The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-07-22

o.
marked than in naval architecture within the last few
years. and particularly in the construction Of steam
ships Science, ingenuity competition and enterprise
have already produced wondroas results, and the pre-
sent Is but 1.-The beginning Of the end" In the build
Ing rigging and fitting Of our merchant marine,
have had long the undisputed ascendency of the
In river steamers, too stand unapproached by
any nation But there class of vessels in which
left far behind both by England and France.
We mean ocean steamers. The attention Of our sol
snthc merchants and capitalists has been turned to
the fact, and with the 60 ahead character Of true
Americans, they determined not to be surpassed
by any other nation even In ocean steam navigation
We have reported progress from time to time. We
have something more to report, that will deeply
interest, If not sstonish readers.
A new line Of mail steamers contracted for
some time since by the government with George Law
Esq, who built the Oregon, and the High Bridge" for
the Croton Aqucduct which cost two millions OF dol
and the noblest structure in the country The
contract for four steamers, land spare one to
meet accidents,) two to run with the mails twice
month to New Orleans, touching at Charleston and
Savannah and two to Chagres, touching at Havana.
The government contracted Of only 1000
tons burthen Mr. Law by the advice Of the Board Of
the Naval Department has built vessels Of 600
not only first class steamers, but adapted for pur
poses Of war; that in two or three days they be
ready action and it is confidently asserted that
war steamer aloat will equal them.
The government building four more to vie with
them, one At Brooklyn, one at Philadelphia, at
Gosport, and at Kittery, State Of Maine; but Mr.
Law has resolved to show what private enterprise
d. and to beat the governments ana judging from the
two already built he has every prospect Of coming of
victorious. His contract for the mails, have just
is $2S0000 His estimate Of cost for each Of
his ships $500 geo; but he finds the cost will
exceed that sum. The delay in their completion has
been oceasoned partly by the skill and requisite
in their construction upon the improved plan suggest
ed the contract aud partly the delay of their
mammoth engines which Secor 4 Co engaged to have
completed by the first Of pr but owing the amount
Of work upon them, could not get them completed
in that time. The engines of two
pleted those Of one being nearly put together in
the ship, and those Of the other being got in.
Mr. Law who is q scientific and practical man, has
superintended the entire work himself. There is
not plank, nor almost bolt he has not 30 in
There is inch in those he does know
thoroughly and the and value Of every bit Of iron
and wood in their structure He has spent some time
In Europe and particularly in England with view to
the examination Of steamships, and being sharp OBJ
server, he has not spent that time in vain He has
adopted all the improvements he saw, while he has in
vented Of his own, that entirely new. These
vessels have been built too under the inspection Of
Of the scientific officers in the American navy,
Commodore Perry who has from time to time express
ed his opinions, and made his suggestions We
him on board Of those vessels whom we visited
them, day or two ago. 1t will be recoectsd that he
supervised the erection and finishing Of that model Of
steamships, the Missouri which burnt her hrst
trip, in the Bay Of Gibraltar.
The Ohio and Georgia are lying at the foot Of
Ninth street, in the East River. We will de-
scribe what saw there not foot Of these YES
fes from the spar deck down to the keson and from
ssem 10 stern that we have not examined infinitely
into the details OF each ship-that they exceed in
strength far and away, any naval structure have
ever seen. We shall begin with
THE OHIO.
The hull of this vessel-which is the emaller Of the
two has been built by Bishop aud Simonson Viewed
externally, she Is . beautiful model and
pressy built for fast saling is only when you
go on board that you find combined with that beauty
strength that so lar exceeds expectation to I'LL you
with amazement But let us first give her dimen-
lhe iehgth OF Keel. .Z4o feet
Depth Of hold from spar deck. ............ SO
She viii draw about fifteen feet Of water when her
Goals and all board Her tonnage, before the
spar deck was attached was 2e0o with that deck, her
Descending the bottom Of the hold you nnd floor
90 strong and rn and close, that II there not
plank outside her tmbcrs, she would not let In drop
Of water IL Is twentyone inches thick laid solid and
bolted lengthwse In most other vessels the floor is
open. huge oak kclson fore and aft laid the
middle Of the floor tmbers the Keel fastened with
long bolts and cnohed and thus binding the door tim
beers the keel Then there immense cross nelson's
either end hold the tmbers called the frame
which could not be fastened to the kelson
Then, mpsrt additional strength there is gigantic
centre cross keson, with buikhead, running right
the vessel At the stem and stern there what
called breast hook being curved piece Of wood shaped
like the back Of chair and not made by csrpen
ter work but being the natural fork OF the
mously thick there exceedingly strong Then there
drumming engthwse on either side, what Ii called tige
kelson with i've bilge streaks resting it, Here
vessel Is 81 inches thick The main object Of this
tremsndou. PRESSURE With isc tons o. pressure when
the engine s working, there Is yielding produced at
either side and the vessel is kept constantly straining
unless there Is powerful resistance There another
contrvance for keeping the ship firm In this direction
"A hen vessels roll there Is always a straininS on
To- and the deck L. seen to spring To prevent this,
here great thick Iron braces kslson right
under the deck To tho eide Of the ship Then TO Keep
her from sprngipg lopgtudnsly there iron stays
draw them tight, running disgonally from stem to
eight and " IL impossible for the vessel to spring
pgthwise without breaking these stays The ceiling
the vessel inches thick and plank Of about
square yard, contains about 30 iron bolts running
through the mbcrs and In the planks ostsids
IN addition to these, they boted DOM edgewse.
Atom repeated at every strrak These bolts
diaw They oiled before they are driven, to pro-
tect them from the acid of the timber They fer
sup.rivr to wooden boit, There not drop Of
In the hold Of this vessel though launched since
last fall Her hoor was dry as tnst 81 dra~ing rom
We observed that her floor aud sides we're sirewsd
With strong sslt, which 10 found to be great pre-
sentative o. wood Her tmbers are all u ths
best oak also her plank under the water.
Her upper streaks Of live oak locust. and cedar.
The huge knees Of the best oak fros the eastern
shorc OF the timber growing the coast being
finest aud mo.t durable They are notlmbs bat the IA
Of the In most other vessels hackna
tack which Is little better than pine used for this
purpose In the Ohio too the knees are boltcd through
and the massive water ways. 1 nder the bssm
that supports the whesls Is to be found each
side what GATED A 4" brace being set OF knees
rsentipg shape somewhat OF the figure 81 that let
''r At the bottom they are spread sosrt nine feet
inder. The other beams supported by Immense
.ne.s with horizontal knees between each The beam
connecting the pilsr blocks at the top plated With
two iron plates, inch thick; IL is 10 inches by IL
thick aud bolted and rvett~d In fact strength ap-
pars he the paramount confederation aud nothing
that and money could do, spared for the
pbshment Of that object
We shall now describe her accommodation for pas
ssnr.r. II Law clailns the deck cabin a hia uxn