The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-07-06 00:00:00

THE GREAT BRITAIN.—On Friday we paid a visit to
the Great Britain, for the purpose of witnessing personally
the operations which are in progress to raise her, previous
to being floated off. The arrangements are certainly very
ingenious, but eannot be clearly described to those who
have not seen them. On each side of the vessel are driven
upon their ends into the sand, until they reach the solid
rock, a number of large logs of timber, in an inclined po-
sition. Near the top of two of these logs is to be a box or
case filled with sand, weighing about 50 tons. Upon the
top of each logis a sheave of iron, in a groove in which
runs a rope which communicates with the boxes and with
the vessel. The boxes are supported by large chain ca-
bles, and their object is to raise the vessel, for according
to the printiples of mechanism, as they sink the ship rises.
There are to be twenty of these boxes, ten on each side of
the vessel. Eight of them are at present in the position
intended for them, and in process of being filled ; the rest
will soon be completed. The greater number will be
placed towards the ship's bow, where she is deeper in the
sand, nearly to the depth of four feet two inches, and
fewer towards the stern, where she is not so deep, The
ship had been sunk seven feet, but by means of lightening,
that is, pumping out the water, and placing stones under-
neath, she has been raised to her present position. She
is now perfectly water-tight. Mr. Bremner. the eminent
engineer, is constantly on board, superintending the ope-
rations. All is expected to be ready for the final effort by
the end of the present month. A government steamer is
expected to be present on that occasion,-lending her as-
sistance.—Downpairick Recorder.
THE SARAH SANDS. —Our townsman, Mr. John Grant-
ham, civil and superintending engineer, and who furnished
the models for the Sarah Sands, thus writes to the London
Times, under date 22th ult. :—" With the approval of the
owners of this fine screw ship I beg to hand you an ac-
count of the accident which occasioned her return to Cork,
as mentioned in The Times of Saturday. This is the more
necessary as the Sarah Sands is at present attracting much
notice as the most prominent and successful vessel to which
the screw has been applied to work as auxiliary to sails--
a principle of the greatest importance both to the navy and
merchant service. The slide valve of the cylinder is made
to work against a brass platt, and this plate is attached to
the cast iron by small pins screwed and rivetted. By a
mistake in putting this on the workman, cut off a part of it
that did not appear to him to be required, but it was after-
wards replaced by being pinned and rivetted in the usual
manner, though, as it now appears, not securely. This
piece of brass came off, and became jammed between the
valve and the face, and deranged sonic of the working
parts. This is an accident that does not in any respect
attach to the quality of the machinery or to the principle
of the screw, New and useful improvements are often
retarded by similar unforeseen casualties, and the screw
has not escaped this drawback. In some cases this has
been owing to the application of very badly made machi-
nery, and others, as with the Sarah Sands, to accidents to
which the best work is sometimes subject. To insure the
best engines in the Sarah Sands the contract was given to
the firm of Messrs. Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy. Before
the accident happened, the vessel had made excellent way
against the prevailing westerly winds. It was expected
that she would be detained four or five days in Cork."
THE BIRKENHEAD Doc KS.—TheManchester Guardian
states from the proceedings in the lords' committee upon
the Birkenhead Dock Bills, it appears that the germs are
in being of a suit prolific in legal expenses between the
crown and the corporation of Liverpool, on a question of
title, the bare mention of which between two such com-
petitors, suggests any indefinite amount of litigating ob-
stinacy. When the bills were in the Commons, the clauses
were framed upon the principle of recognising the absolute
title of the crown to the foreshore. Since then the cor-
poration, from whom the Birkenhead dock commissioners
purchased the land adjoining the foreshore, through the
amiable activity of one of Mr. Price's agents have disco-
vered that Mr. Price, from whom they purchased the land
some years ago, was entitled to the foreshore and the
rights appertaining to it. They therefore sought in the
committee to introduce words into the bills restricting the
absolute recognition of the crown's rights and saving their
own, whatever they might be ; and they succeeded, to the
manifest chargrin of Mr. Pemberton, the able solicitor to
the Woods and Forests, a gentleman whose equanimity
was never before so much as ruffled. The corporation,
supported as they are by eminent legal opinion, are bound
by their position to assert their alleged rights ; the crown
must do the same. The prize is valued at £lOO,OOO.
The position of the Dock Commissioners will scarcely be
effected in any practical point by the issue ; but they can-
not be supposed to be so disinterested as to view the con-
test with indifference. Indeed, unless some compromise
happens, this contest will become one of general interest,
as it may lead to the strict investigation of other titles af-
fecting the rights claimed by the crown.
