Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-09-06 00:00:00

ship, nearly 100- fe,et inn

and ~witb 1,6'00 bor

power, goes very little faster, while the Orlando, another
single-decked ship,. 50 feet longer than the Mersey,- with
working Workin up to 4,0(4)0 horses, has only been pro-
pelled about 111 f a knOt more than the Agamemnon. On
the otherrliancl,.we' have the Himalaya doing 16 knots.
with 700 horse-power, only partially exerted. There are
anomalies here which ought not to be. Either the model
of the ,Himalaya is superior to that,of the Mersey and.
Orlando, or there are disturbing.-causes, which should'
be inquired into. It cannot be the material of which
the ships are built, for although the. Himalaya is
iron, the General Admiral, built in America for Russia,
is said to go fifteen knots, and is a wooden ship. These'
are matters which demand the fullest possible attention:
and investigation. We go on building and altering,
without any visible improvement. Ships and eines
are constructed at an enormous cost, and whera competed'
we find no perceptible gain. The impression left in our
mind by the experiments on board the screw frigates is
that there is a considerable excess of power developed,
which is, in fact, wasted, and that the waste retards
rather than accelerates the speed. A curious exemiolifi-
cation of the injurious excess of power has lately been shown •
in two 'ships belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental
Co. On of them, the Yectic, employed on the Mar-
seilles linerhad 400 horse-power, and the highest speed
attainable was 14 knots. That speed, however, being con-
sidered unnecesary, as the contract did not stipulate kr
more than 11 knots, the directors determined to reduce.
the power to 250-horse. The reduction was effected,
and the result of the reduction was a quarter not gain !
The Yectis, which would only steam 14 with 400-hone
power, goes 141 with. 250. Similar results were ob-
tained some ten years ago on board the-Terrible and
Retribution. Judging from these premisses, we see no
reason to doubt that the Orlando would attain a higher
rate of speed with 500 or 600-horse power, moderately
used, than with 1,000. Her model is symmetry itself.
She is a sort of giant Alarm, and, if not overpressed
with masts, yards, engines, and boilers, we should
have nothing equal to her. The Masts and yards
of the Orlando weigh eighty tons. Her mainmast
is 3 feet 1 inch in diameter and all her other
spars are 'in proportion. When under full speed
the vibration must necessarily be terrific ; and this
fact suggests avery important investigation. Experienced
sailors are well aware of the damaging effects of vibration
upon a ship's sailing qualities. It has been repeatedly
demonstrated that the vibration occasioned by men
walking about the decks is injurious ,• but how much
More must a vessel's speed ;be affected by the. shaking
Occasioned by the action of the screw i Is it not
possiblewte reduee the screw power to a point at which
the vibration caused by the revolution of the screw
Would not be seriously detrimental to. speed ? We
have often been asked,. why, give the- Orlando only
three masts ? Why should she Rot be rigged .like the
Himalaya ?. A ship's importance is not increased by the
tauntness of her spars. But no department of the pub-
e service seems so hard to move as the naval architec-
ural braneh. Adherence to old rules seems to have
keW,Strono, root there. Progressive seamen have long
ince condemned the ship-rig for long vessels ; but
it -is;•inevertheless, retained, and in spite `of the 'most
fdreible- arguments ' against it. The Admiralty will,
yve •hope, look narrowly into this steam question when
at Portsmouth and Plymouth, and will, perhaps, insti
tute inquiries likely to clear 'away the doubts surround-
ingic
it. In order to determine whether and to whatt
the
tent masts and yards affect a ship's motioi,i t r
pn water,end thean
dO rylaranddao
acrossshou l d;
abnedtragied
and topmasts . struck and 1
t7that there were legs
If the latter experiment shelve
't would be sutficientto
vibration and greater speedck
airds have a bad effect. It
prove that heavymasts ,
'thnat screw 3
ships are sailing ships
may be said, however,
qualification is not to be sacrificed
under fully equal
also, and that theato,,trti
to the other. sit not showniwa;a ilil ini itwl'iwith
ir
‘itstg'llltl ligteghe:hs ad:ltitoheisa
sl‘rl ii:neelaurgri
shorter,gotyu stha.seaddtelss.s
Medea, a paddle steamer, canvas, was
sailiilgships many years ago that the
and
di
four of them, would, there is strong
!
alTthhoeuoghrlasnhden:
llotnoof'‘a
sa'steamersetenrYd,l
schoonermasts,
iet
sr'believe, slll)?
be equally as fast, under sail, as with
reason
her present tremendous spars ; but with this important
difference, that she would be much better prepared to
go into action. Reasoning by analogy, if the' Great
Eastern had been a man-of-war, she would have -hid
thTee masts instead of six.— Unita Service Gazette.