The New International Encyclopædia/Coaling Ship

COALING SHIP. In modern naval vessels coaling ship has become an operation of importance. Special machinery is provided for handling it, and the men are drilled at coaling expeditiously. Notwithstanding all that can be done in the way of drill and the improvement of appliances, the operation of coaling must take many hours, and in time of war may necessitate a trip to the nearest coaling-station. This loss of time may prove most serious and defeat the plans of a campaign. Means of coaling at sea without leaving station, or while en route to a place, are therefore sought. Several plans have been devised, in the most successful of which a steel hawser runs between the collier and the vessel to be coaled, starting from a high point on the collier's mast. This serves as a stay on which bags, carried by a trolley, pass to and fro, very much after the fashion of a cableway (q.v.).