CASE AGAINST A PASSENGER AGENT.-011 Friday, a
man named John Caulfield, appeared before Mr. Commis-
sioner Lowndes at the County Court to claim £2O from
Mr. George Saul, passenger agent. Mr. Brotherton ap-
peared for the complainant. It appeared that Caulfield
and his family (of Ireland) sailed from DrOgheda for Li-
verpool with the intention of emigrating to America. On
the passage thither they met other Irish families also
bound for the same destination. They lodged together
here and paid respectively for their passages by the
Rochester, Caulfield paying £2olls. for himself and those
with him. He relinquished the lls. so that the case might
come within the jurisdiction of this court. He wanted a
separate ticket, but was told it was not needed, but a
memorandum of the names of the parties who had paid
was written and handed in at the defendant's office. The
Rochester sailed, and was wrecked on the coast of Wex-
ford; and then all the passengers returned to Liverpool.
Mr. Saul, it was said, had settled with some of them by
sending them out in the Patrick Henry, and others,
through sheer want, had gone back to Ireland. The com-
missioner, after long consideration, elicited that there was
a separate taking of the passengers in each case, and some
evidence was offered corroborating this. Mr. Brotherton
contended that it was clearly a separate taking, and that
if it were decided to be a joint taking, the passenger agent
must of necessity triumph, and Caulfield must be ousted
from the jurisdiction of the court; for, the total sum paid
was £5O, but as Caulfield could not swear as to the sums
actually handed to the agent by the other parties, there
would be an end to the action. He was willing to accept
the £2O in full of all his claim in the contract, but no
joint action could now be maintained. Besides, it was
worthy of remark, that in an affidavit sworn by Mr. Saul,
and a copy of which was in court, and handed to the
bench, that genntleman viewed the payment of Caulfield
as a separate payment for himself and his family. The
commissioner, however, after taking another half hour to
cogitate, considered that it was a joint contract, made by
all parties who paid for their passages at the time Caul-
field paid for his; but at the request of Mr. Bretherton,
he allowed the case to stand over until Tuesday (this day),
in order to afford time for it to be heard before Mr. Baron
Parke, at his chambers on Saturday. This decision ex-
cited some surprise in the Court. Mr. Saul was not pre-
sent, nor any to represent him.
HOLDSWORTH'S PATENT-SAFETY TUBES FOR LIFE-

BOATS, LIFE-BUOYS, &c.—On Wednesday afternoon an
experiment was made in the Trafford Dock Basin, to show
the efficacy of the safety-tubes, adapted by Mr. Holds-
worth, of Dartmouth, for rendering any boat a life-boat,
and for life-buoys, &c. A large boat was lent for the oc-
casion by Messrs. Tucker and Jordan, boatbuilders,
Baffin-street, and a number of nautical and scientific gen-
tlemen were present to witness the test. The tubes are
of vulcanized india rubber, of great strength, and not
affected by differences of temperature. They are made
solely by Messrs. Macintosh and Co.' of Manchester, who
can provide them of any given size. Those used on this
occasion appeared to be about two yards in length, and
seven or eight inches in diameter, each having a brass
valve at one end, for inflation, either by the mouth or a
r alelnytaol
of
ntgh et
haeir.i.
tSeleivoerraslidoefs tohtetsbeewbeoraetl,asuhnedderlothne-
pair of bellows, and with a • screw tap to prevent the
geltcuadp
seats. The boat was perforated with four holes in her
bottom, and two on each sided above the water line, for
ttilLespeuwrperoeseproofvfidlelidngwhitez,caonrk ,bas a temporary expedient,
orl .Flugs, so as to be
lateral
yconstructed for
closed when required. In a boa'tmrr
valves are
an occasional life-boat on this principle,
made to act with readiness and effect. Four
two oars, were on board of the boat used, owuriicnh,elA. uwioth,
she had on board upwards of 5001 b. of iron, in weights of
561 b., it required some time to put her down so as to be
waterlogged. She was at length almost wholly submerged,
yet maintained her upright position with three of the men
standing on her bottom. On being lightened of several of
the weights, which were proportionately too much for the
comparatively small amount of buoyancy in the few tubes,
she rose considerably, and freed herself of much of the
water through the side valves under the gunnel. The
operation was successful, but would have been still more
so had she been in a tossing sea.way, in which case she
would have discharged the water more freely by her undu-
lating motion or lift, than in dead water. After the bot-
tom plugs were drawn in, she was readily bailed out, and
floated as originally. The principle is not assumed to be
new, but it is a new adaptation, undoubtedly practicable,
and may be the means of saving life on emergencies. The
tubes are flexible, may be rolled up into a small compass,
and stowed away when not in use. Several life-buoys, of
similar construction, were also exhibited, of a circular
form, and extremely handy and pliable to the person. A
man amused himself with one of these for a long time,
and in a variety of postures, all indicating perfect safety.
One great advantage is, that the tubes are as strong as
thick leather, and are not liable to injury by any violence
short of a cut or perforation ; road even if a hole be made
in one of them, there are curious plugs or rivets of the
same material that can easily be buttoned into the hole so
as immediately to render it tight. The material is 16 per
cent. lighter than water of the same bulk, and the cost of
the whole apparatus for a boat of considerable size is com-
paratively small. The agents for the sale here are Messrs.
Johnson, chemists, Church-street, and Messrs. Short and
Blake, Park-lane.: