.A.MERlCAN . CAILROAD J OURNAL

389

Australian voyage have not done, and consequent-
ly they have failed.

N0 039 Call. fail to have observed that within
these 1«".Cst two years steam, in long voyages, has
3l_3I_l'2r.rently suffered a defeat. Clippers of all
kinds, the ‘Marco Polos,’ ‘Red Jackets,’ and
‘Morning Stars,’ seem to have recovered their own
again, and in the race round the world, sails have
distanced the paddle and the screw. When the
question comes to be examined, however, it is
clear that it is the want of steam that has caused
the failure: vessels, in short, as little fitted to
make a passage of thirteen thousand miles, as the
‘Sirius,’ though by a lucky accident it managed
to cross the Atlantic at the same time as the
‘Great Western,’ was to go a continuous stage of
three thousand miles. They have all the expense
of the new motive power without its full advan-
tages, and, in consequence of their having to go
out of their direct course to coal, they lose from
twelve to twenty days on the passage. The tor-
toise in this instant has not fairly beaten the hare,
because the latter has wilfully broken her leg.

Mr.Brunel, in constructing a ship of such large
dimensions, is only doing for the long Eastern
voyage what he did for the shorter Western one,
namely, making her own coal bunkers the bank
on which she can draw to any extent during her
progress out and home, instead of employing from
six to eight ships of 500 tons burthen each to
carry fuel for her over half‘ the globe, as the ves-
sels at present running are obliged to do; a sys-
tem which may be likened to the extravagance
of a man who employs half-a-dozen porters to
carry parcels which, by proper management, he
could manage to stow in his own knapsack.

The Report of the Directors for the year 1853
puts the calculation with respect to her immense
advantage, in carrying power so well, that we
quote it entire :—-

“In avoiding the delay of coaling on the voy-
age, your ships wlll also escape thegreat cost of
taking coals at a foreign station. Coals obtained
on the Indian and Australian route cost, on the
average, including waste and deterioration, four
or five times as much per ton as in this country.
But your ships will take their amount of coals for
the voyage from near the pit’s mouth, at a rate
not exceeding for the best quality, 12s. to 148. per
ton. On the voyage of existing steam vessels to
Australia or India and home, the consumption
amounts to from 4,000 to 6,000 tons; the cost of
which would supply 20,000 tons if taken on board
at some port in immediate communication with
the coal field.

Each of the Company’s ships will carry, besides
their own coals, upwards of 5,000 tons measure-
ment of merchandise, and will have 800 cabins for
passengers of the highest class, with ample space
for troops and lower class passengers. These you
will not only be able to carry at rates much
smaller than those by any existing steamships,
but with an unprecedented amount of room, com-
fort, and convenience.

In thus determining the size of the ships your
Directorsbelieve that they are also obtaining the
elements of a speed heretofore unknown; and if
hereafter coals applicable to the purposes of
steam can be supplied from the mines ofAustra1ia,
the carrying capacity both" for cargo and passen-
gers will be proportionately increased. The great
length of these ships will undoubtedly, according
to all present experience, enable them to pass
through the water at a velocity of at least fifteen
knots an ‘hour, with a smaller power in proportion
to their tonnage than ordinary vessels now require
to make ten knots. Speed is, in fact, another re-
sult of great "size. _It is believed that by this
speed, combined with the absence of stoppages,
the voyage between England and India, by the
Cape, will bereduced to from thirty to thirty-
three days, and between England and Australia
to thirty-three or thirty-six days.”

It may be objected that the route by way of
Egypt, now that the railway is in progress and a
canal is projected, will prove a too powerful com-
petitor for the traffic round the Cape; but inde-

pendently of the inconvenience and tediousness
of embarking and then re-embarking, which will
be fatal to vessels containing such bulky cargoes
as cumber the Australian steamers, it is asserted
that the ocean path is the direct route to the focus
of Australian connexion with Europe. Thus the
navigable distances from Land’s End to Port Philip
are as follows :——-

Miles.
Via the Cape of Good Hope .   ....11,818
“ Capeflorn. . . . . . . . . .............,...12,70O
“ Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, Aden,
Point de Gallo, and Singapore, in-
cluding transit through Egypt .... . . 12,034
“ Panama including transit across the
Isthmus....     ....'.12,678

The General Association for the Australian
Colonies have indeed recommended for the mail
line the overland route as far as Aden, and from

.thence by way of Diego Garcia and King George’s

Sound to‘ Melbourne, an estimated distance of
10,348 miles, which they fancy can be done in
forty-four days. It‘ the Eastern Steamship Com-
pany have not anticipated too great a speed for
their vessel-—and we scarcely think they have
done so, considering that the ‘Persia’ has made
fourteen and a-half knots with very far inferior
powers of propulsion—-this passage will be beaten
by between eight and ten days without the ex-
pense and trouble of making a long land journey
across the isthmus. Surely this, if it comes to
pass, will go far to accomplish the Alnashar
dream of the ‘Times,’ that the period will arrive
when we shall be able to communicate with our
friends at the antipodes in a month.

