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

LAUNCH OF A
STEAMER NEW HOLYHEAD MAIL
.

On Wednesday last there was launched, from the
building-yard of Mr. John Laird, North Birkenhead, a.
beautiful steam-ship called " The St. Columba," built
for the Government, and intended to run with the mails,.
and passengers, between Holyhead and Dublin. She is
one of a series of four new vessels for the station, con-
structed by different builders, with a view, we presume,
to enable each to exhibit his respective merits as an able
and faithful naval architect. On this point, we think,
Mr. Laird need fear little competition, if we may judge
from the beauty of the model, the completeness of finish,
and the superior strength in the workmanship. She is
very sharp at the extremities, with a fine length of floor-
ing, and all her lines so beautifully blended, that no lumps
or depressions are anywhere to be found, the whole being
symmetrical and elegant.
The following are her dimensions, &c. :
Length over all, about
„ on the water line
Beam between paddle-boxes ft.
Depth amidships
Burthen, new measurement ..
She will have engines on the good old beam principle, of
360-horse power, built by our townsmen, Geo. Forrester
Co.,
and with comparatively narrow, but deep paddle-
wheels, (of 27 feet diameter,) on a principle somewhat
similar to " Morgan's " patent, by which much of the
backwater. or lift, is obviated,—the floats impinging per-
pendicularly on the water.
We were much gratified by an interior inspection before
the launch of the ship, and particularly her engine-room.
The sleepers, or kelsons, upon which the engines and
boilers will rest, are especially strong, as are the midship
floorings. The former are of box-formed strong plates
of iron reaching to the outward skin, and there is a
double-plated central kelson on edge, These are addi-
tional securities against any spring or instability in the
bottom. The whole of the ribs, ineed, are so close, and
so well placed, as to resemble the bones of a herring,
without incurring extra weight of material. There are
also two stringers of strong T iron running fore and aft
throughout, which must afford great additional strength
to the hull.

The St. Columba has a neat bust figure-head of the
saint from whom she is named, who, we believe, was a
Scottish religionist of the basaltic Island of Staffa, in the
Hebrides, or western isles of Scotland. She has an el-
liptic, or flattened, round stem, and will be decorated
with carved scrollwork. There are six water-tight bulk-
heads, which divide her into seven compartments, and
give great strength, as also security against water-logging
in the event of accident by rocks or collision.
The launch took place shortly before high water, and
the vessel was named in spirited style, and with the usual
formality, by the lady of Mr. Wm. Laird. She went off
beautifully, majestically, and without the slightest demur,
into her destined element, and floated lightly and nobly,
drawing only 8 feet forward and 9 abaft, being an average
of 8i feet ; the entire weight of the hull, and about 100
persons on board, being only about 295 tons, as indicated
by the displacement. Those on board endeavoured, by
running from side to side, to throw her so down that the
bilge launching pieces, that had stuck-to her, might sepa-
rate from her; but such was her stiffness that they failed
in the attempt, being unable to surge her over only a few
inches from the water line—a proof of her great stability.
The spectators in the yard and on the neighbouring
shores were numerous, and all were highly delighted.
The vessel was decorated with Admiralty and other flags,
that at the main bearing her name. She was immediately
towed off down the Pool, and into the Morpeth Dock, at
Birkenhead, to be fitted up—the first vessel of large ton
nage built on the Cheshire side, that has been taken into
the docks of that new port.
After the launch, several of the gentlemen present re-
tired to the office, and partook of wine and buiscuits,
when, as a matter of course, the health of the builders,
and prosperity to the St. Columba, were drunk with en-
thusiasm.
In the same yard there is, fully ribbed and partly
plated, a fine large steamship for the Holyhead Railway
Company, to run between that place and Dublin—the
shortest navigable route between the two islands.