Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1856-01-05
The Mammoth Steamship.

The Portland State of Maine gives a very full
art of shipbulding, but remarks that is impossible
for any ordinary mind to take in at once the full
idea of her gigantic proportions. The State Of
Maine says:
Her length is 6s4 feet, breadth IS feet, depth
So, number of decks H. measurement q, 900 tons.
She is to have both screw and paddle engines,
whose nominal horse power will be: Screw 500,
paddles 1000; total, $500 horse power. Cylinder
of screw engine feet; diameter of cylinder, Sd
inches; stroke feet; cylinders of paddle engine,
IA inches; length of stroke, IA feet 6 inches
Each engine room will be 40 feet long. The
screw propeller will be % feet in diameter. The
paddle wheels have been fixed at IS feet in dia-
meter. Draft of water, loaded, % feet; draft OF
water in ballast, Is feet.
The masts are five in membership rugged.
The steering apparatus consists of two rudders,
with power sufficient to bring her round. The
after RAIDER is to be placed like ordinary ships
rudder; the screw will work forward of this rudder,
ahead of the screw is to be second rudder, in
form something like a common rudder. The
engines will be placed in different parts of the
Ship entirely independent of each other. The
vessel will have ten boilers and five smoke pipes.
Every boiler can be cut off from its neighbor, and
used or not as desired; they will be placed lon
gitudinally along each side of the ship; every
boiler will have ten furnaces, giving to the whole
one hundred large fires The vessel will have two
paddle wheels i'll the usual manner, but the paddle
engines are to be ON the dsconnecting principle,
SO that one or both of the paddle wheels may, if
desired, be put in independent motion Her deck
is to be flush; the floor perfectly fat. She is to
have saloon 400 feet in length, Is feet high, and
Accommodations for 500 first class passengers and
l,S0o second class If used as a transport ship,
she will take 10000 troops with their arms and
field equipments. Over 1000 tons of iron are
used in her construction.
This steamer is built by Scott Russell, under the
charge of l. K. Brunei, one of the most celebrated
engineers of this time We learn from the Hon.
John Appleton, of this city, who visited her few
days before leaving London, that the work is ra-
pidly progressing, and that she is expected to be
finished during the next summer. She is built
broadside to the river, and is to be launched by
means OF two immense cradles, which will gra-
duay lower her down to low water mark, whence,
on the ensuing tide she will be foated off
Some idea of her Titanic proportions may be
formed from the fact that her shaft already forged
at Napier's Works on the Clyde, is four and half
feet in diameter, and her chain cables are forged
out of four and half inch bar iron.
capt. HARRISON informs us that on beng ready
for sea she will take run out of some 1000 miles
and thence back to Liverpool or Holyhead, whence
she will take in passengers and freight for the
Atlantic trip. If she can reach speed of four
teen miles per hour she will be kept on the Amer-
can route Mr.. Brunei, who has the honor of her
contraction, is doctor in the steamship company,
and anticipates much greater speed. Capt, Har
rison hopes to from land to land in six days
She is moulded with very fine lines forward and
aft with an elptical stem, and her vast length is
such that she will reach across two waves. Her
great size will prevent her shipping water. She
will not need to slacken her steam on account of
any violence of the weather All experience has
tended to show that the speed and safety of
steamer are in proportion to their size Hence
each successive year has witnessed gradual en-
largement Of ocean steamers The first of the
Cunard line were but small craft or one-third only
the size Of their new steamer Persia, now nearly
ready for sea.