Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-02-16
f0rlign MistfIlang.


r. The steamship Himalaya.
The Himalaya is the largest steamship in
the world. She is, in fact ''the Duke Of Wei
lngton,n not alone of the Peninsular and Ori
entail Company's feet, but takes ducal rank
among all the merchant steamships at present
in existence. The Himalaya is of 1850 tons
register, equal to over 1000 tons burden, and
is of the extraordinary length of 372 feet 8
inches The length of keel is 3ll feet; breadth
for tonnage, 46 feet 2 inches; depth of hold, "a
feet 9 inches. These proportions, when con-
trasted with the dimensions of other ships, give
great advantage, particularly in length, to
the Himalaya; for example, the Duke of We'll
lington, l3l guns, although of greater beam
and depth, is inferior in length by 81 feet to the
Himaaya. The screw-steamer Great Britain
is 333 feet long, or 40 feet shorter than the
Himalaya; while the American clipper-ship
Great Republic, recently destroyed by fire in
New York, was only 325 feet long, or of Az
feet less length than the Himalaya. Although
the Himalaya exceeds in so large degree the
length Of the Duke of Wellington, yet she is
inferior in tonnage to that ship, the Duke Of
Wellington being 3,759 4-94 tons, or about 200
tons larger than the Himalaya. The superior
burden Of the Duke of Wellingtonis is produced
by her enormous breadth of beam, which is 80
feet, and her depth, which is 81 feet forward
and 65 feet af-both these qualities being in
dispensable in ships of war to enable them to
carry their heavy armament of artillery, with
the requisite supplies of ammunition, stores, &c.
The Himalaya is built of iron, and was con-
structed by Messrs. J. G. Mare h Co., of Black
wall. The engines, of 700 horsepower, by
Messrs. Penn, Of Greenwich, are on the trunk
principle, similar to those supplied by that firm
to the Agamemnon and other vessels. Their
splendid performances cannot be exaggerated; (;
they work like the mechanism of a chronometef,
and propel the ship through the water with in
credible smoothness and ease of motion. The
cylinders Of the engines are Of 84 inches diam
eter, with 33-feet stroke, and the revolutions
per minute are from 80 to 60. The screw is a
two-bladed one, on the old principle, of Is feet
diameter, with a 2Sfeet pitch, and weighs
nearly seven tons.
The vessel is full ship-rigged, and the masts,
spars, and sails, which have been supplied, are
those suitable for clipper-sailing ship of 1900
or 1900 tons. Captain Kellock assures us,
from the experience he has already had of the
qualities Of the vessel, that in a heavy breeze
there would be no difficulty it getting eighteen
knots or twenty miles an hour out of the ship,
by using both steam and canvass. Passengers
by this magnificent steamer will revel in every
luxury and comfort that can be comprehended
in sea voyage, The saloon, nearly one hun
dred feet in length, will dine one hundred and
seventy persons; the bed cabins are the largest
and most roomy ever yet appropriated to marine
travellers. To walk round the spar-deck, pre-
cisely one-seventh of mile has to be trayersed.
The origin of the Himalaya is, perhaps, one
of the most interesting features connected with
the progress Of steam enterprise. Three years
since, the postal contract of the Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Company was on the eve of ex-
piration, and powerful competitors were under
stood to be preparing to contest the commercial
supremacy of the Indian route with that asso
citation. The Himalaya was, therefore, de.
signed, and it was determined that she should
be fitted with paddle-wheel engines of l,20O
horsepower, which it was estimated would give
speed of twenty miles an hour, and enable
the run from Southampton to Alexandria to be
effected in eight or nine days. Five other ships
of equal if not superior size, were to be built
and employed on the other side of the isthmus
If this project had been brought to perfection,
the communication between England and our
Indian empire would have been facilitated to
an extent that can even now be hardly realized
and Calcutta brought within twenty-five days oi
Southampton. The idea of building FIVE ships
of equal size to the Himalaya was, however
abandoned, and, the screw principle Just at that
on small scale by the company, it was decided
to fit the Himalaya with screw engines of 700
horsepower, instead of machinery on the pad
dle-wheel principle. The great success of the
Himalya is shown by the extraordinary speed
attained at her trial trip in the channel last
week, viz, fourteen knots, or sixteen miles an
hour. ja4
The possession of such a stupendous steam
ship as the Himalaya must be a matter of not
merely local, but national interest. If, unhap-
PLY, the threatened war should break out, there
is no telling the uses to which, upon emergen-
cies, this vessel and other steamers of lesser
size belonging to the great steam companies
might be applied. Three thousand men could
be embarked at Southampton, and conveyed by
the Himalaya in eleven days to Constantinople
or the Black sea while steamers such as the
Colombo, Plata, Atrato, Jason, Argo, Crnsus,
and many others, might be despatched with
proportionate numbers. BY employing tempo.
rarily the great steamers usually congregated
at Southampton, small army might in fact be
rapidly thrown upon any particular point of the
European or Asiatic coast where the exigen-
cies or unexpected hazards of war should
render such succours necessary. For rapidly
transporting immense supplies of provisions,
ammunition, artillery, or of men to the fleets in
the Black sea, in the Mediterranean, or in the
Baltic, it is difficult to say what enormous ser.
vices might not on emergency be rendered by
few steamers such as these, should the admi-
rally at any time find it desirable to employ
them sArmed with long Paixhan guns, manned
witx,A sufficient force of seamen trained to
CUTLERY, sucha ship as the Himalaya would
laugh to scorn the efforts of any ordinary ships
of war to capture her. With her steam-power
of 700 horses, she could escape from and out
strip in speed any feet of ships of war, while
she would, in running fight, infict great
damage upon her assailants. The Duke Of
Wellington, according to accounts recently re-
ceived from Lisbon, is as easily handled at sea
as Cowes yacht and, if we rightly interpret
the intelligence which has lately reached us
the admiralty are determined to try, on more
extended scale, the principle of screw line-of
battle ships. Instead of ships of 1000 tons
800 horsepower, and carrying l34 guns, there
is nothing to prevent the construction of ships
500 feet long, of 10000 tons burden, and capa
BILE Of mounting 200 or 25O pieces of ordnanc,