The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-23 00:00:00

EVENING EDITIOI\Y!

FUTURE SPEED OF STEAM-

VESSELS.

(From the Liverpool Mercury.)
Amongst the variety of experiments now making to
improve aid simplify steam navigation, that which at
present most prominently engages the attention of the
public is the substitution of the Archimedian screw for
the paddle wheels now in use ; and if implicit reliance
can be placed upon the account of the recent voy-
age of the Archimedes from London to Hull,
during a gale of wind, in which she is reported to have,
beaten the Monarch steamer by five hours, we arc on
the eve of a most important revolution in steam navi-ra-
tiod, as the ordinary paddle-wheels, with their morn:lens
paddle- ,t,soxes, must be got rid of before we can hope to
attain the m'eximum rate of progressing througb the,
water by steam. We have long ventured to express:
our doubts of the acTairacov of the received theory of
the resistance to solid bodies moving through fluids, and
eve have stated our reasons for
differing from the pretty
general opinion respecting the n:lx,imum speed of
vessels through the water. In our puchFation of Octo-
ber 8, 1830, we oberved that the " resistance to solid
bodies moving through a fluid, according to the recog-
nised theory, increases with the speed in such a rare
to preclude all hopes of impelling vessels of any descrip-
tion much faster than our best sailing ships now
move by the action of the wind." We have alwoys
thought, however, that if ten or twelve miles were the
maximum speed of a sailing vessel, the fact is not to be
reteived as a demonstration that a body of the bulk and
exact form of Our largest vessels could not by any mean .a
be impelled through the water at a much greater rate-
[than that we have just mentioned. In our opinion, if a
sailing vessel cannot be impelled at a greater velocity
than ten or twelve knots, the circumstance is not to
be wholly ascribed to the resistance which the fluid
presents to the progress of the vessel, but to another
cause. If when a sailing vessel, with all her sailssa.
spread, has attained her maximum speed, mue e .
l
could be set, the consequence would, in all probaolit,y,
be either that the masts would give way or the vessel
would go down by the head. If we are correct in our
theory, the fact that sailing vessels have never exceeded i
the rate assumed is ne evidence that a greater speed s
unattainable under any circumstances. That bodies:
which present much greater surface, and of coarse. much
greater resistance to the water than our largest still=
. -
ships do, can move through the water four or fire tunes.
faster than any of our vessels, is proved by the vast ra-
pidity of the motion of the whale, although its Lead, or,
as the sailors would say, its bow, is much more hluff,,
and ill adapted for penetrating the water, than the bows
of a ship. A whale when stink by a harpoon vri:it
dart perpendicularly down with such velocity that it tr.
necessary to moisten the rope attached to the harpoon,
to prevent the friction of the rope igniting the gunwale
of the boat. We arc aware that a whale is gifted with
this extrordinary power by the great author of nalure,
no doubt for the wisest of purposes, and that any- at-
tempt of human skill to impart the same energy too ur
inanimate ships would be futile ; but still we maintain,
that the rapid progress through the water of so asi-
wieldy a body as the whale with its huge bluff head,
proves that the limit ordinarily assigned as the tate tat*
sailing ships is not to be ascribed to the mere resistances
of the water, but to the impossibility of carrying more'
sail. That vessels are capable of moving at much
greater speed through fluid than our best sailing vessels,
has long since been fully proved by the rate of our su-
perior steamers ; and if the statement we are about
transcribe from a recent number of the Greenod Ad
vertiser, can be implicitly relied on, the speed of steam
vessels exceeds that of sailing vessels thirty or forty per

cent:—

" STEAM WONDERS.—The same day which saw the:
ifi'ChiMelieS pass the quays of Greenock also witnessed'
the first trial of the Achilles, previous to her taking her
place on the station for which she ha 4? been built, be-
tween the Clyde and Liverpool. This splendid ship is
about 1,000 tons burden, and has engines of larger size
than the Great Western. Although the day was un-
favourable, blowing a gale, the speed of the ship was la -!'.-
tween fourteen and fifteen miles an hour through the
water. This extraordinary speed was accomplished by
the engines, which have a stroke of seven feet, making!
nineteen and twenty revolutions per minute with the
greatest steadiness."
We shall not venture to offer any decided opinion ag
to the speed which it is possible to communicate to IL
steam-vessel, but we shall venture to express our con-
viction that the rnaximuta has never yet been at-
tained. We lay considerable stress on the velocity
at which a huge and bluff-nosed wiole is known to be
capable of swimming, which demonstrate; that the fluids
may be penetrated by moving bodies with )much more
rapidity than is generally imagined, provided an aJequate
impellent power be applied. That is the mecha:noal
problem which remains to be solved, and when we bear
in mind the fact that locomotive steam-carriages have
lately been moved on our railways at a rate five or air:
times greater than scientific men believed to be pos-
sible when the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was
first formed ; and when we further reflect upon the
various improvements in steam machinery now in pro-
gress ;—when we take all these things into considera-
tion, why should we doubt that our steam-vessels may
at some future, and probably not very distant tirae,,
be brought to such perfection as to make the voyage
between Liverpool and New York in five or six days,
or even less
Those who may laugh at what yfe here deliberately
commit to paper, would have believed any man mad
who, but a few years ago, should have predicted that a
locomotive engine should in the year 1840 trivel at the
rate of seventy-five miles per hour! and yet this mecha-
nical phenomenon has recently been witnessed on the
North Midland Railway.

Sunday evening, as the five o'clock train was on
its way from LoNdon, near Romford, the hat of a man named
Henry Jay was blown off, and he, in spite of the earnest expos-
tulation of his brother-in-law, J. Cooke, and when the engine
was at 25-mile speed, jumped off to recover it! The train
was stopped as quickly as possible, and the poor man was taken
up senseless. On his arrival at the Brentwood station surgical
assistance was speedily procured, and on examination an ex-
tensive fracture of the skull was discovered. The opera ion of
trepanning being found necessary, it was performed, but he is
now lying at Great \Varley without the smallest hope of re-
covery. The accident was occasioned by the unfortunate
man's own rashness.— Essex Herald.