Cunningham: "On Working Ships' Yards", 1867.*

By H.D. Cunningham, Esq., Associate.

[Read at the Eighth Session of the Institution of Naval Archtects, April 12th, 1867; Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, K.C.B., Assoc. Mem. Council, in the Chair.]

It will be, I am sure, admitted by every officer of the mercantile marine, that there never was a time when everything in the shape of mechanical help was so much needed on board merchant ships as now. The increase in the size of our ships, making, of course, the yards, &c., proportionably larger and heavier to work, and the sad fact, which I believe I am quite right in stating, viz., the falling off of our merchant seamen, in numbers, as well as in physique, point to the necessity of adopting mechanical helps to supplement manual labour in every direction, where such can be applied. It was with these views that some two years back I went into the subject of the bracing round of ships' yards. I knew how very difficult this operation frequently was on board large and ill-manned ships, and how much need there was for some means to help physical strength in working the yards, and I flatter myself, that in my new method of bracing round ships' yards, I have produced a singularly simple and powerful apparatus for assisting the manual power, and, at the same time, improving the operation with some striking and positive advantages.

In entering upon this work, I struck out on the plan of using chain instead of rope for the working part of the braces, and in lieu of terminating the braces in the usual manner at each side of the ship, I continue the brace over the deck through the brace block on the other side of the yard, bringing back the end to a fixed point on the side of the ship. I have thus a continuous chain. The bight of this chain I pass over a toothed barrel, fitted in a winch or crab, of the construction illustrated by Figs. 7 and 8, Plate VII., being different views of the brace machine. It will be seen that the chain passes under level rollers at each end of the machine and then over the barrel alluded to, when the links are held or clutched by the teeth or indentations. When the barrel is turned round, the chain is drawn in on one side and passed out on the other side. Lever stoppers are placed at the ends of the machine for stopping and controlling the chain. These stoppers are seen at a and b. For a fore yard, I place this machine at A in the annexed woodcut, and for a main yard it is usually placed on one side of the poop, at B. It is almost needless for me to explain the operation of bracing round yards by this method, as its extreme simplicity is it own description. However, on turning round the winch handle of the machine, the chain is drawn in one side and passed out on the other side of the ship, and thus the yard is braced round in whichever direction may be required. When bracing sharp up, a certain amount of slack will exist. This is taken up by putting down the lee stopper, and heaving in on the weather chain until the brace is taut, when the weather stopper is put down and the yard secured.

The help that this simple invention affords may be estimated as one to five; that is, one man can certainly do the work of five, or even more. But, perhaps, I had better quote some expressions from those who have had the practical working of my invention. Mr. Martin, Trinity pilot, writes to say that in working round to Spithead in strong winds in the ship Dragon, he found three men sufficient to work the foreyard, sparing the rest to work the fore tack and sheet -- an important advantage in working ship in a confined channel. The commander and officers of the same ship write from Calcutta that they found it to be a great advantage in light and variable weather when taken aback, as so many more men of the watch can be spared to attend to the other sails. Mr. Dames, the Trinity pilot, writes in the highest terms of my braces in working the ship Colonial Empire down Channel. The commander of the ship Roseneath, of Glasgow, describes that in a stormy passage to Montreal he found three hands sufficient to work his foreyard. In light winds two hands can brace it round with ease. This ship is 1,000 tons. Mr. Thomas Martin, Trinity pilot, in reporting on the working of the braces on a ship he had taken down Channel, says: "I should very much like to have it on board every ship I pilot from London." The commander of the ship Colonial Empire, writing from Sydney, after expressing himself very strongly as to the advantages he found from the invention during a heavy beat down Channel, points out this striking benefit. He says: "One great advantage in heavy weather of these braces is that the men are in amidships instead of the scuppers, and consequently are much drier." The commander of a very large ship, the Indian Chief, 1,800 tons register, arriving at Liverpool from Bombay, recommends it as a useful invention for saving labour and helping in the navigation of the ship. This ship's foreyard was very heavy. The master of the ship St. Vincent, with fore and main yards fitted, is very warm in his praises. He says, "Words are superfluous to describe the advantages of your patent braces over the old-fashioned plan. And he knows it would be to the interest of every shipowner to have them." Mr. Cargill, an old ship-master, who has commanded ships for forty years, states, with reference to navigating the ship Christina Thompson from Aberdeen to London, in very heavy weather beating all the way, that he found four hands sufficient to work the foreyard with ease; he says that he considers the invention a very valuable one. This ship is 1,079 tons register.