The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-26 00:00:00

THE GREAT EASTERN STEAMSHIP.

Everything connected with the great ship re-
mains at present in statu quo. The expenses on
board have been reduced to the smallest possible
amount, and pending her inquiry going on before
the arbitrators between the company and Mr. Scott
Russell, no works other those which are absolutely
necessary are being carried on. When the arbitra-
tion may be concluded it is impossible to say, as the
numerous engagements of Mr. Hawkshaw, and the
other engineers who act as referees, prevent their
devoting much time to the subject. The questions
which they have to decide are exceedingly intricate.
The question, of course, as between the company
and Mr. Scott Russell, is with respect to the fitting
of the ship for sea after the launch. With all that
took place before, the arbitrators have nothing to
do, whether with respect to that part of the ship
built by Mr. Russell, under his original contract,
or the portions completed by the Eastern Steam
Navigation Company, under the direct inspection
of Mr. Brunel. It was of course a matter of great
importance to have the ship ready for sea as soon
as possible, and after careful consideration on the
part of the board it was decided that as Mr. Scott
Russell possessed all the requisite plans and mo-
dels, and was also the only engineer who would
undertake the completion of the paddle engines, the
contract should be given to him. By the terms of
the contract the vessel was to be fitted entirely as a
first-class ship, and ample security was given for the
performance of the conditions of the contract.
'rime was an important element in the contract.
The sum agreed upon was X 125,000, to which £4,000
was to be added in the event of the work being
completed within a specified time. The work was
to be carried on under the control and responsibility-
of Mr. Brunel as engineer, and arbitrators were ap-
pointed to settle all questions which might arise.
The amount of work to be done was something enor-
mous, as may be supposed in a vessel ten times the
size of the Great Britain. Some portions of tb,,l
work were only required to be of a temporary r:oa-
racter ; among these many of the cabins, which
were only put up avowedly to serve for a short
voyage, and some other parts of the slAp, such as
the deck, were to be completed after she had made
her first voyage, or trial trip. "%%rhen the ship left
the Thames, Mr. Brunel, it, is understood, stated
that a sum of about £5,00P would be required to be
expended in additional, -works, in order to complete
the ship, and the v; nole demands of the Board of
Trade may be r_omplied with for something under
£3,000. There are various improvements which
have beer, suggested, but which are not considered
as ; and when once the field of suggestion
za `dirown open to any person—professional or non-
professional—it is easy to run up a tolerable good
list, and more especially when the cost of them is
to be defrayed by other parties. The whole amount
of these suggested alterations and additions would
be covered by from eight to ten thousand pounds.
In the face of such a state of things as this, it is diffi-
cult to account for the panic which appears to have
seized the proprietors of this magnificent vessel.
There is surely not less ground for confidence in her
now than when she lay an idle and unfinished hull
in the Thames. Her powers have been tested, and
they have been found to be in every respect equal to
the anticipations of her designers and builder. The
ship has made more than the 15 knots an hour
which were required by Mr. Brunel, and which
gives her a speed of 50 per cent. over that which is
stipulated for in the mail contracts with the line of
ocean steamers already at work. And this speed
is attained with an economy of fuel and horse power
which even exceeds the anticipations of Mr. Brunel.
While the Persia, of 3,000 tons, burns 150 tons of
coal per day, the Great Eastern, of 25,000 tons, does
not require more than twice the consumption of the
Persia. Tho Great Eastern is eight times the size,
but consumes only twice the quantity of fuel, and
gives a much higher rate of speed that the fastest
ocean steamer afloat. These results, in a scientific
point of view at least, are satisfactory in the highest
degree. With respect to its commercial prospects,
those surely are in no respect altered for the worse
since it has been proved that, with immense carry-
ing power, the noble ship has the qualities of great
speed and economy in consumption of fuel. It is
to be regretted that conflicting opinions prevail
among the directors and shareholders to such an
extent as to interfere, to a considerable degree, with
the satisfactory working of the undertaking. Upon
this and many other points convected with its ad-
ministration no doubt full explanation will be
afforded at the meeting of shareholders called by the
directors for the 11th of January. The chairman
and directors of the company have expressed their
determination of asking for the appointment of a
committee of shareholders, and of giving the fullest
explanation upon many matters, with respect to
which a great deal of misrepresentaf on has been
disseminated by persons whose sole object appears
to be to throw discredit upon an undertaking which
has in it many of the attributes of a great national
work.—Observer.

CAPTURE OP A SL 4 VER—IN _HUMAN
CONDUCT OF TILE SLdVER'S CREW.

On Sept. 22, as her Majesty's ship Spitfire was
steaming to windward, a brigantine, suspected of
being engaged in the slave trade, was met off Agh-
way, Bight of Benin, running to leeward, which
shortly afterwards anchored at Whydah, a noted
slave depot, at which place her Majesty's ship
Spitfire likewise anchored. For three days the
suspected vessel remained there, pretending to dis-
charge plank and other cargo. On Sunday fore-
noon, September 25, the weather being thick and
squally, the brigantine left Whydah, and ran to
leeward. Desiring not to lose sight of her the Spit-
fire steamed in the same direction that afternoon,
and Lieut. Chapman having ascertained that she
was not anchored at Jackin, to which place the bri-
gantine was said to have been bound, proceeded in
chase, and came up with her working off the land,
on a wind, at 10 p.m. No satisfactory answer being
returned when hailed she was boarded, and proved
to be the suspected vessel. The boarding officers
returned apparently satisfied with the result, and
with the account given by the person representing
himself as the master of the vessel. Notwithstanding
all this, doubts as to her honesty remained in. Lieut.
Chapman's mind, and there being almost a calm he
decided on steaming back to Jackin, to learn some
particulars of her having been off that place, which
is a noted slave station. Having ascertained early
next morning that a vessel had shipped slaves there
the previous afternoon, he proceeded again in chase
of the brigantine, and came up with her at 10 a.m.,
Sept. 26. Lieut. Chapman boarded in person, and
not being satisfied with the answoefrtshe given
by the
vessel, who
person supposed to be the master
said he had no papers, directed the hatches to be
opened, whence issued immediately the frantic cries
of stifling hundreds of wretched human beings, who
were huddled together in heaps, naked, regardlr,„
of sex or age. At the same time two or three of the
slaver's crew leaped out of the hold, naked to the
waist, and begrimed with the blood of fl..,ae wretched
hi acks,whomthey cruelly lashed. latP:Keeping silence,
looking in every respect Peri"`„ demons. The flag
that she unwarrantably 14`7.:iaid claim to was hauled
down by one of kr or
- ,vn crew, and the British run
up, amidst theAttp-
tv cheers and joyful shouts of the
rescue(
ns The vessel was found to contain
AOO slaw- '
_s, and was taken in tow to Whydah, and
des Latched next day to Sierra Leone, with the
'slaves all healthy, for adjudication in the Prize
Court at that place.