Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-06-13
ANCIENT VESSELS,

Magnificent and large as are some of our
modern steam vessels, they are inferior, if we
may Judge from description, both in size and
splendor, of the vessels constructed by the
kings of Egypt and Syracuse, on scale of
grandeur corresponding to the immense pro
portions of their sculpture and architecture
Ptolemaus Philop~ter, hing of -Euynt-hnilt
a vessel 420 feet long, Sc feet broad, u feet
high from the keel to the top of the PROV i;
and 80 feet TO the top of the poop. She had
four helms of 60 feet; the largest oars were
Sc feet long, with leaden handles, so as to
work more easily by the rowers; she had two
prows, two sterns, seven rostra or beaks, sue
cessively rising and swelling out one over the
other, the topmost one most prominent and
stately; on the poop and PROV she had fig
ures of animals, not less than 1S feet high
all the interior of the vessel was beautifed
with delicate sort of painting, of waxen
color.
She had 1000 rowers, 400 cabin boys or
servants; $500 marines to do duty on the
decks, with an immense store of arms and
provisions. The same prince built another
ship, called the Thalamegus, or Bed.chamber
ship, which was only used as pleasure-yacht
for sailing up and down the Nile. She was
not 80 long or so large as the preceding, but
more splendid in the chambers and their fur
nishings Hero, king of Syracuse, built an
enormous vessel, which he intended for 3
corn.trader; her length is not given. She was
built at Syracuse, by Corinthian ship build
er, and was launched by an apparatus de-
vised by Archimedes. All her belts and
nails were of brass; she had twenty rows Of
oars; her apartments were paved with neat,
square, variegated tiles, on which was paint.
ed all the story of Homer's Iliad. She had
gymnasium, with shady walks on her upper
decks; garden.plots stocked with various
plants, and nourished with limpid water that
flowed circulating round them in canal of
lead. She had, here and there on deck, ar
bors mantled with ivy and vine branches,
which fourished in full greenness, being sup
piled with the princi pie Of growth from the
leaden canal. She had one chamber particu-
larly splendid, the pavement of which was of
agate and other precious stones, aud the pan
els, doors and roof were Of ivory and wood of
the thya tree She had scholasterism, or IL
brary, with FIVE couches, its roof arched into
a polus or vault, with the stars embossed !;
she had bath, with its accompaniment, all
most magnificent; she had on each side Of
her deck ten stalls for horses, with fodder ard
furnishings for the grooms and riders; fish
pond of lead, full of fish, the waters of which
could be let out or admitted at pleasure. She
had two towers on tile poop, two on the PROV,
and four in the middle, full of armed men,
who managed the machines, invented by
Archmedes, for throwing stones of 300
pounds weight, and arrows eighteen feet long,
to the distance of furong. She had three
masts and two antenna or yards, that swung
with hooks and masses Of lead attached.
She had, round the whole circuit of her deck,
rampant of iron, with iron crows, which
took hold of ships and dragged them nearer,
for the purpose of destroying them. The
tunnels or bowls on her masts we're of brass,
with men in each. She had twelve anchors
and three masts. It was with difficulty they
could find tree large and strong enough tor
her highest mast. Great Britain-an omin-
Gus circumstance for the superiority of Brit
ish oak had the glory of bestowiDg upon
her sufficient tree for that purpose; it was
discovered amid the recesses of Albion's for
ests by swineherd! What is remarkable in
the construction of this gigantic vessel is that
her sentna, or sink, though large and deep,
was emptied by one man, by means of a
pump invented by Archimedes Hero, On
finding that the Syracusian was too unwieldy
to be admitted with safety into the harbors
of Sicily, made present of her to Ptolemy,
who changed her name to the Alezandraan
We may add, as a panergon to this long tale
of ship, that Archmelus, the Greek cpl
grammist, wrote little poem on the large
vessel, which was rewarded by Hero with a
present to its talented author of 1000 meas
ures of corn-a premium proportioned, if not
to the poem, at least to the magnitude OF the
theme celebrated.
A New APosrLE.-A Toronto barber who