The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-16 00:00:00

A NEW STEAMSHIP.

One of those extraordinary inventions or designs
which come to us in such numbers from America,
and which occasionally create a perfect revolution
among scientific trades, and. even among sciences
themselves, is just now in process of being tried on
the banks of the Thames, at Mr. Hepworth's ship-
building-yard, near Poplar. This is what is
termed a " cigar ship"—that is, a yacht-steamer,
the hull of which is immensely long, perfectly
round, and which, in fact, precisely resembles, as
its name implies, the shape of a &gar, with the ex-
ception that both ends are very finely pointed,
instead of, as in a cigar, only one. The theories

that have been advanced about the seagoing qua-
lities and immense speed of vessels built in this

shape are plausible enough ; and, indeed, are so
alluring and based on apparently such solid data
_ _

that we are exceedingly glad to see that one way
or the other they are likely to be theories no
longer. The" cigar ship's" hull is nearly finished'
and the " cigar snip" itself will be launched cam-

. -
pleted, and with her steam up, by the middle of
August, so that we have not very long to wait be-
fore the problem is solved, and we are proved either
to have been all in the dark as to shipbuilding from
the days of Noah to this year of grace, or, on the
other hand, ',Mr. Wienan's yacht is consigned to
that place for good intentions, the paving of which
must jest now be in e. state of pre-eminent repair.
The vessel which is to set at rest these great doubts
is being built as the private yacht of an American
gentleman, who has designed everything connected
with the ship, and who is having his designs exe-
cuted by Mr. Hepworth in the most perfect work-
manship of which wrought iron is capable. The
hull is almost complete, and, as the hull of a ship,
it looks one of the most extraordinary objects it is
possible to imagine. It is so at variance with all
our generally received notions of nautical beauty of
form that one can only stare at it in mute surprise,
though there is something about its long tapering
lines so suggestive of immense speed that one feels
rather ashamed such a simple idea should never
have occurred to any one before. In justice to our
own age, however, it must be said that such a vessel
could only be imagined when iron ships were in
use, and iron shipbuilding had reached its highest

stages of development. Looking at her now, she
appears to be nothing more than a gigantic iron
mainyard for some vessel of the Great Eastern
class, having a rather wide diameter in the middle,

