Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1857-06-12
An Esgiish Opinien Of the 4. =. sfenm frigafe
pM

from the London Tunes
| Halt mile or so below Grnxesend just about
where the river tourist might expect to rrcoTer from
having seen thctireai Eastern ut hillNall. another
mons ter of the deep stands in puli view. She Is
as an ark with pcenar defiant mir, and an express
! sion which tells you at once thai she was made tor
other han the peaceful purposes ofcommerce though
! nothing in the way ofarmdment or even IN the trim
of yards denotes the oi-w war This ship, along
| whose decks crowd of fashionable visters daily
/ anu hourly stream, aud all around which lie "A fleet
Of shore boats "masiers oithe situation md making
rs rach of ifbe President himself WAS view
| the iar-famcd rigate NiagarL She Il. we believe
the first States frgate that has ever anchored of
Grayeseud.
Let our readers therefore Mt least such Of them
rs love gaze upon noble specimens OF naval arehl-
lecture nvtl hemseves of the unusual opportunity
sub one viii mol again present Itself, Tor IN
sile form .peed md intended weight OF armament
the Niagara is beyond doubt the first IN tu-oi-war Of
her class iu the whole world. As the visitor mp
pioachcs her lofty sides he Is struck with the easy
graceful manner in which she "s-a the water, with
her bows well up slowly rising and showing of her
beautiful lines and clear to fine advantage. But
beyond this feature the general effect OF her exterior
Is not very pleasing The dark hlhrk hull unre'iev-
ed by n single streak of Whilc g es "A heavy appear
nnce quite foreign to her shape Sheis also very hollow
in the waist which lmparts that will side1 aspect
characteristic OF the American liners, but which their
fine rigacs except in this instance have managed to
AVOID or at least mitigate.
She Il ship-rIgged. with tau and somewhat heaFY
spars-a novel feature in an American screw their
bailders have Justly prded themselves avoiding
our practice OF oyernssng our steamers. But hei'.
" the Niagara seems nlolt, she has not rope or
spar too mach. On the contrary, the marvel IL That
they can do the wnrk ascrbedto them. for under sail
nlpnc, she rum IL Is said from l6 to IL knots an
hour.
This is speed which river steamboats,
would count as excellent From the spar deck the
Niagara looks b, means imposing, The buuarks
nre Of snch of such unusual holiness and 50 curved
in rs apparently 10 diminish her real size In fact
many of our frightes less than halt her size and not
to be compared to her in any warlikc or scagoing
quality seem larger on The deck Not till the visitor
has walked forward aud pcrched himself somewhere
near the bow spirit can he fully appreciate her i'm
lnense size and beautiful form, and feel that he IS
looking down such war steamer ms the world
has yet the equal Of and by the side OF which
the English navy can show nothing 10 compete.
The Niagara is one of twelve steam frigates which
II short time since Congress ordered TO be built by
way OF countorbalance to the enormous increase Of
the English aud french marine. The construction Of
oil the Niagnru was instruste1 by accamatlOn to Mr.
Steers, the builder OF the celebrated clipper yacht
America In building her he had four conflicting
purposes reconcile to make her gun boat, good
scn-hoai good sailcr. aud good steamer. The result
il the NingAra-in design kind Of compromise and
which leave bar the fastest sniler in the world, one
Of the fastest steamers fine seaboAt, aHd "A very
good man of war.
Then follows an elaborate and euogistic notice Of
the various portions of the vessel. The article
clu,les a, follows.
During the ynyate across the Atlantic. no attempt
made to ctIcct quick pnssage ON the contrary,
the engines mostly worked at half power. All
the rigging had been put up during the depth of an
American winter and as tGe ship reached the moist
and warmer attitudes. it slnckened extent that
made II more than probable the sticks would come
ont of her altogether especially during some days of
tremendous heavy weather. She therefore hove
n fitur DAYS while all lr With
sH above l6 With ~llr hree1r on her qu trer. She
can count on IA knots. Her present draught is %
feet but when armed, with all stores aud coa on
boafd, she will draw rs feet Each hundred tons
brings her daspn three INCHES in the water.