HASZARD’8 GAZETTE,‘ JULY 7.

A LEVIATHAN INDEED. (Irons Di'rlmi‘s Household Words.)

We are in the habit of making occasional marine excursions to Woolwich. by Waterman Number One to Six inclusive. Sometimes, on a bright sunny day we extend our aquatic trips as far as Eriih or Gravesend, where, doubtless, many of our readers accompany us. Like us, the will not fail to'havc noticed an indifferent- loo ing, half-occuged spot of land jutting into the river opposite reenwich, known as the isle of Dogs, but having no sort of connection with Barking Creek.

Scattered over this island, at irregular distances, are factories, shipyards, store-houses, and tiinber- eheds, all unmistakable enough in character. There is one ob'ect, however, which has perplex- ed us not a litt e—a huge metallic erection, on which may be seen employed any day in the working week, hundreds of busy craftsmen, clustering, and humming, and buzzing about it like flies around a sugar hogsheiid. ,

It has puzaled a good many aquatic travellers besides the writer. We have heard scores o guesses made by wondering passengers on board Waterman Number Two, perfectly at variance with the o inions of those on board Waterman Number our. Some have not the slightest doubt as to its being a new sort of gasometer for supplying London with pure gas. Others believe it to be a pile of fireproof warehouses, on the Milner Safe principle, for the better custody of the national state papers and crown jewels. By some, it is said to be an enormous oven for baking bread and roasting cofl'ee for our troops in the Crimea. One or two have heard on good autho- rity that it is intended for Wombwell’s mena- gerie, to be moved on a hundred wheels. Others, again, have the firmest belief in its being an iron incarnation of Lord Dundonsld's mysterious plan for destroying Cronstadt and Sebastopol.

Now, it he ens that none of these opinions are correct. at one of the many gueseers have ever dreamed of this object being the mid portion of a ship, which we have since learned is reall the case. A shipl Talk of the Great Harry or the Great Britain, or any other great craft of the middle age or modern period 1 hey shrink into utter insignificance by the side of our metal monster of the Isle of Dogs.

e w on walls of old England are fast becoming myths of a by-gone age, embalmed in the ballad-poetry of Dibdio. They have given

lace to the iron-sides of young Britain. Canvass

as yielded the palm to steam; stid paddle-wheels in their turn are shaking their hearings in auxiliary fear of screws.

It is not so many years ago, but we remember it, that when a steamer of three thousand ions was first placed on the North American line, one of our then greatest scientific authorities predicted certain failure: it was hinted in a friendly way to passengers proceeding by her to the United States, that they had better insure their lives and make their wills before leaving the country. The ship was said to be too long for a hen sea ; she would break her back from the excessive weight of machinery in her centre, and would inevitably encounter a variety of other unpleasant contingencies. But, people remembued that similar failure was predicted thirty years before that time, when the first steamers plied between London and Calais. The General Steam Navi. gation Company nevertheless prospered, and so likewise have the American lines prospered ; for one of which there are at the present moment iron steamers building on the Clyde larger than any yet afloat.

The huge fabric erecting at the Isle of Dogs. as yet bears no resemblance to any known kind of craft. At a distance, the eye is unable to detect any particular proportions about it, and if we were to be pressed on the point. we should say that it had no shape at all. A closer inspec- tio however, shows it line of uprights at each en , which mark the shelving proportions of men, and stern, and then one can perceive that the object before us is really intended for a ship.

Standing on the banks: of the river Thames, with it vast open space on one side and Greenwich Hospital on the other, it is not easy to lorm a just conception of this marine monster, which, for want ul'a better name, we call the Leviathan. It is being built by Scott Russell and Company. from designs by Mr. Brunei, the engineer, whose conception the entire fabricc is. When we re. mind otir readers, that the Royal Albert line of- battle ship, ofone hundred and twenty guns, is something uiitler four thousand tons. and about two hundred and twenty feet in length ; and that the Siinla and Himalaya, at present the largest steamers atlout, are only three hundred and twenty feet in length, or thereabouts; they may form some idea of the proportions of this Eastern Steam Navigation Compuny’s ship, when they are told that it will be six hundred and eighty feet in length and of twenty-five thousand tons buithen; in other words, of more than six times the capacity of our largest men-of-war, and above double the length of the largest steam-sliip afloat.

