The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-30 00:00:00

STEAM VESELS OF THE UNITED STATES

Sea-going steamers are not numerous in America, the
chief of them being those which ply between New York
and Providence, and between New York and Charleston.
These vessels, however, do not resemble the sea-going
steamers of Europe as closely as might be expected ; and
to those who are accustomed to the latter, the sea-going
steamers of America can hardly be regarded as safe means
of transport.
The cabins of these sea boats are of great magnitude,
and afford excellent accommodation for passengers, contain-
ing generally four hundred berths. In the Massachusetts,
the chief cabin is 160 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 12 feet in
height—its vast extent being uninterrupted by pillars or
any other obstruction. " I have dined," says Mr. Steven-
son, " with :75 persons in this cabin • and, notwithstanding
this numerous assembly, the tables, Which were arranged in
two parallel rows, extending from one end of the cabin to
the other, were far from being fully occupied : the attend-
ance was good, and everything was conducted with perfect
regularity and order. There are 112 fixed berths ranged
round this cabin, and one hundred temporary berths can be
erected in the middle of the floor ; besides these, there are
sixty fixed berths in the ladies' cabin, and several temporary
sleeping places can be erected in it also. The cabin of the
Massachusetts is by no means the largest in the United
States ; some steamers have cabins upwards of 175 feet in
length. Those large saloons are lighted by Argand lamps
suspended from the ceiling ; and their appearance, when
brilliantly lighted up and filled with company, is very re-
markable. The passengers generally arrange themselves in
parties at the numerous small tables into which the large
tables are converted after dinner, and engage in different
amusements. The scene resembles much more the coffee-
room of some great hotel than the cabin of a floating
vessel."
Nothing has excited more surprise among engineers, and
others interested in steam-navigation in Europe, than the
statements which have been so generally and so confidently
made of the speed attained by American steamers. This
astonishment is due to several causes, the chief of which is
the omission of all notice of the great difference between
the structure and operation of, and the navigation in which
European steamers are employed : as well might the per-
formance of a Thames wherry, or one of the flying boats on
the northern canals, be compared with that of the Great
Western or the British Queen. The statements alluded to
all have reference to steamers navigating the Hudson be-
tween New York and Albany, the form and structure of
which we have already described ; and doubtless the greatest
speed ever attained on the surface of water has been exhi-
biteo in the passages of these vessels.
The steamers on the Mississippi, which are decidedly in-
ferior to those iihich navigate the eastern waters, are gene-
rally of a heavy build, fitted to carry goods as well as
passengers, and vary from 100 to 700 tons burthen. Their

draught of, water is also greater than that of the eastern
steamers—varying from six to eight feet. The hull, at
about five feet from the water-line, is covered with a deck
under which is the hold, in which the heavy part of the
cargo is stowed. About the middle of this deck the engines
are placed ; the boilers and furnaces occupying a space
nearer to the bow, near which two chimneys are placed.
The fire-doors of the furnaces are presented towards the
bow, and exposed so as to increase the draught. That part
of the first deck which extends from the machinery to the
stern is the place allotted to the crew and the deck-pas-
sengers, and is described as being filthy and inconvenient
in the extreme. A second deck is constructed, which ex-
tends from the chimneys near, the how to the stern of the
vessel—on this is formed the great cabin or saloon, which
extends to within about thirty feet of the stern, where it is
divided by a partition from the ladies' cabin, which occupies
the remaining space. These principal cabins are surrounded
by a gallery about three feet in width, from which, at con-
venient places, an ascent is supplied by stairs to the highest
deck, called the hurricane or promenade deck.
The engines by which these boats are propelled are to-
tally different from the machinery already described as used
in the eastern steamers. They are invariably non-condens-
ing engines, worked by steam of extremely high-pressure ;
the boilers are, therefore, tubular, and the cylinders small
in diameter, but generally having a long stroke.
The pressure of steam used in these machines is such as
never used in European engines, even when worked on rail-
ways. A pressure of 1001 b. per inch is here considered
extremely moderate. The captain of one of these boats,
plying between Pittsburg and St. Louis, told Mr. Steven-
son, that, " under ordinary circumstances, his safety-valves
were loaded with a pressure equal to 1381 b. per square inch ;
but that the steam was occasionally raised as high as 1501bs.
to enable the vessel to pass parts of the river in which there
is a strong current;" and, he added, by way of consolation,
that " this pressure was never exceeded except on extra-
ordinary occasions ' !"
The demensions and power of the Mississippi steamers
may be collected from those of the St. Louis, a boat which
was plying on that river in 1837. That vessel measured
250 feet on deck, and had 28 feet breadth of beam ; her
draught of water was eight feet, and her measured capacity
1000 tons ; she was propelled by two engines with 30-inch
cylinders, and ten-feet stroke ; her safety-valve being loaded
at 100 lb. per square inch.

The typhus fever is raging to a great extent in Wakefield,
also at Holmfirth.