The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-10 00:00:00

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E SHIPPING INTEREST.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—lt is quite refreshing, after all the nonsense
lately written on the subject, to read your remarks of
this morning on the " shipping interest," particularly
those having reference to our late defeat in the waters
of the Solent. Many attempts have been made to
lessen the significance of that defeat, by asserting that
our yachts are built exclusively for comfort and not
for speed. This I positively deny. In many cases
owners of yachts have been willing to sacrifice every-
thing for speed, and have given their builders a carte
blanche to that end; some have just now given up
their vessels to the builders to experinaentalise upon,
by lengthening their bows, which will greatly increase
their tonnage but make little or no difference in the
accommodation. It is not fair to our worthy and
public• spirited owners of yachts, or to our American
rivals, to assert that our builders have not had ample
opportuniiEs to produce the fastest vessels which
their experience and ingenuity could devise,
unfettered by any conditieue whatever. It is
quite a mistake to suppose that speed and
capacity are incompatible with each other : those
qualities are combined in every Yankee merchant-
man. The Almeria, although a " Flying Dutchman,"
is no phantom fillip. She is a good substantial craft,
fit to go to sea in any weather with perfect ease and
safety. She has fair accommodation, and would
doubtless have had more, had her builders guessed
the sort of vessels she would have had to contend with.
During a six years' service on the coast of North
America I have had abundant opportunities of seeing
whet such vessels can do in the, heaviest weather.
The America appears to he built on scientific
principles; her form gives her extreme stability, for
which she is in no way dependent on her ballast.
With our yachts it is generally a mere question of
" canvas v. ballast." Tnis must be patent to all who
have witnessed the hidesius sight of a lot of yachts (I
allude particularly to those of the Thames Club)
burying themselves under a press of canvas, and heel-
ing over to an angle of 45 degrees. The America
sails very nearly on an even keel, end has never been
seen to heel over sufficiently to cause her to derive any
considerable assistance from her ballast. It is not,
trust, necessary to explain that ballast does not give
any material stability to a vessel until she has a con-
siderable heel. Ido not advocate the propriety of
building vessels to sail without ballast. Such
can never be safe in a heavy sea. It
has nearly proved fatal to several of Sir 'William
Symonds' the Quail, Star, Racer, &c., which
were all thrown on their beam-ends by the force of
the waves without a sail being set, at least nothing
more than a trysail. A ship dependent solely on her
form for stability is in this predicament ; her form
merely tends to keep her hull perpendicular to the
surface of the element on which she floats; when,
therefore, she may be floating on the side of a tinge
wave, rising at an angle of 45 degrees, she becomes
suddenly thrown over to that inclination, and should
a second wave give her a lift at this critical moment,
before she have time to recover her upright position,
and when the top weight of guns and the leverage of
the masts all help to turn her over, a capsize would be
a very probable result.
The ballast of a ship, however, acts in a totally dif-
ferent manner; it tends to attract the keel of the
vessel to the centre of the earth, without any refer-
ence to the action of the waves. The America pos-
sesses both these essentials ; her form gives great sta-
bility, and ballast renders her indepenlent of the
freaks of old Neptune.
In a letter you kindly published before the great
challenge match came off I expressed the opinion that
much of the superiority of the America was due to
the cut and make of her sails. This has been fully
confirmed by the result and by all who have since
written on the subject. Although the Titania was
beaten by only four minutes in a run of 24 hours,
she took nearly oneefourth longer time tnan the
America to work the same distance to windward.
Such an enormous disparity could not exist—ceteris
paribus—between vessels with the respective forms of
the America and Titania. It could only be occasioned
by seme erroneous application of the propelling power.
The effort of our schooner and cutter sailors appears
to be to spread the greatest possible amount of canvas
on a given length of mast, which is then supported
by all manner of ropes. The Americans are content
with as much canvass as the stick will bear, without
any material support from rigging. I cannot further
explain this without the use of technical terms, which
I wish as much as possible to avoid.
In endeavouring to point out what appear to be
some errors in our yachting system, I have not the
slightest intention of casting ridicule on those to
whom we are indebted for almost every improvement
in the build and rig of our ships. Sir William Sy-
moods, who has immortalised himself by bringing
into the navy a very superior class of sailing ships,
began his career as an amateur builder of boats and
yachts, and he has been eclipsed only by another yacht
builder, Joseph White, of Cowes. The fastest mer-
chantman I ever met at sea, the Ilaid6e, of London,
was built by White. The fastest of the experimental
brigs, the Daring, was also built on his lines, and
her capacity for stowage was greatly superior to
either of her competitors. The Phaeton has just left
the frigate squadron covered with laurels. It was a
long time before our dockyard artificers could make
a fore and aft sail ; consequently the boom mainsails
of our brigs were made by contract by a yacht sail-
maker at Gravesend. My own first lesson iu sail-
making, which I have since endeavoured to turn to
account, was given by a noble yachtman ; and I be-
lieve there are few naval officers who have not picked
up a wrinkle from the same source.
I am, Sir, your very obedient servant,
Emsworth, Sept. 6.