Our readers will have frequently heard discus- sions as to the relative merits of paddles and screws. In the Leviathan, the screw will be combined with the paddle, worked by engines nominally of two thousand six hundred horse power, but in reality capable of being worked up to ten thousand horse power. ' o guard against accidents at sea to machinery, and to prevent any detention from such a cause, the paddle-wheels

_'il| not only be perfectly distinct from each other in their working, but each will be set in motion by several sets of machinery of superabundant POWQI‘. so that at all times derangements or cleaning of one or two cylinders or boilers will not‘interfere with the progress of the ship.

Steam willbe the sole propelling power, no canvass being contemplated in this vessel. In fixing the great size of the Leviathan, its projector believes that he has obtained the elements of a speed hitherto unknown in ocean-going steamers, It is confidently predicted that by the great length n the visthan, she will be enabled to pass through the water at an average speed in all weathers of fifteen knots an hour, with a smaller power in proportion to tonnage than ordinary vessels now require to make ten knots. be con- tract speed of most ocean inail-carrying steamers is eight knots. '

We believe that the Eastern Steam Navigation Company intend making their first voyage to Australia. The actual distance from Milford Haven, the company's starting-point, to Port Philip, is less than twelve thousand miles, if no ports be touched at. A speed of fifteen knots or miles an hour averaged from land to land would take the Leviathan to the golden colony in about thirty-two days. 'l‘his can only be accomplished, even at that high speed, by avoiding all stoppages for coals, which, besides detaining a ship many days in the different ports, carries her a great distance out of the direct steaming course. Here we find another novelty brought to bear by Mr. Brunch A shi of this huge capacity can carry twelve thousan tons of coals : quite sufficient, it is stated, for her consumption on the outward and homeward voyages. Space will still be left for five thousand tons of cargo. the massive machinery, and four thousand passengers with their luggage and all necessary stores for use.

The advantage of this arrangement is two-told. Besides the avoidance of stoppages for coalings on the voyage, the ship came all the freight which must otherwise have been paid to sailing vessels for the conveyance of the fuel to the coating depots, which, on three-fourths of the quantity consumed on one voyage would amount to a sum sufiicient to build and equip a steamer of two or three hundred tons. in order to compensate for the great loss of weight caused by all this enormous consumption of fuel, and to maintain an equal immersion of the paddles, the coal will, to a certain extent, be replaced by water pumped into the water-tight compartments forming the skin of the ship, and of which we shall presently have occasion to speak. In ad- dition to this arrangement, the paddles have been so adjusted on the wheels as to be as eflicient at one draught of water as at another.

lt is impossible to judge ot' the future finish or accommodation of such a gigantic ship as the Leviathan from the present state of the iron hull. Immense divisions of metal plates, reaching to an incredible height, with sub-compartments at right

singles, appear to divide the monster fabric into a number of square and oblong spaces, each of which would contain an eight-roomed house of

amden Town build, or a semi-detached villa from Stockwell. at forty-pounds per annum.

We inspected in model of the ship in wood, and could scarcely believe that the unsightly mass of iron plates, rivets. and joints, just beheld, could by any possible ingenuity be wrought into any- thing so beautifully symmetrical as the long, arrovi-like little craft before us, tapering ofi‘ forward as sharply as a woodman’s hatchet or a Thames wherry. From that model we were enabled to understand where the engines. coals, stores, and cargo would be placed. and moreover. where the two thousand first-class passengers would be berthed. in their five hundred state cabins. and where the two thousand second-class and steerage passengers would be placed, without nearly as much crowding as in an ordinary passengeror emigrant ship.

Large indeed must that steamer be, which can provide a miiin-deck saloon sixty feet in length, and forty in width, and fifteen in height: with it second-class saloon only twenty feet shorter, and a foot or two less in height. The Leviathan has these, and they appear but as small compartments of the huge interior.

It would prove a fortunate circumstance for our military authorities, who are so much in want of steam transports to the seat of war, if this monster ship were ready for sea at the present moment. There are just now two divisions of the French army, of ten thousand rneit each, ready to be conveyed to the scenes of their future operations. The Leviathan, with just S|ifll(‘lt.’fll fuel for so short a voyage. could take on board one of those divisions entire, with horses, fodder, artillery, and anitnunition; it could land those ten thousand men. with proper arrangements, in the Crimea; could return and carry the second ofiliose small armies; and could arrive back at Marseilles for the second time within one month from her first starting.

