LAUNCH OP THE BESSEMER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLII, Issue 4311, 5 December 1874, Page 3

LAUNCH OP THE BESSEMER.

{From the Times, Sept. 25). We are glad to announce that the Bessemer saloon steamer was successfully launched yesterday afternoon at Hull from the yard of Earle’s Shipbuilding and Engineering Company (Limited). The Bessemer saloon steamer, as she now lies moored in the Humber, has very much the appearance of a breastwork turret-ship. She is shaped alike at bow and stern, and for 48ft from each end, she has a freeboard of about 3ft only. Her total length at the water-line is 350 ft, and the raised central portion, rising Bft above the low bow and stern, is 254 ft long, and extends the whole width of the vessel, 60ft over all. The deck of each of the cigar-shaped ends of the vessel carries one of Messrs Brown’s (Edinburgh) capstans, worked by hydraulic power, and a Martin’s patent anchor, and the forward deck will also be fitted with a pair of hydraulic cranes for swinging the large crates in which the luggage will be packed from the pier into the hold, and vice versd. The famous swinging saloon, 70ft long, is in the centre, and the engines and boilers which drive the two pair of paddle-wheels are stowed in the hold at either end of the raised portion of the vessel. A series of deck-houses for private parties, refreshment bans, &c., is carried fore and aft of the paddle-boxes upon the breastwork deck, and there is a sheltered walk between these and the windowed sides of the swinging saloon, which rises some seven or eight feet through the breastwork deck, its

flat roof, pierced by twp companion hatches* forming a steady-promenade for the delicate! sailors of the saloon. It will be curious to! see what will be the effect upon such passen-f gers oSEi;*®»dhi| (jtosk in the! midst of a rolling ship and sea; hat should the unwonted contrast cause them any discomfort, they have oiily to keep their eyes' shut. Though the ends of the vessel have precisely the same appearance, and are each fitted with a rudder, the steering being done, with Brown’s patent hydraulic apparatus, the screwing on of the paddle-floats necessarily determines a true bow and. stem. ' The Bessemer, as thft ateainer .'k named, will be able to steam either way with facility, the foremost rudder being locked, bat to go at her test speed she will probably have to give preference to the end which has been named as her bow. Besides the saloon, the greatest wonder of its kind since the hanging gardens of Babylon, there are on the same deck cabins for ladies and families, and on the deck below a second-class saloon 52ft long. The whole of the machinery is on board, and the after-pair of engines are completely fitted.; The nominal horse-power is 750, working up to 46000, sufficient, it is estimated to drive the vessel 18 or 20 miles an hour. This two pair of paddle-wheels are placed 106 ft apart from the centres, and each wheel is 27ft lOin in diameter, and fitted with 12 feathering floats. The engines are fitted with Brown’s hydraulic starting gear, telegraphic gear leads from the bridges to the engine-rooms, and there are various otheif -bandy and ingenious contrivances to facilitate the working of the engines “ too numerous to mention.” The swinging saloon is entered from two broad staircases leading to a landing connected with the saloon by a flexible flooring. The saloon itself is upheld on its axis by four steel supports, one at each end] and two close together in the middle. The aftermost of the two central supports is hollow, and serves as a part of the powerful hydraulic machinery which wii| regulate the motions of the saloon. Without entering into a long technical explanation, it is enough to say that Mr Bessemer has constructed some machinery which will cause the valves, the opening and shutting of which will adjust the saloon, to work automatically. The power of the delicate valve machinery is obtained from the disinclination of a rapidlyrevolving piece of metal, of a flat, circular shape, to stir out of a given plane. This “ gyroscopic movement,” as it is called, will very much lessen the amount of manual control which would otherwise have to be exercised over the hydraulic Machinery which holds the saloon, but there will still have to he an-attendant, who will stand in a sort of small pew at the central supports which rise through the floor of the saloon. He will keep his eye on a spirit-level, and watch the action of the gyroscope on the valves. The interior of the swinging saloon measures 70ft long 35ft wide, -and 20ft high. A retiring-room for super-delicate persons whose feelings are still too many for them, and a ladies’ cabin, are also included in the swinging portion of the vessel. The furniture of the great saloon is not yet fitted, and yesterday one saw little more than the skin of red-painted iron, but it is intended to, make it a very sumptuous drawing room,' ornamented with carved panels and furnished with luxurious upholstery. It will be well lighted through large • ground glass windows, and ventilated and warmed to perfection by ft. system of fans and tubes.. In addition to the two great funnels ’ which tower, wide aparf, above the deck, the steamer is fitted at either end with a light mast, to which a jib may tie hoisted, to assist the Bessemer to turn round. Hitchens built pa the fore sponsona are capable of serving up a hot dinner; and excellent entrance ports or gangways; accommodation for the crew, stowage space for luggagp, four boats and two of Christie’s life rafts aie other features of . the Bessemer steamer.. There is a great deal yet to be done on board, and though the pftudle- boxes are already painted a cream colour and portions of the polished woodwork fitted, it will probably tie a'couple of months before the'steamer can tie brought round to the Thames and made ready for her trial trip, which will then be at a time of year in which she may be pretty sure of a rough day to test her capabilities. ! Considered apart from the hopes whioh enterprising capitalists and'sea-sick passengers stake upon her success, the Bessemer ship ,is beyond doubt one of the most novel and interesting attempts in naval architecture which have been made in this generation. In the first place, it must be remembered that tbo main characteristics of the vessel have been determined exclusively by her primary object —that of carrying the pivoted saloon. She is the production of two minds, the saloon and all the appliances for working it having been designed by Mr Bessemer, one of the most eminent engineers and inventors of the day, while the vessel itself, and all the propelling and working arrangements, have been designed by Mr Heed, whose services as a naval constructor seem just now in request with all the maritime Powers in the world except our own. Some minor parts of the design, such as the working out of the paddleengines and boilers (entrusted to Earle’s company) and the hydraulic arrangements for steering the vessel and working the luggage cranes (the patents of Messrs Brown, hydraulic engineers, of London and Glasgow), have been undertaken by others, but the plans for every part of the vessel, including even the saloon and its machinery, have passed through Mr Reed’s London office, and have been carried out more or less under the inspection of his staff of overseers.

