Bram Stoker

   In this shipyard it is possible to follow the whole process of construction, from the reception of the raw material, in itself a big work, to the departure of the registered ship. All day the sound of clattering metal is heard on the stone pavement of the Queen's Road; great waggons are carrying lengths of flat or angle steel. Brass, copper, lead, iron, tin, and even costlier metals pass along. There comes also an endless procession of tree-trunks —English oak and Irish ash; paint; rubber; cement; canvas; goods for upholstery in every form; and in addition to raw material, anchors and chains, cables and hawsers of steel or hemp or coir, ventilators, lamps, and electric and other fittings.

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   The works may be divided broadly into two sections: first, the shipyard proper, where the "ship" is put together; and secondly, the different series of stores for raw and completed material, power-houses, workshops, and administration buildings. In the latter section the timber is dealt with in its various stages. There are acres devoted to the preparation of this material alone: ponds for steeping (for certain woods require to be "seasoned" in various ways), and sheds for drying both in bulk and in cut form.

Here may be seen fine-grained yellow pine from Canadian slow-growing forests, great teak balks from Rangoon; enormous trunks, roughly squared by the axe, of giant mahogany from Honduras; hardwoods of beautiful texture and pattern, suitable for panelling and veneering, from Californian mountain woods, from Pacific Islands, from tropical rivers. The odour of the dry dust of yellow pine and the damp dust of teak blend and give a strange and unique aroma to the place.

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   The other great building in this section is that devoted to the boiler shops. The main building is no less than six hundred feet long. The boilers for the great ships are of huge size and thickness of steel, fortified by enveloping bands of inch and-a-half steel.

In this area of the yard are also the pattern-shop, stores, fitting-shop, spar and riggers shed, sail-loft, and boat-shed. The newest building in the section is the electric generating station—in itself an example of up-to-date perfection.

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   The shipyard proper is surrounded on three sides by water; to the south the Abercorn Basin, to the north and west the River Lagan. On the south end are five slips—always occupied—and on the north four, and no sooner is a vessel launched than preparations begin for laying the keel of another.

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   Perhaps the most remarkable of many remarkable things is the perfection of the establishment's organisation—no slight matter in an industry where the type of work is constantly changing, and where weights and measurements grow by leaps and bounds. At the north end of the yard the space has had to be increased by adding the low-water shore and making it available by shutting out the tide with coffer-dams.

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   There are in the yard three enormous travelling gantries, viz., vast bridges supported by tressels, which move on rollers working on firmly laid rails. On these the cranes lift and shift material for the ship beneath. These gantries cost something like £25,000 each, so that the widening is an elaborate and costly undertaking. Yet at the south end of the yard has lately been erected a still larger gantry costing perhaps as much as four of the older pattern. The bridge is stationary, 600 ft. long, and supported by mammoth uprights. Along this works the travelling double or "bridge" crane, whose top is 185 ft. above ground. It is wide enough to cover two great ships, one on each side. By electric power it lifts any weight and deposits it where required. It travels the whole length of the bridge in one minute. It is so arranged that if only one side of the crane is working, or if one is carrying a heavier weight than the other, a supplementary weight travels automatically on the other side so as to keep even balance. In addition to the traveller, this bridge has supplementary cranes, also movable, from which are suspended the hydraulic riveters, which now play so important a part in iron structures. For some purposes the ordinary riveter's hammer is not sufficient, and the hydraulic riveter is used. It is an immense double mass of steel, shaped like a lobster's claw. When the points are adjusted, pressure is applied, and in an instant the great fiery bolt is squeezed into a solid mass inextricably one with the plates it holds.