The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 8, 1870.

THE CANAL AND THE CHANNEL.

The opening session of the Institution of Naval ArcU-
tast:3 opened with some very interesting business. First
came an introductory address fromthe chairman, Sir John
Pakington. The right hon. gentleman adverted to
*most
of the leadins, naval questions of the• time—the Suez
Canal, the means of communication with France, but
mare particularly to the recent collisions. Why, asked
Sir John Pakington, could not the Oneida and the Bom-
bay keep clear of each other ? That led to the important
question being asked, were the existing laws with regard
to the rule of the road by sea as good as could be
made for the protection of life an property at sea?
A , strong impression existed that the present laws
on the subject were not so well defined or so clear as they
could be made, and it became a question whether, in-the
public interest' some inquiry should not take place on the
subject. It was also a question whether inquiry should
not be made on a matter of even greater importance,
whether the public safety did not require that some
swift, strict, and precipitate arrangement should be made,
as to the management of ships in thick fogs. The loss
of the Normandy was occasioned by thick fog, and he
thought enough had come before the public to prevent
their feeling any hesitation in saying that the main cause
of the disaster was the ship going at her full speed, or
nearly so, at the time a thick fog existed. There did not
appear to have 'been precautions taken to prevent such
accidents by means of gongs or bells.
After Sir John Paldngton, Mr. Samuda, M.P., occu-
pied the attention of the Institute with the Suez Canal.
He calculated that the canal would make the following
saving in distance in the voyage to England :—From Bom-
bay, 5,570 miles ; Ceylon, 3,810 ; from Hong Kong
and Singapore, 3,520 ; and from Melbourne, 91 miles.
This represents a saving of about half the distance be,
tureen England and Bombay, about one-third the distance
between England and China, and practically none be-
tween England and Australia. Manifestly, then, the
canal will greatly benefit carriers. • Independently of
the difficulties and the expense of getting through
the canal, the Red Sea was so dangerous at certain
times to sailing ships that the canal would not do for such
vessels. The opening of the canal, therefore, had caused
a great falling off in the construction of sailing ships, and
it tended to the further substitution of steam for sails
in carrying on our traffic with the Est. A few years ago
the opening of the Suez Canal would not have had such
a powerful influence, but within the last ten or
twelve years so many improvements had been made in
engines, and in economizing the consumption of coal,
that steam can now compete much better than before with
sails. In our traffic with the East, steamships should,
if possible, take enough coal on board before leaving
England, to enable them to perform the outward
and homeward, trip. This could be done between
England and Bombay, and still leave room for a very
large quantity of cargo, so that, without doubt, nearly
all the traffic between here and Bombay will be lost to
sailing-ships. In the trade with China the effect would
be less, because.the quantity of coal required on starting
would prevent the carrying of a large cargo on the out-
ward voyage. He thought that superior clipper ships
might hold their ground in the China trade for some time,
until steamers were improved. In the Australian traffic
he looked upon the profitable employment of cargo
steamers as at present impossible, and expected that the
withdrawal 'of sailing-ships from Bombay would cause
much competition in the Australian trade.
Next came two contributions advocating the establish-
ment of train ships between Dover and Calais, that is,
the establishment of a line of vessels which would
receive on board entire trains with their cargoes. Admiral
B slcher read the first paper, and Mr. Scott Russell the
second. The latter gentleman explained that the train
on arriving at Dover would on two lines at once pass on
to the deck of his steamer, which would be 400 feet in
length and 40 feet in the beam, and that when the vessel
arrived in Calais it would pass on to the French
railways and 'so on to Path. Should there be any
difference between the level of the deck and that of the
pier, the difficulty would be got rid of by the use of an
inclined plane. It might be asked what was the use of
this, but the answer was a ready one. It was not to save
the passengers the trouble of getting out of the train into
the steamer, and from the steemer again into the train,
but it was to save the cost, the trouble, and the damage
which attended the frequent transhipment of merchandise.
Under this system goods might be put into a waggon at
Manchester or Birmingham, andremain undisturbed until
theyreachod theirdestination in Vienna or Paris. A vessel
which he had built to fulfil those objects had been for
years plying on Lake Constance. The result to passenger
would be that the railway companies could establish
American trains with sleeping apartments, and would
thus enable the passengers to reach their destination
without the fatigue' and trouble attendant upon journeys
undertaken at the present time.