance and durability and safety from combustion but also to the reduction of tion to weight weight of hull in proportio of lading. The investigation of the effect of the shape on buoyancy, speed, range of stability, and righting ability resulted in a certain standardization which has eliminated former dangers, so that safety at sea is now as procurable as on land. The naval architect drafts his plans on paper, and embodies parts of the vessel in wooden models. Molds are then laid by the constructive force. When these are completed actual construction begins with the preparation of the building way along keel blocks. On these the keel is laid, in sections, riveted together and fastened to the stern and stern posts. The midship frames are then set up, being held by a vertical internal keel till the forged stern and stern posts and the complementary plating are put in and the form of the ship is completed. After the launching the ma machinery is put in and the interior supplementary fittings are added. The reciprocating engine long held the field, but in recent years the development of turbine engines displaced the older type while the use of oil and the Diesel engine has produced motor vessels of the largest displacement as the latest type of all. The enormous expansion in shipbuilding has now also entailed the introduction of an immense variety of auxiliary machinery and appointments so that a modern transatlantic liner has come to partake of the character of a floating city. The building of naval vessels is, of course, differentiated from the building of passenger and cargo ships in many essential ways, but the actual ship is fundamentally the same, and the differences lie in the purposes of the parts, such as machinery, guns, and armament, added to it. See SHIPPING. SHIP CANALS. See CANAL,
Ship . See Ballast
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
. See Ballast ; Steamship ; Steamboat ; Battleship ; Man-Of-War; Sail ; Anchor ; Boat ; Canoe ; Commerce ; London ; Canal ; Propeller; Teredo ; Lighthouse ; Clyde , etc.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 could still treat sail rig as the defining feature of a ship and noted that England retained the merchant-shipbuilding leadership won during the American Civil War. Both statements have since lapsed: commercial sail died out within a generation, riveted steel gave way to welded steel and steam to the diesel motor ship, and the world's shipbuilding centre moved first to Japan and then to South Korea and China, while British yards all but vanished. The single largest break was containerisation, begun when Malcolm McLean's converted tanker Ideal X sailed in 1956; today's largest container ships run about 400 metres long and carry over 20,000 containers, and warships of the kind Collier's describes were displaced in importance by the aircraft carrier and, from USS Nautilus in 1954, by nuclear propulsion. Navigation by compass, the invention Collier's credits with reviving European shipbuilding, has largely given way to satellite positioning.
Written for this edition, 2026.