CRADLED IN THE CLYDE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 286, 22 August 1918, Page 9

CRADLED IN THE CLYDE

THENARS "WAILBABIES"

TOUR OF THE STRENUOUS SHIPYARDS

With' the din of tho hammering of innumerable pneumatic tools, the whimng nwl whining of giant cranes, and other minor shipyard orchestrations, rendering conversation more difficult than at a pink tea, we went'(says a writer) on bWI a young cruiser which only a day or so before liad been introduced to tho waters of.the Clyde,, where as in the United States,' every available ounce oi tiainod energy is being utilised in speedin!.' uu "the. construction oi vessels tor cargo and conflict. A battalion a thousand strong' was engaged nr their various activities aboard thw new ship. Here was a,, chap doing nothing but slicing oil protruding parts of ct.eol, and others were busy o.n tho compamonways, the engines,' the guns, nearly all oi them having some part in this nnmeodious clanging .and" banging, all of winch with th/aid of steel and implements brought forth a lighting ship which might be engaged soon alter she left her birthplace This particular oruiser was still unpresentable with mere spiotches. of gray over the bare' ochre red. U might hajo been a, raco, so great was the activity and hustle aboard her, and it was instantly apparent to a.newcomer that the craft must bo light but equipped with guns as big as she'd Stand, and. ■"power! let with .all due respect o the British Navy it was possible that this ilew craft, the result of great ""Knuibr and months of skilled work, .might to blown to bits by an enemy mine befoie Chad fired a shell I ".across the wharf. There lay half a dozen merchant vessels, tiny men. running hither and thither aboard i heir decks : Then 1 observed the results of war, for beside tliis' new. cratt was a destroyer whose bridge and other garnishments had been swept clean away. "And right over there — . Bang, clatter, bang-ba%'-whm— dcerrrot—rot—rot. ... . , ~ , ■ , "And there-another," cried the head draughtsman of the yard. "Where? What?"

' Two Destroyers Made One. Tat-rat-bang-boom - whirr-teri-rot-T °Ho puts bis lips close to my ear, cupped hii hi'rids and yelled) ' „ "jffiew-cuf in half-stem of one -bow of.another-iixed 'cm up-new "Ttfmy o^ 'to his car and 'megaphoned:—. . ; , ! "Write it biiofiy. , He tried souio other words as he- took. oufpapTand pencil and tho. third toe I made out that he was saying:- hood "It is" I yelled back. "Again?" "Oh, hang!'. . "i'es, it is bit of, what? But this is what ho wrote:— \ "Two British dostroyers l.ad an engagement with the enemy and they were Kll built that although they were cut in half only tho portion punctured , by -shell fire sank. Tho stern of one vessel and the bow portion' of another | were finally towed into an *nst coast , port, where they were successfully joined together. The ship was r.iterward brought around to bo completed, and sho new bears tho" fore part of one destroyer and tho latter syllable of the other as her name. She's -aoarly ready for fighting again. She lies over next to that freighter to the right..- v ■ Thero lulvo boon many other instances of dostroyers proving lliat .they arc unsaleable, and it happened that I had seen this particular craft-or at least tho stem and bows of the two vessels-in tho east coast port soon after the, fight. We walked forward, and there I saw chalked on a great gun a facetious" comment of tho workers: "Not to bo taken

' A Hush-Hush Baby. Next I was taken aboard one of the "Rush-Hush-Hush" vessels,, so great that Dart of a great building had bo torn uown to permit the full length ot the bows of "the warship to bo m the shipyard. She was graceful, in lines and would be mighty in-armament. Hero was a man .steadfastly punching mots, and ono could not help giving a thought that rivets moan ships and that this worker | was doing his share'of work on this giantess of tho Royal Navy. Hero was a forge out of which they drew the yellow and red hot iron, immediately beaten into shape and needed size. There- were tho torpedo.tubes and a thousand other features. My 'escort TO>to on lus pad: "Some-day you'll be proud to be able to say you saw this baby in her cradle. This craft, of course,,dwarfed the tat oruiser into insignificance, despite, tno fact that her ribs were still uncovered by steel plates. In twenty .months an army of men had sent a ship of her ilk to the fighting fields. In the course of our wanderings aboard this leviathan 1 observed that the shipyard humorist had again been busy and had scrawled in chalk on ono of the red-painted iron I "Tho wages' of sin is death-but '= wages of tho foreman is damnable. ; S There scorned to be a comparative 1 silence for a half minute, and my friend I told me that he hod talked with some 5 United States naval officers, only tho I day before. Heifurther explained to me 1 that whea she was completed this- baby , ? would be the home of moro than a thou-1 » sand officers and men. '"Some war baby' is what tho Amorimns called her," said the head draughtsman.- "She is. Wo- keep going on her day and night,'and there'will'bo a sigh of.'relief when she's ready ,to leava tuo shipyard. I was told, had 400 •.men busy on blue-prints and so forthin all the yard was tho industrial Mvo of 12,000 men.

