The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-07-25 00:00:00

THE NEW STEAM SHIP "BLENHEIM."

Within the last few days another splendid iron ship has
been added to the list of steam vessels plying from Liver-
pool. The " Blenheim," a craft in mould, svmetry and
excellence of construction, quite equal to any of those
powerful steamships that have given to this port a priority
in point of facility of water communication, has just been
completed and placed on the station between this port
and Belfast. She is built by Messrs. Todd and M' Gregor
of Glasgow, and being the " fiftieth" iron steamer they
have constructed they seem to have spared no pains in
rendering her in every way a creditable work. The
" Blenheim" is built on a keel 200 feet in length and has
a breadth of beam of 26 feet. The plates of which she is
built, are of more than ordinary thickness, and the whole
of her frame work is of patent angle iron, so closely con-
nected, that she is rendered almost solid. She is pro-
pelled by one mighty-condensing engine of 350 horses
power, the cylinder of which is the largest that ever en-
tered the Clarence Dock, being no less than 6 feet 10
inches in diameter. The piston and rod which have a
stroke of 6 feet 6 inches, are of solid brass, as also is the
air pump rod, indeed from every part from feed to dis-
charge pipes, to the working parts where brass would be
more effectual than iron it has been used. The air pump
is five feet in diameter, and is worked by a lever attached
to the piston. The paddle wheels are 28 feet in diameter
and have been driven when the vessel is light at twenty
evolutions per minute, but eighteen evolutions will be the
ordinary average. The engine room is very spacious and
well ventilated. For the purpose of filling the boilers she
is provided with a small oscilating cvlendered engine
worked by a detached boiler. This engine may also be
used in case of need for pumping the vessel or extinguish-
ing fire ; and from the small space it occupies we would
conceive such machinery as highly applicable for ordinary
sailing vessels. The decks are roomy ; so much so in-
deed, that permanent horse-boxes have been erected for-
ward, and the quarter deck which is lengthy, forms a
splendid promenade. The cabins a are entered by an or-
namented companion-way and are so splendidly fitted that
they rather resemble the apartments of a palace
than the 'tween decks of a ship. The saloon, fifty feet
in length, is entirely fitted in solid rosewood,
picked out and relieved with massive gilt carv-
ings. At each side of the entrance is a marble pedestal,
surmounted by a pier glass. At the state-room entrances
are rosewood pillars, with carved gilt caps, pushing in an
eliptic circle of relieved work. On the pannels between
each entrance are scenes on papier machee, illustrative of
the history of " Marlborough ;" they enumerate the battle
of Ramilies, the battle of Blen helm, scenefrom Leopoldsbero
looking at Vienna, castle of Spetz, Arensdorff, and others,
and are not only well coloured, but well drawn, and pos-
sessing that delicate softness attained onlyin papier machee
—they are particularly attractive. The circle of the stern
is upholstered in splendid. crimson plush, as is, also, the
chairs, &c., &c. A clock, surrounded with the emblems
of the wars of yore, graces the stern-post. The saloon is
lighted by a cupola of stained glass, and the ordinary side
and stern lights. The ladies' cabin, and other apartments,
are equally elegant. The Blenheim is adorned with a
figure-head, representing the Duke of Marlborough. She
is commanded by Captain Gowan, whose length of servi-
tude in the steam marine of Liverpool entitles him to every
confidence, while his disposition is cf that cast as to make
him the friend of every passenger confided to his care.—
This fine ship is consigned to Messrs. Langtrys, of Water-
street.

