Q. D.," or distress signal sent up by wireless by the
Republic January 22. The Republic sank while being towed;
6 lives lost.
1910, Feb. 9.--French line steamer General Chanzy off
Minorca; 200 lives lost.
1911, Sept. 25.--French battleship Liberte sunk by explosion
in Toulon harbor; 223 lives lost.
CHAPTER XXVI
DEVELOPMENT OF SHIPBUILDING
EVOLUTION OF WATER TRAVEL--INCREASES IN SIZE OF VESSELS
--IS THERE ANY LIMIT?--ACHIEVEMENTS IN SPEED--TITANIC
NOT THE LAST WORD.
THE origin of travel on water dates back to a very
early period in human history, men beginning with
the log, the inflated skin, the dug-out canoe, and
upwards through various methods of flotation; while the
paddle, the oar, and finally the sail served as means of
propulsion. This was for inland water travel, and many
centuries passed before the navigation of the sea was dreamed
of by adventurous mariners.
The paintings and sculptures of early Egypt show us boats
built of sawn planks, regularly constructed and moved both
by oars and sails. At a later period we read of the Phoenicians,
the most daring and enterprising of ancient navigators,
who braved the dangers of the open sea, and are said by
Herodotus to have circumnavigated Africa as early as 604
B.
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