New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-06-15

this enormous conEmption of fuel and 10 main.
tain an equal immersion Of the paddles the coal VIII
10 certain extent be replaced by water pumped inIo
the BIT compartments forming The skin OF he
shp and OF which we shall presently have occasion0
sneak In addition TO this arrangement the paddles
have been 20 adjusted the wheels as to be as ecent
at one draught Of water as at another.
n il impossible 10 Judge Of the future finish or ac-
commodafion Of such gigantic ship as the Leyahan
from the present state of the iron hull Immense diy
sions of metal plates reaching to an incredible hgh
with sub-compartmenis at night angles, appear 70
divide the monster fabric into number OF square and
obIopg Spaces each of which would contain an eignt-
roomed house of Camden Town build or a semi-de-
tached villa from Stockwen at forty pounds per
annum.
could scarcely believe that the unsighy mass OF IRON
plates, rives and joints just beheld could by any
possible ingenuity be wrought into anything so beau
iifuy symmetrical as the long, arrow-hke little craft
before US tapering of forward sharply ~ wood
mans Ratchet or a Thames whery. From that model
we were enabled TO understand where the engines,
Goals. stores and cargo would be placed, and more
over, where the two thousand hrs'-cass passenseas
woud be berthed in their five hundred state cabins,
and where the two thousand sccondciass and seerage
passengers would be placed, without nearly "a much
providing as in an ordinary passenger or einirants
Large indeed must that steamer be which can pro-
vide maindeck saloon sixty feet in length, and forty
in width and fifteen in hight with second class sa-
loon only 20 feet shorter, and foot or two less in
boht The Leviathan has these, and they appear but
small commandments OF inc uurt
II would prove fortunate circumstance for our NIL
i.ary authorities who 80 much IN want OF steam
transports TO the seat of war, II this monster ship were
ready for at the present moment. There 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 Leyathan with Just suiicient
fuel for short voyage could take on board one OF
those divisions entire, with horses, fodder artillery ana
ammunition: it could land those ten thousand men,
with proper arrangements in the Crimea; could re-
turn and carry the second of those small armes and
could arrive back at Marseilles for the second time
within one month from her first starting.
Ii has been deemed an achievement worthy of men
ton 10 convey an entire regiment of light cavalry
from Bombay 10 the Crmea, by way of tie Red Sea
and Egvpt in about two months. If the calculations
rs 10 speed of the Leviathan be c0rrect-whlch more
learned heads than ours declare them to be-then the
iron chip could have conveyed at least half dozen
regiments of cavalry from Bombay to Balakava, by
wsv of Cane of Good Hope and the Straits of Gibra
tar in tw thirds of the time, and not much greater
cost than was required for the one regiment conveyed
through Egypt
Had the old system Of ship-builling still prevailed
with regard to sea-gong steamers-had our ship
wrights worked on the wOoden-wal principle instead
of the plate-and-rivet method-we would never have
rossesed such noble steamships ~ are owned by our
large commercial companies. Certain II is that the
Ieyiathan could not have been built on the wooden
system. The mghtiest giants OF Indian forests, oil
fabulous age in countless numbers, would not have
sufced 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
MIGHT have been with iron and "copper" to have Heated
40 mighty load of cargo machinery and living be-
ipps Yet the monster of which we are now spealng-
so new in its various appliances OF power so wonder
full in its unheard-of capscity-is composed OF plates
of iron oss than one inch in thickness.
The secret Of the great strength attained by tins
comparatively small amount OF metal ia in the peculiar
structure of the hull 1t is built throughou 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
waier-tight compartments by means oil lron-pla'e
bpkheads carried up to the upper deck, thereby ex-
tending far above the waer-line. In addition to this
great safeguard against accident the whole length OF
the ship except where she apers of 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 water mark and nasmuch as the transverse bulk
heads extend to the outer of these skins they are
divided into mary waterght subdivisions, any one or
two of which, though torn or fractured and hed with
water, would rot affect the buoyancy or safety OF the
ship.
TO- there two enormously strong longitudinal bulk
heads of iron running from stem 10 STERN each forty
feet from the inner skin and carried to the upper deck
adding greatly TO the sodty and safety of the vessel
The main compartments thus formed by the bulkheads
have a means of communication by iron sliding doors
near the top, easily and effectuay closed in time of
need In this way not only all the most exposed
portions of the ship double skinned but the body is
cut up into great lumber of very large but perfectly
distinct fre-and-water proof compartments, forming,
indeed so many colossal iron safes. II we can imagine
a rock TO penetrate the double skin, and make it's
sharp way into any one Of these compartments, it
might fill with water without any detment to the rest
Of the ship
One of the most terrible calamities that befa
vessel at sea is undoubtedly fire. The iron water
tight bukheads would seem to defy that destructive
element sufficiently but, in order to make assurance
doubly sure the builders are experimenting with
view 10 employing. only prepared uninfammable wood
for the interior fittings.
Such is the Leviahan. She is TO be launched I'M
like any other ship, broadside on TO the water by
means of hydraulic power and early in inert Spring
erected TO make trial trip TO me United States and
back in less than fortnight In contemplating this
Brobdngnag vessel our small acquaintance with things
nautical dwarfs down to Lilliputian insgnifcance.
Before reaching the Isle of Dogs had imagined that
possessed some acquaintance with ship-buding
and marine engineering One of the Leviathan cylin-
ders was sufficient TO extinguish our pletensions.
With Brunei for designer; with Stephenson for
approver Scott Russell for builders with Professor
Airey in charge of the compass and Sir w. s. Harris
looking after the lightning conductor the Leviathan
may well be expected TO turn out the floating marvel
of the age. Fancy the establishment of the South Sea
Islanders when they behold her rushing past their coral
homes.