Star.
London, England, 1828-10-21 00:00:00

CANAL STEAM NAVIGATION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR:
No. a, Clareuront•sqoare, 20th 0ct.1822.
SIR—I think you. ,may judge it acceptable to the
Public to have some particulars of my late voyage in a
steam boat through the inland Canals to and from.
Manchester to Lohdon, as the subject is likely to be.
come very interesting to Canal proprietors ; and I feel
very confident that if the invention is judiciously
adopted, and spiritedly encouraged by the managers of
canals, that in a very few years canal property will be
enhanced a hundred per cent. wherever increased speed,
certainty, and great saving of expense of tracking, can
obtain more trade.
The objections to steam boats on canals has hitherto
been the projections of the wheels, the injury done to'
the sides and bottom of the canal by the agitation of
the water from the blow given to it by the paddles, and
by the paddles occasionally striking and destroying
what is called the puddling. In my boat these are ob-
viated, by having the paddles near the stern, within the
line of the bottom anal sides of the boat, and completely
enclosed both under and at the sides of the paddles
with a plate of sheet iron, which not only prevents any
possible agitation of the water from the paddles, but
also protects the wheels from being injured by coming
in contact with the bottom or sides of the canal, by
striking against the locks or bridges, or by being struck
in passing (a very frequent occurrence) by the other
boats in the canal.

That my steam boat would cause less injury to the
sides of the canal than even any other boat displaking
the same quantity of water, and propelled with equal
rapidity, I expected, because the principal injury to
canals arises from the wave which follows the boat to
fill up the hollow it leaves, and the paddles of my boat
drawing a quantity of water from considerably before
them, and discharging it behind, fills up that hollow.
The water, in fact, behind my boat, instead of being in
one following wave, is all broken, and makes 15 to 20
small waves.

In going to Manchester, my steam boat went from
2i to 3 miles per hour, and in r.turning from 3 to 4
miles, and I am confident might be propelled from 4
to 5 miles per hour, without causing so great a wave
as another boat going half a mile slower.
This would be a rate quite sufficient to induce pas-
sengers to adopt that mbde of conveyance, especially
to mechanics and their families going from one manu-
facturing town to another. But it would soon be not
alone the industrious and saving portion of the com-
munity who would travel by the canals, because these
pass through beautiful parts of the country, where no
roads do, and would therefore be adopted in the summer
by parties for pleasure, if canal steam boats were once
properly fitted up for passengers, and at all times by
invalid s, and those that were not in a burry.
I estimate the saving of expense as follows s a ten-
horse steam engine, placed in one long narrow boat, and
occupying with the other machinery not one-third of
the measurement tonnage, carrying passengers and
light goods, and towing another boat at the rate of font
miles per hour, would not consume more than one cwt.
of coals per hour, which, where ants are cheap, as is
usually the case on canals, would not be more than
1-Bth to 1-10th of the present cost. The same number,
of men as ale at present employed, would be du fficient
to manage both boats and machinery. If the steam-
boat is to go alone, the expense of propelling would be
about one-third of the present cost. In all the wide
canals both boats could go into the locks together, and I
thus lose no time in passing them. In this manner the
trade might be carried on from London to Coventry or
Atherstone, as in all that long distance there are only
three locks where the two boats could not pass together.
I sin, Tour obedient bumble servant,
DAVID GORDON.

FROM THE SPANISH.
Your love Is like the gnats, John,
That hum at close of day;
That sting and leave a sear behind,
Then sing. and Ay away.

Sunday Dr.BLOOMIPIILD, the newly appointed Bishop
of London, preached his farewell sermon to the parishioners of St.
Botolph, Bishopspte, of which his Lordship has been for the last
nine years the Rector. He was welcomed on his entrance, and
greeted on his departure, with a peal of the church bells, sad re-
ceived in every other respect as the Bishop of London.
The Duke of NMC A STU' has removed from Rams-
gate for nutmeat House, Broadstairs.
Dispatches from the Cape of Good Hope, dated 2d
Almost, and from Lord STUART De floutsav dated on Saturday,
have also been received, but they do not contain any news of im-
portance.
Dispatches have been received at the Foreign and
Colonial Offices, and at the Admiralty, from Mr. STKATTOUR Can-
ute% at Nayarit:. They confirm the account of the evacuation of
the blorea by lawriss PAOLI.
In consequence of a breeze blowing into the Moray
Firth, on Thursday week, the water rose five feet higher than the
average of spring tides, and the river Ness overflowed its banks.
Sixty sheep that were grazing in a field that was overflowed, at-
tempted to cross to the other side, but owing to the force of the
current, forty-seven were carried out to sea and drowned. •
THE ADELPHI TH BETEL—The May Queen, and
Sampson the Serjeant, together with the aid of .The Scapegrace,
Wantrd a Partner, and the whimsical burietts called Aka-street,
itdelphi, have drawn crowded audiences to this delightful Theatre,
every evening during the past week. Caleb Pipkin, a tinker, in the
May Queen, as acted by Mecums is one of his must successful
kits; and the great variety introduced by him into his song of the
“ Humours of a Country Fair," produces a constant encore. Mary
Rower, as performed by Mrs. Yarns, in the same piece. is a genuine
picture of rural simplicity. The Serjeant Sampans of T. P. Coons
IS in bis best manner. _

Thursday, a new Chapel of Ease to the parisb
Church of St. Matthew, Bethnal green, was consecrated by the
Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London, who afterwards de-
livered a very impressive discourse, appropriate to the occasion.
The building has been erected on the green, at the casters end of
the road. It is a neat structure of brick, with stone facings and
steeple.
STAMP Doan.—Saturday se'nnight, Mr. William
Garbutt, of Yarm' attorney.at.law, was committed to York Castle,
at the instance of the Commissioners of Stamps, by the Reverend
Joust BANIVSTES and JAMES PAVELL, Rsq. Magistrates for the
North Riding, on a charge of felony, for having caused an inden.
tore of apprenticeship to be written upon a stamp which had ken
previously used for a similar purpose.
Dispatches dated the 10th instant have been received
from our Charge d'Affairs at Madrid. On the 27th, ileth, and
29th Uhill3o, the amount of new cases of fever at Gibraltar was
100, and the deaths between 16 and 17 a day. On the 2d instant
the number of fresh cases were 106, and the deaths 14 a day.
There remained at that period 691 in the hospitals. The Spanish
Authorities behaved with the greatest humanity, permitting ne.
leessarles to be conveyed into the fortress without paying any duty.
Accounts from the Cape of Good Hope to the 3d of
August have been received. The Government Autho-
rities had issued the following Bulletin on the Slst of
July :
" COLONIAL Orrtcs, Can Tows, JULY 51.—Advices have bees
received from Major DONDAS, dated the 21st instant, which state
that CNALZ.S force was then in motion between the Umtata and
Bisbee Rivers, and advancing to the Keifer territory. The Chiefs
Yosastue and HINZA have assembled a large force, with the inten-
tion of giving battle on the Bashes River.--The force under Lieut..
Colonel Souses's has moved towards the Kasy River, to cover
the frontier and support the Kaffers."
Monday se'nnight, the Spencer, Captain ROBIRTSON,
of Montrose, arrived from the Davis's Straits fishing,
with 15 fish, supposed to produce about 150-tuns• .