The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-05 00:00:00

RAPID SAILING.

The trade with California, says our New York
corre Tondent, and the repeal of the British naviga-
tion-laws, have together effected a revolution in the
naval architecture of the United States. The ship-
builders, who have always been distinguished for
consulting speed rather than capacity, are now com-
peting more eagerly than ever which shall model the
fleetest vessels. Their rivalry is stimulated by the
enterprise of the merchants, who give them a carte
blanche as to cost. Our correspondent instances an
order given by a well-known house in the China
trade, whose instructions to their builder were to fur-
nish them with a ship of 2,000 tons burden with as
little delay as possible. while the only properties sti-
pulated for were the most perfect combination of
beauty and speed consistent with strength, but with-
out any limit as to expense. Such an order, for
a vessel of such dimensions, would not be given
unless with good reasons to expect a return, for,
ardent as the Americans are, they are not less cau-
tious. It is found that vessels of known speed obtain
much higher rates than others. Where the market
is fluctuating, and where the distance is great, the
first comer reaps a harvest which leaves but little
for the rest. Speed gives a virtual monopoly ;
and when that is the prize, a race to California or
China becomes a very exciting affair. The merchants
at San Francisco require their orders to be executed
with the greatest possible dispatch, and insist on the
fleetest vessels being preferred, whatever the cost of
freight. So vessels of this class command one dollar
per cubic foot for ordinary cargo, and double that
price for fine goods, while their old-fashioned and
slower competitors take freight at half or five-eights
of a dollar. Under these circumstances it is evident
that a superiority of speed may be cheaply purchased
by a large sacrifice of capacity. The American
liners" between this country and New York have
hitherto been considered about as fleet, as merchant
vessels, as could be constructed with profit ; but the
new class of vessels springing into existence in the
United States holds one-fifth lees than the " liners"
of the same nominal tonnage, and, as we have seen,
make it up in the more than proportionate value of
their freight.
One vessel mentioned by our correspondent,
bound to San Francisco, thence to Canton, and
thence to this port, or direct to New York, is
likely, if all be well, to clear the whole cost to her
iwners by the time she is one year old. Another
tins gone twice round the world via San Francisco
and Canton, performing each journey within a
twelvemonth, including detentions. The Oriental,
another of this class instanced by our correspondent,
has already fulfilled the expectations of her owners
by arriving in the West India Docks yesterday, in
only 98 days from Canton. From that. port to
Scilly she was only 91 days, and the sort of weather
she must have had for the latter part of her voyage
can be easily imagined. She is the first arrival at
this port from Canton since the repeal of the navi-
gation laws, and the profits derived from her thus
far will be sure to lead many others in her
train. As our ships have precisely the same op-
portunities, and have, indeed, been even prompter to
seize them, the case of the Oriental, though it has
gained the whole of its freight at the expense of Bri-
tish vessels in the first instance, should be rather a
stimulus than a discouragement. It is simply a trial
of speed, and as such is just as open to the British as
to the American shipbuilders. The revolution de-
scribed by our New York correspondent has been
going on some years in this country. The fastest
vessels obtain their own terms for freight, and the
"slow coaches" are degraded from the long voyages
to the coasting or the collier service, where there cer-
tainly is, just now, a considerable pressure on the
shipping interest. If anybody, however, can point
out or devise an improvement which does not to some
extent supersede old methods, and benefit the im-
prover at the expense of those who stand still, he will
earn the eternal thanks of the indolent and dull, and
take away the chief incentive to human improvement.
Everything now conspires to render speed as in-
dispensable to success on sea as on land. By the aid
of steam we have intelligence within two months from
every considerable port iu the world, excepting only
our own Australian colonies. In the third week of
October we had Californian newspapers of September
1. Notwithstanding the immense cost of our postal
communications with the West Indies, Central Ame-
rica, and the Pacific, the Americans are able to anti-
cipate them so far, that the news brought by the
West India packets is generally some days out of
date. By the electric telegraph intelligence is con-
veyed almost instantaneously between Boston and
New Orleans, " beating time" by half-an-hour. The
completion of the continental railroads will soon
shorten the journey between London and Alexandria;
and there is at length some hope that the journey be-
tween Bombay and the two other Presidencies will be
measured by hours. But the quicker the conveyance
of intelligence and of travellers the quicker too must
be the conveyance of goods. At all events, the
more certain is the swifter conveyance to take away
all profit from the slower. Just at this time, when
Atlantic steamers are multiplying everyyear, railroads
increasing by a thousand miles per annum in the New
and the Old World, and the electric telegraph, seem
to quicken the pace and the pulse of the world, the
discovery of California drives the competition up to
fever heat, and for a time threatens to put the United
States at the head of the universal competition. There
is no doubt that it will draw into this new and almost
miraculous opening much of that enterprise which
has lately been rewarded with wonderful results
nearer home. We have several times had to direct
attention to the fresh and fresh lines of steamers on
the American rivers and lakes, to vast additional
lengths of canal, and the endless ramifications of the
railway system; as also to the new manufactures in.
troduced wherever an opening offered. The rapid in-
crease of population in the States, augmented by an
annual immigration of near 300,000 from these isles, is
a fact that forces itself on the notice and the interest
of the most inobservant and incurious. All these
promise to develope the resources of the States to
such an extent as to compel us to a competition as
difficult as it is unavoidable. We must run a race
with our gigantic and unshackled rival. We must
set our long-practised skill, our steady industry, and
our dogged determination against his youth, inge-
nuity, and ardour. It is the father who runs a race
with his son. A fell necessity constrains us, and we
must not be beat. Let our shipbuilders and their
employers take warning in time. There will always
be abundant supply of vessels good enough and fast
enough for short voyages. The coal trade can take
care of itself, for it will ever be a refuge for the
destitute. But we want fast vessels for the long
voyages, which otherwise will fall into American
hands. It is fortunate that the navigation-laws have
been repealed in time to destroy these false and un-
reasonable expectations, which might have lulled the
ardour, of British competition. We now all start to-
gether, with a fair field and no favour. The Ame-
rican captain can call at London, and the British cap-
tain can pursue his voyage to New York. Who can
complain ? Not we. We trust that our country-
men will not be beaten ; but, if they should be, we
shall know that they deserve it.— Times.

THE' FAUNAE "PUMP STOLEN.-!--HA.Teil . BEAU..
Cf/A3TP:-,-014 Sunday the village •primp opposite; the hatch
Inn was stolen and carried away; the wooden ;casing and the
huge ire handle were found iu a field not far from the spot
next morning, but the, lead pipe attached, to At gone.o
It is hoped the miscreant will be found out, and brought to
justice, as it was the only puttp in the tillage producing
good water.— Sherborne Journal.