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 being
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 tort 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 CRAIRMAN.—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, only provided
he was removed in seven years.

A long and desultory conversation ensued.
Mr. RIPLEY contended that some limit ought to be pot
to the compensation, and be moved that it should not ex-
ceed half of the seven years' rent.
Mr. SANDB von seconded the motion.
Mr. TontN, 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. Wcod 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 10,949 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,

SIR,—My last, as a necessary introduction on ship-
building, commenced with a few remarks on displace-
ment, 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
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 digression. 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 of canvass,
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 generallysreceived 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 vacuum 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 stesm-
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.-1 am,
sir, &c. JOHN COCK.
Pembroke Dock, 26th Oct. 1844.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

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 leacher of such places as Pem-
broke. But I am very much afraid that we stand only
in too much need of receiving lessons from wiser seats of
ship-building, and that all th,,se employed in the construe.
Lion 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 SKIP-BUILDING.

THE POOR BAPTIZED JEWS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Strt-,—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-
motin 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. Herschel! 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 entertain, that baptized
Jews are disposed to impose on the benevolence of 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, tor 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.

.
(EXTRACT.)
" I shall now proceed to endeavour briefly to anticipate, and an-
swer the inquiry, . By what means can temporal relief be safely ad-
ministered to poor baptized or inquiring Jews ?' l would at once
.say, nothing can he more easy. The London Society is now so ex-
tensively supported throughout the kingdom, that there is scarcely
a town of any importance, where any Jews are to be found, that an
auxiliary is not established. All that would be required, then,
would be to instruct each auxiliary to form a sub.committee, whose
exclusive duty it should be to receive applications, and search into
and investigate the cases of these poor Jews, in their respective dis.
tricts; and then to afford relief to such as may appear to be proper
objects, according to their several necessities, out of the funds in the
hands of the local treasurers; 'without the trouble or delay of com-
municating with the committee of the Parent Society, except on
especial occasions. Then, as to the mode or measure of relief, there
are a variety of ways in which very small sums, seasonably and
judiciously applied, (and it is only small sums which would be ge•
nerally required for individual cases,) might be of the most essen-
tial value. For instance, no poor Jew can at present attempt to get
his bread by selling a few wares without having a hawker's license,
and this requires an annual cost of .£4 • and without it, he both sins
in defrauding the revenue, and is also liable at any time to be seized
by the police and taken to prison; but where is he to get the money
from to procure it? an advance, therefore, of only this small sum
would, in such a case, be a boon of the highest value. So, again,
when trade is bad, or their little stock of goods is exhausted, or they
are visited by sickness; or where a poor Jew, who is unable to suc-
ceed in one place, may wish to remove to another, where he may
hope to find friends and do better; in any of these cases, the supply
of a few pounds would at once obviate much of the evil which is
now complained of; and would remove from these poor patient
sufferers the reproach of being such a burthen on the Christian
public, as they are at present, alas ! too commonly considered. And
may I not ask, why should not the society also appropriate .C2OO or
£3OO a year to the object, which you so pathetically advocate in
your appeal,' to be applied to the general relief of poor Jews (whe-
ther converted or unconverted) according to the new commandment
of love, bequeathed to us by our Divine Master? lam fully per-
suaded that such a practical proof of what Christianity really is,
would induce them to lend a more willing ear to the instructions in
its soul reviving precepts • for although a few might perhaps at first
come for the loaves and fishes,' as they dii to our blessed Lord
himself; yet who can say how many might be drawn by these
• bands of love' to become eventually sincere believers and partakers
with us of the marriage supper of the Lamb.'
" Another and most important mode by which the spiritual and
temporal advantages of the poor Jews might also be essentially pro.
moted, would be, by the London Society taking our bumble little
unpretending institution for inquiring and converted Jews at Li-
' verpool,' more cordially under its wing. At a small annual expense
of only a few hundred pounds, (collected with great difficulty,) we
have hitherto been enabled to keep up the establishment, and to
board and lodge from eight to eleven inquiring Jews successively
for a limited time, (about five or six months,) of whom the Lord has
graciously given to us, in the short space of five years, thirty-eight
sincere converts, who have been all baptized in the faith of Jesus
Christ, and are all continuing, as we have reason to believe, to walk
steadfastly in the truth, and several of whom are preparing for the
ministry, and likely to become eminently useful, as "burning and
shining lights" in the Church of Christ. Now, if the London So-
ciety would only kindly come to our help, in a brotherly spirit, and
give us a small annual grant, it would enable us at least to double
our present number of inmates, (for which we have many appli-
cants,) and so to look, with the Lord's blessing, for a proportionate
increase in the number of our converts; and if they would, more-
over, treat our institution more in the light of a handmaid to the
Parent Society, (as it has a fair claim to he considered,) in facilita-
ting the,reception of our converts, after baptism, into their college
dainffideuCllptyeriantiavecctsptliitsthitiiw
Institution, have
facilitateh found
our mutualgreat
)
greatly
object of promoting both the spiritual and temporal welfare of our
'no
beleved brethren of the house of Israel. The society might also
greatly relieve the present burthen on the Christian community, by
receiving some of the converted Jews into their service, iu some of
the numerous departments of their establishment, where 1 conclude
they must require clerks, porters, warehousemen, or other similar
servants ; as 1 am credibly itiformed, however anomalous it may
appear, that although professedly a Jewish society, they have not at
present a single Jew in their employ, notwithstanding the large and
continually increasing number of them, iu all parts of the kingdom,
who are in want of work. But only let the restriction against tem
poral relief be once effectually femoved, by expunging the obnox-
ious rule,' and the details of the new operations might be easily
adjusted by the committee of the Parent Society, assisted by com-
munications with the several auxiliaries; for I have merely thrown
out these few hints to show that the plan is perfectly feasible; and
I would only add, that such is my confident assurance in the fulfil-
ment of the promise, ' there is that scattereth and yet increaseth,'
that lam fully persuaded that the funds of the society, with the
blessing of the Lord, which maketh rich,' would be more than pro-
portionably increased, were the appropriation of a part of them to
the proposed benevolent and truly Christian object to be adopted.
"A LOVER OF ISRAEL."

