The Express.
London, England, 1857-12-18 00:00:00

MB LIM'S OP YHA IANTAIIII.

Yesterday a very beautiful noel, called the Feu-
taide, and destined to become the pleasure yacht of his Impe-
rial Majesty the Emperor of Austria, was launched from the
Thames Iron Works, Orchard-yard, Blackwell. A good
many distinguished visitors were present, including the
Austrian Ambarador, Count d'Apponyi, the Counter
d'Apponyi, Count Carc:lly, Captain Masotti, of the Austrian
navy ; Lady Bellingham Graham and Mile Graham, &c.
The visitors were received by Mr. !Jolt, the chairman of the

company, end were aocanaodated in a temporary gallery,
ander the stern, where the naming ceremony was
to be performed. There ware also present, Mr. Rennie,
Captain Ford of the Ottawa navy, Mr. C Miramar', Cap-
tain fkaithett, and several others interested in the prosperity
of the company or in the progreasof our marine architecture.
Orchard-yard iron works were, aa the public are already
aware, established by Mr. Mare, tho eminent shipbuilder,
and on his temporary retirement from businem were pur-
chased by the preernt company, by whom the works are
now prosecuted with the greatest vigour. The premises,
which cover from twelve to fifteen acres of ground,
_ . .

include perhaps the finest "plant" for iron shipbuilding
to be found anywhere in the kingdom. Pending
the preparations for the launch yesterday, some of the com-
pany were obligingly taken over the whole of the works by
tic. Wise, the intelligent manager, snit were perfectly
astonished at the variety and completeness of the various
appliances, end the immense mechanical power kept con-
stantly in operation. In one place huge mires of red-hot
iron werepleeed between rollers and speedily transformed into
long slender bare ; In another, the solid metal was being
bored and "finished" by enormous machinery with all the
nicety of watchmaker's work ; and in a third, the great
" Nammyth•' and kindred hammers were Incessantly in
motion—punching hole*, beating bars, and clenching
rivets, with a force which baffles conception. The
accident of locality gives, It appears, to this great eetab-
liehotemt peculiar advantages. All old sportsmen know that
the best gunbarrels remade of "stubby," oldhoree-shoe
nails packed in hoops and then heated and hammered out into
the requisite dimension.. It is the repeated passing through
the the and extra manipulation that heregives the deeiderated
toughness of mature, and the same holds good in degree of
all work manufactured from reap iron. Situated then, as
the Thames works an, close to the mighty City, and having
manySiorend marine-store dealers continually collecting for
them, the managers have a constant and inexhaustible
supply of army iron, end hence are enabled to fulfil
their =tracts in a very superior material. Not the least
intereeting portion of yesterday's tour of Inspection was the
visit to the furnacee,where these apparently worthless-looking
fragments are converted into " bloom " Iron, subsequently
to become main shafts for mighty Mans engines, or ribs for
such graceful vessels as " Fantaiste" of the day's launch.
Although the company has been but a twelvemonth in
existence, they have already achieved a high reputation,
having built the Prince Fredrick William, one of the fasted
steamers What; the Wolf, a large need for the Mediterra-
nean trade; and in the permit instance having bad
the honour to be egeoted to build the fleet pla-

sure yacht of the Kaiser. One portion of the
yard la covered with a peeled flotilla of peenlisr-look-
Mg boats, which the East India Company intend to employ
in dredging the Godavery; end In soother may be seen two
trim ferryboats, ordered by no lee a personage than his
Holiness the Pope, end Intended to convey the population
of the Eternal City backward' and forwards *crow the Tiber.
His Holiness is, It appears, an excellent paymaster, having
insisted on paying money down for everything. But
one of the most remarkable of the large works
now in progress at Orchard-yard is the Immense
"Boom Derrick,•• the invention of American engi-
ne" end ordered by a company formed for the ex-
pram purpcee of introducing its use in the repairs of British
ships. The details of this immense machine was of course
quite a mystery to the uninitiated, but its design is te lift
by sheer force sunken ships, for the purpose of re-
pairs, and It is expected to be equal to a resistance
of 1,000 tons dead weight Some Idea of its
rare may be formed from the fact that its interior
is equal in capacity to 6,600 tow meesurement Ench a be-
ginning augurs well for the company, and when we dd that
amongst Ito directors are Mr. ILaudaley, the eminent engi-
neer ; Mr. Kelk, the extensive builder.; Mr. Bolt, late M.P.
foe Greenock, with other practical men of equal standing and
experience, it is hardly being too sanguine to bespeak for it a
long end prosperous canter.
The Fantaisie, whose launch wee the immediate burin&
of the day, la an exceedingly beautiful iron paddle stainers
built from the designs of Mr. James Ash, the nephew and
favourite pupil of Mr. Waterman. Her length is 180 feet
between the perpendiculars, and on the keel 169 feet 2 inches,
her breadth for tonnage 18 feet, depth in mid ships 11, and
bwthen in tons 291, notwithstanding which her draught of
water is expected to be under five feet. She is intended by her
imperial proprietor for his rummer voyage, on the Adriatic,
where her gmeefol lines and airy proportions will suggest
a curious contrast to the Buoentaur, of which once tame=

craft she may be said to be the legitimate ancosesor. Unlike
similar experiments in the immediate neighbourhood, her
launch wee a complete success, for on the signal being given
the dormitory@ were knocked away, sad she slid slowly and
majestically into the water without the slightest let or inter-
ruptiou. It may here be observed that the locality, Bow-
creek, appeared to be admirably adapted for ship Monaca,
there being quite a sufficient depth of water, while there is
none of that disturbance from up mad down traffic, which
makes lauachhtg sometimes so bawds= on the main waters
of the Themes. The Fantaleie looked a perfect model when
in the water, and her appearance eliciled a loud and hearty
j cheer from the opposite shore, where numbers of people had
collected to witateelter tint immersion.