The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-14 00:00:00

THE LAUNCH OF THE MERSEY.

Another attempt was made yesterday afternoon at Cha-
tham dockyard to launch her Majesty's large screw frigate
Mersey, 40, which refused to quit the stocks on the previous
day, and the efforts of those employed in the operation were
crowned with complete success, the Mersey being now safely
afloat alongside the dockyard. The failure in the attempted
launch on Thursday afternoon appeared to take every per-
son by surprise, as such a circumstance had not been known
to occur at Chatham dockyard for a very great number of
years; and even now no satisfactory reason for the non-
launching of the vessel can be arrived at. It was not until
after 4 o'clock on Thursday afternoon that the efforts to go t
her off the stocks were abandoned, and Mr. Lafre, the mas-
ter shipwright, reluctantly gave the orders to discontinue
the attempts that day, and issued directions to shore up
to prevent her rushing. down the " ways" into the river
in a sudden fit. Immediately the huge vessel was made
secure a minute examination of the ship, the " ways,"
the cradle, and, indeed, every other part of the ship,
was instituted, in order to ascertain why the hitch
had occurred. It was at first supposed that that part
of the slip which kart been iceently added had sunk in some
mi elite decree so as th affect the incline of the " ways," but
on examination not the slighte-t sinking, even to the mi-
nutest part of an in inch, could be detected, a satisfactory
proof of the excellent manner in which the ship had been
constructed by Messrs. Rigby, the contractors. The" ways"
were then examined, and these were found to be in pet feet
order, the " camber" of tke vessel being even a trifle more
titan is usually the case in consequence of the immense
length of the Mersey. The only conclusion arrived at to ac-
count for the hanging of the ship was that of adhesion, a fea-
ture not altogether unknown in the launching of large ves-
sels, the suppo'ition being that the great wcightof the Mer-
sey—increased too by le° tons of machinery which had been
put on board—had caused her to adhere so tightly to the
ways" as to require a force of no ordinary description to
lift her and give her a slight start. Ferrari gangs of ship-
wrights were accordingly employed up to a late hour
on Thursday night, cumeneneing again at four o'clock
yesterday morning, in putting down additional blocks
and serews to ease her off. Four large hydraulic
presses were also borrowed from the yards of Messrs.
Foord and Slns and Mr. Gill, at Rechlster, to be used
in the attempt to move her, the Government esta-
blishment at Chatham being without any machinery of that
description. Several large rams were nisi placed at the stern
of the ship to exert their force on the sullen mass.
nch
The time decd
wa:; do
,oenlot,Lniectit:ei
telela,erfertcscoolrlinini
I..(,elsNta,:rft‘i
it,taeatmtithi psattltlsol
whichoa alt
tit
the Mersey
Mr. Cheeseman, her
time
as
there was euflicient water to floatn
Lai
sts I
btdinirder:
rea,irvi
ttr.
the:beteiliarnadgr
le cf t
h(e,p2 rati
vessel():,l s
of
the
!lieu
btlow.
At
a given signal the dog-shores and blocks were eimultaneously
knocked away, and the pressure frstn the leer hydraulic
presses
brought to bear against the vessel's
stern. The ship-
wrights at the same moment forced the rams by means of
powerful wedges, against the ehip, which could no longer
resist Cl e tremendous force applied, and in about five
minutes the cry arose, " sites off," and in an instant
afterwards the large vessel was seen gliding down
the " ways " into the waters of the Medway, which she
appeared to be so reluctant to enter. Nowithstand-
ing the disappointment many thousands had to endure the
previous day there was again an immense number of specta-
tors present, as it was pretty well known that the ship could
not resist the force about to be used in getting her off the
Mucks. As tire Mersey gyrated into the river those on shore
and on board the vessel loudly cheered. AfterNa; tshme
made, but
asotlur examination of the " ways" and slip
no fault whatever eculd he found in either to account for the
(Siure in the first attempt, which, as we previously 'fated,
was doubtless caused by adhesion.
The Mersey will he masted and jury-rigged at Chatham,
after which she will be navigated to Portsmouth to be made
ready for sea, it being understood that she is to form one of
the Channel Fleet of large line-of-battle ships and frigates.
She is pierced for the following powerful at m ;Intent :
deck, 2S 10-inch glens, each 84cwt. and 9 feet 4 inches in
length; upper deck, 12 GB-pounderpivots, each 95cwt. and
10 feet in length. From the power of her engines (1,000-
horse), she is expected to attain a great speed afloat. The
next vessel to be launched at Chatham dockyard is the
Charybdis, 22, screw corvette ;to followed by the Hood,
91-gun line-of-battle screw steamer.

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