The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-13 00:00:00

THE LARGEST CLIPPER IN THE WORLD.

Tinder this name the New York Herald describes the
new clipper ship the " Great Republic." She is 325
feet long, has 53 feet extreme breadth of beam, 39 feet
depth of hold, including 7 feet between the spar and
upper deck, and 8 feet between the two decks below, and
registers 4,555 69.95ths tons. She has four complete
decks, but no bulwarks, for the outline of the spar deck
is protected by a rail upon turned oak stanchions. Her
lines are slightly concave forward and aft, and her ends
are very long and very sharp, particularly the bow,
which preserves its angular form to the rail. The whole
fore body of the vessel is raised about two feet from a
straight line at the forefoot ; but this raise is gradual for
60 feet, and forms an arch where the stem and keel are
united. In other words, the gripe of her forefoot,
instead of being angular, is the complete arc of a
circle. For a bead she has the representation of
a

eagle, as if emerging from below the bow-
sprit ; and her stern, which is semi-elliptical
in form, is spanned by an eagle, with the Ameri-
can shield in his talons. The ship has a waist of
nine narrow strakes, defined between mouldings ; is
sheathed with yellow metal up to 25 feet, and is painted
black above it. The rails and other work on deck are
nearly white, and the gangway boards are of mahogany,
mounted with brass.

She has five houses on the spar deck amidships. The
first forward is a workshop for the crew, and answers
for a shelter in stormy weather, as she has no bulwarks.
Its after part contains a sick-bay or hospital. The
second house contains the galley, a blacksmith's shop,
and an engine room, for she has a steam engine of fifteen
horse power, designed to do all the heavy work, such as
taking in and discharging cargo, hoisting topsails, setting
up rigging, working tne fire engine, pumping ship, &c.
It is also fitted to work a propeller in one of her long-
boats ; and is so arranged that•it can hoist itself out and
in when ;it is required for use in the boat. Fitted •as
this boat is, it.is calculated to tow the ship in a calm, at
the rate of three kliCts an hour.

The houses on the quarter-deck consist of a mess-
room for the officers, protect the entrances to the deck
below, and contain signal lockers, &c. Such is her vast
size that all 'these houses appear to occupy very little
space. Indeed she has more room on her spar deck for
working ship, than a line of battle ship.
Her crew have spacious quarters in the upper be-
tween decks forward, and the entrances to them are
protected by companions. Aft on the same deck; she
has sailrooms, accommodations for petty officers, berths
for 30 boys, workshops and More-rooms. The forward
cabin or dining saloon is tastefully wainscotted, painted
pure White, relieved with gilding and other ornamental
work, and its state rooms are large, and well designed
for comfort. Abaft the saloon is a vestibule, which con-
tains the captain's cabin on the starboard side, and the
chief mate's opposite. The after cabin, though not
large, is most elegantly finished. It has sofa reces-
ses on each side, mirrors, ottomans, elliptical panels
with pictures on them, and a variety of other work,
all finished in the best style. The pantry is large and
well arranged ; and she has a choice library for the use
of her crew. The space between her forecastle and
storeroom aft, contains her spare spars, cordage, blocks,
&e., and still leaves room for 400 or 500 tons of light
cargo.

The ship herself is a wonder of strength. Her frame is
of the beat seasoned white oak, and is coaged or
dowelled together, and bolted through the coaging.
Her frame, before ceiling, was diagonally cross-baced
with iron, the braces four inches wide, one inch thick,
and extending from the floor-heads to the top
timbers. These wore let into the frames and ceiling,
were bolted through every timber, and rivetted to-
gether at every intersection between the frames.
There are ninety of these on each side. She is built
of 2,056 tons of white oak, I,soo,ooofeet of yellow pine,
has 1,650 knees, 230 beams, 3361 tons iron, and 56
tons of copper. She is thorougly ventilated, has four
bold pumps, a fire engine for wetting sails, or, in case of
accident, for extinguishing fire.
She is very snugly and very strongly sparred, and,
like a ship of war, has nothing above the royals. She
has four masts, named the fore, main, mizen, and
spanker masts. The last is fore and aft-rigged ; the
others are square rigged. Her sails are made of cotton
duck, and she will spread about 16,000 yards in a single
suite.

This vessel was designed, modelled, and built by her
owner, Donald APICay, and it is confidently believed
that she will prove the swiftest ship in the world. Al-
though she registers over 4,500 tons, she will stow at
least 6,000 tens, and such is the buoyancy of the floor
that she will not draw more than 23 feet water when
fully laden with a general cargo.

THE LATE JAMES EWING, ESQ.—We understand that
the will of this gentleman provides for his relict and
relations in the most liberal manner ; and amongst
the princely gifts to our public charities may be men-
tioned-20,0001. to the Merchants' House, 10,0001. to
the Royal Infirmary, and 20,0001. in the aggregate to
the other charities. In addition to, these, 13,0001. have
been left to the Free Church.—North Briti44 Mail.