Des Arc citizen., 1859-06-01
IN UNI BE R 30.

ship, and Il further sun. of nearly fl00,- 900 was then needed to pay off liabilities due 10 conlr ctors and others The old company bad no power to raise. and many of the shareholders were unwilling 10 sub scribe more capilal, and ihe only mode of rxtrcallng the company from it's difficult
 ues was the formation of new company
 which should take ,hesship ata price to be agreed upon, and gel # ready for sea as quickly as possible. This has been done, and there IS no douht tfat the great ship.
 will start to sea about the middle of Au-
 gust. lthas been finally decided that
 Portland in thestate of Mainf, shaii be the port to winch lhe Great Eastern will
 make It's first voyage The great shaft,
 weighing upwards Of 30 tons. was some tune since put on board. Since that time the flung of the machinery has pfogress- ed rapidly, and one o the masts will be set up in the course o few days. The mast IS now lying aIlngside the ship, and the shears are prepared for hosting II in- to It's place. There will be SIX mas,s to the shIp. three of iron and three oI wood.
 Those in the nelgibornood of the tunnels will be ol lrop, the lvreInasts of wood.
 The necessity o navlng ron masls will be readily understood when 1t Is remem-. bered that the furnaces, burning some 25O tons of coal per day, will send enormous heat through lne monster tunnels. It would ol course De impossible to have wooden masls ot the size required of one block ol timber; and, as IS the case with all large masts, they would have to be
 made m separate pieces to contract, and the jolnls opening would render them per- vIous 10 ram, and In q few months the
 masts would become thoroughly rotten at the core. Iron masls are. therefore, not only necessity, but they possess, ln point of Ilghtuess as we'll as oi strength, advan- iages over those made of wood. The inasls are formed of wrought-lron boiler plates, ,rveIed iii the same manner as the hull ol the snip. The lallest aot the SIX ,nasts Is TO feel, and the shortest l3O feet; each of them IS three feet four inches Tn diameter al the base, and their total welght will range from 30 forthe smallest to 40 tons for the largest. and this exclu-F slve oi the yards or rigging. The foot of each mast will rest m a square column of boiler plate iron, built up from the keel through all the series of decks to the up- per one. IL happens at times that 1t Is necessary tocut away the masts and when they are of timber there is an obvious mode ol accomplishing this object. Masts ol iron do not, however. afford the same facilities, but lhls difficulty is to be over-l hxr ..f <Art which, placed on the deck and attached los the masts, will when sel m motion, crush in the iron sides, and let the towering iron columns fall overboard. A very in-il gepious arrangement for fastening the rigging to the masls Is to be adopted, which. in the event of it's being necessary to send the mnsts overheard, will afford facilities for immediately letting go all the ropes. The shrouds and stays will be se- cured to iron rings so constructed as readI- ly to open when required. but on other occasions holding with a frmness which defes any amount of strain which might be brought to bear upon them. The main and topmast wards of the square-rlgged masts will be of iron. and the length of the main yard l20 feet, or very nearly forty feet longer. and several times as strong as the main yard of the largest line-of- battle ship afoat. We believe il is intended before the ship finally puts to sea to afford the public an opportunity of inspecting the interior We may also add that all the necessary works will be fin- ished for sum considerably within the amount which was very generally suppos- ed to be necessary for that purpose.--
 Liverpool Times. a