Born to the Job. \ '"Thomas Bell, chairman of tho hoard i of directors of this yard, joined us and ( explained that lie believed tbo ship- ( i builders hod to bo born to the job. He- f recalled Kipling's assertion that if you ( yelled "Mac" down the engine-room ot ( I P. and 0. liner a, chorus of Macs 'would answer. Incidentally, , Fred Lobnitß; head of tho munitions in Scot- j land/and brother-in-law ot Lord Cowdrav a shipbuilder, told- me .that not verv long ago he was/in America. He went'to Duluth and was seeking permiseion to inspect a shipyardthere when he saw an old Scotch mend. ~ "Hello, Fred!" said ihe Scot. "What are you doing .here? asked Mr. ; "Manager," irepliod the Scot. In: Belfast, Ireland, there, is a regular Scotch burr among those in the' Snipbuilding yards, and they say that an Irish girl will look for a Scotch husband in the Irish shipbuilding centre. Mr. Bell spoke of tho- day when tho twenty-month warship.left the ways as tho most wonderful 'Wilt of the month known iu those parts." . . Granted tho delivery of plates, a four or five thousand ton merchant' snip can bo'constructed in three months. Ut donrso all engines for war ships or freighters aro built in these yards, and after a walk through the boilor shops , one does not wonder that the workers oro invariably stone deaf. At any rate, the first clatter and banging we heard was in the open, but tho shops lead to conversation by expression with narrowed eyes. It doss seem, too, that an artisan of this typo never trios to pussy foot, always soemingly calonlating that he will show the visitors what a real noiso can be like. „,, -, T „ In a corner of one of the shops 1 v,as surprised to see-slabs of iron which wore boing turned out with great rapiduy. It was perfectly cvidont from their eontour that thoy were tho skeleton and sides and tops of tho well-known tanks. There wore tanks almost reudy tor tho battle w>ne, and others upon which men were working. Soon these land cruisers would bo doing their bit in Flanders ami olsewhero, and us fast as they are con- I structed thoy are delivered to the War-] Department. . ; Wo distanced tho great noise and came to a bliss of silonco where joiners were turning out tho woodwork necessary for ? -ships. "We make almost everything liore *.v 3 cent Chippendale," observed the head draughtsman. "And whon 1 say that 1 mean it," ho added with a nod. Come [over horo." . , We walked further from the noise and I was amazed to see Bcore* of carpenters

and joiners busying themselves with the making of wooden , artificial legs and arms of tho latest pattern. Owing to the scourge of tho war, it was explained to me, thero is a shortage of these artificial limbs, and shipbuilders havo volunteered to turn out as many as lliey conveniently can. ~ Aboard a destroyer was another scene of activity. Small she seemed as we gazed at her from aboard a cruiser, but onco we sot foot on her iron decks she seemed a vessel of 'importance. a New gadgets were installed for the work of n fighting submarines, and woes betide tho U-boat which is rammed by ono of theso swift craft. Luncheon hour nrrived, but the clatter continued, the workmen being rolioved by others, so that John Bull would get ths warships as soon as possible. Submersibles and Accidents, By automobile 1 went to another, yard, ( possibly larger than any of those which i had seen./ It chanced to bo ono where- 1 m some of Britain's submarines are constructed. The Silent Navy deems it i unwise to talk of the activities of tho . submersibles of tho .Royal Navy; prefer- ' r,ing that they should register their.' blows and say nothing, about it. However, there was ample proof that if the ; Kaiser's ships had to b.e submarined, as ihey are occasionally in the Baltic and German waters, the British are- not losing time, but have tho under-water craft ready for any emergency. This fact is known in the, North Sea, the English Channel, and the Mediterranean, as British submarines, which have perj formed clever stunts, are constantly on i tho watch for any prowling enemy craft. | In this shipyard they were on the ways and in the waters. New ideas are being tried out constantly, and to the layman, i at least, they have not been, unsuccessi ful. But thefo are accidents, and I > might mention one which goes to 6how the grit of the sailonuan. A great submersible,- which had seen j sea dutv and had been sent back to the ! yard following slight damage, was sent • forth into deep waters near by for a tesj. ( The craft -remained under water for the • scheduled time and then came to tho sur- ! face. Tho officers and shipbuilders were • satisfied that the craft was ready for j war duty. However, it was decided to. = make a further test. Tho submersible j dived ,and it was not., very long before : the anxious eyes abovfe on another war- ! ship ..realised that there was something I wrong. , : ■ It transpired that as soon as the, com- 1 mander of the submarine realised that' the craft could not be brought to the sur- ■ t'aco he ordered his men,to shoot him ( out of one of tho torpedo tubes. The gal- ; lant officer struck his head on tho bot- > torn of a lighter and was killed. After 1 a long wait a second officer volunteered, and he came i* the surface in an almost unconscious condition. Ho was hastened. to the hospital, whore ho told the story of what, as he surmised, had happened to the submarine, Hour after hour the divers and-others worked to bring the submarine to the surface. Liquid food was passed by some means to the officers and crew, until finally the bows 4 of tho craft were hoisted. 'Ultimately it became possible to converse by signals with those jnsido tho \ craft. What food and milk could be ' put in by means of a tube kept them 1 alive. Finally, when many hours had 1 elapsed, the brave fellows m tho sub- [ marine were asked what they wanted. , Word came back to this effect:— "Try and squeeze in a couple of packs [ of cards, and we'll be. all right." Even then tho submarine was at a terrible angle, with a dozen men drowned in her stem' compartments. By the timo ; the submarine was finally hoisted the : officers and men released presented a |. pitiable appearance. "Those cards helped us a lot to pass the time and forget where we were and „ the discomforts," said a sailor.