As far as the commercial part of the speculation
goes, we are of course incapable of giving an
opinion. The value of the exports to the young
empire, which is springing up with such rapidity
in Polynesia, is, however, so great-—in 1853 the
declared value being .£l4,506,532—-that we cannot
conceive there would be any lack of cargo even
for our Leviathan. That she will be par erccellence
the emigrant ship, who candoubt when we find
that, with all her splendid accommodation, she
will be able to take passengers of the first class
for £65, of the second class for £35, and of the
third class for £25.

Her great proportions will indeed almost deceive
her passengers into the idea that they are sojourn-
ing in some noble mansion. Let us imagine her
saloons blazing at night with gas, which will be
manufactured on board and supplied to every part
of the ship : let us picture to ourselves her magni-
ficent sweep of deck filled with gay promenaders,
listening to the band as she sails over a summer’s
sea; annoyed by no smoke, for in consequence of
the use of anthracite coal, none will be emitted
from her five funnels ; and distressed by no motion,
as in consequence of her length she will stride with
ease over the waves of the Pacific. We might
also dwell for a moment upon the mighty larder
of our Leviathan prepared for her flight of five and
thirty days, without a stoppage, across the ocean
desert with a whole town on board; or we might
draw a comparison between her and the Ark
(which by-the-by had not half her capacity) as
she receives on board her flocks and herds to fur-
nish freshmeat for the passage. But we believe
we have said enough to enable those who have
not visited the rising edifice, to realize the vast ex-
tent of this latest experiment in ship-building.-
And as a contrast to this fair side of the medal,
let us fancy her rushing through the night in full
carreer-—an arrow 27,000 tons in weight, propelled
by a bow of 3,000 horse-power. Can we without
a shudder contemplate the possibility of a colli-
sion with such a resistless force ‘l a line-of-battle-
ship with a thousand hands on board cleft in two
as swiftly as the apple by the shaft of Tell?

Every precaution will indeed by taken to avert
such a catastrophe. The electric light will be
fixed at the mast-head, so that in dark nights the
ship will carry a moonlight atmosphere wherever
shegoes. In case of any‘ fatal injury’ to herself,
which could not well happen, boats have been
provided capable of taking off her_ passengers.

Thus she will have two screw-steamers of 90 feet

in length as paddle-box boats, and in addition‘ to

those she will carry a large number of the new
collapsing, or bellows boats, as the sailors call
them. These curious structures, the invention of
the Rev." E. L. Berthon, expand and shut like a
Gibus hat or the head of a carriage, occupying so

little room that halt" a dozen of them of -a-large

size can be stowed away in the same space as would
be occupied by an ordinary jolly-boat, and seem

to be as easily opened as a parasol or umbrella.

Canals in Pennsylvania.
Scfmyl/till Navigation,
From Philadelphia to Port Carbon.. 108 miles.
Delaware Di'vis2'o'n. of State Canal,
From Bristol to Easton . . .. 60
Le/Liglt Navigation,

auuou u-yo

From Easton to Stoddartsville . . . . .. 84 “
Union Canal,
From Reading to MiddIetown—
mainline ........  . . . . . ..77
Branch to Pine Grove.....  . .22
 u u u n c o o : u u outvcnnlmnotlo  “
Susgue/Lanna and Tidewater,
From Columbia to Havre de
Grace.    .... ..45
Deduct for portion in Maryland. . . 13
Pennsylvania portion . . . . . . . . .. 32 “
Mill-M Line of State Cw/ml,
From Columbia to Hollidaysburg,
east division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
From J ohnstown to Pittsburg, west
division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Total.... ....    . .. .276 “
Susquo/Lanna Division of State Canal,
From J uniata Junction to Northum-
berland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 41 “
PVesl B7 ontclt Slate Camel, ,
From Northumberland to Farrands-
ville....     .. 76 “
Lower Norl/L Bromc/L Division of Slate
Canal, -
From N orthumberl’d to Pittston.. 73
Upper North Bmnoli Division,
From Pittston to New York line. 94
Total......... . . . . .  . . . . . ..167 “
Wisconisco Canal,
From Clark’s Ferry to Millersburg... 13 “
Delaware and Hudson Canal, ‘
From Honesdale to Hudson river.108
Deduct portion in New York . . . . . 83
Pennsylvania portion . . . . . . . . .. 25 “
Erie Caxnal,
From Beaver, on the Ohio, to Eric
cit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 186
French Creek Feeder,
From near Meadville to Evansb’g. 21
Total     ....157 “
Pomtsylvania. and Oitio Cross Cut Canal,
From near New Castle to Akron...78
Portion in Ohio about....  .. 68
Portion in Pennsylvania....  10 “
Monongahela Navigation,
From Pittsburg to within ten miles of
Virginia line.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 84
Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Naviga-
ion,
From Bellefonte to West Branch of
Susquehanna . . . . . . . . . . .  . ... . 25 “
Conestoga Navigation,
From Lancaster to Safe Harbor.... . 18 “

Yoilg/Lioglteny Nwvigation,
From McKeesport to West Newton.. 18

CC

.——-....

Total....  .

East of the A1leghany.l\Ib.1int'aih.s..921
West “ “ ..372
Total.......... .........1293 miles.

--P}ii_'la. Railroad and  Register.

 1293 miles. '