The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-06-11
THE MONSTER STEAMSHIP.
The Triton Of the MinnOws Of the
Ocean.
The New Screw and Paddle Wheel
Steamer Great Eastern, of Great
Britain.

| OIltSins
| [From the London Quarterly Review March, 1856 I
| The voya ger up and down the Thames has motto.
| ed with as,IDishue0t, during the last eighteen
| months. the iuow growth Of huge structure ON
| the southern extremity OF the Isle Of Dogs At
| first few enormous Icles alone cut the skyline
| and arrested hit attention; then vast plates OF
iron, that scenes big eaough TO form shields for
! the gods, r9arcd themselves edgrways, at great
distances apart; ard as nlsnths elapsed, wall OF
| metal slowly arose betweeiy him ana the horizon.
The scoty engineer IS he leans TIE bulwark Of
bridegroom No. 2, when Questioned respecting it ;,
tells you 1t is 1.-THE big ship--he knows more.
IT, moved by curiosity the voyagcr halls boat an d;
rows ashore the sturdy oarsmaIs only tell you it
| is "the big ship If yeu question Jack whom you
| see coming along the road laden with green par
| rot and bundle of yams, to what they dong
here, he will eye the huge for a moment and
! reply with vacant negative. Even those who are
informed of its purpose doubt and argue respecting
it. "Look'ee here said old salt 10 Us, pointing
with his pipe to the stem and the stern Of the Ship
| which lie parallel with the river, "heres her
starn, and here's her stem, and here's the water;
| and how they are going to launch her can't figure
! noways'
The great ship, or Great Eastern, as she is some
times called, projected by the eminent engineer Mr..
Brunei the father of transatlantic steam navigation
although building in the midst of the largest collec
| tion of sea'aring people in the world, stands
wonder and puzzle to them all. And. indeed,
| the moment you inside the works Of Scott,
| Russell q Co., at Mwa, you feel the reason Of
| the strange eye with which the maritime popula-
| ton view the monster which is slowly growing
| up and overshadowing not only the ship yard
itself, but the portion of the town Immediately
in its neighborhood. Where are the merry ship
carpenters, caulking away with monotonous, dead
sounding blows? Where are the arzans chipping
with their adzes, rearing up one after another huge
ribs. and laying the massive keel? Where are the
bright augers cleaning in the sun, as sturdy arms
work out the bolt holes None of these old accus-
toned sights and sounds of ship building are to be-
found but in their place we see the arm Of steam,
mghter than that of Thor, welding some iron shaft
big as the mast of some huge admiral" or punch
ing inch plates OF iron as quickly and as noseessy
as lady punches card board for fancy fair orna-
ment Steel urged by the same potent master, is
| seen showing its mastery over iron as the huge
| lathes reyolve, or the planning machine pursuea
steadily its resistess course, whilst in place of the
shayngs OF the carpenter, long ringets OF dull grey
| metal cumber the ground The ship carpenter ia
| transmitted into brawny smith, and the civil engi-
neer takes the place of the marine architect. A
closer inspection of this Leviathan vessel shows
! how completely the employment Of new material
has necessitated new ideas with respect to construc
ton. She runs along, or rather wl-fOr she is not
| yet quite up in frame-some seven hundred
| feet those portions of her yet unfinished at
| stem and stern show her partitions or bulk
heads running nearly sixty feet in he gh and stand
| ing just sixty feet apart. il we examine the outer
walls of these huge partitions We see at once that
] the ship has 10 ribs springng from keel or back
| bOne-uone of the ordinary framework by which
| her bulgng sides are maintained in their places;
but on closer inspection, it is found that she has
system OF ribs or webs longitudinal instead Of trans
verse, 1u0nlng from 10 Stern OF the snip,
eight feet above her deep water line: and riveted
each side OF these t irty-two VETS or ribs, which
are again subdivided at convenient lengths are
plates of iron three quarters of inch in thickness
| forming double skin to the ship, dermis and
| epidermis. Thus her framework forms system OF
cells, which like the Menai tube, combines the mini
mum of weight with the maximum of strength: A
glance at the transverse midship section will show
at once this portion Of her structure. Hitherto i
has been the practice to build iron ships in exactly
| the same nauner as regards framework as wooden
hat 10 v,,th fha sid hns Lonv~
! made gradually to tighten towards the deck, which
being OF wood, offer but slight resisting power,
| Thus iron ships of the old method of construction
| are peculiarly liable to break their backs upon the
application Of force either to their two ends or to
the centre of their keels, just, in short, tube
| would be easily broken, one side of which was
| made much stronger than the other. The Brken-
| head iron troopship was melancholy instance Of
this unscientiGc method Of construction; for it will
be remembered that Immediately she struck, her
wooden deck doubled up and snapped in two, as
| stick would snap across the knee, while stem and
stern reared for moment high III the air, and then
| went down like stones into the deep.
