A MAMMOTH LINER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 270, 11 May 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MAMMOTH LINER

SOME SIDELIGHTS. - According to one of the more or less authentic cable messages that reached us atter the Titanic disaster, the head of the White Star Line has committed himself to the opinion that it will he found advisable to reduce the dimensions of the largest steamers that are now in course of construction in England and on the Continent. If this charge is seriously contemplated it will make a great deal of difference to the leading shipping companies throughout the world. At the present time Harland and Wolf are building for the White Star Company a steamer as long as the Titanic and Ift. broader, but of 2000 tons greater measurement, to be delivered next year. The same firm is also building for' the Hol-land-American Line a boat of 32.500 tons, to be ready for sea early in 1914. The' Belgian Red Star Line" has ordered a 30,000-ton boat to carry 3000 passengers on the Antwerp-New York service. But these vessels are far surpassed in size by several other ships now building in England and Germany. The Cunard Line has a 50,000-ton boat, the Aquitania, building on the Clyde. She is to be 030 ft. long, and is to attain a speed of 23 knots. The Hamburg-American Line has already started building the fmperator, of 50,000 tons, to be ready early in 1!)13; and the same company has proposed to order two more 50.000-tonners. Rut even these monsters do not mark the absolute limit of size yet contemplated, for lLord Pirrie, the head of Harland and Wolff, who built the Titanic and the Olympic, has often said puhlielv that the day of the 1000 ft. liner is not far distant. The only obstacle at present is that special harbor and dock accomniodation would be required for such a huge vessel, which would probably run up the standard of measurement to 60,000 or even 70,000 tons; hut there is more than one shipbuilding firm that could construct it if required. It therefore appears that the size of the largest steamers is likely to increase steadily for some time to come, unless prudential considerations intervene. Among these may be included the risk involved in investing two or three millions sterling in one vessel, which no amount of ingenuity can make absolutely unsinkable, and the impossibility of providing adequately for the safety of the three or four thousand passengers and sailors that these leviathans will carry. It will be extremely interesting to learn if the investigations that are being conducted in England and America into the wreck of the Titanic elicit any important evidence bearing on these points.