The aim has been to give them great carrying capacity and fair speed, with economy of working; and the use of steel, both in the hull and the rigging, facilitates the attainment of these objects. In 1882 and 1883, we built and launched four of these steel and iron sailing ships--the Waiter H. Wilson, the W. J.
Pirrie, the Fingal, and the Lord Wolseley--each of nearly 3000tons register, with four masts,--the owners being Mr. Lawther, of Belfast; Mr. Martin, of Dublin; and the Irish Shipowners Company.
Besides these and other sailing ships, we have built for Messrs.
Ismay, Imrie and Co. the Garfield, of 2347 registered tonnage;for Messrs. Thomas Dixon and Son, the Lord Downshire (2322); and for Messrs. Bullock's Bay Line, the Bay of Panama (2365).
In 1880 we took in another piece of the land reclaimed by the Belfast Harbour Trust; and there, in close proximity to the ship-yard, we manufacture all the machinery required for the service of the steamers constructed by our firm. In this way we are able to do everything "within ourselves"; and the whole land now occupied by the works comprises about forty acres, with ten building slips suitable for the largest vessels.
It remains for me to mention a Belfast firm, which has done so much for the town. I mean the Messrs. J.P. Corry and Co., who have always been amongst our best friends. We built for them their first iron sailing vessel, the Jane Porter, in 1860, and since then they have never failed us. They successfully established their "Star" line of sailing clippers from London to Calcutta, all of which were built here. They subsequently gave us orders for yet larger vessels, in the Star of France and the Star of Italy. In all, we have built for that firm eleven of their well-known "Star" ships.
We have built five ships for the Asiatic Steam Navigation Company, Limited, each of from 1650 to 2059 tons gross; and we are now building for them two ships, each of about 3000 tons gross. In 1883 we launched thirteen iron and steel vessels, of a registered tonnage of over 30,000 tons. Out of eleven ships now building, seven are of steel.
Such is a brief and summary account of the means by which we have been enabled to establish a new branch of industry in Belfast.
It has been accomplished simply by energy and hard work. We have been well-supported by the skilled labour of our artisans; we have been backed by the capital and the enterprise of England;and we believe that if all true patriots would go and do likewise, there would be nothing to fear for the prosperity and success of Ireland.
Footnotes for Chapter XI.
[1] Although Mr. Harland took no further steps with his lifeboat, the project seems well worthy of a fair trial. We had lately the pleasure of seeing the model launched and tried on the lake behind Mr. Harland's residence at Ormiston, near Belfast. The cylindrical lifeboat kept perfectly water-tight, and though thrown into the water in many different positions--sometimes tumbled in on its prow, at other times on its back (the deck being undermost), it invariably righted itself. The screws fore and aft worked well, and were capable of being turned by human labour or by steam power. Now that such large freights of passengers are carried by ocean-going ships, it would seem necessary that some such method should be adopted of preserving life at sea; for ordinary lifeboats, which are so subject to destructive damage, are often of little use in fires or shipwrecks, or other accidents on the ocean.
[2] A full account is given in the Illustrated London News of the 21st of October, 1868, with illustrations, of the raising of the Wolf; and another, more scientific, is given in the Engineer of the 16th of October, of the same year.
