Published in The Graphic, May 29, 1897. From a sketch by our special artist, T. S. C. Crowther.
Drawn by W. Hatherell R.I. and J. Gulich.
Inscription on image reads:
The last scene - and perhaps the most striking - of the Queen's visit to Sheffield was at Messrs. Cammell's works. Here Her Majesty witnessed the rolling of an armour plate for HMS Ocean. The men who were to assist in the operation were drawn up in the space in the middle of the works, and faced the Queen as her carriage drove in. The furnace was on her right hand, and the rolling mill before her. At a signal the men gave three cheers and set about their work. The furnace doors were slowly lifted and revealed a spectacle of fiery splendour. Huge scissors were thrust into the gulf, and forth came a glowing steel ingot. This glowing mass was rolled across to the great forging press. When it came from the furnace it weighed fifty-six tons and was forty-two inches thick. When it had passed between the rollers to and fro several times it had lost half its thickness and a great deal of weight. The Queen watched the process with evident interest, shielding herself from the glare with a little hand screen. |