The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-21 00:00:00

THE UNITED STATES' STEAM FRIGATE
NIAGARA.

Half-a-mile or so below Gravesend, jest about where I
the river tourist might expect to recover from having
seen the Great Eastern at Milwall, another monster of
the deep stands full in view. She is vast as an ark, with
a peculiarly defiant air, and an expression which tells
you at once that she was made for other than the peaceful
purposes of commercef though nothing in the way of ar-
mament, or even is the trim of yards, denotes the man-
of-war. This ship, along whose decks. a crowd of
fashionable visitors daily and hourly stream, and all
round which lie a fleet of shore boats " masters of the
situation," and making as much of it as if the President
himself was on view, is the far-famed frigate Niagara.
She is, we believe,•the first States' frigate that has ever
anchored off Gravesend. Let our readers, therefore, or
at least such of them as love to gaze upon noble speci-
mens of naval architecture, avail themselves of the
unusual opportunity. Such an one will not soon
again present itself, for in size, form, speed, and
intended weight of armament the Niagara is beyond
doubt the first man-of-war of her class in the whole
world. As the visitor approaches her lofty
sides, he is struck with the easy graceful manner in
which she "sits" the water, with her bows well up,
slowly rising, and showing off her beautiful lines and
clear run to fine advantage. But beyond this feature
the general effect of her exterior is not very pleasing.
The dark black hull, unrelieved by a single streak of
white, gives a heavy appearance quite foreign to her
shape. She is also very hollow in the waist, which im-
parts the wall-sided aspect so characteristic of the Ameri-
can liners, but which their fine frigates, except in this
instance, have managed to avoid, or at least mitigate.
She is ship-rigged, with tall and somewhat heavy spars
—a novel feature in an American screw, as their builders
have justly prided themselves on avoiding our practice
of overmasting our steamers. But, heavy as the Niagara
seems aloft, she has not a rope er spar too much. On the
contrary, the marvel is that they caa do the work as-
cribed to them, for under sail alone she can run, it is
said, from 16 to 17 knots an hour I This is speed which
even our river steamboats would count as excellent.
From the spar-deck the Niagara looks by no means im-
posing. The bulwarks are of such unusual loftiness awl
so curved in as apparently to diminish her real size. In
fact, many of our frigates, less than half her size, and
not to be compared to her in any warlike or sea-going
quality, seem larger on the deck. Not till the visitor
has walked forward and perched himself somewhere near
the bowsprit, can he fully appreciate her immense sizo
and beautiful form, and feel that be is looking down on
such a war-steamer as the world has not yet seen the
equal of, and by the side of which the English navy
can show nothing to compete.

