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234 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
engines, one right and one left, with twin
propellers. The engines furnish 600
brake or 950 indicated horsepower, 200
revolutions per minute, and estimated to
consume 25 barrels of crude oil per day
of 24 hours. Just now all the western
yards have orders for ships far ahead,
but are taking more orders and are enlarging
their plants as new business
comes to them.
The largest fleet of sailing ships under
the American flag will depend on wind
for their motive power no longer. Word
now comes that the Alaska Packers' Association
will modify its famous windjammers
by making modern motorships
out of all of them.
An old sailing schooner, recently converted
into a motorship, has had its
cargo-carrying capacity enlarged by 600
tons, whereas the ordinary land-lubber
would think exactly the reverse condition
might prevail. On top of a bigger cargo
Built Where Steel Is More Plentiful than Wood
This is a common type of the full powered gasoline freighter now very
popular in Europe.
space the ship's efficiency is increased
tremendously.
But shipbuilding today, as it was in
the days of the Vikings, is a haphazard
affair. We should not stop with our
new and important creation, the wooden
motorship. Shipbuilding has undergone
less improvement with the march of time
and discovery than perhaps any other
building line. Building needs to be
standardized. A modern shoe factory,
minus a standardization of styles, patterns,
and sizes would get nowhere in
business. It is the same with the automobile.
Automobiles have been wonderfully
cheapened because the product has
been standardized. No two ships are
alike. Each builder must have his own
plans and specifications. We need to
turn out ships of standard pattern, with
machines, just as Mr. Ford turns out his
cars. There is no reason why one ship
should not be just like another, for ships
are not made for looks. If
we could turn out ships today
in any such fashion as
we turn out cars, we might
do the world a kindly turn,
relieve the frightful cost of
living, and make a millionaire
a minute in the process.
Just now anything that
can stow a cargo below and
hoist a sail aloft, with a
sturdy gas engine kicking up
foam aft, when the "wind's
not willin'", fills a double
office of helping and "bringing
home the bacon" in the
form of bank balances.
The prospectuses of newly
formed motorship companies
having stock to sell to investors
read like romances.
Yet every statement is
backed up by statistical facts
that on the face forestall
denial. As we said before,
poor men are to be made
rich and rich men richer in
doing the whole world's
carrying.