The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-16 00:00:00

Twin Screws versus Paddles.

The twin screw steamship Mary Augusta, 970
tons and 280-horse power of engines, nominal, whose
measured mile trial off the mouth of the Thames was
noticed in The Sun of Monday last, made her sea
trial trip on Tuesday between Dover and Calais, in
a race from the English to the French harbour with
the new paddlewheel mail steamer La France, the
latest addition to the fleet of the London, Chatham,
and Dover Railway Company, and said to be the
fastest boat under steam in the English Channel.
The Mary Augusta had left Greenhithe at an early
hour in the morning, and at 7 30 a.m. dropped her
anchor in Dover Roads to await the time of depar-
ture of the next mail boat for Calais on the arrival
on Dover pier of the express train down from Lon-
don due at 9 23 a.m. The train arrived on the pier
with its usual punctuality in point of time, and very
soon afterwards the mail steamer cast off from the
Admiralty pier and stood out clear to view
from where the Mary Augusta was lying, and,
was then discovered to be the famous La France,
she being, when time was taken, about three cables'
length ahead of and on the weather bow of the
Mary Augusta, the water being smooth, compara-
tively speaking, in the Channel, and the wind quite
moderate from E.N.E. La France had thus the
advantages at the start of smooth water—her
specialite—and with nothing aloft to offer any resis-
tance to her passage through the water, while the
Mary Augusta would have been better weighted for
the race with her slim-bow'd rival had there been a
sea in the Channel, and had her bark-rig aloft more
nearly approximated to the rig of La France. The
two vessels for the first five minutes after starting
together from off the end of Dover pier head
seemed to be pretty equal in point of speed ; and
some of those on board the Mary Augusta began to
think their vessel would make a sufficient fight of it
could she but be made to " hold her own" with her
rival, but her builders, who were on board, thought
otherwise, and stated they felt convinced the
twin screws must win the battle. The result proved
the soundness of this opinion, and now ensued,
without any doubt the most exciting and
interesting contest that has ever yet occurred since
steam was first applied for the propulsion of ships.
At 9.53 both vessels began to open the South Fore-
land to the breeze, being at the time exactly abreast
of each other and close together, with the paddle to
windward, the twin screws appearing to slightly draw
on La France, but a hot bearing developing itself in
I the starboard engine of the Mary Augusta, it was
eased in its revolutions as much as durst be done
wider the circumstances of the ship's position with her
handsome and dangerous rival, and her chance of suc-
cess thus far damaged. At 10 a.m. La France's stem
was fairly in a line with the Mary Augusta's stern, de-
spite the hot bearing and reduced revolutions in the
latter's starboard engine, the twin screws evidently
beating the paddle " all to nothing" as the motion of
the water through which the two vessels were cleav-
ing their rapid way increased. In ten minutes
afterwards the Mary Augusta placed herself in posi-
tion about three cables' length ahead of and in line
with La France, and very shortly afterwards the
latter with four cables' length astern, and on her
leader's portquarter, emitting such immense volumes
of steam and smoke from her two funnels as satis-
factorily proved that the engines were having more
steam than they could make use of, and that La
France could never at any time orunder any circum-
stances during her yet short career have been driven
with more purpose to win than at the present. The
Mary Augusta, in addition to her loss of speed, owing
to the decreased number of the revolutions of one of
her engines, which persistently continued to be afflicted
with the unfortunate hot bearing, steered at times
rather wild from the uneven running of her engines,
and this necessarilylengthened her course. The Mary
Augusta, however, still, as the cliffs of England les-
sened and those of Francerose on the horizon, gradu-
ally and surely increased her lead over the gallant La
France, and at 10 45, the heated bearing of the star-
board engine having become cooled, its revolutions
were increased, and from that moment the race was
her own, La France, visibly dropping astern every
stroke her pistons made, and the Mary Augusta clos-
ing in with Calais pier at a tremendous rate of speed.
At 11h. 4min. 45sec. the latter was close in to the
pier's head, when, as there was no intention to take
the vessel inside Calais harbour, her helm was put
down and her head brought round for Dover-cliffs
again, La France being then fully 3i miles astern,
six minutes elapsing from the time of putting down
the helm of the Mary Augusta until she met La
France, both vessels continuing at full speed
throughout, the one finishing her voyage to Calais
from Dover, and the other returning across the
Channel to the Coast of England from that of
France. The time occupied by the Mary Augusta
in the double run from Dover to Calais and back
was exactly 2 hours 45 minutes and 10 seconds—a
rate of speed never before equalled under any circum-
stances by a screw steamer, double or single, nor yet
by any paddle steamer, when the time was rigidly
and impartially taken, as it was in the race between
these two vessels, the manner of taking time very
often giving a vessel an exaggerated average of her
peformance—an error which was most satisfactorily
avoided in the present trial between La France and
the Mary Augusta. On arriving off Calais pier
heads the owners of the latter ship, satisfied with
their success, dipped their ship's colours on parting,
which was courteously returned by La France.
The run back to Dover from Calais was made by
the double screw, with help from her fore and aft
sails forward, but the wind by that time had
freshened considerably, and a tolerable sea was
running in mid channel, and wherever the influence
of the tide was fully felt to windward. An oppor-
tunity was thus afforded of noticing the meeting of
the vessel's bow and the sea as she passed through
the water. There was no wave hanging on in front
of the stem, all that could be seen of entering force
and its resistance being merely a fountain spray of
water—white from its small volume and the ship's
great speed though the sea—with no other visible
disturbance in the waters through which lay the
ship's course. In the return of the Mary Augusta
from her sea trial trip to Gravesend the South Fore-
land was passed at 20 minutes past 4 p.m., a heavy
gale blowing from N.E., which continued, the ves-
sel behaving beautifully. The North Foreland was
passed at 20 minutes past 5, and the Tongue light-
ship at 6.15, Gravesend being reached at 9.15 p.m.
The success of the Mary Augusta not only proves
the superiority of the double or twin screw principle
over the principle of the single screw application in
point of speed (the superiority in steering and ma-
noeuvring powers is sufficiently admitted), but it
also proves its superiority over the latest and best
applied paddlewheel system, La France being
not more than one-half the weight of the Mary
Augusta, the propelling powers- in both ships being

