Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-06-28
The Cigar Ship.

We take tickets at Fenchurch street for
Poplar; and as we go upon the platform,
perceive at once that we are in seaport Lon
don; none of our fellow-passengers az
holiday makers, and all seem to have some
thing to do in the shipping or manufacturing
line. The occupants of our compartment
are not even inclined to lose the fifteen
minutes which our journey will consume.
One old gentleman in the opposite corner is
studying blue book, on the cover of which
/ see Merchant Seamen's Act''; and a
young man, draughtsman to some ship
builder, suppose, is busily unrolling some
drawings, to make them up into smaller
roll. The only exceptions to the general
asslduity are myself and the merchant cap
tain next me. | suppose his ship is being
repaired, for he seems to have nothing to do
or care for, and he and l soon get into con-
versation. He begins by asking:
" Have you seen the cigar ship?''
"No. lam going to see her. What do
you think Of her % '@~' 81. " - - vs. $50
why" says our captain,r"I think she
looks like nothing else but whale with a
Greenwich boat on her back.'
What do you think of her sea-going
qualities s'' "a,
81 think she is sea worthy as far as
More; buff she ever gets into the chops Of
the Channel, she'll roll like Jack ashore
just paid off" ....-.-.----... 49,, 49,,
"But, sir" interrupts the draughtsman,
who has now arranged his roll to his salts
faction, shy a proper adjustment of the
weights, the centre of gravity may be
brought 80 low that she viii not roll NOR
than any other ship. | think her worst
fault will be pitching, there. being SO little
OF the ends under water to support their
great weight" y - '''
80 yes" replies the captain, 81 know
very well you shipbuilders think that by
your calculations you can find out just how
ship will behave at sea. But put you
aboard my craft in gale, under close
reefed topsails, and you'd find out how little
you knew. Why, you wouldn't be able to
tell the sky from the water" ss9 p ia" p
After minute or two, cur captain re-
sumes in milder tone: s.What reasons
have you, sir, for thinking that the Ross
Winans will be steady ?" i.''. e
"My opinions as to the sea- going quail
ties of vessels are only formed by comparing
their respective forms; cannot pretend to
any other knowledge, as have never been
to sea beyond Margate but | should say
that, as the cigar-ship is not really so much
unlike other ships in form as she appears to
be, she will not be so much unlike them in
performance as you anticipate" .sio!a
What, says the captain, not unlike
other ships That's new theory. Inever
saw steamer that l would not rather sail
TO Australia in than take this new-fangled
ship across the Channel NJ -,srssv
"Well, you know, captain, that the form
Of the vessel above water has nothing to do
with her stability; and if you take the
piece of the cigar-ship that is below water,
and compare it with twenty different models
of yachts, you will find at least two or three
which only differ from il in having keel
and cutwater. She win certainly be very
much inclined to go off to leeward when
under sail, through having no projecting
keel 10 keep her up to the wind but do
not see that her want of keel viii affect her
speed in steaming; and it will certainly
not affect her stability to greater extent
than can be set Alright by ballast"
"Well, you may be right about ii" says
the captain, ''but she will be very awkward
TO manage, having such small deck ; and
at the best, her peculiar form does her no
good, and is only piece of her designer"
But We are now at Poplar; and a walk,
nrst through narrow streets where boat
builders, and oakum-dealers, and pump
makers, and carvers of ships figure heads,
work and hye-and past that old house
once inhabited by Sir Walter Raleigh, but
now greengrocer's shop, with nothing but
pieoes CT worm-eaten battered carving here
ana there TO show what iu once was-and
then by the river-side-and then across the
gates = hich let ships in and out of the docks
-ahd taen along the wharves, where piles
OF timber are neaped 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
20 De alongside, And what do we think Of
her! Is she like cigar, or win our mer-
cnant-captain's smile describe her? Imag-
Inc cigar much larger than Anak or Chang
would care about smoking-indeed, longer
IMAM any Of our river steamers not exact
tne shape of an ordinary cigar, having
NO punt end, but point at each end. Now,