It has been deemed an achievement worthy of mention. to convey an entire regiment of light

much greater cost than was required for the one regiment conveyed through Eg pt. ad the ol system of ship-building still prevailed with regard to sea-going steamers,- ad our shipwrights worked on the wooden-wall principle inatesd‘of the plate-and-rivet method, we should never have possessed such noble steam-

ing of the expedition, Mr. Grinnell received from John Barrow, Esq., of the British Admi- ralty, the subjoined communication, accom- panied by a set of ma s and is copy of all the notes made and to on by all the Arctic explorers, previous to the year 1854, which be preselnbed to the oflioers in command of the vesse s :—

ships as are owned by our large commercial companies. Certain it is that the Leviathan could not have been built, on the wooden system. The mightiest giants of Indian forests, of fabulous age, in countless numbers, would not have sufficed to produce a ship, of half her size. Strength enough could not have been obtained with the most ponderous masses of tiniber-work, braced as they might have been with iron and copper, to have floated so mighty a load of cargo, machinery, and living beings. Yet the monster 0 w ic we are new writing, so new in its various appliances of power, so wonderful in its unheard-of capacity, is composed of plates of iron, less than one inch in thickeness.

The secret of the great strength attained by this comparatively small amount of metal is in the peculiar structure of the hull. It is built throullliout, in distinct compartments, on the principle of the Britannia Tubular Bridge, and when finished will be in fact a huge tubular ship. The principles of that structure need not here he dwelt upon. It will suffice to explain that the whole of this vessel will be divided into ten huge, water-tight compartments, by means of iron- ,p|ats bulkheads carried up to the upper deck, thereby tending far above the water-line. In additi this great safeguard against accident, the whole length of the ship, except where she tapers off at either end. is protected by a double skin of metal plating, the outer one being distant three feet from the interior. These double tubular sides are carried to far above the deepest water-mark, and inasmuch as the transverse bulkheads extend to the outer of these skins, they are divided into many water-tight subdivisions, any one or two ofwhich, though turn or fractured, and filled with water, would not affect the buoy‘- ancy or safety of the ship.

Besides the great transverse divisions before alluded to, there are two enormously strong longitudinal bulkheads of iron running from stem to stern, each forty feet from the inner skin, and carried to the upper deck: adding greatly to the solidity and safety of the vessel. be main compartments thus formed by the bulkheads, have a means of communication by iron sliding doors near the top, easily and effectually closed in time of need. In this way, not only are all the most exposed portions of the ship double- skinned, bitt the body is cut up into a great number of very large but perfectly distinct fire- snd-water-proof compartments, forming, indeed, so many colossal iron safes. f we can imagine a rock to penetrate the double skin, and make its sharp way into any one of these compartments, it might fill with water without any detriment to the rest of the ship.

One of the most terrible calamities that can befal a vessel at sea is undoubtedly a fire. The iron water-tight bulkheads would seem to defy that destructive element sufliciently ; but, in order to make assurance doubly sure, the builders are experimenting with a view to employing only prepared uninfiammable wood for the interior fittings.

Such is the Leviathan. She is to be launched, unlike any other ship, broadside on to the water by means of hydraulic power, and early in next spring, is expected to make a trial trip to the United States and back, in less than a fortnight. ln contemplating this Brobdignag vessel, our smallac uaintance with things nautical, dwarfs down lottllllpllllln insignificsnce. Before reach- ing the Isle of Dogs, we had imagined that we possessed some acquaintance with shi -building and marine engineering. One of the eviathan cylinders was sufiicient to extinguish our pre- tensions.

With a Brunel for designer ; with a Stephenson fur approver; a Scott ussell for builder: wit l’r~~fcssor Airey in charge of the compasses, and Sir W. S. Harris looking after the lightning CtititltIcl0I'8 ; the Leviathan may well be expected to turn out the floating marvel ofthe age. Fancy the astonishment of the South Sea islanders when they behold her. rushing past their cortil homes .'

THE U. S. ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

t..tov riuitiu.iiv‘s TABLET to ruin HUSBAND, &c

The Propeller Arctic and Barque “ Release" left the Quarantine station, New or , on Friday 2d inst. for the Arctic ocean, in order to search for Dr. Kane and his companions. Theso vessels have been fitted out by the U. States Government, and the expedition is under the Command of Lient. ll. J. llnrtetein, a native of South Carolina. Release has is com- plement of 24 ollicers and men, and Arctic 22 do. do. From alengthy description of these vessels and their outfit, in the New York

