, with Portland
cement, instead of chocks of wood, and covering the iron plates
with cement and tiles, came into practice, and this has since
come into very general use.
The Tiber, already referred to, was 235 feet in length when first
constructed by Read, of Glasgow, and was then thought too long;
but she was now placed in our hands to be lengthened 39 feet, as
well as to have an iron deck added, both of which greatly
improved her. We also lengthened the Messrs. Bibby's Calpe--also
built by Messrs. Thomson while I was there--by no less than 93
feet. The advantage of lengthening ships, retaining the same
beam and power, having become generally recognised, we were in
trusted by the Cunard Company to lengthen the Hecla, Olympus,
Atlas, and Marathon, each by 63 feet. The Royal Consort P.S.,
which had been lengthened first at Liverpool, was again
lengthened by us at Belfast.
The success of all this heavy work, executed for successful
owners, put a sort of backbone into the Belfast shipbuilding
yard. While other concerns were slack, we were either
lengthening or building steamers as well as sailing-ships for
firms in Liverpool, London, and Belfast. Many acres of ground
were added to the works. The Harbour Commissioners had now made
a fine new graving-dock, and connected the Queen's Island with
the mainland. The yard, thus improved and extended, was surveyed
by the Admiralty, and placed on the first-class list.
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