The north Iowa times. [volume] (M'Gregor [i.e. McGregor], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-06-26
An English Opinlon OF the y. q. ate an
Trigato Niagara 83 .fsa

The steam frigate Niagara Was sent
by the United States, to assist Great
Britain in laying down the Submarine
Telegraph Gable. between Europe aid
America. The London Times gives an
interesting description Of her, aud q fa:.
vorable one. ~ aa ba1
The Niagara is ono Of twelve stean
frigates which, short time siuce. Con-
gress ordered to be built. by way of =
counterbalance to the enormous increase
Of the English and French marine. Tho
construction of the Niagara was intrust-
ed by acclamation to Mr.. Steers, the
builder of the celebrated clipper yacht
America. In building her, he had four
conflicting purposes to roconcilc-tc
make her good gun boat. good seaboat.
COED sailer and good steamer. The re-
suit is the Niagsra-in design 4 kind of
compromise, and which leaves her the
fastest sailer in the world, one, of the
fastest steamers. . 6ne scaboat, and
very good man-of-war. Her length
over all is 375 feet. breadth (extrencl
IS feet 6 inches, depth of hold 32 fee.
6 inches, and her burden s, goo tons, o.
nearly 1000 tons larger than tho Him
alaya. Now she has on board only four
small guns-that is, small in compare
son to the armament she is intended T.,
carry but when the peaceful task of
laying the Atlantic Submarine cable is
completed, the Niagara will be fully
armed and equipped for war. She viii
then carry l2 Dshlgren guns, II inoh.
es diameter in the bore. and throwing :
solid shot Of the enormous weight of
27O pounds a distance of 1000 Yards:
or four miles. These shells for these
guns will weigh $50 pounds. and the
guns themselves II tons. These mon
ster ordnance, which seems as if ",
were reverting to the barbarism of gun
nery, and would come At last to tho un
wieldy pieces Of the Dardanolles, with
bores Of 20 inches diameter. hayo al
ready been cast at the West Point foun-
dry, near New York. We oS4tsinfr
wish that the Niagara had ONLY 6lte off
these tremendous artillery on board. as
itwould have enabled us better to appre-.
ciate her warlike capacities.
Inspecting a man-of-war without her
armament is much like judging of the
strength Of a lion by his skin. A. first
l2 guns seem but small offensive pow
er for vessel of upwards of s, 200 tons,
and 1t is only by rejecting on the stu.
pendous calibre Of her equipment that
one begins to understand how formida
BILE she will be, and to feel curious
doubts rs to the result of q contest be-
tween such = frigate and the largest
three-decker. We have said tina. while
alongside the spars seem heavy; vet
from the deck, compared with the vast
bulk of the hull, tlt y appear almost tad
light. Their extreme length from stem
to tuck is-mainmast 243 feet, foremast
9ls, and mizzen ID. The mainyard is
lo6 feet long, and the foreyard 94. Be-
tween the bulwarks whispering pipes
are laid. running from the quarter-deck
to the forecastle, and all the officers
orders are thus transmitted with the
most certainty and speed. Without
some contrivance Of the kind vessel
of such enormous length would be both
difficult and dangerous to manage; for
no matter how large ships may be built.
there arc most narrow limits to what
one pair oflungs can effect. and in breezy
weather Stentor himself would be un-
audible at half the length Of the Nj.
agara. fa l