At the meeting on Monday of the Royal Scottish Society
of Arts, Mr. James Young, of Limefield, read the follow-
ing paper "On Paraffin and Paraffin Oils":—The earliest
notice that I know of hydro-carbon is the divine command
to Noah—" Thou shalt pitch it within and without with
pitch ;" and again, when the impious inhabitants of the
plain said—" Go to, let us build a city and a tower whose
top may reach into heaven, they had brick for stone, and
slime had they for mortar." In the same locality, at this
day, old buildings can be seen, the bricks of which are
cemented together with this same slime or pitch ; and boats
are still made of basketwork, the, interstices of which are
filled with-the same materiaL In several places in-the
Bible the word translated " salt" is by many held to
mean petroleum, so that this substance seems to have
been in constant use from the earliest dawn of history.
There are exported at the present time from the sea-
port of Baku, on the Caspian, 4,000 tons of petroleum
annually. The roofs of the houses in Baku are covered
with this substance, which makes them water-tight. In
this neighbourhood there is a large tract of land through
petroleums*anwdho wasinflammable there gas rise in great
in his journey from
quantities.whic h
sher, u
London to Persepolis, describes and gives a picture of a
fire-temple, and actually saw devotees, who had come
a long distance, worshipping this not celestial fire; and
stranger still, he found in the same place a party of
Germans building a work to distil and manufacture this
petroleum. This is one way of invading the realms of hea-
then superstition—making a substance that has received

divine rites for thousands of years the object of a joint-
stock company "limited" to spread it over the world to
give physical light, which is, to say the least of it, no hin-
drance to spiritual light. A district in Burmah has supplied
petroleum from before historical times. Byrnes, in his
" Embassy to Ave," vol. ii., states that the number of wells
in that country exceeds 520, and the annual yield of petro-
leum more than 400,000 hhds. In America, small quanti-
ties of petroleum were to be found in the drug shops, under
the name of Seneca oil. It derived its name from having
been derived or brought from the Seneca Indians, who col-

lected it on the shores of Seneca, Lake. A stream in Alle-
ghany was called Oil Creek, in consequence of the appear-
ance of oil on its banks, and the same name was given to
another branch of tha Alleghany in Vanango county,
Pennsylvania; and in old American maps severals places
are mentioned in this part of the country as produc-
ing oil. Upon Oil Creek, in Vanango county, two spots
were particularly noticed. At these places springs
issued from the banks of the stream, bringing
up more or less oil, which collected upon the surface of
the water as it stood in pools below the springs. It was
collected by spreading woollen cloths upon the water,
and wringing them when saturated. In the valley
there are numerous ancient pits, which seem to have
been excavated for the purpose of extracting oil, but by
whom made is unknown. It is supposed by some that these
pits were made by the French who occupied the country in