H:J J. MATSON, Capt.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE:
Captain Charles Hope (1826), it is now stated, will
be the new Captain Superintendent of Sheerness
Dockyard, and not Captain Charles Eden, as reported.
Captain Hope commanded the Thalia, 42, and lastly
the Trafalgar, 120.
Bellerophon, 78, Captain Lord G. Paulet, is or-
dered to be paid wages in advance, prior to leaving
Devonport for Portsmouth. She will have her com-
passes adjusted on Thursday, by Mr. Thompson.
THE AMERICAN STEAM-FRIGATE MISSISSIPPI.—It
has been already announced that the American war
steam-frigate Mississippi had run ashore off St.
James's Castle, on the coast of Turkey. From all
accounts it is very likely that she will remain there,
for, notwithstanding the united steam power of the
Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-ship
Euxine, and steamers Levant, Stamboul, and Impera-
trice, making a total force of 1,900 horses, was put
into requisition fur many hours, the Mississippi ex-
erting her own steam power at the time, they failed
to start her, and the steamers were obliged to leave
her in her forlorn condition to pursue their respective
routes.—Herald.

PORTSMOUTH, TUESDAY.—The Hercules, 72, troop
and store-ship, Master Commander R. Fulton, was
paid off all standing this afternoon, and taken into the
Angle Dock to be re-coppered and otherwise refitted
as the receiving-ship for Malta.
The Centaur steam-frigate, Captain Cannon, flag
of Rear-Admiral W. W. Henderson, C. 8., will sail
on Saturday for the Brazils station, to relieve the
Southampton, 50, Rear-Admiral Reynolds.
The Britannia, 120, Captain Yates, will be paid six
months' wages to-morrow.
The Sprightly steam-vessel, Mr. George Allen,
Master commanding, returned from Scotland, whither
she had conveyed the remains of Rear-Admiral
Superintendent Lord John Hay, from Devonport, for
interment to-day.
The Fairy royal steam-yacht, blaster-Commander
D. N. Welch, came up from Cowes to-day, having
left the Elfin, Acting Master Balliston, on duty there.
The Rodney convict-ship embarked 49 prisoners
from the York and Stirling Castle hulks, in this bar•
boar, to-day for Van Diemen's Land.
The American line-of-packet-ship Independence
arrived to-day from the Thames, embarked passen•
gets and stock, and sailed for New York.
Woormics, Sxrr. 9.--The Rodney hired convict-
ship, previous to leaving her moorings at the Royal
Arsenal, Woolwich, took on board twenty-eight
convicts from the Warrior convict ship, at Woolwich
proceeded
duk to Penitentiary,
dockyard, and twenty-eight from the Jeunsitteitinaticaorny:
opposite the Royal Arsenal.
She
Portsmoutha
lsotwk
and,on e convict
leavinge
t on
the boardT Thames,
st,hpe
to take on board a number from the convicts em-
ployed there and at Portland, to make up, with those
from Woolwich, 160 in all.
T
proceed to Cork, and take on board
e Rodney will then
themd 140 t of
Gibraltar,o t he
con-
victs employed there, and convey
where they will be landed and employed on the public
works; and 140 in their place will embark in the
Rodney
for conveyance
to
will obtain ticketsthe S wan River settle-
ment, in Australia, where the whole 300 convicts
of leave on their arrival.

APPOINTMENT.
Carpenter John Johns, to the
nem Dino, 18, at Sheer-

d ' IEI exriPc oEußtit,M Eji;e'r
lii:(iposs HYDROPIIOBIA.--Iq. Rochet
Abyssinia the diOstNinguh.hed traveller, has brougnt from
root of the Cricurnis ..aysainica, said to
e,s*,- (I of the valuable property of curing hydrophobia
~,:)gs. In presenting it to the Academy of Sciences, M.
u nericourt stated that he had himself seen, in Abyssinia.
several dogs in different stages of madness completely cured
by having the powder of the root mixed with food. The
Communication was received with the liveliest interest, and
experiments were ordered to be made. In the
directorthe f
Veterinary cliool at Alfort, stating that he had tried the
remedy on four mad dogs, but without the slightest success.
He added, that fearing the .roots might have lost their virtue
he procured one of a living, plant from the Jardin des
pianos, but that it, too, was inefficacious. Further experi..
meats are, however, to be made, and more roots are to be got
from Abyssinia. There seems no reason why what is
rent:o4y for a dreadful malady in Africa should not be a
remedy for the same malady in Europe n
Gazette.
,30....kiterars