The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-08-06

wider BY several feet, on an average than the
same street. Imagine that deck traversed In
all directions by several thousand persons of
both sexes, all continually in motion. Ina
CINE this vast congregation so swallowed up
by the immensely of the space which they ira"
yersed, as TO present the appearance OF only
sparse and not numerous assemoiage itSeep'
ed 10 US almost like an emblem OF inhhity
We stood awe struck, in presence Oh tue o'e1
wheiming grandeur OF the scene, as ih""
,nieh, no ware he suddenly transferred TO the
centre of a mighty desert. Expecting noth-
,re axpectius even to be disappointed, as we
had always been by the first view vi ooJects
renowned for their sublimity, we were Struck
as nv a Hash of lightning. 1t was an hour be-
fore we could recover our faculties sufficient
~ TO take the great whole TO pieces piece
meal, and by comparing the ship with others,
to take in its immense superiority.
To lose sight of a friend on this deck was
like losing sight of him in Broadway. You
might promenade for hours without meeting
with him again, and even then the rencon ire
was likely TO be altogether accidental. We
met, during the day, we are sure, at least
twenty persons in search of parties from
whom they had been separated, and whom
they had found it impossible to rejoin. Our
ad vice TO all such was, In every instance, the
same. 1t was to stand still in the same place,
until their friends turned up. Thus only was
it possible to rejoin them.
Having somewhat recovered from the be-
wildering effect of first glance along the
deck, we began 10 make the tour of the ship
Every object we met with was, to us, n SUBJ
ject of special wonder. The steering appa-
ratus, the after donkey engine used for hoist
ing sail and cargo, and for pumping, instead
of hands, the screw engines-the largest ever
made for marine purposes, representing a
power equal to that of 6 800 horses combined
the diameter of each cylinder being 81 inches,
(seyen feet) and when combined with the
paddle engines capable of exerting power
equal TO II 800 strong horses, and of throwing
200 600 gallons of water a minute above the
mast bead-the boilers, ten in number, aud
weighing together 1900 TONS the ten donkey
engines used for pumping water into the en-
gines-alI these have been described by others
better acquainted with such matters than we
are. The Bridge as it is called, where the Of
ficers stand TO receive the orders of the pilot
and communicate them to the crew, when the
ship is under way, struck the most in
genious of all the wonderfully ingenious con-
trivances of the ship. We do not know that
we possess Sufficient mechanical knowledge
or language TO describe it, but we will try
In its centre is a wheel, by means of
which an indicator, placed at the stern, is
moved In front of the wheel in question is
also an indicator. As the wheel turns, this
indicator turns. and communicates its motion
to that at the stern, and this marks the course
to be steered Beside this apparatus are
placed a couple of boxes, with fiat-gIass sur
faces, on which are marked stop" ego
ahead "half-speed,' "quarter. speed, y
"a. stern" These indicate by dials and poin-
tiers similarly arranged in each engine room,
the order conveyed, attention being first
called to them by a bell communicating with
the bridge. The officers on the bridge thus
control the entire movements of the ship
Then there are the saloons, the state-rooms,
the offices, all of them on the most magnfi-
cent scale The visitor is lost in perfect
wilderness of objects worth seeing, and it
takes him almost as long to become acquaint-
ed with the geography of the Great Eastern
as with the topography of London.
But we have space for no more to-day.