THE PRINCE ALBERT'S TASTE FOR AGRICULTURE.
—We are glad to say that his Royal Highness the Prince
Albert has awarded his patronage to our ingenious towns-
man Mr. Cartmell, of London-road, agricultural imple-
ment manufacturer, by ordering (through his secretary,
Mr. Angon) a " SaC kholder," (of Mr. C.'s invention) to
be sent to the Isle of Wight. We have heard that at a
recent agricultural meeting at which the " sackholder"
was exhibited, his Royal Highness was much struck with
its simplicity, and the ease with which, at a great saving
of labour, a sack may be filled by its use. Mr. Cartmell
has been very successful in striking out over a series of
years new contrivances and appliances for facilitating
agricultural operations.
FATAL ACCIDENTS.—On Wednesday week, as Simon
Canner, a boy of about seven years of age, who resided
with his patents in Hotham-street, was going home from
school with another boy they came up with a lorry drawn
slowly by three horses, up Copperas-hill, when deceased
took hold of one of the wheels in order to climb in ; while
in the act of raising himself he became entangled in the
wheel, and was crushed between it and the body of the
lorry. When picked up it was found that he had sus-
tained a severe scalp wound. He was surgically attended,
but died on Friday from tetanus, or lock jaw, occasioned
by the injury.—On Friday, the body of a boy, named
Henry Hughes, aged between 8 and 9 years, living in
Back Chester-st-eet, Toxteth-park, was found floating in
an unenclosed pit, in a field near North-street, in that
township. He bad left school on yesterday week, with a
playmate who went home while he lingered behind. The
pits far and near were searched by his father, (who is a
painter) but without avail. The body was discovered by
a female who was passing.—A few days since, Robert
Giles, aged 57, whilstin liquor, fell in Burlington-street,
and broke his leg. He died in consequence on Monday.
—On Tuesday a boy named John Thomas Battle, of
Beckwith-street, in company with four others, went to
Windsor, and seeing a dead jacksharp in some water,
went to catch it. In doing so he fell and sank, and when
taken out he was quite dead. It was stated in evidence
that there were no rails round this pool of water, and
that a girl was drowned in it last Sunday week.
THE RIVER DEE, AND THE BALA LAKE WATER
SCHEME.—A letter on this subject has appeared in the
Chester Courant, from the pen of Mr. Robert Rawlin-
son, civil engineer, in reply to some remarks by Mr.
Rosson on the improvement of the Dee navigation. The
writer considers Mr. Rosson earnest, but enthusiastic,
and, without denying that the Dee may be improved,
inquires whether the prosecution of the plan would pay ?
He considers that the improvement of other tidal har-
bours, as cited by Mr. Rosson, (including Preston, Glas-
gow, &c.,) bears not in argument upon the Dee ; that
such harbours depend more on their tidal waiters than on
the uncertain body of fresh water from the rivers flowing
into them, as proved in the case of the Clyde, Mr.
Rawlinson says : " Navigable rivers require an equal
depth; this can only be preserved by an uniform flow.
The volume of fresh water flowing down the Dee is more
than four hundred thousand millions of gallons per an-
num, or upwards of one thousand million gallons per day
on an average. But the minimum quantity is about sixty
millions of gallons per day; and, consequently. the maxi-
mum of floods must be many thousands of million gallons
per day. Ido not need to tell the people of Chester what
farming and social damage these floods cause, when a
year's crops are destroyed, cattle washed away, and even
the growing fruit swept from the trees. But I may tell
them that such floods would do more damage to an im-
proved navigation than they do to agriculture, by de-
stroying that uniformity of depth which must be dredged
up to the proposed port." The writer of the letter, al-
luding to Mr. Rosson's advocacy of the Dee navigation
improvement, states that that gentleman speaks harshly
of the Bala Lake water scheme, and dreads the abstrac-
tion of 21 millions of gallons daily from the river, which
he thinks would ruin Chester. Now Mr. Rawlinson
" contemplated taking thirty millions of gallons per day,
and thereby improving the river and Chester. Because
compensation reservoirs would be made in North Wales,
and the minimum flow of the river should never be dimi-
nished, but added to. The improvement of the Dee
navigation belongs to the people of Chester. This will
require great professional skill—a large first outlay, and
constant attention and expense afterwards. Reviling the
river trustees, or snapping at the Bala Laka scheme, will
not advance the work one step. Such conduct is worse
than that of the dog in the manger."