The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-05 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

THE NEW FORT.

The CHAIRMAN reported that he, the Deputy Chair-
man, and Mr. Middleton, had had an interview with the
Board of Ordnance, who showed every disposition to
meet the views of the committee as to the site for the
new fort. The probability was, that a site would be se-
lected beyond the land belonging to the estate, it beine
more desirable to purchase land for the purpose further
north, than to give up any of the land at present in the
possession of the estate. A proper person would be sent
down to survey the place, and then the matter would be
decided.

Mr. Nicol said they received very favourably the sug-
gestion of placing cannons on the river-walls. Their only
objection to the fort being further north was, that after
vessels had passed both forts there was no protection ;
but they seemed to jump at the idea of placing cannons
on the river-wall, and wished the position for such cannon
to be pointed out.
Mr. HARTLEY said the river-walls now constructing
were more adapted for this purpose than the others.
Mr. RIPLEY hoped there would be no encroachment
on the public righ s by this arrangement.
The CHAIRMAN.—None whatever.
LEASE OF LAND TO MR. WILSON.

The CHAIRMAN mentioned that Mr. Wilson acceded
to the terms for a lease of the land offered to him, with
the exception that he wished a clause introduced, giving
him compensation for the buildings erected, on;y provided
he was removed in seven years.

A long and desultory conversation ensued.
Mr. RIPLEY contended that some limit ought to be put
to the compensation, and he moved that it should not ex-
ceed half of the seven years' rent.
Mr. SANDB I.CH seconded the motion.

Mr. TOBIN, seconded by Mr. KENDALL, moved, as an
amendment, that the compensation should not exceed the
whole of the rent.

Upon a division, only three—Messrs. Kendall, Tobin,
and Royden—voted for the amendment. The original
motion was then put, and the voting was the same, ex-
cept that the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman voted
against the motion. The numbers then stood, 9 for the
motion and 5 against. After the subject had been dis-
posed of, Mr. Nicol was allowed to propose another
amendment as follows :—" That the buildings to be
erected by Mr. Wilson must be submitted for the appro-
bation of this committee, and in the event of Mr. Wilson
being removed at the end of the first seven years, every
claim for compensation for such buildings to be ascer-
tained by arbitration. The votes were then taken, when
7 appeared for and 7 against. The amendment was then
declared negatived for the day, but afterwards it was
arranged that the words " such compensation not to ex-
ceed one-half of the seven years' rent" should be added
to the amendment. It was then carried without a divi-
sion.

A letter from Messrs. Wood and Ritson, as to further
shed accommodation on the west side of George's Dock,
was referred to the Sub-committee of Works.

A letter from Messrs. Brown, Shipley, and Co., re.
questing a stage berth for the Philadelphia line of packets,
was referred to the Harbour-master's Sub-committee.
The receipts at Runcorn for the last month on 219 ves-
sels, and of 10,9-19 tons, were stated to be £55 14s. 10d.,
being a decrease of about 10s. as compared with the cor-
responding period of last year.

CORRESPONDENCE.

SHIP-BUILDING.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Sin,—My last, as a necessary introduction on ship_
building, commenced with a few remarks on displace..
ment, and the resistance of fluids, which is now resumed.
To illustrate this from practical results, we will state a
case or two, having before shewn that the weight of all
floating bodies are equal to the weight of water by them
displaced, from which it must be obvious that the faster
Any vessel passes through the fluid the greater the resist-
ance, until the propelling power can no further overcome :
it is then said the vessel is at her greatest speed. This
resistance is more or less felt, either from the ship's ful-
ness or sharpness forward, or from its depth in the water,
produced through the flatness or sharpness of its bottom.
Full-bowed vessels being at this time almost universally
adopted, the reason assigned is either from the velocity of
a fish, or that of a taper spar, which is said to tow fastest
with the butt foremost. These hypotheses are enforced
with the view of establishing a theory : as it respects a
fish, this has been already, and in some future observa-
tion shall again be taken up, by shewing the danger of
pursuing such a principle in the erection of merchant
ships. In following up this important subject, it will be
necessary to examine how far the towing of a spar, with i
the butt or large end forward, can in any way be a guide
in the formation of a ship, or through it prove advanta-
geous in giving them full bows, whereby to promote their
sailing qualities. Here permit a small digresiion. It is
now a well-known fact among seamen, that ships with foul
bottoms have the greatest proportion of foulness from
their angle of resistance to their after parts, showing their
foulness in a greater degree in those parts where theorists
would determine they should have the least. It has been
proved from demonstrative evidence that along the whole
streight of the side, up and down, the grass and weed grow
the fastest, and often in long voyages (before coppering
came into general use) to the length of six inches or more.
It is also an established fact, when the vessel is going at
her greatest rate of sailing, those weeds remain stationary,
and at right angles from the ship's side, from which it is
evident that, independent of common or natural resist-
ance, all vessels draw or attract along with them a column
of water, the extent or breadth from the side increasing
or decreasing in proportion to their speed. To lessen this
friction, it would be advisable to observe two things, as
necessary to the construction of vessels ; first, by placing
the dead flat as near the half-length as possible, through
which an easy entrance is effected, shewing a greater dis-
tance from the stern to the main direction or resistance of
the fluid, whereby the water is divided with greater ease.
Theorists may say, that the resistance, as it respects the
immersed part, is equal in sharp as in full-bowed vessels,
(then would a blunt wedge act with the same power as
a sharp one) ; but be it so, yet the former is much relieved
from the effect of the sea forced up by a bluff bow, with-
out taking into account the down pressure from the weight
of water constantly passing over her forward ; whereas
the deepest parts of a ship under a heavy press ofcanvass,
whose dead flat is in midships, with the bow fairly ar-
ranged, is round the windlass. This hypothesis is not in-
tended as advocating sharp ships, but as the practical
means in reducing friction. Secondly, that in construct-
ing a ship's after body, it would be advisable to adopt. as
many changes in her form under water as possible ; this
can be effected only from the point of resistance being as
near the centre of the vessel as a well-formed body will
admit. I know the principle is opposed to the present
theorists, on which there will be further occasion to en-
large. My reason for keeping this in view when con-
structing a vessel, in established on the law of fluids. It is

