A MARVELLOUS STEAMSHIP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 168, 17 July 1891, Page 3

A MARVELLOUS STEAMSHIP

In a report on the trade of Baltimor iaeaed from the Foreign Office an Ist Apri the British Consul (Mr Segrave) says tiu quite recently there has been launohed from Baltimore shipyard a new form of steamshi] She is' stated to be a Beagoing steamsbij solely foe paßsenger traffic, having no freigr oapaoity whatever. Her builders assert the she oan neither burn nor sink, and that eve if upset Bhe has in a high degree the properl of righting herself, aB she has 41b weigt below the water-line for every lib above i Her keel, v?hioh weighs 36 tons, acts not onl as ballast, but-gs a centre-board, Inaßmuoh a Dearly half of its depth protrudes through fch hull into the water. In consequence of it extra rigidity the keel makea far safer and fa better engine and Bhaft bearings than tbos used in the ordinary methods of shipbuilding The difference between the safety compart mente oi the Howard- Gaßsard and those o vessels conetruoted under the existing systec lies in the fact that this vessel has air es we] as watertight compartments, while under th aotual system vessels are provided wit! watertight compartments only. These eafet; . compartments number 170, of whioh 136 an on either side of the ship's centre, thui forming, praotioally, three ships in one. Thi motive power consists in an improvec compound engine, calculated to develop 1.60( fa.p., whioh would drive a ship at an average of twenty-five miles an hour on a consump' tion ol one ton of coal. The valve gear is sc perfeoted that the valves may be opened ace oloeed in one-twentieth of a eeoond, thui giving doable power over engines of similai size. Uhe Howard-Cassard is 222ft over all or about 206ft between perpendioulars. Bh< has 16ft beam and 18ft depth of hold. She is built of rolled iron plates on the oellulai system. It is asserted that if an ordinary Bteamship ba taken from the water anc supported only at the stem and stern she would break in halves, while the HowarSCasaard, like a tubular bridge with a hull upon it, would support several times its own weight. This vessel is only an experiment, and is only two-fifths of the proposed dimensions of the regular steamship frhiob is to be built.