ld have made this type of craft seaworthy. They
were not shaped to go to sea. My own impression is, apart
from the crankiness of these rattletraps, there was a vast
amount of overloading which was the cause of many vessels
being sent to the bottom; so many, indeed, that it became a
common saying among seamen who were employed in the Baltic
trade that if the North Sea were to dry up it would resemble
a green field, because of the quantity of green steamers
that had perished there. Perhaps the phrase was merely a
picturesque figure of speech, as the North Sea makes no
distinction as to the claim it has on its victims, and the
colour of paint does neither attract nor repel its favour.
Notwithstanding the startling evidence which proved that
there was something radically wrong in the design and
construction of what was known as the "three-deck rule"
type, Lloyds' Classification and the Board of Trade
officials adhered to the idea of their superiority over
every other class. The Hartlepool Well-decker became the
object of hostility. It was pronounced by dignified
theorists to be unsafe. The long wells combined with a low
freeboard lacerated their imaginations. They could not speak
of it without exhibiting strong emotion. "Suppose," said
they, "a sea were to break into the fore well and fill it,
the vessel would obviously become overburdened. Her buoyancy
would be _nil_, and she would succumb to the elements."
But practical minds had provided against such an
eventuality. These objects of aversion had what is called a
raised quarter-deck; two ends which stood boldly out of the
water, and of course a big "sheer." Heavy seas rarely came
over their bows or sterns, and when they did the bulk of the
water did not remain or seem to affect their buoyancy. The
heaviest water was taken aboard amidship, when they were
running with a beam sea or scudding before a gale; but owing
to their great sheer it gravitated in a small space against
the bridge bulkhead, the structure of which was strong
enough to stand excessive pressure. They were considered to
be the finest and safest tramps afloat by men who sailed in
them. Vessels of two thousand tons deadweight, with only
eighteen to twenty-four inches freeboard, would make winter
Atlantic passages without losing a rope-yarn, while many of
the three-deckers with six or seven feet freeboard never
reached their destination. Still the theorists kept up their
unreasoning opposition to the We
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