The Niagara is one of 12 steam-frigates which a short
time since the Congress ordered to be built, by way of a
counterbalance to the enormous increase of the English
and French marine. The construction of the Niagara
was intrusted by acclamation to Mr. Steers, the builder
of the celebrated clipper yacht America. In
building her he had four conflicting purposes
to reconcile—to make her a good gunboat, good sea-
boat, good sailer, and good steamer. The result
is the Niagara ; in design a kind of compromise, and
which leaves her the fastest sailer in the world, one of
the fastest steamers, a fine seaboat, and a very good
man of-war. Her length over all is 375 feet, breadth
(extreme) 56 feet 6 inches, depth of hold 32 feet 6 inches,
and her burden 5,200 tons, or nearly 2,000 tons larger
than the Himalaya. Now she has on board only four
small guns,—that is, small in comparison to the arma-
ment she is intended to carry • but when the peaceful
task of laying the Atlantic submarine cable is completed
the Niagara will be fully armed and equipped for war.
She will then carry 12 Dahlgren guns, 11 inches dia-
meter in the bore, and throwing a solid shot of the enor-
mous weight of 2701 b. a distance of 7,000 yards, or four
miles ; the shells for these guns will weigh 1301 b., and
the guns themselves 14 tons. These monster ordnance,
which seems as if we were reverting to the barbarism of
gunnery, and would come at last to the unwieldy pieces
of the Dardanelles, with bores of 28 inches diameter,
have already been cast at the West Point foundry, near
New York. We certainly wish that the Niagara had
had only one of these tremendous artillery on board, as
.it would have enabled us better to appreciate her war-
like capacities. Inspecting a man-of-war without her
armament is much like judging of the strength of a
lion by his skin. At first 12 guns seem but a small
offensive power fur a vessel of upwards of 5,000 tens,
and it is only by reflecting on the stupendous calibre of
her equipment that one 'begins to understand how for-
midable she will be, and to feel curious doubts as to the
result of a contest between such a frigate and the largest
three-decker. We have said that while alongside the
spars seem heavy ; yet, from the deck, compared with
the vast bulk of the hull, they appear almost too light.
Their 'extreme length from step to truck is—mainmainst
243 feet ; foremast 219 ; and mizen 189. The main-
yard is 106 feet long, and the foreyard 94. Between the
bulwarks whispering pipes are laid running from the
quarter deck to forecastle, and all the officers' orders are
thus transmitted with the most perfect certainty and
speed. Without some contrivance of the kind a vessel of
such enormous length would be both difficult and dan-
gerous to manage ; for, no matter how large ships
may be built, there are most narrow limits to what one
pair of lungs can effect, and in breezy weather Stentor
himself would be inaudible at half the length of the
Niagara.
The engine-room of this magnificent vessel is as deeply
interesting to the visitor as any other part of her. The
whole motive power is placed amidships, and so care
fully constructed as to occupy less space with r egard to
force employed than the engines of any ordinary vessel.
Fore and aft the machinery in all its departments is
bounded by two transverse water-tight compartments,
which completely shut it in from the rest of the vessel.
The engine-room is 28 feet long by 26 wide, and nine
staircases are so arranged as to make all parts of it easily
accessible. The engines are by Murphy and Co., of New
York. There are three, all direct acting, three feet
stroke, with connecting rods between the cylinders and
cranks. The cylinders are 72 inches in diameter (nearly
the same size as those of the Great Eastern), and placed
horizontally across the vessel, so that the motion of the
piston is from side to side. The shaft unon which the
whole force is brought to bear is 119 feet long, 50 inches
in circumference, and weighs nearly 50 tons, The pro-
peller is of brass, with two fans, nearly 19 feet in diame-
ter, and having a pitch of 32 feet. On the prominent
parts of the machinery are placed admirably contrived
indicators, which mark at the same time the number of
revolutions, pressure of steam, vacuum, temperature of
the hot well, and pressure of the cylinder at all parts of
stroke. The cylinders are all on the starboard side of
the vessel, the condensers on the port. Each of the
latter has within itself the airpump and hot well. The
airpumps are double acting, and work direct from the
main piston rod, as do also the force primps. A six inch
bilge injection is attached to each condenser, and can be
used at a moment's notice to free the ship from water.
In addition to these there are two bilge pumps con-
nected by the crank shaft to the engine, and in
constant operation, so that at all times the hold is
as dry as a chip. The fire room or stoke hole is
unusually wide and lofty, though it seems but in-
differently ventilated, and suspicions on this head are
confirmed by the fact that in crossing the Atlantic,
even at this time, the heat in it was sometimes 110 de-
grees. What would it be in the West Indies ? There
are four boilers on the vertical tubular principle. Each
of them is 23 feet long by 11 feet deep, and 15 feet high,
and has a total fire surface of no less than 17,500 feet,
and a grate surface of no less than 484 square feet.
Working at a pressure of 20lb. gives a power of 2,000
horses, and at that force the revolutions are only 45 per
minute. During the voyage from New York the con-
sumption of coal was at some periods as low as 12 tons
per day, and it never rose above 56 ! The average for
full power may be taken at 50 tons per diem, or very
little more than the consumption of some steamers in
the English navy which cannot do their 10 knots an
hour. The stowage-room of the Niagara for coals is
rather limited, considering her immense capacity in
other respects. A little over 800 tons is the most that
can be carried. This, however, suffices for 16 days'
steaming at fUll speed. Neither is the vessel provided
with an apparatus for distilling fresh water for the crew,
a rather serious drawback when the stowage is wanted
foi coals. The funnels are telescopic, and neither heavy
nor unsightly, though only rising 32 feet from the deck.
So admirably is the heat of the boilers economized that
even under full steam the temperature of these funnels
is rarely above 100. The lower deck, which, for a lower
deck, is one of the most lofty and best ventilated we
have seen, is set apart for the stokers, firemen, &c.
The main deck is used by the crew, and is no less than
8 feet 4 inches high. Here the seamen sling their ham-
mocks, the eestreme after-part being, of course, devoted
to officers' cabins, and the fore to cooking for the ships'
company. Every sailor on board has his locker, and
each mess a very large locker for the mess kit. At pre-
sent the crew is 514, exclusive of officers, but when
fully armed, even this large complement is to be in-
creased to 750 men—the crew of a 90 gun ship.
During the voyage across the Atlantic no attempt
was made to effect a quick passage ; on the contrary,-
the engines were mostly working at half poier. All the
rigging had been put up during the depth of an Ameri-
can winter, and as the ship reached the moist and
warmer latitudes it slackened to an extent that made it
more than probable the "sticks" would come out of her
altogether, especially during some days of tremendously
heavy weather. She 'was therefore hove to for four
days while all was made taut again. With full power
she attained a speed of 13 knots, and under sail above
16. With a stiff breeze on her quarter she can count
on 14 knots. Her present draught is 22 feet, but when
armed, with all stores and coals on boardeshe will draw
25 feet. Each 100 tons brings her down three inches in
the water.

In the course of a day or so the Niagara will leave the
Thames for Liverpool, where her half of the Atlantic
cable is to be shipped. According to present arrange-
insets this process is likely to present difficulties that
may materially delay the whole undertaking, and render
some alterations necessary. Among the passengers on
hoard are Prof Morse, and Capt. Schwarz and Lieut.
Kolobnin, two officers of the Russian navy, who attend
to witness the laying of the cable are also ou board.
Commander Pennock is attached on special duty con-
nected with the telegraph, and Captain Hudson is the
commander of the Niagara.