and tapered to a mere point of some ten inches at
either end. Her length over all is 256 ft., and
her greatest width and depth is in the middle,
where the circle is 1611. diameter. Thus, then,
her length is 16 times greater than her greatest
width. She is built throughout of the finest boat
plates, in some parts of steel, in some of Low
Moor iron. To the water-line these plates are 5-Bths
of an inch thick; above the water-line they are only
5 16ths. Her displacement will be about 600 tons,
which gives her a little over 300 tons burden, ac-
cording to builders' measurement. She is built
without any longitudinal stringers, but throughout
her entire length she is divided by no less than 13
water-tight compartments, and in the engine and
boiler rooms is further strengthened by inner rings
of angle-iron seven inches deep, which are rivetted
to the side, and placed as close as at intervals of aft
apart. Underneath, instead of a keel, is a broad
band of the best Low Moor iron, which runs almost
from end to end, and which is about lin. thick by
3ft. wide, and meant to protect her in case of her
taking the ground. Inside is an iron floor, which
also runs from end to end, to be hereafter covered
with wood, and form, in fact, the lower pas-
senger deck of the yacht. This floor amidships is
only about six feet from the bottom of the cylinder,
so that overhead there is a roomy cabin enough,
much resembling in shape a small railway tunnel.
The upper deck is 130 ft. long by 10 ft. broad, and
is formed by holding for that length whet we may
call a square flit topped cover on the top of the
cylinder. This cosor or deck is 411. 10in. hieh
altogether, of which the lower 2Ft. is of iron, rivetted
to the top of the cylinder, and the other 2ft. 10in.
of common light wooden bulwarks. She is to have
two short funnels, and these and her little deck and
a small part of the upper curve of the cylinder are
all that will be seen out of water.
So much for her external appearance, to which
we nerd ally add that the rivets that fasten her are
countersunk, so that she presents outwardly a per-
fectly smooth surface, while the workmanship of
her joints is so perfect that even the touch fails to
detect the slightest irregularity in her smoothness.
So far, then, her form, length, and small midehip
section will have a great deal to do with her
speed, but when to these favourable conditions
is added the immense pcave.r with which
she is hoped to be driven, it is no wonder that
such a rate of going as 26 knots, or nearly 30 miles,
an hour, is confidently talked of by her designer
and builder. Her engines are to be three-cylinder,
driven at high pressure, turning one steel shaft
(made by Mr. Krupp) which runs through the
whole length of the vessel, projecting from the fine
points at each end, where it carried a screw. These
screws are to be four feet greater in diameter than
the greatest diameter of the vessel—namely, 22 feet,
and each is toehave eight blades, because the two
points being only say a foot or so below the water,
four of the blades of each screw will always be out
as it revolves, while there will always be four of
each immersed to do the work of propulsion. In
fact, we cannot better describe the general shape of
the ship and its mode of progression when at t,a
than by likening it to a porpoise with a tail at
each end. Under each screw is a rudder, and by
steering with both the vessel can be ttnened as on a
pivot. As the extreme points veui.a :he too fine to
admit the passage of the screw shaft and its bear-
ings also, this difficulty is obviated by making 16ft
of each end revolve with the shaft, and therefore
form part of it, so that, with the increased diameter
of the point at the end of the 16t. towards the mid-
ships, there is ample moat gained for both shaft and
bearings. Her boilers, like all the rest about this
vessel, are on a new plan. There are four of them
on the locomotive principle, with vertical tubes. A
blast fan is to give them draught, and they are to
work at 1501 b. pressure. This is a great pressure,
but, as the boilers are built far stronger than
even locomotive boilers, it is asserted that they
could be worked up to 1,0001 b„ or even 1,001 b.,
with., safety. There are 136 ft. of fire-bar surface,
and it is expected that with the aid of the
blast fan each of these 136 ft. can he made to burn
ioib of coal per hour. If the furnaces can accom-
plish this, then, according to the rules which
give one nominal horse power for every 211 b of
coals consumed per hour, Mr. Wienan's yacht will
be working at more than 2,500 horse power. For
very fast ocean going steamships the rate of horse
power to tonnage is about 25- tons to one nominal
horse power ; that is to say, roughly, engines of 500
horse power for a fast steamship of 1,250 tons. But
our best mail steamships on their fastest tripe find
it difficult to burn their 30 b. of coal per foot of
Amber surface per hour. If Mr. Wienan's then can
burn his 601 b., he will, as we have stated, be work-
ing up to nearly 2,500 horse power, or at the rate of
eight indicated horse power to every ton burden of
his vessel; and this, with her slender form, smooth
surface, and very small midship section (only 100 ft),
should give her extracedinary speed. We do not at
say that all these results as to consumption of coal,
are certain to be effected, as the principle is
quite a new one. The vessel, however, is built to
accomplish it, and on the part of the public, who
will be the ultimate gainers, we hope she may. It
is said also that, as regards motion at sea, rolling
end pinching will be reduced to a minimum, and
certainly her form seems to suggest that such a re-
sult will be accomplished, With no top tramper in
the way of masts and with all her weights well
below the waterline she is certainly not likely to
roll. But if she does not pitch, but cuts through
tae caster, she will take it over all, and in that case,
with her upper deck so near the sea, it would be
swept fore and aft. By the end of August all these
doubts will be settled, for in the middle of that
month she is to be launched, as we have said, from
Mr. Hepworth's yard, and launched ready for sea
with her steam up. As a bold trial of a new principle
at the inventor's own expense and risk, she will at
least deserve success, and Mr. Wienan has paid a
compliment to our natianai spirit of progress arts

desire for improvement in preferring to build his I
first yacht here instead of in America ; so that we
shall be, in either event, the Areftrgainers by the
experiment.