The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-27 00:00:00

in a tavern between a couple of the men ; but the com-
rades of the combatants soon took the part of their re-
spective friends, and a most outrageous scene was enacted,
bayonets being used freely on both sides, until a strong
picket arrived and put an end to this disgraceful affair.
An unfortunate man, named John Maher, a carpenter,
fell through a trap door in the ♦nghaginty Mills, in the
King's County, the other day, and was killed on the
spot.
Robert Waring Maxwell, Esq., J.P., a leading mem-
ber of the Orange Lodg• of Ireland, died the other day,
aged 66, at his residence in the county of Tyrone.

THE MONSTER STEAM-SHIP.

(Front the Leisure Hour.)

Many of our readers are aware that there is now grow-
ing into form and shapeliness, upon the shore of the Isle
of Dogs, opposite to the town of Deptford, a fabric of
enormous dimensions, which has latterly begun to as-
sume the proportions of a ship. Unlike all other ships,
however, it has not been cradled in docks or suspended
on frame-work, but built on the solid earth ; and from
this cause, as well as from the uncouth appearance it
presented for many months, that portion of the public
who passed up and down the river between London and
Greenwich were slow to believe that it was intended for
a .ship at all. Gradually the huge mass began to speak
efoxrteintsseivlfe: f
at
olsteo
rlofty
rwuaol
lstet, hiant a t
rh
ar
ne ag tee n
ofe dt o
wareehnocul os
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se , ao nr
a formidable fortification, vanished by degrees behind
an:outer covering, which, assuming the unmistakeable
contour of the swelling hull of a vessel, dispelled all doubt
upon the subject, leaving in its place only amazement at
the grandeur of the design, and the vastness of the un-
dertaking.
Impelled by the same curiosity which has already led
multitudes to examine this new and astounding experi-
ment in marine architecture, we this morning alighted at
the Westminster-dock station of the Blackwall Railway,
and leaving the docks behind us, proceeded across the
Isle of Dogs, to the works of J. Scott Russell, Esq.,
armed with an order of admission kindly forwarded by
that gentleman.
The Isle of Dogs is a curiosity in itself, and stubbornly
defies any attempt to pass over it without notice. It is
the region of a remarkable kind of industry, and has a
voice which rises into the sky unceasingly with the clang
of ten thousand hammers, the grinding and groaning of
heavy machinery, the crash of wheels and the echoes of
the forge. Then it has its odours, comparable to nothing
in any other island that we know of—odours of fire and
smoke, of molten metal and fluxes, of old rotting wood,
of oil and glue, and white-lead and "turps"—and, worse
than all, of open sewers stagnating in filth, and hopeless
of a drain or current to carry it off ; and of black fceted
ditches mantled with duck-weed which once was green,
but which has decayed and putrified into slimy veins of
sanguinary purple and crimson, beneath an atmosphere
combined of the fogs of the river, the fumes of the fur-
nace, and the exhalations of noisome manufactures.
Strange to say, the inhabitants of the districts, with all
these physical disadvantages, show no signs of unhealthi-
ness. The reason may be that the place, though suffi-
ciently populous, is not crowded, and that the whole flat
level is constantly swept by the breezes from the river,
which insure a continual current of air.
Passing down Millwall we caught a first view of the
monster ship, at the distance of about two-thirds of a
mile. From this point, whence its details are not dis-
tinguishable, it resembles a row of lofty buildings, and
we noticed that a row of brick-built eight-roomed houses,
standing midway between us and it, did not obscure
half its length, while it towered far above their roofs.
On approaching the theatre of operations the clink of
" hammers closing rivets up " after a fashion never
heard of in knightly times, produced a din which, rever-
berating from the surrounding houses, deafened the ear,
but of which the denizens of the district appeared as in-
sensible as are the dwellers beside a cataract of its un-
ceasing roar. Entering the yard and presenting our
credentials, we were soon in front of the object of our
search. It is not easy to impart a correct idea of mag-
nitude by description, especially as it is not easy for a
spectator to realise it himself until after some interval
for observation and comparison. We might compare
the broad and towering bull of the leviathan vessel to
the prostrate body of an elephant, and the men at work
upon its sides to flies crawling over its hide ; but we
are not sure that even then the vessel would not be dis-
paraged by the illustration. The reader must judge for
himself, by the actual measurements which we shall give
from authorised data for his satisfaction. The length of
this new steamer will be six hundred and eighty feet ; its
breadth 83 feet, and its depth 60 feet. According to
measurement, it will be capable of floating a weight, in-
cluding engines, machinery, coals, cargo, and everything,
of 25,000 tons. Recollecting that this is more than double
the length of the largest vessels now afloat, that the ton-
nage is six times that of the largest man-of-war, the
reader will be in possession of some materials to assist
his imagination. A writer in the Builder has calcu'ated
that the whole of the 56 houses in Tavistock-square, if
compressed into one block, would not occupy a larger
area than will be enclosed within the hull of the monster
steamer.
First walking round this astounding fabric, glimmer-
ing with 100 portable forges, by means of which the
bolts, at white heat, are driven through the iron plates,
and swarming with workmen plying their ponderous
hammers, we follow our guide up the outer ladders, from
scaffolding to scaffolding, to what will conetituto the
upper deck. Here we have a noble prospect of the wind-
ing Thames and its opposite shore ; but we have no
