The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1866-07-14

Of the cigar ship that is below the water, and
compare 1t with twenty different models ol
yachts, you will find at least two or three
which only differ from it in having keel
and cutwater. She will certainly be very
much inclined to 60 off to leeward when un-
der sail, through having no projecting keel
20 keep her UP ID he wind but ! do not
see that her want o. keel will affect hei
speed in steamiug; and it will certainly not
affect her stability to a greater extent than
can be set right by ballast"
"Well, you may be right about il" says
the captain "but she will be very awkward
10 manage, having such small deck and
at the best, her peculiar form does her nc
good, and is only piece of fancy on the
part Of her designer"
| But we are now at Poplar and a walk
first through narrow streets, where boat
builders, and oakum- dealers, and pump
makers, and carvers VI ships figure heads
work and live,-and past that old house ono,
inhabited by Sir Walter Raleigh bul now a
greengrocer' shop, with nothing brt pieces
Of m-eaten battered carving here and
there TO show what It once was, and then
| by the river side and then across the gates
which let ships in and out of the docks, :
and then along the whaIfs, where plies OF
timber are heaped up, enough, one would
suppose, to build ships for many years 10
come, and behold we are close to the cigar
| ship, and have only to cross a bridge to be
alongside. And what do we think Of her
Is she like a cigar, or will our merchant
captains simile describe her. Imagine a
cigar much larger than Anak or Chang
ok lap
than any Of our river steamers not exactly
the shape Of an ordinary cigar, having no
blunt end, but a point at each end. Now,
take small steamer, and cut of all the part
below water, and place the remaining upper
part on the middle of the cigar, and you
| nave toi.. able approximation 70 the form
Of the cigar ship.
Before we 90 on board, we notice at a
small distance from each end what appear
to be, and are really, the fins Of the ships.
Three metal blades are visible near each end,
aud three more, we are told, are out Of sight
under water. Each set of blades, or fans,
forms screw propeller, 1t being intended
that the vessel shall 60 ahead or astern with
equal facility. The propellers differ in Inany
respects from the screw Of an ordinary yes
Sc, in there being one at eaclAend Of the
ship, in half Of each being out of the water,
whereas usually the whole is immersed, and
also in the peculiar way in which they are
connected with the ship. The engineers
say that their six blades, Of which, as they
TevolSe, three will be always immersed, will
do the same work as the three blades Of an
ordinary screw. Those pointed pieces be-
yond the screws are to divide the water as
the ship goes ahead or astern; they turn
round with the fans, the whole revolving
with an axis or "shaft," ich extends the
whole lengta Of the ship, Nhd turning about
straigh: line drawn from point to point Of
the cigar. The ship really ends inside Of
the1crews, aud, Invested Of the screws and
points, would look like a cigar with two
blunt ends but the form Of the vessel ap-
pears perfect to the point, aud the blades
seem to have been thrust into the surface
Like the fins of fish, they are so evidently
not parts of the surface as not to take off the
effects Of its curvature.
On board the ship we are first shown the
engine room. We 60 down a staircase SC
cor. sTucted as to put our hats in imminent
danger Of being knocked in or of, and find
ourselves on one side of the engines, which
tricate maze Of pipes and rods and cranks
all polished to marvellous degree Of per
fiction Every cubic inch appears to have
been made some use of; and when the en-.
gineer, who has volunteered to show Us the
engines, lifts up piece OF iron IN the floor.
ing, we see that the small place beneath is
full Of pipes and taps $50. "Our great diff
Guilty." says he, "has been to find room FOL
everything we never fitted engines of such
great power in so small space. You can
see here" he resumes, "the way in which
the ship is put together This, which voU
can touch, is the halfinch outside plating
What would they have SAID few years age
to have ships half an inch thick -
He informs us that these halfinch flat
iron plates form the skin Of the ship, and
are kept out TO their curved form by iron
ribs, which, in the ends of The vessel, are
complete circles but here, where we art
rooted in by deck, they form three parts ol
a circle, and the ends turn up, and make the
upper boat-shaped portion OF the ship. The
ribs are formed Of what are technically called
angle-lrons, a section being an angle, each
Of whose two bounding lines is about hall
an inch thick. An idea of the form of one
of these ribs may be obtained by half open
ing book, first dividing the leaves in the
middle Of the book. One Of the covers with
its leaves may be taken TO represent the leaf
of the rib which is next to the skin, the
other leaf which is at right angles to it, and
imparts the strength required to keep the
skin in its proper form. The advantage Of
this form Of rib appears to be, that it Can be
easily fastened to the skin by rivets. The
ribs in the ergine-room are placed about a
yard and half apart, that being the largest
compartment of the ship, and also being
subjected to great strain by the motion Of
the engines.
As the engine is only interesting through
being fitted in 50 small space, we do not
spend much time over it, but ask our guide
TO show us the next compartment. He saws
the next is the stokehole so we mount the
staircase, and 20 down a still more difficult
descent into box about three or four yards
square. We notice four furnsses, two on
the fore and two on the aft side. "You
see," says our guide, "there is not much
room for stOking, and | can sure you it is
cry not here when steam is up, although
we have got thick doors 10 our furnaces"
"Where do the Goals come from 2" in
qrire. "The coal-bunkers at the side seem
very small"
20, they are slowed under the saloons and
cabins but we can get at them from here.
Perhaps yo1 have seen an absurd drawing of
tho shin in Soma ahon wiuaauwc of tha ritxr