As you stand watching the process Of building
up this double skin, framework OF the ship, the
question Immediately strikes the mind, how these
unyieding plates Of inch iron made to accommodate
| themselves to her lines, which seen to run az
finely fore and aft as those of Thames wager boaty
How are The innumerable curves which die away into
| each other to be produced by any aggregation Of
rectlnear pieces of fiat boiler plate In ordinary
wooden ships, the panling by It's elasticity, allows
no ribs in the true sense of the word, and the f)rm
OF the vessel must depend upon the inclination given
to each separate piece OF iron before the fastening
process Is commenced. And SUCH in fact is the case.
Every individual plate, before being fixed in
its proper position, was the subject of q
separate study to the engineer. OF the ten
| thousand, or theIeabout, that compose the
framework of the ship, only few situated in the
midship section are alike either in size or in curve.
For each model in wood, or template" as 1t is
technically called, had originally to be made, and
thnpn fhn ntn
quired shapes by the huge steam shears, in exactly
the same manner as the tailor cuts out the various
portions of garment The 'list'' or inclination to
he given to each plate is the next process to be gone
through and this is produced BY passing it through
sytem Of rollers, which can be so reversed in their
action and so adjusted as to give i any required
curve The template" studded with holes around
its margin is then fitted to it, and boy with q
stick dipped in white lead marks through them the
places upon the iron where the rvet holes are to be
punched; when this last process is completed, the
plate is lottered with two three separate LETTERS
indicating the precise place it has to take in the
ship Thus the hull s first carefully thought ont in
detail and is then regularly and mechanically put
together, in much the same way as tesseated pave
| ment.
The process of fastening the plates affords anoth-
er curious contrast to the old method Of boiling en-
pioycd by the ship carpenters. The holes in the
places to be held together being brought in exact
appcsition, bolts at white heat are one by one
Introduced, and firmly nveted whilst in
that condition ey hod group np hot Of il three s mem
/
| by placing hammer against its head on the i1side
of the ship, whilst two sturdy Vucans, with alter
nate blows, produce the rivet head the other. The
| bolts contract in cooling and draw the plates
together with the force OF a vice, and hold them
for ever afterwards The rapidity with which this
| process is performed strikes the spectator with
| astonishment. set of three men, and a boy to
shovel tie hot bolts out Of the furnace, will in the
! course of Gay close up four hundred rivets; and
speed in the process is requisite when we remember
that before the ship swim three million Of them
| must he made secure.
If we Chamber up the ladders which lead to her
| deck, soRe go feet above the ground, we perceive
that her interior presents ally strange constrast
TO other vessels the construction of her hull does
Ten perfectly water tight bulkbeads placed GO feet
| apart, having no openings whatever lower than the
second deck, divide the ship transversely; whilst
two longitudinal walls Of iron 36 feet apart traverse
| 1hn fog Of the lcurth Of the chin Thna he into.