The republic., 1851-06-09
From The London Nautical Standard.
Iron Merchant Navy.

Iron Merchant Navy.
The loss of four merchant vessels by fire. re
corded within two or three days at Lloyd's, sug
gests many painful reflections on the perlls 0
the sea, and must make men inquire into tn,
remedies that can be brought to countsract sucf
calamites
We have to record, in the first instance, ths
loss of a fine newly built ship, the st. Clair
OF Liverpool, of seven hundred and fifty toni
burden, chartered by the Peninsular and Oren-
tai Mail Steam-packet Cdmpany, bound t,
Bombay with full cargo Of coal, which, in
spite OF all the efforts of the crew, was burnt
from spontaneous combustion, on the 10th o.
February, on the Malabar coast The second
case is that Of the Rosalind, 450 tons burden be-
longing to London, with Goals from Newcastle L
Alden, which was burnt of Socotra. The third ID
the barque Ganges, formerlya steamer belonging
to the honorable East India Company, proceeding
from Penang to Madras The fourth and last l.
the ship Caroline, of Bristol, which left Tobago on
the 9Th OF April with cargo of rum and sugar
arrived at ST. Kits 18th, and proceeded on her
voyage the following day, when a fire disco
vered and in spite Of all the exertions of the crew
the vessel was burnt. This ship was $50 tons bur
den, and had very valuable cargo.
Now, we have before US the loss Of these four
valuable vessels, and whilst we have the pleasure
to record that lives lost, still we must "a y
that had these ships been iron ones instead OF
wooucu Oness tucy WOuiu nave mad chance
OF escaping from destruction Several cases OF
spontaneous combustion are record, with many
different sorts of cargoes Coal, above all things
is most exposed to that accident; from chemical
been shut up for several months in the hold Of u
ship, to catch fire, and cannot be easily extin-
guished. Cotton, sugar, and Spirits are also sub
Ject to spontaneous combustion, and, in the hold
OF ship without any partition or separation, the
least fire must spread and burn the whole How
would il be with iron vessel? There, by the
divisions that may be made, and actually made,
the fire must be confined to single spot II ia
hardly 70 be admitted that the four or i've com
partments Of ship could be acted upon at once by
the same cause and catch fire at the same time
Supposing them that the cargo in one of the divi-
nons Of ship Of 300 tons should, either by acci-
dent or misconduct on the part of her crew, catch
fire. only one fourth Of the cnrgo could by any
means be damaged, since it would always be in
the power of the crew to drown that compartment
by pouring on It some fifty tons of water. But it
is otherwise In wooden vessel where the locality
Of the fire is generally unknown, and whore even
nifty tons OF water would be useless, diffuscd as it
must be, upon the whole cargo. Besides, the heat
is n generally 80 great that there is no means to
throw overheard any part of the cargo, to make
up for the weight of water thrown in the hold.
With an iron vessel that inconvenience il inmedi-
ateiy obviated, since any amount Of goods may be
unshiPped from other compartments, to relieve the
ship from too much weight.
But we do not see any good reason why even
with iron vessels, the whole should not be made of
iron. We havo seen such vessels, and We can af-
hrm that they are stronger, cheaper, and more
lasting than the iron vessels as at present con-
structed. Our iron vessels topped with wood
their deck 10 wood, and all the upper works are
wood. We do not know why.this 10 done, or why
the whole fabric could not be iron; we have seen
single foot Of wood. Even the fittings of the
cabin and the stewards pantry were iron the only
wood employed was for masts and yards, and these
the builder declared, could be made of iron too. So
u inf a L..
the rigging being iron wire and chains. 1t is OBJ
vlous that, with vessel constructed, fire would
lose all its power become Immediately under con-
troll, and the chances Of combusions be diminished
to the lowest fraction.
We have, in long series of articles, demonstra-
ted the superiority of iron over wood and al |
though we referred more particularly to steamers,
still our remarks were applicable to sailing vessels
an iron vessel need not cost more than q wooden
one. Eighteen or twenty pounds per ton can pur- |
shnse first-class ship of either materials, conse-
quently the objection raised that iron ship coat
ses cost the same price, the repairs Of the iron one
would cost much less, whilst such ship would 10 st
much longer. The advantages of iron over wood |
IN this respect have been made evident, that they
saving of the entire value of the ship in repairs
alone, in twelve years.
II our Government, blinded by unaccountable |
preJudces, have come to the resolution of employ
under the absurd pretence of their being wanted |
IN case OF war, which may be half century dis |
ant, when all the wooden steamers will have been |
defunct to the third or fourth generation, the |
nsrchaat seruice has prousd its ipisdom by in. |
crsGsing the nuabsr of iron steamers; since we and
that the number of steamers registered within two
years ia no less than 299, with tonnage of 85 493
tons, Ton averaging ing 2S6 tons each live consider that
out OF these 299 vessels ll6 Of iron, of 29Sla
tons, giving to each $40 tons, whilst the wooden |
ones average but $50 tons, out of AZ 62s ton, re
gistsred in 1885, the large proportion Of 2s,l67 atf
iron .es'sl', sohsn only l7,456 are wood although
,puh Ais iast material, only to come ,Dithin the
eIouernnlent's conditions, we must come 10 the |
tirmcst conviction and undenable conclusion, that
iron has at last been appreciated for marine arch
sede entirely wood. This conclusion is borne out
by the fact that on the first of January, lS4Q, the
iron boats then existing amounted only to &c, with
a tonnage OF 20,799, out Of total of steamers of
ITO, with tonnage Of 256,a7l We have thus
dwelt at some length on the returns given by the
House OF Commons We should have wished to |
have had also the number of sailing vessels made |
Of iron. We know they are few, but such returns
would be invaluable in few years, when, as we
firmly believe, the sailing merchant navy will start
as steamers have already done and when iron will
enter very largely in the construction Of sailing
vesses. Then such returns would offer precious
materials for comparison, and would show the pro-
gressve increase of such sailing vessels for every
ten years.
In a former number We endeavored to place the
Of iron vessels national and pa
triotic ground. England produces but very little
ship building timber, certainly no more than the
eighth part OF what is wanting for the navy; she
must then, have recourse to foreign countries for
supply, and, in case Of war, her royal dockyards
would certainly absorb all the wood grown At
home; what would then become Of the commercial |
navy? We had until now, and for several centu-
ries past, possessed the supremacy of the sea; but
steam has wrought mighty changes in the position
HOrn o~nrc,, -, 4
vateers would. at the first breaking out of war,
play fearful havoc amongst shipping. Be. |
sides, we may be at war with those very nations |
who supply us with wood; then where is the stock |
Of wood to come from? Still, we possess within |
ourselves the means to free from our enemies;
we have iron in plenty; we could produce enough |
to build all the merchant navics Of the world, and
wc should still have much more to spare. The |
iron mines of England are, probably, incxhausti.
Bile; by building with iron we employ our own peo-
pie, burn our own coal, and give life TO own
we decrease the amount of poor, and |
relieve ourselves from an immense mass of taxes. |
BY using foreign timber VIC protect foreign ship
vN,s,rv tho n ~