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Torture Devices of the Old Convict Ships

By C. Moran

Methods of torture used to punish convicts, in vogue in the last century, are graphically displayed aboard the old prison ship, “Success, ” used in the 1850’s to transport British convicts to Australia. The ship is now touring various American ports.

WHEN the jails of England overflowed with prisoners nearly 130 years ago, Great Britain sought to relieve the situation by chartering a fleet of convict ships to transport the “criminals” to Australia. For fifty years this practice was continued, until public revulsion against the inhumanities to which the prisoners on these ships were subjected caused its abandonment.
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Water Glider Floats on Rollers

POWERED by a 9 horsepower motor, the novel water glider shown in the photo below attained a speed of 140 kilometers an hour in a recent test at Suresnes, near Paris. The boat is buoyed on three barrel-shaped floats which revolve when craft is in motion. Propeller attachment mounted in front of boat adds to the pulling power of the motor.

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The Fighting NORTHLAND RESCUE SHIP of the Arctic

by CLARENCE EBEY

TRAPPED in a field of treacherous pack-ice twenty miles off the Alaskan coast, the freighter Anyox, two gaping holes in her ice-crushed bow, was slowly settling to her doom.

Twenty-eight hours earlier the ship’s imperative distress call had crackled through the arctic ether as desperate men had leaped to lash tarpaulins over the battered bow. The initial rush of the hungry waters had been checked; but not before the hold had partially filled and one of the engine fires had been extinguished. Doggedly the men fought the inevitable, but it was a losing battle. Slowly, inexorably, the clutching waters inched their way upward along the freighter’s hull, pulling her ever lower into the trough of the sea. It was the end. The Anyox was doomed. Read the rest of this entry »

SALVAGE MEN CLIMB UP TO DISMANTLE A WRECK

French salvage engineers are tackling an unusual job in the Mediterranean. The Nicholas Paquet, a vessel plying between Marseilles and the coast of Morroco, grounded on the rocks, and remained with its stern rearing high in the air and its bow buried in the waves. Salvage men climb to the tilted decks on rope ladders and lower dismantled parts of the vessel to waiting ships.

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UNCLE SAM ASKED TO BUILD Floating Ocean Airports

REDESIGNED and improved since its earlier forms were described in this magazine, a new type of “seadrome” or floating airport, is proposed by its inventor, Edward R. Armstrong, as the basis of a modernized plan to bridge the Atlantic with a string of artificial islands. His project, which has attracted the interest of U. S. Government officials, is intended to provide twenty-hour airplane service between America and Europe. It calls for the anchoring of five of the seadromes between America and Spain, at about the latitude of Washington, D. C, to serve as refueling stations about three hours’ flight apart. Planes using these islands in stepping-stone fashion could transport heavy pay loads at high speed, since their loads of gasoline would be light.
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“Water Auto” for Police Hits High Speed

Like a streamline automobile without wheels, the odd “water auto” shown above in a trial run along the Thames River in England, can hit a top speed of thirty-five miles an hour although it is driven by a motor rated at only nine horsepower. Designed especially as a police patrol boat for emergency work on the waterfronts of large cities, the craft has its engine forward and a three-place passenger cabin perched over the stern. The center windshield section forms part of a hatch through which entrance is made into the cabin, which provides all the comforts of a luxurious motor car.

The FREAK of the MONTH~No. 1
The oddest contraption which has been brought to our attention this month is the Outboard Ski-Plane now being constructed by C. T. Elle, of Chicago. The idea is that when the boat gets up speed the front of the skis will be raised, causing the boat to come to the surface. When wind gets under the wing it is supposed to furnish enough lift to permit the boat to skip over the waves.

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The QUEEN of the SEVEN SEAS

THE 79,280-ton “Normandie,” a ship that dares comparison, is about ready for the supreme test of a transatlantic crossing.

Described as the largest moving unit ever built by man, the vessel sets a standard difficult to equal. Her plan and decoration reach a high-water mark in maritime history. No such ultra-modern interiors have ever been seen on an ocean vessel. The outside strikes a complete harmony with the inside. Her low rakish hull rides gracefully on the water, while her clipper bow and streamline funnels give her all the earmarks of the greyhound.
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High Speed With Low Power Boat Has Pontoons for Hull

A NEW JERSEY inventor has introduced a novel type boat with which he expects to attain highest speed with smallest output of power. Five double cone-shaped welded steel drums which may be seen in the photo above support the craft on the water. It is pushed along by a 65 horsepower airplane engine mounted on the steel framework above the after floats.
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MODERN ARK IS BUILT TO ESCAPE TIDAL WAVE

Fearing that the tidal wave that swept Yokohama also would destroy the city of Iloilo in the Philippine. Islands, Chinese residents there hastily constructed a raft of bamboo and were prepared to flee to it if the inundation occurred. The rude craft was 84 feet long and 33 feet wide, and in three hutlike cabins were stored provisions for several days, and bolo knives with which the owners expected to fight off anyone else seeking to climb aboard. The feared inundation did not take place.

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Dogs Ride in “Normandie’s” Dummy Funnel

That dummy funnel on the “Normandie,” which is probably a concession to the old popular fancy that the more funnels, the more power, is not entirely a dummy after all. Inside it are recreation rooms, a theater and kennels for the passengers’ pets.

The dogs live comfortably aboard ship behind stainless-steel bars that surround their oval room, at the center of which is a drinking fountain. The kennels are steam-heated and ventilated, fresh beds of straw are provided daily, and the dogs are allowed daily exercise on a top deck. There are even life preservers for the pups in large, medium and small sizes, and a special menu printed in French offers choice bones, soups, biscuits and vegetables. In case the canine tourist is indisposed, a veterinarian aboard helps him win back his sea legs.

Floating tunnel

A ship-to-shore roadway or an emergency bridge—this big, flexible plastic tube can be either. Inflated and fitted with air-lock doors at each end, it floats, supporting people (faintly visible, near right) or a hovercraft (far right). Heavier tubing could float a truck.