The first condition required by Mr Bessemer will show how differently from all others this ship has had to be, constructed. The inventor demanded the whole central portion of the ship, for a length of no less than 70ft., for the purpose of his swinging saloon, and this is precisely the space in which the engines and boilers are placed in any ordinary large passenger steamer propelled by paddle-wheels. The necessity of surrendering this space in order that the saloon might be in the centre of the vessel, where there is least motion, threw upon Mr Reed the responsibility of adopting some different disposition of the engine and boiler power. Very high speed was required, and great power hid to be provided. The plan adopted is that of dividing the engine and boiler power into two equal portions, and giving to each portion a separate pair of paddle-wheels, the centres of which are 106 ft. apart. This arrangement, of course, involved the necessity of working one set of wheels in the “race ” of the other set, which some persons consider will very much diminish the vdlue of the after-pair of paddles, and which no doubt has its disadvantages. But it is not easy to see how any other arrangement could have been adopted; for, although in a sea-going ship carrying large supplies of sea stores, cargo, or other weights to balance the engine and boilers, a different method might be devised, in a ship like the Bessemer, which has but few other weights on board of any moment besides the engines and boilers, and which must perforce float at' a light and uniform draught of water from one end to the other, it seems impossible to have concentrated either the weights or the propelling, wheels at either end, especially when regard is had to the nest important feature of the ship.

The next feature consists in her having both ends alike, and each fitted to act either as a bow or a stern as required. The_ necessity for this arises from the impracticability of turning a ship as large as the Bessemer in the French harbours. It is absolutely necessary to take the ship in and out without reversing her. This form of ship, with rudders at both ends, is less' uncommon than ships ' with duplicated sets of paddle-wheels, but it is one requiring much care on the part of the designer, in order to make it thoroughly successful. The circumstance of the ends of the ship being on a different level from the main central portion gave rise to serious structural difficulties, since it is now well known that a ship .may be viewed as a huge longitudinal girder, of which the top (which is cut away in the case of the Bessemer) and bottom are the most important parts. Mr Eeed , met this difficulty by a device which, we believe, to be perfectly novel in shipbuilding. He has continued down the principal upper strakes of plating, known as the " deck stringers ” and the “ sheer strakes,” at a considerable inclination from the upper deck to the lower, connecting them throughout by large angle irons,

MVhe 1 fowl Mi'^isUnT plating” on the low ends.! secured wrenasmau quantity of vUMtpwed plating/ aik ‘%trtdn W°lliej ■Mp. whftlier mw m et .will no, doubt be sustained with perfect emeMßcy. ) Eeturning to the Saloon itself it is necessary to sweep,entirely/fcway at the very Outset aU> ideas of this saloon being a mere ‘'pendulous” cabin. It is not pendulous m any true sense,' fdrinstead of, bbing swung Idotely upon; centres it I*'' control of! enormous hydraulic engines, which will have; it, it is hoped; Under Absolute command. If is true that it is mounted upon steel centres, three ip number, qne at each end and one in' the centre, but it u also laid hold of at the sides by the Uydrahlib machinery, %hich' will impart to it siibfi rotary motion as may be -foundnecas»arVr the machinery are aU to be . carded in the rolling ship—for it must fie'prisnthed that neither her size nor all her designer’s precautions will prevent the ship itself from rolling in heavy.weather—it is obvious that if the occupants of the saloon are; to be relieved of the rolling motion, the saloon must itself have motions the reverse of those of the ship imparted to it. And this is precisely What is 1 proposed, viz., to roll the'saloon within the ship just as much as the ship rolls, but in the opposite direction, so that the ocoupan|B-o£ the saloon may fed do. rolling, motion at all. Another way of viewing the matter is that of considering the ship to roll around the saloon; the object of all the machinery being to prevent the ship from carrying the saloon round with it. It is not heeessary to say more upon this point at present, because the proper occasion for describing the saloon machinery more folly will be the trial of this machinery in action, which will be made before very long -■; ' ■