The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-31 00:00:00

IMPROVEM.ENT IN SRIPBUILD.ING.

A lecture was delivered at the United Service
Institution yesterday afternoon by Mr. G. R.
Tovell, on an improved system of shipbuilding, by
which superior strength, capacity, and speed are
attained. Captain Fishbourne, R.N., occupied the
chair.

The Lecturer, in introducing the subject to the
audience, said that he had been intimately con-
nected with ships for the last 40 years, as shipmas-
ter, shipowner, and ship insurer. He had paid
much attention to the behaviour of ships both
under sail and at anchor. Being convinced that
there was great room for improvement in the
form of ships, he had turned his attention to the
subject, and had aimed at obtaining a strong well-
conditioned seaworthy ship, with capacity enough
for carrying cargo to remunerate the owner,
and with speed to enable them to compete success-
fully with the ships of other nations. After much
reflection and observations on the forms of fish and
of waterfowl, he had adopted the salmon's head
and shoulders for the forepart of his model,
and the back part of the swan for the after body.
The advantages of these models had been retained
by the adoption of the principle of making every
section of the vessel a segment of a true circle, both
longitudinally and transversely. In this way they
had in combination the principle both of the arch
and the suspension-bridge, which rendered them
perfectly secure, whether raised by the waves either
at the centre or the ends. In this mode of building,
by breaking the line of separation of the heads and
heels of the frame timbers, greatly increased strength
was given, so much indeed that the frame of a vessel
built in this way was stronger than another
vessel when all the planking was finished. If a
vessel built on this plan should be cast ashore the
consequences were not likely to be ruinous, certainly
not so sudden, from the strength imparted by her
peculiar form. A 491 ton ship of this kind had
grounded on a sandbank, the tide had scoured a hole
on one side of her from eight to nine feet deep, into
which she had rolled without injury. Another of
like form, 100 feet long and 10 feet deep, had been
balanced prior to launching on a single block amid-
ships without harm. The hull being a segment of a
circle longitudinally, presents, as it were, the crown
of an arch to resist all outward pressure, and, if hung
by the ends, the principles of the suspension-bridge
come into play, and the midship is carried by them.
The advantages claimed for this system were
—unequalled strength, capacity of speed, saving
of material and labour, great simplicity:of construc-
tion, sailing powers not lost by loading, but little
ballast required—stands well without any, very
little dunnage needed, and the easiest known form
to propel at high rates of speed in a sea way. As
an example of what speed could be obtained from
such vessels, he would instance the schooner
Afargaret, of 108 tons register, actual tonnage 150,
as indicated by old measure 250 tons, or nearly
double her tonnage. Her ordinary speed with the
wind free was 15 miles, close hauled 10 to 11
miles, per hour. This same vessel had sailed
from Erith to the Nore light ship and back
in four hours and twenty minutes. The fastest
time on record of a yacht race over the same
ground was five hours and 39 minutes. Another
vessel constructed on this principle, the Laughing
Water, of 491 tons register, took out to Hobart
Town the following cargo :-104 tons weight, 16
tons liquid, 857 tons measurement ' • total, 977 tons.
This vessel with the above cargo on board, exceeded
the rate of 20 miles per hour, and had now just
arrived with full cargo from China, while other
ships, which started from the same port a month
before, were still at sea.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving a vote of thanks to
the lecturer, expressed his belief of the value of
this principle of construction for merchant vessels,
but doubted whether there would be sufficient
buoyancy forward to enable a man-of-war to carry
her guns forward.

The Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., and Mrs,
Herbert returned to town yesterday from passing the holi-
days at Wilton House, near Salisbury.

The daily increase of political distrust in Ger-
many, and on the Continent generally, keeps the rate of
money extremely low in all the principal cities, and tends
to promote remittances to London. In Paris the supply is
large, at 3 per cent., although the Bank rate is 31. At
Amsterdam and Brussels, also, 3 per cent, is the highest
charge. At Hamburg the rate is only 11, and at Frank••
fort it is scarcely possible to find employment for any amount
even at 1 per cent.

A Parliamentary return, issued yesterday morn-
ing shows the total amount of the public debt of India to be
£66,082,031. Of this £384,936 bears interest ranging from
6 l o 10 per cent., £24,738,199 bears 5 per cent., £373,030
41 per cent., £32,908,923 4 per sent., and £86,820 31 per
cent. The remaining £7,590,123 consists of miscelloneous
floating liabilities. The proportion registered in England
stood on the Ist inst. at £6,382,342.

ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, REGENT'S-PARK.—
The first general fete of the season took place in these gar-
dens yesterday. Now that London, like a big boy, is daily
growing out of bounds, and streets and houses cover the
ground where 50 years ago children hunted rabbits or
plucked primroses, it is very pleasant and cheering to find
some few spots like our parks and public gardens preserved
to the honour of Flora, and where Londoners can see a live
tree or blade of grass. The Botanic Gardens are remark-
able for their happy situation, for, being in the centre of
the park, they are preserved from the near approach of
buildings, and appear as if in the midst of fields miles away
from any town, and when once through the gates it is
scarcely possible to believe oneself within five minutes of
busy London. This proximity to town is highly appre-
ciated by the public, for we hear that above 2,000 subscribers
are now on the books, and this number is daily increasing-.
On every-day mornings groups of lady subscribers may be
seen with book or work in hand lolling under the trees as if
in their private gardens; but yesterday was a day nit for
book nor work, but for show. To see and be seen was the
order of the day, and no doubt that half the attraction was
the gay crowd of fashionables that thronged the lawns.
The orchids attracted, as usual, the first attention, not only
from the size of the plants, but their general healthy ap-
pearance. One named arpophyllum gigantism was said to
be very rare and well flowered. The larger masses of
colour were made up of pelargoniums and azaleas, and the
corner banks in the marquee filled with choicer, though
smaler plants and ferns. The bands of the two regiments
of Life Guards and the Royal Horse GuarOs enlivened the
scene by their excellent performance, and altogether the
crowd of fashionables seemed highly delighted. About
12,000 visitors were in the gardens at one time.
LOANS TO IRELAND.—The annual account of the
Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, which has been
issued, shows that since the commencement of the last reign
there has been advanced for arterial drainage, relief works,
and other public works in Ireland the sum of £3,408,889 out
of the public funds. Of this amount the sum of .C. 907,457
has been remitted by authority of Act of Parliament, there
has been repaid into the Exchequer :C1,175,691, and there
remains due the sum of ;C1,325,711, with £'202,597 for in-
terest. The full amount authorised has not yet been issued,
and in the last year advances to the extent of ,C 06,625 were
made. The repayments in that year amounted to £160,506.
The Memorial (l'Aix gives an account of a dread-
ful tragedy which has just occurred at a farmhouse near
that town, inhabited by a farmer, named Demme, and his
sail. The latter, a roan of sullen temper, was married about
three months since, and very soon after became extremely
jealous of his wife, whom he unjustly accused of too great
intimacy with his father's shepherd, a man named Roche.
Three days since he happened to see his wife and P. oche
talking together near a well, awl the man drew a pail of
water for her. On entering the house at supper -time
Decorne told his father, in his wife's presence, that he was
convinced of her infidelity. The woman burst into tears,
protested her innocence, and retired to her room, whither
she was followed by her husband, who seized a double-bar-
relled gun, and attempted to shoot her. '1 he wife, however,
struggled so vigorously that she got out of the room. De-
come then went down stairs'with the gun, and seeing
Roche at supper, shot him through the heart with one
barrel, and immediately blew out his own :brains with
the other.