The Express.
London, England, 1857-12-03 00:00:00

THE LEVIATHAN.-(THIS DAY.) r

Up to noon this morning the apparatus which we
described in yesterday's Erevan had not been applied, but
our reporter was informed that the grand attempt was to be
made in the course of the neat two hours, and sanguine
expectations were entertained that the ship would be brought
to the watets edge, or so much nearer to it that the action
of the tide will powerfully mein the mechanical appliances.
The tides will serve until Saturday, and the force at com-
mand will be continuously applied until the launch is
faceted.
In the course of yesterday such of the visitors as were so
fortuneless to obtain pormiselon, and whose curiosity was
proof agsbest the diary tereoreof a succemion of long flights of
sealing bidden, clambered up the ship's colored sides, and
got their first adequate (=premien of her vast sire, by stand-
ing on her Mumma, deck end looking fore and aft, when
the whole might have been taken for some piece of table lend
at the top of ► mountain but for the signs of human indus-
try that lay everywhere scattered about, and the ribs of iron
that crossed and recrossed on the still =planked surface.
Standing midahipe it seemed a long way to look towards the
bow, and to turn sternwards woe only to repeat the illusion.
Certainly, no previous idea that the spectator could have
formed of the possible dimensions of s ship's deck could
at all prepare him for the immense expanse of Barba
which he actually saw stretching out whichever way he
tamed. It was quite impossible to take in the whole at a
single glance, and every appendage, even the five great
funnels, appeared small and stunted in proportion. The
paddle-boxes, each of which is about the size of as
ordinary steamer, looked perfectly trivial, and the various
hatchways, although all of unusually large dimension, seemed
as intended only for Lilliputian transit. If one ventured to
leak over the rough rail that ran round the dock, the roof. of
the various factories and workshops in the neighbourhood
could be seen far below, and when the dinner bell rang the
stresms of men hurrying through the gates presented an ap-
pearance somewhat like that of the crowds of Choapaide from
the (eatery of St. Paul's. To judge of the depth of the
vessel there are two admirable means at hand—namely, the
great cinder shaft, a square vertical tunnel running right
down to the flooring, and the passage by which the unhappy
engineers ars to demand to their permanent habitation thirty
feet below the water line. The enormous uninterrupted
depth of the one, or the interminable Blender Iron ladders of
the other, most be seen to be appreciated, as any attempt to
' regime their effect for a reader by comparison would only ex-
pose the writer to incredulity and ridicule. The huge engines
imbedded deep In the met hold looked as if Cyclops only
could have made them, and that they had but just arrived
from the Cave of Polyphemus, although we doubt if ever
that eminent see-eyed engineer prodand so creditable a piece
of workmanship. But as we write to give hasty imprinter'',
not a detailed description, It will be sufficient to my that
everything seemed to be on the same Titanic scale, including
the grand saloon, 100 feet long and 15 feet high, which It l 4
hoped will speedily be reedy for the promised hospitalities of
the directors. There were but few men on board to give lib
to the vest wilderness, and everything seemed in an un-
finished state, except a email portion of the deck, which had
been planked to give an idea of how the whole would look
when complete. When we say email, we of course men
small in proportion, as this comparatively isolated patch
would have made a commodious flush deck for an Americo
liner. Judging from our hasty and comfortless inspeetkar
we should my that when the vend is once fairly on the
water, and has her interior fittings complete, she will be
a sight worth coming to see from almost any part of the
world. At a late hour, a roma carriage with outriders drew
up to the gate, with the Prime et Prussia and (we believe)
Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, coming, like thereat of the
maid, to use the greet ship.

NAVAL AND MILITARY.