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Reading books fiction Have you ever thought about what fiction is? Probably, such a question may seem surprising: and so everything is clear. Every person throughout his life has to repeatedly create the works he needs for specific purposes - statements, autobiographies, dictations - using not gypsum or clay, not musical notes, not paints, but just a word. At the same time, almost every person will be very surprised if he is told that he thereby created a work of fiction, which is very different from visual art, music and sculpture making. However, everyone understands that a student's essay or dictation is fundamentally different from novels, short stories, news that are created by professional writers. In the works of professionals there is the most important difference - excogitation. But, oddly enough, in a school literature course, you don’t realize the full power of fiction. So using our website in your free time discover fiction for yourself.



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The genre of fiction is interesting to read not only by the process of cognition and the desire to empathize with the fate of the hero, this genre is interesting for the ability to rethink one's own life. Of course the reader may accept the author's point of view or disagree with them, but the reader should understand that the author has done a great job and deserves respect. Take a closer look at genre fiction in all its manifestations in our elibrary.



Read books online » Fiction » Man on the Ocean: A Book about Boats and Ships by R. M. Ballantyne (young adult books to read .txt) 📖

Book online «Man on the Ocean: A Book about Boats and Ships by R. M. Ballantyne (young adult books to read .txt) 📖». Author R. M. Ballantyne



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flying-proa, while its speed is astonishing. The Malays use the proa, but theirs is a broader, heavier, and less swift boat than that used by the Ladrone islanders of the Pacific, which is that which we have just described.

The canoes of the Fijians are superior to those in use among any other of the South Sea islanders. Their chief feature is that they are twin-canoes, joined together by cross-beams, which support a platform of from twelve to fifteen feet broad. Of the two canoes, one is smaller than the other, and the smaller serves by way of an outrigger. These canoes are sometimes one hundred feet long, their depth being usually about seven feet. Sometimes a small cabin is built upon the platform. The mast is about thirty feet long, is supported by guys, and is furnished with a yard carrying a large sail. There are small hatchways at both ends of the craft, at each of which one of the crew sits ready to bail out the boat. The Fijian canoes can also be propelled by means of sculling, the sculler using a broad-bladed scull about ten feet in length. A large canoe can be got through the water at the rate of two or three miles an hour by sculling.

Various experiments have from time to time been made in the way of building boats and ships with double hulls, the object being to obtain increased stability, and thus reduce to a minimum the rolling and pitching of ordinary vessels. The steamship Castalia was an ambitious attempt in this direction. She was built for the passenger service between England and France. But she did not realise the expectations formed of her.

Most persons who have crossed from Dover to Calais, or vice versa, by the Calais-Douvre mail packet, will bear witness both to the comfort and speed of that vessel. Up to this she has proved the most perfect form of steam-ship yet constructed for the purpose required. The Calais-Douvre is built somewhat upon the same principle as the Castalia, but differs from that vessel in that whereas the latter was two half-ships joined together, each twin-portion of the Calais-Douvre is a perfect ship in itself. The result has been, that while the Castalia was a failure, the Calais-Douvre has proved a distinct success. She is three hundred feet in length and sixty feet in breadth; her tonnage is two thousand, and her water-draught only six feet, so that she can enter Calais Harbour at even a low tide. Two transverse iron girder bulk-heads unite the two hulls of the vessel; and her steering apparatus is so simple, and at the same time so effective in construction, that one wheel is usually sufficient to work it. She makes the passage from Dover to Calais usually in an hour and a half; but in very fine weather we ourselves have crossed in less than that time. With the maximum rate of speed, the Calais-Douvre has attained the minimum amount of pitching and rolling yet secured by any Channel boat. Her saloons, cabins, and decks are spacious and handsomely appointed, so that the Channel passage in this vessel is made under as favourable conditions for bad sailors as any sea-passage can be.

| Chapter 1 | | Chapter 2 | | Chapter 3 | | Chapter 4 | | Chapter 5 | | Chapter 6 | | Chapter 7 | | Chapter 8 | | Chapter 9 | | Chapter 10 | | Chapter 11 | | Chapter 12 | | Chapter 13 | | Chapter 14 | | Chapter 15 | End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Man on the Ocean, by R.M. Ballantyne
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