EARLY CLOSING OF SHOPS IN ORAISKIRK.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SIR,—In your last I noticed a statement, respecting the
public meeting which was held here on the 11th inst. for
the purpose of considering the subject of early closing of
shops, in connection with which appeared in a brief form
the resolutions which were passed.
Those resolutions were promptly and almost unani-
mously adopted the same evening. It was interesting, and
almosEamusing, to see the activity which manifested itself
the moment the church bell commenced the signal for 8
o'clock. I know not whether the rattle of the shutters,
or the sorund of the bell, was most noisy ; but the former
certainly produced the most harmonious music in the ears
of those who were engaged in tuning them.
I said the resolutions were almost unanimously adopted,
as I am sorry to say. that one person, and but one, has de-
clined to comply with the resolutions. I am glad to say
that the persons who decline to co-operate with us in our
endeavours to rescue an hour or two from our otherwise
incessant occupations, to devote to physical and mental
recreation, are those who, being totally devoid of either
literary or scientific tastes, cannot imagine why young men
in the present day should be so anxious to have a few hours
leisure at their disposal, in order to follow such pursuits.
Such persons are pitiable, not only for their own mental
deficiency, but for their selfishness and illiberality, in at-
tempting to deny to others those privileges and opportuni-
ties which they have wantonly
or ignorantly wasted, and
thrown away. But for their own sake, I would hope that
ere long they will conform to the general practice, if it be

from no other motive than to save themselves from the lash
of public odium which is already beginning to descend
upon them.
Amongst those tradesmen who have taken the greatest
interest in the movement, and have publicly exerted them-
selves in order to bring about the reformation, I may make
honourable mention of Messrs. A. B. Goss, Evans,
Harkness, and Garside ; these gentlemen have manifested
a zeal and energy in the cause worthy the imitation of all
liberal-minded and enlightened men.
I need not apologise for thus trespassing upon your
space, as I am aware the subject is one to which you are
ever willing and anxious to give your utmost aid in devo-
loping and advocating, in common with all others tending
to alleviate oppression and dispense justice to all man-
kind.—l am, sir, &c.,
VERITAS.
Ormskirk, Ocl. 19, 1844.

SHIPPING MASTERS.

TO THE E OITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

Sin,-1 beg your kind insertion of this letter in your
valuable piper as being a proof that the shipping masters
may be dispensed with. I shipped all my own hands on
board the ship, gave them their notes, and without any
agent or shipping master. I have been detained three
tides, and each time they have all been on board, ready to
start—sober, willing, and ready to go ; and now, without
any trouble, I find them ready on board, and apparently
a good crew. If any of your contemporaries extract this
fact, it may do much to d.) away with the abominable
practice of shipping masters.—l am, sir, &c.,
JAMES GORDON,
Commander of the barque Spencer, of Liverpool.