HUDSON STEAMERS. 



of this spacious river, and the rare occurrence of accidents from 

 collision, are truly admirable. In a dark night these boats run at 

 the top of their speed through fleets 

 of sailing vessels. The bells through 

 which the steersman speaks to the 

 engineer scarcely ever cease. Of 

 these bells there are several of diffe- 

 rent tones, ind'cating the different 

 operations which, the engineer is 

 commanded to make, such as stop- 

 ping, starting, reversing, slackening, 

 accelerating, &c. At the slightest 

 tap of one of these bells, these 

 enormous engines are stopped, or 

 started, or reversed by the engineer, 

 as though they Vere the plaything 

 of a child. These vessels, proceeding 

 at sixteen or eighteen miles an hour, 

 are propelled among the crowded 

 shipping with so much skill as 

 almost to graze the sides, bows, or 

 sterns of the vessels among which 

 they pass. 



The difficulty attending the evolu- 

 tions by a vessel such as the Xew 

 World, for example, one hundred 

 and twenty-five yards long and 

 twelve yards wide, may be easily 

 imagined ; and the promptitude and 

 certainty with which an engine whose 

 pistons are seventy-six inches in 

 diameter, and whose stroke is five 

 yards in length, is governed must be 

 truly surprising. 



18. The navigation of the other 

 rivers of the Atlantic States differs 

 in nothing from that of the Hudson 

 and its collateral branches, except in 

 the extent of their traffic and the 

 magnitude and power of the steamers. 

 The engines, in all cases, are con- 

 structed on the condensing prin- 

 ciple ; and although steam of forty 

 or fifty pounds above the pressure of 

 the atmosphere is frequently used, it is worked expansively, and 



89 