time for indulging in the picturesque, and prefer to look
about us. It is now that we are first profoundly im-
pressed with the real magnitude of the structure. Wo
perceive that it is built in compartments, of which there
will be room for ten, each being over 60 feet in length.
Standing above these, and looking down into them, re-
minds us of looking into the central court of an old-fa-
shioned Paris hotel from one of the upper windows. Each
compartment is separated from its neighbouring one by a
wall of iron, water-tight ; so that, in case of leakage
from accident or collision into one, the others would have
sufficient buoyancy to sustain the vessel afloat. We ob-
served as we mounted the side, that with a further view
to safety, the outer coating of the vessel is built double
below the water•mark ; so that if one covering is frac-
tured, the other and inner one presents a second safe•
guard. In case of necessity, moreover, the water can be
let in between these coverings, to the weight of two
thousand tons, to serve as ballast.
The conception of this extraordinary vessel is due to
the genius of Brunel, whose success in every department
of engineering on a grand scale is a guarantee for the
eventual prosperity of the undertaking. She is intended
for commercial and emigrant purpose, and for the per.
forinance of long voyages, and is calculated' for becoming
to India, China, Australia, or Japan, what the Cunard
liners are to America. The great drawback in the case
of long voyages by steam has been hitherto the expense
of carrying coals out to the different coaling stations,
and the loss of time involved in reaching these stations,
which lie out of the steaming track, and delay occasioned
by taking the coals on board. The new steamer will be
exposed to no such retarding causes. She will carry
12,000 tons of coal in her hold, which, it is expected, will
be more than sufficient to circumnavigate the globe, and
will thus effect a vast saving in the cost of fuel as well
as in time.
An indispensable condition to remunerativeness in a
voyage, long or short, is a tolerably quick passage—and
the elements of speed have therefore not been lost sight
of in the construction of this leviathan. The old round
bow and broal waist, devices to secure an amount of
tonnage far exceeding the registered measurement, ren-
dered speed impossible. The repeal of the navigation
laws has left shipbuilders at liberty to study and to exe-
cute the principles of their art ; and we now have sharp
concave bows and long hulls clearing the water with
more than double the velocity of the old tubs. In this
vessel the new principles will be fully carried out, and,
in addition to such advantages of construction, she will
carry within her a propelling power such as the world
has never yet witnessed. her engines will have cylin-
ders about eighteen feet long, six feet in diameter, and
weighing twenty-eight tons each. She will be pro-
pelled both by paddles and by screw. Her padd!e en-
gines will be fed by forty furnaces, generating steam
equivalent to a thousand-horse power, and her screw-
engines by sixty furnaces, supplying steam to the
amount of fifteen hundred horse-power.
As we stand upon her upper deck, and revolve these
things in our mind, while gazing down the long perspec-
tive of iron ribs and girders, and into the huge square
cavities beneath us, we cannot help recalling the fate of
more than one fine vessel, now "in the deep bosom of
the ocean buried," which we have visited from motives
of curiosity within the last few years. With these sad
memories on our mind, we express a hope to a communi-
cative gentleman at our aide, that, considering the num-
ber of lives which will, probably, share her fate, what-
ever it may be, all the precautions that are possible will
be taken to insure safety.
"Safe," said he, "not a doubt of it—as safe as any-
thing can be that incurs the dangers of the sea. You
see, in the first place, she is built of iron, and cannot be'
destroyed by fire, and it is said, further, that they are
going to employ fire-proof materials for the fittings-up.
Then as to rocks and shoals, remember, she is not
intended for an exploring expedition in that quarter :
though she is twice as long as any vessel going, she will
into
it, t
as
sn
sd h as sw
ig
wh
ho
eunt
sohf
etheaftwo aa tt e. r,
Then and I
ddoi
draw no more water than many a man of war ; some of
there
i
op,tasseedheoepw
she is to founder, looking at her water-tight chambers ;
things, she must be a conjuror to do that, looking to her
as for getting on her beam-ends, if she had such

" But as to storms ?" we
'ingested.
" It is not a little storm that would trouble her, at any
rate," said he. ,g
fear she would go It! piecess
she were builtjof timber, I should
in the first gale she met • but
i urcttn
the case is different with iron. She is t
u • '
the same principle as the Britaunio. Tulunlortrsßride' g a odn
t sg
to all intents and purposes will be as much a • Igon
I think she will stand the Strain of any tempest."n mass.
" HAVEI you any idea as to what the cost of her will be
to the company ?"
" Not much less than half a million, perhaps They
say there will be ten thousand tons of iron plates. in her,
and above three millions of bolts or rivets, which must
cost something in the driving. Then her fittings will he
expensive. She is to carry a thousand first-class passen-
gers, each with a separate berth, and as many second-
class. Her saloons will be roomy and lofty apartments
from. ten to fifteen feet high, and her culinary and com-
missar ratlapparatus had need be something extraordinary,
considering the multitudes she will have to provide for.
But cost is a secondary object in such an undertaking as
this. If she answer the end proposed, she will pay her
proprietors handsomely. She is expected to save 20 or
30 days in the voyage to Australia, and if she does that
she will command both freight and passengers at her own
terms. It is a pity, by the way, that she is not available
at the present moment. Why, you might put 20,000