a generally-received opinion, that all water-fluids are
composed of an assemblage of small globular bodies,
pressing in all directions for relief from the pressure of its
fellow ; those particles are acted on, and put in motion,
by any force applied or resistance given. It. is also an es-
tablished fact, that there is no vaceum in nature; there-
fore the greater the variation in the form of any vessel's
after body under water, the greater the tendency in pro-
moting a rush of the fluid against those variations, to
speed her velocity, as shown in copper. bottom ships with
hollow runs, from the copper in those parts being always
bright and clear. Returning to the towing of a taper
spar, with the butt end foremost, a great deal has been
written on this subject, and it may be true that it passes
through the water with less resistance, and with greater
speed, than the reverse end foremost, from the continued
resistance during the whole length ; therefore it cannot
be admitted that a trial of this kind can give a point in
favour of the main transverse section being one third from
the stern. Let the spar question appear in another shape,
through which it may be more clearly defined. Take a
spar whose length is equal to the spar to be towed with its
butt foremost, let it be the same in diameter in the mid-
dle that the other is at the butt, of which form a double
cone, (As a ship's yard); let them be equal, move them
with equal power, and the result will show that the double
cone will pass through the water one-twelfth faster than
the spar towed by the butt. Velocity has its bounds, and
is governed by fixed laws. As it respects the passing of
a ship through the water, there is a point over which ve-
locity cannot step, and where power ceases to act. Hence
a six-oared boat cannot pass a two-oared boat of the same
build faster than as seven is to six; neither can a steam-
vessel of two hundred horse-power increase in speed over
one of one hundred horse-power greater than as eleven is
to nine. Without entering into the opinions of wise men
to establish a theory of least resistance, whether it is that
of a cone, a sphere, or a triangle : all these are foreign to
the correct formation of a merchant ship.
In your paper of the 22nd instant, in the scale of di-
mensions for a ship of 185 tons, my omission of the ex-
treme breath, which will show 25 feet 4 inches.—l am,
sir, &c. JOHN COCK.
Pembroke Dock, 2611 s Oct. 1844.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SIR,—It was with no small degree of pleasure that I
noticed in your last paper a communication from Mr.
Cock, of Pembroke, respecting ship-building. Were I a
stranger to the " good old town," 1 would have thought,
from the great importance of the port of Liverpool, and
the extent of its mercantile marine, that instead of being
the pupil it should be the teacher of such places as Pem-
broke. But lam very much afraid that we stand only
in too much need of receiving lessons from wiser seats of
ship• building, and that all those employed in the con,truc.
tion and repair of vessels in our port would do well to
study with attention the great principles on which their
work should by based. Practical men have a natural and
perhaps inevitable contempt for theories; they make ex-
perience their sheet-anchor, and swing by it in every gale
and against every current. It is true that experience is
the best and safest guide; but we are often apt to fall into
the sad error of trusting nobody's experience but our own,
and thus blundering on until we arrive at something which
is correct. Now all the theories or principles laid down
for the building of a ship, or a house, or a locomotive en-
gine, or anything else, are nothing but the results of the
long and great experience of real practical men, and it is
much better to accept the correct results of their labours,
than to go blundering about to produce results of our
own. I think therefore that it is of the utmost import-
ance for the ship-builders of Liverpool to acquire a know-
ledge of such principles of their art as Mr. Cock has de-
veloped, so that the Mersey may soon stand foremost not
only as the first entrepot of modern commerce, but as the
first seat of commercial ship-building.—l am, sir, &c.,

A FRIEND TO SHIP-BUILDING.

THE POOR BAPTIZED JEWS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SIR,—As considerable doubt seemed to dwell on the
minds of some of the speakers, at the late anniversary
meeting of the Liverpool Auxiliary Society for Promo-
motinc Christianity amongst the Jews," as to the best
and safest mode of affording temporal relief to poor in-
quiring and baptized Jews,—a duty about which all seem-
ed to be agreed, and indeed cannot be consistently denied
by any Gentile Christian, who takes the Scriptures for
his guide, after the plain declaration of St. Paul, that
" their debtors they are: for if they have been made
partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to
minister to them in carnal things," (Rom. xv. 27,)—1
venture to request that you will kindly insert in your
columns the following extract of a letter, which I ad-
dressed to the Rev. R. Hersehell on the subject, in the
month of December last, and which appeared in the
Record newspaper of the 11th of January; wherein a
plain, scriptural, and practical mode of supplying the
requisite relief is clearly pointed out, after much prayer-
ful consideration ; and which, if adopted, could not fail
to bring down the blessing of God upon the society. I
can truly say, from several years' happy experience, that
there is no just foundation whatever for the apprehensions
which some persons uncharitably cote, tain. that baptized
Jews are disposed to impose on the benevolence cf Chris-
tians, more than any other class of converts. On the
contrary, the very fact of their " giving up fathers, mo-
thers, brethren, and sisters," and all their nearest and
dearest connexions, for the cause of Christ and his Gos-
pel, ought to be considered a sufficient guarantee for their
sincerity, and a complete protection against such unwor-
thy suspicions.