the early part of last century ; but others believe that the
Indians dug the pits. Day, in his history of Pennsylvania,
gives an account of the high value in which the Indians
held this substance. They mixed it with the paint used to
anoint themselves for war, and employed it in their reli-
gious rites. He quotes a letter from the commander of Fort
Duguesne to General Montcalm, describing an assembly of
Indians by night on the banks of the creek, and in the
midst of their ceremonies, their setting fire to the scum of
oil that collected on the surface of the water. As the flames
burst forth, illuminating the dark:valley, there arose from
the Indians a loud triumphant shout, which made the hills
re-echo. The scene recalled to the writer the accounts of
the ceremony of the fire-worshippers. The quantities of oil
collected by the early settlers were small ; the largest
amount which was from the lowest spring on Oil Creek
reaching sometimes to 20 barrels a year. I quote from the
New American Encyclopedia—" No suspicion seems to
have been entertained that the supplies could be increased
by sinking wells through the sandstones and shales that
underlie the valley, and it was not known that by distilla-
tion and chemical treatment the quality of petroleum could
be greatly improved. This was the state of matters with
regard to petroleum up to the year 1847. During the last
two centuries, several attempts were made to make tar or
pitch from coal, with the intention of using it for the pur-
pose that Norwegian or Archangel tar is used, such as tar-
ring ships and ropes." Some of these are very curious and
well worth looking into as interesting matters of history,
but your time will not allow this to-night. The only one
of these attempts that assumed the position of a manufac-
ture was that of Lord Dundonald, who subjected coal to
distillation, producing coke and tar. This manufacture ap-
pears to have succeeded till some time after the introduc-
tion of gas lighting, when the tar from the gasworks was
thrown upon the market in considerable quantities, and ex-
tinguished the works first erected by Lord Dundonald.
During the present century several efforts were made in
England and France to produce useful products from the
shales in Dorsetshire in England, and Autun in France.
About the year 1830, Dr. Reichenbach made an elaborate
investigation of the products obtained by distilling wood,
and among these substances discovered a white waxy sub-
stance having little affinity for other bodies, which he named
paraffin ; and about the same time Dr. Christisen, in mak-
ing a chemical examination in Rangoon petroleum, disco-
vered a body which he named petroline. It was soon found
that Dr. Reichenbach's paraffin() and Dr.: Christisen's
petroline were the same substance. Reichenbach, who
was a manufacturing chemist on a very large scale,
although ;he produced very small quantities of paraffins,
saw clearly and boldly stated that if the substance could
be obtained in quantities it would be of great use, and
mentioned candles as one of the uses to which it might be
applied. The substance was analysed by Gay Lussac, who
determined its composition, showing that it was a hydro-
carbon composed of equal atoms of carbon and hydrogen,
but who deplored that he could not procure enough of the
substance to make a thorough chemical investigation. In
Dec., 1847, I received a letter from Dr. Lyon Playfair, and
as this is the starting point of a very large and interesting
branch of commerce, 3 shall, with your leave, read this let-
ter. On examining the coal mine mentioned in Dr. Play-
fair's letter, I found that the petroleum came from a sand-
stone bed which lay above the seam of coal. This petro-
leum was a dark coloured substance, nearly black, about
the consistence of olive oil. Ihad a small work erected, and
petroleum was manufactured into two oils; the lighter was
sold for burning in lamps, and the heavier for lubricating
machinery. The quantity of petroleum from the mine gra-
dually diminished, and that petroleum 'work came to an
end; but it had served a useful purpose--it had proved that
petroleum could be turned to good account. It was soon
followed by works of the same kind. In 1854 or 1855, a
quantity of Burmah petroleum was brought to this coun-
try, and works erected near Liverpool for its purification
by the same process as I had used with the Derbyshire
petroleum. A large work was also built in London, and
a very large business done with this Burmah, or, as it
was named, Rangoon petroleum. But it is in America
that the trade has been developed with a rapidity
characteristic of our energetic cousins. In 1854, Messrs.
Evelett and Bisset, of New York, secured the right of the
upper spring in Oil Creek, and organised a company in New
York. The quality of the oil was tested, and a report made
upon it by Professor Silliman, jun. No progress, however,
was made in establishing the business till 1857, when
Messrs. Cowditch and Drake, of New Haven, undertook the
search for the oil. Col. C. L. Drake removed to Titusville,
on Oil Creek, and the winter of 1858-9 completed his ar-
rangement for boring to the :rock below the bed of the
creek. The works advanced very slowly, and it was not
till Aug. 26, 1859, that oil was struck at the depth of 71ft.
The drill suddenly sank into a cavity of the rock, and the
oil rose within sin. of the surface ; and a small pump being
introduced, a supply of oil was obtained amounting to 400
gallons a day, and a larger pump being introduced, the flow
was increased to 1,000 a-day. Then a steam engine was
applied to the work, and kept in constant operation ; still
the supply was uninterrupted for weeks. This success
brought on the oil-fever, which has raged with greater or
less interest over a large part of America ever since. I may
mention that I visited the district a few months after the
discovery. The only business talked of or thing thought
of was boring for oil. In whichever way you looked you
saw nothing but derricks and boring machines. I
may state that small steam engines were universally
used for boring; whereas in this country, where there
has been so long and so much boring for minerals, we are
only beginning to make use of the steam-engine for that
purpose now. A gentleman whom I met assured me he
had counted carefully the number of bores being put down,