. Herald of 5th inst, it would seem that no pains

cavalry from Bombay to the Crimea, by way of‘, 0{‘¢j3P9m° WW9 been 5Pl“'e_d W l'°“d°" "'9 “P9” the Red Sea and Egypt. in about two months. dttion us erfect as possible. The ships are

lf the calculations as to speed of the Leviathan be correct—-which tiiore learned heads than ours declare them to be—ihen the iroti ship could have conveyed at least half a dozen regiments of cavalry from Bombay to Halalrlava. by way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Gibraltar, to two-thirds of the time, and at not

provisione for upwards of two yours. It is thought they will first riinlro for l~.lttl('lnll(‘|'g, and thence to Disco, where the sled re-dogs will be bought. They will then run to l.pcruti- vik, and on to Cape Alexander. llere Kane was to leave a supply of provisions, and here llurtstein wusto tin him. Prior to the sail-

Sii-—I almost fear the expedition will have sailed before this reaches you. but Lsend you the enclosed on the chance. One is a chart on which Capt. lnglefield has made some notes which me be useful, the other is the Arctic papers, w ioh contain the brief summer of the voya up to Smith's Sound, which I ave not previously sent, 1 think. wish I knew what way I could be of any service to the expedition. Wishing them all the success they deserve, and that they may return with Dr. Kane and his party in the autumn, I re- main, yours faithful y. JOIN Bannow.

Lady Frunkfin also sent a request to Mr. Grinnell, hoping that the American expedition would take outs humble tablet in memory of her devoted husband, and place it on Beechy Island. Time did not permit her to get the memento executed in London. This fond wish was at once com lied with, and the tablet was finished in New ork, and given in charge Lient. Hartstein. It bears the following in- scription :—

ro 1'!-I; sssiasoar os-

RANKLIN, CROZIBR, HTZJAMES.

- use all their gallant Brother Ofieere and faithful companions who have suffered and perished in the cause of science and the ser- vice of their country.

T H I 8 T A B L E '1‘ rs ‘ xaxcrxo near the spot where they passed their first Arep tit: winter, and whence they issued forth to conquer ditlioiilties or to die. It commemorates the grief of their admiring countrymen and friends and the anguish subdued by faith, of her who had lost in the he reic leader of the Expedition the most devoted and atlsctionste of

usbands. Jud so He bringellt them into the Haven where they would be. 1855.

This atone has been intrusted to be affixed in its lace b the oflicers and crew of the American edition, commanded by Lient. Hartstein, in search of Dr. one and his companions.

r. Edward Kane left the U. States in the first expedition which sailed from that country in search of Sir John Franklin and his missing com nions. Kane returned unsuccessful, but not opeless, and owin to his exertions, aidin the promptings of a umane heart, Grinnel was induced to it in fit out the Advance, and send her on anot er mission of philanthropy and scientific discovery. The Advance sailed in 1853, under the command of Dr. Kane, having sixteen men for a crew. He has been absent since that time; and when the borrowing narrative of Dr. Rae, respecting the ultimate fate of Franklin ‘was published, a feeling of universal alarm for his safety was at once exhibited, which has been extending daily up to the present period. Capt. Collinson did not bring an tidings of the Advance,t:he conviction is now sett ed on the publicmind that he has either perished in the icy regions or left them is good while since, and is now on is we home. It was this that induced the Unite States

vernment to appropriate the sum of $150,- 380 to be expende in fitting out, manning, and maintaining,unother force of navigators, ready to venture their lives in a search for their missing countrymen. It is earnestly to be hoped, that their efforts may be crowned with success; and that there may be no further occasion for visiting the inhospitable and dangerous regions of the Arctic ocean.

I ‘U

NEARLY rwo MI'l‘l.l0NS AT A Simon: D.tsn.— Thc Steamer which left this port yesterday for Liverpool, carried out nearly two millions of specie, or to be more precise, her shi merit in hard cash was $1,894,406 89.—W int for? England has made as loan of sixteen millions of pounds. It has been taken up according to the terms, she must be furnished with cash from this loan to the extent of about eight millioneofdollnrs ti month. ller capitalists, therefore, are calling in their money from all quarters on accouritofthe pressure of this loan . Hence this extraordinary shipment. Very as- tonishing this; but thus it appears, that with- out haviug anything to do with this horrible European war, we are compelled to contribute our quota for the siege of Sebnstopol. If this state oftliings continues another year, what will be the r-esultl—A sudden collapse on both sides of the Atlantic, or n flood of paper money, to be f'ollowcd by another explosion, erha e. If we feel so directly the cost of liol ing the Allies before Sebastopol, what will it cost to take the town’ The news Europa brings in

said to be very interesting.—New York Herald.