The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-18 00:00:00

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THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 18, 1864.

THE OXFORD AND CA,I3RIOGE BOAr
RACE.—The Dining doom of THE WELLINGTON
Avid be open as usual for Breakfasts and Luncheons, at 8.0
a.m., on SATURDAY, the lath inst.

MR. MACDONALD's NEW NOVEL.
Just ready, in 3 vols.,
A.DELA CATHCART.
By GEORGE MACDONALD,
Author of "David Elginbrod," &c.
Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

WHERE CAN WE MEET AFTER THE
PANTOMIMES ? My dear Fellow. Gentlemen sup
at EVANS', Covent-garden.

4

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112

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Tl,:*" 7-^

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at one time er other beets favoured, has qixci
•
correspondence with Marshal Wrangel. Tit 3 Mattomriv-Xitil4l
shal has seen a good deal in the course of tt+...liiiit!
life which has left him still so fresh and active, bi 4
he did seem puzzled at the receipt of several page
of print, consisting chiefly of extracts from Revela-
tions, or something resembling them, interspersed
with parenthetical references to Mre. Cottle and
other distinguished personages. I cannot positively
state the conclusion he arrived at, but there 18 Pot
much difficulty in divining it.

_I. :..-.3*

The Double Screw at Sea.

The columns of The Sun have on various OCCaSietl3
of late recorded trials of steam vessels fitted with
double or twin screws, trials which have excited
considerable interest from the great importance the
principle under trial bore both towards the Royal
and mercantile marine, efferlog as it does a power of
maeaseaverieg a vessel when under steam such as
never could have been attained by the single screw
or the paddle. The public importance of the prin-
cipal hes been fully acknowledged, indeed, by its
partial adoption by the Admiralty, and the testi-
mony given to its merits in the Rouse of Commons
by Lord Clarence Paget, Sir Jas. Elphinstone,
end
others. These trials have hitherto taken place on
the comparatively smooth waters of the Thames,
but on Wednesday and Thursday, the 16th
and 17th inst., the twin screws reached their as yet
culminating point of success in the trial trip of the
Atalanta from London to Calais, and thence in a
race between that port and Dover with one of the
fastest boats of the London, Chatham, and Dover
Railway Company. The Atalanta is an iron vessel,
built by Messrs. J. and W. Dudgeon, of Cabitt-
town-yard, Millwall; is 500 tons burden, 200 feet
long, 24 feet in breadth, 14 feet in depth, and is
driven by two screws, with independent engines,
the collective power being 200 horse. She is a
smart, clipper-looking craft, possessing at the same
time large carrying powers. Oa Wednesday she
left Gravesend at 15 minutes past twelve, in charge
of Mr. Leigh, Trinity Pilot, the wind being fresh
from E.S.E., and the young flood tide coming
up against ber. The steam was up for the
first time, and it was, therefore, not intended
to make any official trial of her speed be-
tween the Thames and Calais, the port to which she
was first bound, but in passing the measured mile
in Long Reach she was found to be going 14.138
knots, which certainly appeared to confirm the
assertion of her builders that she would prove to be,
for her tonnage and horse power, the fastest screw
vessel afloat. The Nore light-ship was passed at
21 minutes past 1, the greater part of the time the
port engine only having been at work, owing to
some adjustment being required to the starboard
crank bearings, but even under these disadvan-
tageous circumstances the distance, 221 miles, was
made in 75 minutes. The wind was now freshen-
ing, but the water was smooth and the weather
clear as the vessel kept on her course
through the One Deeps and the Alexandra
Channel, the engines making 120 revolutions
without a rattle, and doing their work magnifi-
cently. At 4.30 p.m. the bold outline of the South
Foreland was merged in the general dark outline
of the English coast under the Atakanta's lee, while
the white cliffs of France west of Calais were rising
rapidly above the line of waters ahead. At 6 p.m.
the Atalanta was in her berth alongside the pier at
Calais, just ahead of the paddle mail packet Vivid,
with which she was to try her strength across the
Channel on the following day. The distance be-
tween the Downs and Calais could have been Eck.
complished in considerably less time, quick as it
really was, but for the vessel having been kept on
a mid-channel course between Dover and Calais for
some 10 miles, thas deviating from her direct course
for the latter place. On Thursday the Atalanta
crossed over from Calais to Dover, so as to steam back
from the-latter to the former place in company with
the Vivid, which was appointed to leave with the
mail from Dover at 9 30. At 45 minutes past 9 the
Vivid cams out, and the Atalanta having been
placed in position as nearly as possible abreast
of her, the race across commenced. From the time
of starting the result was never for a moment in
doubt. The Vivid, pitching her bows into the sea as
she got clear of the land, was evidently making hard
work of it, and fast dropping astern of the Atalanta,
which, without throwing a drop of spray over her
deck, was making her way in splendid style, and
improving her position with every fresh puff of
wind and roll of the sea. As the French land was
neared the wind freshened, and as it so freshened
and the sea rose the better the Atalanta behaved.
Calais was reached in 77 minutes by the Atalanta,
but the Vivid was 107 minutes—half an hour
behind the double screw. The success was of so
decided a character that it was considered un-
necessary_ to test the speed of the boat any fur-
ther, and a return course was therefore shaped
for the Thames, where she arrived at 5 p.m.,
and where she will complete her outfit for the
service for which she has been built. In crossing
the Channel the action of the screw an each quarter
was beautifully distinct through the deep, blue
clearness of the water, and it was surprising to
notice with what smooth solidity and entire absence
of water disturbance of any kind they worked.