The Express.
London, England, 1860-05-17 00:00:00

TIM OGN-BOATS.

In confirmation of what we said last week upon
the danger of employiog unseasoned Umber in Want-shim
we have the revelations, which have so startled some of our
I contemporaries, with regard to the conditioo of the gun-
boats. No secret has been made of the matter, so far as
we are aware. Many months ago we stood under the bot-
toms of some of these vends as they were stripped of their
=lng, and raw their frames covered with the fatal
We knew the conditions under which the verde
had been built, and knew also that we must accept what we
saw as the ty of having neglected our navy untal we
wen late a war which demanded than ships should
be at a mown* notice, and at say ear It was
absolutely impossible to eonstrect them vessels of seasoned
English seek : there was nerve to be had. The mall store of
timber which some of the largest builders wusedil
exhaerrid_ ; and the government bad to decideZ whether
they should insist upon the fulfihnent of the costracts,
whleh provided that no unseasoned timber should be used,
sad thereby practically stop the works, or connive at the
use of weasened timber, and get their shim The govern.
meat inepeeton must, of course, have lusown what the
=l77:would he ; but then the ships had to be ob.
y wt. This will be, we are convinced, the
✓ower of both the government and the builders to the
charges of mellower osi one side, and freed on the other.
As a general answer it will be held, we to be
valid ; bat we cannot, nevertheless, acquit party of
all blear. Ws hold that the Admiralty was in error in
inviting upon the conetnictiou of the trammel than verels
at Nagler oak. Nothbog can be better (or more expensive,
by the way) for a ships' frame than sound wellnerioned
ask, sash as was seed ta the royal dockyards in the olden
time; hardly aaythhim gg on be worse thee thea stuff
anw red im the merchant yards. and called oak.
Bert coatis says that the frame should be of oak ;
so anythiag which been as oak leaf is cut down to supply
the sownor demand. la an article which sppearsd I.
oar pare nearly twelve month. ago, on " Timber for Ship-
nrecenreendiag the governmen t to istroduce foreign
timber more largely,. we said :--" In the merchant service
wend kind. al foreign timber are ',knitted on equal terms
with Ilaglish ask. Ia the gonnment service it is not so. If
we except Poliah end Italian larches and pitch-pins, which
are neassioaelly admitted in small quantities, the frames of
all ships built in the haw verde are of English or Italia
oak. We do sot believe.that there is the Isar secessit
for Nis--bat be. that, the contrary, there are many sad
unanswerable reamons for discontinuing the me of oak
timber of hoer powth, at lent in the frames of
altogether.' Speaking also of the kind of oak 1111114 M
merehant raters, we said, "The timber which they can
afford to use is small, and, to a greet extent, spring-felled
sad reemoned, and therefore subject to early and rapid
cheesy." We cannot help thinking. therefore, that the
authorities would have shows more Madre
Merhryi:ot lered foreign timber to he used, Wind of such
worthier stuff of home growth as was at the eionmeed of
the builders.

A great deal of the mischief, moreover, he. midis*
arisen from the presence of map in the frame. This
.sap iti
as oar renders well know, the mains of thei tesieing. be-
tween the heart-wont and the bark, and which
the largest portion of the Minis of the tree 8o
long as life remains in the tree this is always gradually
forming into heertwood ; but after the tree is cut down It
undergoes. oo such change. In English oak, and in many
other woods, it is brittle and sponz, and rapidly decays,
engendering corruption in any timber adjecent to it. In the
royal dockyards, therefore, it is always carefully removed,
but as this removal causes the timber to appear smaller and
lens sightly, and as the quantity of lap-wood sometimes
bean • considerable proportion to the whole size of the
timber, the converter and workmen conspire to bide it from
view beneath a coat of tar, choosing rather the probable
nun of the ship than the risk of having to provide another
timber. Now, under proper and vigilant inspection such
malpractices would inevitably be discovered, and the go.
"eminent olliceni are clearly chargable with the neglect of
their moat important duty.
But not only is there had timber in these vessels—there
is shop-work, we ore sorry to say, of the moist shameful
ammeter. In torte built by the most eminent grim in
England the safety the vessel is staked over and over
again by boring holes through the bottom for fastening the
p . to the timbers, and then to save the labour of
driving • long tight bolt simply plugging up the extremities
of the bole by short pieces of bolt. This is a fraud which
hardly any amount of care on the part of the government
oaken could prevent. No man could tell by inspection
whether or not there was a central put to the bolt
of which he saw the had and point. Then, in addition to
those "devils," as they are caled, there are bolts driven
into short holes, so that they have no clench on the inside,
and are useless ; also bolts of braes which should havebeen
of copper ; and various other devices for saving labour and
Wnee.
ed. not believe for one moment that these things are
done in the interest of the contractor, or with his conni-
vance. The fact really is that the men have an interest in
slighting the work, and none in doing it well. They under-
take to do • certain amount of wort for a certain sum of
money. If they do the work so well as to be out of pocket
by the tramaetion, they get no thanks from the employer
and in allmohebility he never troubles himself to inquire
whether/ten week i. well or ill done ; it is done, and is the
sinaland time, and he considers that his part of the cos-
trend is teifilled. Shipbuilding in the merchant dockyards,
porfornel as it is by a set of cerelesa, i ikin mos.
' ender es effective en ion, and paid for y the pies,
may be dose chaply. but we know that it is doss die-
granteny. We have hail long experience in these math
sod an ea assure our readers that it is mere folly to expect
has the snerehsot dockyards shipwrights' work in any way
to what is produced in the royal esteblishments.
A is the defect of one system, bail work of the
other, and it is just as vain to cherge our enneent niers-haat
shipbeikiere with fraud as to accuse the men who build our
nee-of-war of idleness and waste. The former are com•
paled to basin to their system with all its disadvantages
by the competition with which they Imre to contend ; the
latter, having no such influence, pursue the seen wetly
sy.teni, which ensures strength and safety.—Menlosinie
Magazine.

The Ceylon arrived at Southampton yesterday
with the heavy portico of the India and 4 *him Ina& She
left Alesaiadria, May 4 ; Malta, $; and 4 :ihraltar. 12. She
brought house 219 puweogets, whom were Majcw•
General Mir John and Lady lash,. Aninegat her eie
wam spaces worth 2,2941., 2,026 balm and 48 canes of Ink
44 CMOS of dates, and .10 COMM of lene am The Ceylon en-
affianced light winds and fine weather in Mai Mealier.
raneee, sod frees Gibraltar moderate W. and 8. W. winds,
with line weather.