The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-27 00:00:00

THE HALLISG-&P SLIP AT HASLAR.

The hauling-up slip at Haslar for screw gun-boats is a
new and peculiar adaptation of mechanical art to mari-
time matters. These boats, instead of, as on the old
plan with men of war, being laid up in ordinary up Port-
cheater Lake, &c., will be laid up in ordinary on dry
ground, and under sheltering roofs of corrugated iron,
on a spacious site, surrounded by a well-built brick wall.
That site is a little above Haslar-bridge, and directly
opposite the houses at the extreme upper end of High-
street, Gosport. The works are of a very considerable
magnitude, and no less than five contractors, each
amongst the most eminent in their respective branches
of trade, are engaged upon them. Thus the excavation
of land and brickwork is entrusted to Messrs. Rigby, of
London ; the iron roofing to Messrs. Grissell, of Lon-
don ; the supply of iron rails for the lines of railways
required to traverse the boats along, to Messrs. Fox and
Henderson ; the removal of the mud at the approaches
to the slip in Haslar Lake is being done by Messrs. E.
Sreiith and Co.; and the construction of the cradles on
which the ve,sels are to be conveyed from the water to
their berths or resting places is conlied to the well-
known Mr. White, jun., of Portsmouth, who has
made himself so very distinguished in the construc-
tion of slipways. In addition to all these firms Go-
vernment has contributed its share .to the works
by supplying the sleepers on which the rails rest ;
they consist of the old timbers of men-of-war re-
cently broken up. Colonel Greene, Admiralty, direc-
tor of works, and Mr. Scamp, deputy-dieector, are the
originators and designers of this slipway, and Mr. Mac-
donnell is the resident engineer. On visiting the slipway
a few days since we were struck with the extent of the
work and the great progress made within the short
period of time that has elapsed since we intimated that
it was in contemplation. Running from low water
mark in Hasler Lake, there has been constructed a
treble line of railway, about 130 feet in length. It pro-
ceeds from the water that distance in a straight line, and
then reaches, at right angles, a " traversing" line of
rails, of which there are seven separate lines. The
" traversim;" line is 190 feet wide and, at present, 1,400
feet long; but it may he extended to as great a length as
may he requisite. nenning down to this traversing line
are the berths in which tile gunboats are to be placed.
At presect 45 of these berths are being constructed ; bet
this is only an in-telea :int of the full number. The
length of each berth is 115 feet by 30 feet. They are all
covered by corrugated iron roofs, which are supported
by it ncolunina and stanchions of the height of 13 feet.
Tne columns are hollow, and by them the rain that may
collect on the roofs will be tiraned off Every ten of
these berths are sepirated front ti:e remainder by a stout
brick wall, i order that in tie event of fire it may not
involve the whole flee• in destruction. A line of rails is
laid down in each berth, on which to draw the vessel on
its "cradle" up, but as ei on as they are up they •wel
be supported in a position in a way that will allow of the
cradle being removed for further use. The mote diffi-
cult part now remains of explaining the mole by which
the boats are to be drawn up to their berths. On the
short line, which is on an incline, running from the water,
will be a cradle, and upon this a second one, and at Vigh
ater they will be lowered tegether under the eon-boat,
and thus, when everything is secure, the whole will be
drawn up by steam-power to the " traversing" line of
rails. Here will be another cradle lying across and
running on the whole seven lines of rails ; upon this
cradle the boat will be drawn, still fixed to the upper of
the two first-named cradles—then cradle No. 3 will be
propelled by a locomotive up the seven lines of rails,
going broadside Gn, till it arrives at the berth destined
for the boat it carries. By means of windlasses the boat,
not yet released from cradle No. 2, will be drawn into
its berth, and then when the vessel has been fixed in
that manner, the last named cradle will he removed and
the same process will begin again with another boat.
The drawing up of the first boat will take place on the
17th of November, and will be an interesting event.