The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-02 00:00:00

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NEW CoLovas were presented by Lady Rayleigh,
on behalf of the ladies of Essex, to the West Essex
Militia, at Chelmsford, on Saturday.
A FLOATING DERRICK, said to be the largest and
most powerful in the world, and one of several to ue
built tor the Patent Derrick Company ;Limited \, was
launched on Saturday, from the yard of the Thames
Shipbuilding Company, at Blackwell. A "derrick "
is a most useful and powerful seagoing crane for
raising sunken or stranded ships, and unfortunately
unknown here, though the value and importance of
its services are so great as to be almost universally
recognized abroad. Notwithstanding its important
uses, however, and the necessity which unfortu-
nately exists for the employment of so many in
England, the one launched on Saturday last is only
the second which has been made here. To the
uninitiated spectator everything about this huge
ungainly cralt is strange and singular looking in the
last degree. It is strange in shape, in make, and in

. .
purpose—strange even in name. It is called a
derrick, after no less a notorious individual than the
first great Tyburn hangman. From the peculiar
crane like conformation of Derrick's gibbet all
similar cranes used on shipboard were called
derricks. The whole thing is really a floating crane
of gigantic size and power, the hull, its base, being
of such a shape as best suits a light draught of water
with a counterpoise to the leverage of the crane. It
is rhomboidal in shape, flat bottomed, and all of
wrought-iron of great strength and thickness. The
whole hull, from stem to stern and from deck to
keel, is divided into eighty-seven small watertight
compartments, each of which is seventeen feet square
and fourteen high. Those in the centre and imme-
diaiely under the derrick or crane will be used for
propelling and hoisting ma:hinery and for the
cabins of the crew. All the others are intt uded to

be filled with water in order to counterbalance the
leverage of the crane when employed in raising
sunken vessels. The total length of the hull is no
less than 257 feet, and its breadth ninety, or twelve
feet broader than the Great Eastern. The tonnage
is upwards of 5,000. The machine is moved
by no less than fifty small paddles, worked by an
endless chain. Each of these is only eighteen
inches wide and about three feet in diameter, and
each only exerts a small amount of force. But,
working all in concert, this combined strength will
not only enable the derrick to hold its own, but even
make more headway against wind and tide. Thus,
supposing a vessel to strike upon the Goodwin, the
derrick can cross any part of those fatal sands, and,
grappling with the wreck, at once prevent it sinking
further till all arrangements are complete for lifting
it off and towing it ashore. Though the practical
application of these denicks, or even the principle on
which they work, is, as we have said, little known in
this country, yet for many years past they have
been employed at the Havannah and in the United
States. This machine, of which Mr. Bishop is the
patentee, will be retained fur the service of the
ports and docks of London and Liverpool, the
rivers Thames and Mersey, and the neighbouring
coasts.

THREE SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN FLOGGED AT CHAT-
HAM. Shortly after daylight on Wednesday morn.
ing the whole of the troops of the line in garrison
were marched to the Spur Battery for the purpose of
witnessing the infliction of corporal punishment on
two privates—Thomas Ward, of the 23rd Royal
IVelsh Fusiliers, and Charles Smith, 32nd Light In-
fantry—in accordance with the sentence of a district
court•martial, which recently assembled at Chatham.
The crimes of which the two prisoners were found
guilty were for highly insubordinate conduct to their
superior officers, Ward having knocked down and
grossly ill-treated a sergeant of the same regiment,
who had a day or two previously reported bim for
some misconduct; and Smith for having likewise
assaulted two corporals, and also bitten the finger of
a comrade. The former, who bore a very bad cha-
racter, was ordered to receive fifty lashes and to be
imprisoned for a year ; the latter also received fifty
lashes, and was ordered to be imprisoned for fifty-
six days. On Thursday a private Sapper named
Merilese was punished with fifty lashes for having
been found drunk, and also for assaulting a non.
commissioned officer. After the punishment had
been inflicted the prisoners were all removed to the
hospital, and as soon as they are able to leave they
will undergo their terms of imprisonment at Fort
Clarence, Rochester.