The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-06 00:00:00

THE LAUNOII OF THE LEVIATHAN.

" A Mechanic" writes to a contemporary as
follows :
I have read with great interest your report of the
failure of the launch of the Great Eastern or
Leviathan. It seems clear to me that it was caused
by a needless and most uncalled for deviation from
the ordinary method of launching ships. Why the
old-fashioned mode of allowing the cradle to slide
down a well-greased inclined plane, where the
wooden surfaces are prevented from coming in con-
tact by grease, should have been departed from, is
a question Mr. Brunel is called upon to answer.
From the smallest sloop to the largest man-of-War
that has ever been launched, an inclined plane, of
a slope of one foot in twelve, when lubricated with
grease, has always been found to answer and to jut
sure perfect success. The proportional difference
between the bulk and weight of the Leviathan and
the Duke of Wellington is not greater than that
which exists between the largest man-of-war and A
small sloop or cutter. The engineer of the
Great
E Astern seems to have sought to immortalise
bim-
self by a new method. Neglecting altogether a
principle he has made use of most successfulfy in
one part of his works, he has introduced it jilt°
another in such a manner as to frustrate hlB
purposes.
Fearful only that his ship should slide down the
ways with ton great a velocity, he sought to check
that velocity by bringing one surface of iron
contact with another under great pressure. Ti"
was the method Mr. Brunel adopted to check the
revolution of his great drums, and to hold back t-17°
great Leviathan, and it was successful. Is it not
astonishing that he should have failed to perceiv!
that upon the same principle his cradles would not
' slide down his ways ; that the enormous pressure
even of the resolved portion of the weight of the
Leviathan on her ways would produce such a pres"
sire as not only to prevent the motion of her cradles,
but even to cause the rails to imbed themselves into
the flat plates of iron at the bottom of the eradles
It may be said, however, in answer to this objec-
tion, that the monster ship did move. She did ;
but only when by the premature start, before her
ways were covered with water, the surface of the
rails was thickly covered with blacklead. Wh,"2
this lubricating material had been washed away ,",
the rising tide, every effort made to start the ship
down the incline failed to make her budge an inch'
Mr. Brunel is a railway engineer ; surely
. ui
13,e
must know how absurd is the attempt to diinien
friction when one surface of iron is brought in NT:
tact with another. His rails were not even polishe,utuo
The surfaces of the plates of iron which formed ,_
base of the cradles, and which were intended t°o
down the rails, were, as I have been told, rouglaY.
ground on a grindstone. Mr. Brunel has the slid'
of determining that a flat iron surface gtl
in; on longitudinal railway rails cannot lanuo'L
ship
In on an incline of 1 in 12
all machinery where it .is intended to ob_
friction, as your report truly states, iron is ai r the
made to work in some other metal. Metals 01n 0..
same kind are never brought in contact ; the,
glect of this established practice has caused
failure of the launch. tides
Whether Mr. Brunel waits for the spriug„
of next month, or whether he waits for the Greo
rce
Kalends, do not believe he will be able to fothe
the Great Eastern down her present wags Skilful
water. I cannot help regretting that the the
builder, who has so admirably done his work ill,. in-
construction of the beautiful ship, was 120
v.O
trusted with her launch. I believe he would 133. ed
been wise enough to have worked on woil-t
principles. The failure, which every vrell-Wokeetr
to a great and noble undertaking must rogrint;
would not have been caused by an engine° au-
blunder, arising from a neglect of the laws of pr
tical mechanics.

TEE RUSSIANS ON THE AMOOR 8117.0.3*

We take the following from a New York PaPera:
—" Mr. P. NH/ Collins, at Senora, America_
"
Consul for the eastern coast of Russia in Asia,
1"0
rived at the mouth of the Amoor in July. He "1,3,1.
through the interior of Asia and Siberia fpcirownm
Petersburg. He was one of the first arrivalS
hithgehreisvterptohinist ate theol
navigation, in a boat with two oars and a naa4
Cloulgliondsaemsubss:lecpetdibl
Lake Baikol,
spofrintghe riverMr'
sad, about 450 versts east of the navigable water
of
the Goboleney Mountains, aad about 100
just over and at the foot of
versts north of the junction of the on"
golia. Descending the Ingoda to its junctioa
Iww,iicitt hohot
versts
rrsitt hse irkf
Arao,ri
from
oe
ow.ph.ae srTseehdhe
seed otewwmnob
ra
rtiovkeeirst s
arse about
tiool
iuset
Amoor, or Sagahlien of the Manchoos. Thence na-
vigatiog this Mississippi of " the north, Mr. Collins
visited the great Mauchoo city of Igo° n, v.rine-",.110ef
was received with barbaric pomp by the goverinlja
the country, in a pavilion on the banks 01„,",-;,,
river, but was not allowed to inspect the city.
he, however, afterwards remedied by eludimg
vigilance of the river police and landing at a poin
lower down the river. He arrived at the Russiell
port near the mouth of the Amoor in July, after
withis
performing a voyage of 4,000 versts by water
60 days. Mr. Collins passed the winter and spring
in explorations in Siberia, in visiting an iral6men,,,se
extent of country, voyaging in all some ,firstouv
versts since he left St. Petersburg. He is the
American that has crossed Asia from west to east'
from ocean to ocean—and the first white man except
Russians, who has crossed the Goboleney mountaind
ns
and the first who has ever visited Mongolia a
Manchuria, and explored those countries from
the centre of Asia to the sea. Mr. Collins ex-
pected to leave Amoor about September for San
Francisco, by the way Whine. The Russian war
steamer America, left the Amoor in only for China,
with-Admiral Puttatten and suite. The admiral
goes to China invested with full power by his gn;
vernment to make a treaty with the Chinese, ancl
also to watch the operations of the English during
the war. The Russian government have had too
iron steamers built in Philadelphia. They were
brought out in sections and erected .on the rill
during the winter by Americans. They commence' 0
running as soon as the river was clear of ice
spring. They are small boats but well adapted for
the navigation of the Amoor. On their trial trips
they proved very successful. The Russians were
highly pleased with their performances. They are
to run up the Amoor, a distance of 2t200 miles.
They expect to have three more of a similar pat-
tern on the river next year. There are two AD:10-•
rican engineers in the employ of the government
on the Amoor. These are from San Francisco.
.novigation opens ou the river about the let of
June, and closes about the Ist Nov. The weather
near the mouth of the river is vet y severe—the ther-
reometer ranging as low as 30 degs. below zero heel
for months. The country is buried in snow and
ice during six mouths of the year. The travelling
is done principally with dogs and reindeer, and it
is not an unftequent occurrence for the inhabitants
to have their limbs frozen. The Russians have dis-
covered coal. ou the Island of Sagahlien, in the
Gulf of Tartary, about 150 miles from the mouth of
the Amoor. .[t is of a superior quality for steam-
iug put poses (bituminous). It is found on fhe surne
face, in veins averaging five feet thick and fro
eight to ten feet wide. It appears to be in great
abundance. Cwt. W. H. Hudson is one of the
commanders of the Pacific Mail Steam-Ship Co
pany's steamers. He commanded tile stearaer
America from San Francisco to the Amoor. After
delivering the steamer up there to the Russian
Government, he started for the -United States b./
the way 's
, of Siberia, in company with seven Russian
officers." '