New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-06-14

tain an equal immersion Of the paddles tae coo WI
TO certain extent be replaced BY wsser pumped inso
the waerheht compartments forming the skin OF soc
rhip and Of which we shall presently have occasion
speak. In addition to this arrangement the paddles
have been adjusted the wheels to be as emcent
81 STs1sa, Of ~as5 sss - o. Of ss future uh or a..
commodation Of such gigantic ship as the Leviatnan
from the present stale Of the iron hull Immense aiv
sons Of metal plates reaching to an incredible nght
with sub-compartments at rignt angles, appva' aJ
oblong spaces, each Of which would contain an eignt-
roomed House of Camden Town build or eem-de-
tacbed villa from Stockwen st forty pounds per
We inspected a model of the ship in WOOD and
could scarcely believe that the unsightly Of iron
plates, rivets and joints just beheld could by any
possible ingenuity be wrought into anything 30 beau
iiully symmetrical the long, aTow-iike little craft
before us, taperng of forward as sharply as wood.
mans Laicbet or a Thames wherry. From that model
we we're enabled to understand where the engines,
Goals stores and cargo would be placed, and more
over where the two thousand hrst-class passengers
would be berthed in their five hundred state cabins,
and where the thousand secondclass and Storage
passengers would be placed, without nearly as much
crowding as in an ordinary passenger or
LARGE indeed must that steamer be which con pro-
vide maindeck saloon sixty feet in length, and forty
in width and fifteen in hight, with secondclass So
loon only 20 feet shorter and foot or two less IN
hight. The Leviathan has these and they appear but
email compartments of the huge interior.
Ii would prove fortunate circumstance for our mil
itary authorities, who are so much III want OF steam
transports to the seat of war; this monster ship were
ready for at the present moment mere are just
now two divisions of the French army of ten thousand
men each ready be conveyed to the scenes OF their
future operations The Leviathan with just sufficient
fuel for short voyage could take on board one OF
those divisions entire, with horses, fodder, artillery and
ammunition: it could land those ten thousand men,
with proper arrangements, in the Crmea could re-
turn and carry the second of those small armes and
could arrive back at Marseilies for the second time
within one month from her first starting.
1t has been deemed an achievement worthy of men
tion to convey entire regiment of light cavalry
from Bombay 10 the Cnmea, by way OF the Red Sea
and Egypt in about two months. If the calculations
as to speed Of the Leviathan be corect-which more
learned heads than declare them TO bethen the
iron ship could have conveyed at least half dozen
regiments of cavalry from Bombay to Balaklava, by
way of Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Gibral
tar in twothir1s of the time, and not much greater
cost than was required for the regiment conveyed
through Egypt.
Had the old system of stipbuilding sti prevailed
with regard to sea-gOing steamers-had our ship
wrghts worked on the wOoden-wall principle instead
of the plate and-rivet method-we would never have
possessed such noble steamships owned by our
large commercial companies. Certain 1t is that the
Leviathan could not have been built on the wooden
system. The mightiest giants of Indian forests of
fabulous age, in countless numbers, would not have
suficed TO produce ship of half her size Strength
enough could not have been obtained with the most
ponderous masses of timber-work, braced as they
mig Lt have been Win IRON ana "copper" 10 nave Hodeu
so mighty load Of cargo, machinery and living be-
incs Yet the monster of which are now speaking
so new in its various appliances Of power SO wonder
full in its unheard-of capaciy-is composed OF plates
of iron less than one inch in thickness.
The secret of the great strength attained by this
comparatively small amount of metal in the peculiar
structure of the hull 1t is built throughout in distinct
compartments, on the principle OF the Britannia Iubu-
lar Bridge, and when finished will be in fact huge
tubular ship The principle of that structure need not
here be dwelt upon. II will suffice to explain that the
whole of this vessel will be divided into ten huge
water-tgbt compartments, by means of iron-plate
brlkheads carried up to the upper deck thereby ex-
tending far above the waterlne. In addition to this
great safeguard against accident the whole length of
the Ship except where she apers off at either end Is
protected by double skin of metal plating, the outer
one being distant three feet from the interior These
double tubular sides carried to far above the deep
est mark, and inasmuch as the transverse bulk
heads extend TO the outer of these skins, they are
divided into many watertght Subdivisions any one
two of which, though torn or fractured and filed with
water, would not affect the buoyancy safety of the
ship.
Beside the great transverse divisions before alluded
to- there are two enormously strong longitudinal bulk
heads of iron running from stem 10 sten each forty
feet from the inner skim and carried to the upper deck
adding greatly TO the solidy and safety of the vessel
The main compartments thus formed by the bukheads
have a means of communication by iron Sliding doors
near the top easily and cfecually closed in time OF
need. In this way not only are all the most exposed
portions of the chip double skinned but the body is
cut up into great humber of very large but perfectly
distinct fre-and-water proof compartments forming,
indeed so many colossal iron safes. If we can imagine
a rock TO penetrate the double skin, and make its
sharp way into any of these compartments, it
might fill with water without any deriment to the rest
of the ship.
One of the most terrible caamities that befal
vessel at sea is undoubtedly fire. The iron water
tight bulkheads would seem to defy that destructive
element sufficiently; but in order to make assurance
douby sure the builders experimenting with
view to employing only prepared uninfammable wood
for the interior fittings
Such is the Leviathan. She is TO be launched, un-
like any other ship, broedside on to the water by
means of hydraulic power and early in inert SPrtagH
extected TO make trial trip to The United States and
hack tn less than a fortnight. In contemplating this
Brobdngnag vessel our small acquaintance with things
nautical dwarfs down to Liiputian insignifcance
Before reaching the Isle of Dogswe had imagined that
we possessed some acquaintance with ship-buldlng
and marine engineering. One of the Leviathan cylin-
ders was sufficient to extingush our pretensions.
With Brunei for designers with Stephenson for
approver; Scott Russell fof BUILDER with Professor
Airey in charge of the compass, aud Sir w. S. Harris
looking after the lightning conductor the Leviathan
nav well be expected TO turn out the floating marvel
of tie see Fancy the astonishment of rno s-fh Sea
aesv wtep !nsy behold Der rushing past their coral
.csd-.
homes.