The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-06-01 00:00:00

ROYAL WILLIAM.

Length
Beam

.175 feet 0 inches
.. 27 0

Depth
Tonnage .617 tons.
Cylinders 6O inches.
Stroke
Horse§ 276.
By the above it is clear the Royal William has more power in
proportion to her tonnage than either of the other two; and how
it can be asserted that the Sirius is 320 horses' power I am at a
loss to understand. If Zbe ignorant of the mode of calculating
the power of engines, he should have hesitated ere he attempted
to raise the characters of certain steamers to the prejudice of
others. If he be not, he wilfully tries to deceive the public. He
may say that almost every engineer has his own method for cal-
culating power; perhaps it is so; but, in drawing the above
comparison, I have calculated on one and the same principle
for all, giving the Sirius and Tiger a speed for their pistons of
240 feet per minute, and the Royal William of 231 feet.
As regards the detached boilers of the Royal William, the ob-
servations of Z are really unique, I will ask, is it not desirable
that, in the event of one boiler receiving injury, others should
be available for working the machinery, if not to their. fat/
power, certainly very near it, as has been already proved ?
Look at the advantages which three separate boilers offer.
Suppose in crossing the Atlantic a steamer has a fair wind, she
can economize fuel to a great extent by putting out the fire of
two, as the steam generated by one will be quite sufficient to
turn the wheels round so as to prevent their floats retarding the
velocity of the hull.
Z does not seem to understand the principles of working
steam economically, or he would not say that a boiler larger
than necessary to generate for a given power is a waste of
fuel. Steam can be economised to almost any extent on board
the Royal William, by the aid of her expansive valves; conse-
quently, fuel can be economised equally by other means than
that of reducing the furnace surface. Z's comparison between
a house on fire and a vessel divided into compartments by iron
water-tight bulkheads is equally argumentative with the other
portions of his observations. He does not seem to know that
fire will cease to burn if deprived of air. Suppose any section
of a vessel so divided to be on fire; all that would be necessary
to extinguish it would be to close the batches of that section,
and prevent the admission of air. In reply to Z's inquiry as to
where and when water-tight bulkheads have been proved to
prevent the foundering of vessels, I beg to inform him that,
during the meeting of the British Association in Liverpool, last
year, a steamer belonging to the City of Dublin Company,
having water-tight bulkheads, similar to the Royal William's,
had holes bored through the sides, on the wake of the lower
fore-hold, and that section thus filled to the level of the water
outside only depressed the vessel twelve inches. I will tell Z
that the bulkheads remained immovable and water-tight.—l
am, &c., AN ENGINEER.
P.S.—Z will observe that I have altered his figures as re-
gards the tonnage of the Tiger. Accdrding to the dimensions
he has put down, she is 624 tons, and no more.