1840] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



287 



who is iaconiparably the best-informed, anil the most sagacious aud far-seeing 

 of the Steam Company's agents, has expressly taken into his calculation the 

 possibilities of a future war with some of the Continental Powers, or a change 

 in the Egyptian Dynasty, slnitting up the Suez line of route, in which case 

 the Cape line would be adopted as a pis oiler; and Captain Barber, very 

 wisely in our opinion, grounds his reasons for advocating the adoption of the 

 largest class of vessels (2000 tons and 500-horse power) upon the distant 

 contingency of such a war arising, and compelling the Company to send their 

 boats round the African Promontory, in which case the size and consequent 

 speed of f lie vessels would add to their security, and diminish the duration 

 of the voyage. 



Few of our readers woidd credit the statement, if unfortunately too flagrant 

 proofs could not be adduced of its exactitude, tliat the state of the conuuuni- 

 cations by sea, between tlie three Presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Cal- 

 cutta are at this moment very little better than they were in the days of 

 Clive or Macartney : there arc certain periods of tlie year during which the 

 Monsoon rages alternately on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, and ihuing 

 the continuance of these winds, which may truly be styled the approl/rinm 

 merMoTum, the intercourse by sea between the different ciril and military 

 stations is almost closed. The steamers pljing between the Presidencies, in- 

 chuling those established on the line from Bombay to Suez, are totally un- 

 equal to the effort of contending with the south-west Monsoon ; consequently, 

 the ports are, so to speak, sluit up, and the conmmnications take place by the 

 tedious and precarious foot-post or dik, which runs between Madras and 

 Bombay, and Calcutta aud Bombay and Madras, and which is shown by the 

 evidence of Jlr. Elliott and others, before the Select Committee of 1837, to 

 be wholly inadequate to the effort of carrying communication as rapidly as 

 might be done between the tlu'ee Governments, in cases of emergency whicli 

 are liable to arise from day to day. We have asserted that the steamers now- 

 employed by the East Indian Government as mail-boats between Bombay and 

 Suez, are not equal to tiie effort of facing and mastering the ilonsoon during 

 the four months of its duration, from May to September. This assertion is 

 l)orne out by the fact, tliat the Atalanta was compelled to put back to Bom- 

 bay in April 1839, and the Berenice broke her beam in an unsuccessful 

 struggle to make the passage against the Monsoon ; and the powers of these 

 two vessels afford a very fair criterion of the capabihties of the remainder, 

 which the East India Company has declared it to be its determination not to 

 alter or increase. Under these circumstances it becomes a matter of vital 

 importance to Madras and Calcutta, but more especially to the latter city, 

 which is tlie emporium of the East, to set on foot such a means of constant 

 and continuous communication as will supply the glaring defieienaies of the 

 Company's establishment ; and after the most mature dehberation, aided by 

 the experience and inventive capacities of some of the most eminent men in 

 the respective departments of the Royal and the Commercial Navy, Civil En- 

 gineering, and other Scientific Professionist, to whose testimony is added the 

 unerring and triumphant evidence afforded by tlie successful experiment tried 

 by the Atlantic Steam Company, as to the capability of steam to overcome 

 the obstacles of wind and weather, the Indian Steam Directors have deter- 

 mined upon building vessels of a tonnage equal to the mastery of the Mon- 

 soon gales, consisting of boats of two thousand tons and of six hundred horse 

 power. Of these boats there are to be seven, namely, four in the Indian 

 seas, and three on the European side, which number will, it is confidently 

 anticipated, be fully equal to maintain the monthly communication with the 

 three Presidencies, which it is the object of the patriotic and public spuited 

 gentlemen forming the present nucleus of the Company to achieve, and whose 

 efforts deserve tlie grateful co-operation of every right-thinking man in tlie 

 British empire. 



There is one topic which we have yet to touch upon as connected with the 

 subject before us, and that is the question raised by the East India Company, 

 as to the expediency of confiding the transjiort of the Indian mails to a Pri- 

 vate Company. * * Appended to Mr. Curtis's pamphlet on the State of 

 the Steam Question is a pertinent document, furnished by the East India 

 Company itself, which ought to convince every holder of India Bonds, that 

 the sooner the conveyance of the mails is made over to a competent, well- 

 arranged Company, the better is his chance of continuing to secure his pre- 

 sent ample dividend. The document referred to is entituled, " k Return 

 of the present Annual Cost to the East India Company of maintainiiuj (?) the 

 communication between Bombay and Suez." This return extends only to 

 the period of eight and a half months ; but an approximate calculation has 

 been formed on its figures, extending it to an entire year, from which it is 

 shown that the total expense of maintaining the four steamers now employed 

 (including an aUov/ance of fifteen per cent, on the prime cost of the vessels, 

 J6162,000, for wear and tear,) amounts to £182,828. The receipts, accord- 

 ing to the same approximate estimate, were, for passengers i;<),534, and the 

 British Government allowed the sum of A"dO,000 for the transport of the 

 mails : thus a dead loss of A'123,294 has been incurred in one year on the 

 present incomplete and inadequate establishment, which cannot perform what 

 it purports to do during four months out of the twelve ; and if the num- 

 ber of boats were to be increased, and the establishment extended, the loss 

 would be proportionably greater. The only means of diminishing this loss, 

 or of turning the scale the other way, is by the conveyance of passengers. 



Having thus, at a considerable, but we trust not an useless, expense of 

 time and labour, endeavoured to demonstrate the physical and commercial 

 advantages of the proposed plan for reducing the distance between Great 

 Britain aud her Indian territory, let us turn for a moment to the consideration 



of the incalculable, the inestimable blessings which must inevitably follow in 

 the immediate train of such increased facilities for intercourse. " We have 

 laid it down above, as an axiom, that ci\ilization and beneflts of all classes 

 flow naturally from the establishment of a continuous stream of transit ; and 

 if this be true with respect to the deserts of .Arabia, how much more appli- 

 cable is it to the fat and fertile plains of Bengal, and of the Paven Ghauts, 

 and the millions who cultivate them ? To the philosopher, the jioet, the 

 philanthropist, the Christian, the mighty results whicli may be anticipated 

 from rendering the access to the shores of India safe and easy, are at once 

 exhilirating and overpowering ; nor is the gradual and insensible amelioratioa 

 which must of necessity take place in the minds and religious feelings of the 

 peaceful and tractable Hindoos, by the mere progress of events, indepen- 

 dently of the efforts of the Christian missionaries and others, amongst the 

 least of the blessings which British domination and British communication will 

 bestow upon the natives of India. M'hat a field will there not be opened up 

 for encouraging and creating fresh agricultural euterprizes ! what schemes 

 for reconstructing the gigantic machinery which formerly existeil in the Car- 

 iiatic and Mysore countries, for tlie irrigation of the thirsty, though produc- 

 tive soil, may not be expected to lie formed, as soon as the capabilities of the 

 country are developed by the discerning eye of the practical engineer ! Who 

 can estimate the increased consumption which will ensue of British manu- 

 factures, as soon as the natives discover that they can employ themselves . 

 more profitably in raising agricultural produce for barter or sale, than in 

 vrielding the shuttle and beam ? If even manufactured cottons to the amount 

 of two fananis a head, (1.?. 3f/.) were to be taken by the populations of the 

 Cai-natic, Canara, Bengal, and Orisrti, the annual increase in the export value 

 of calicoes would be more than £3,000,000, and surely this is a consideration 

 worth the attention of our manufacturing classes. — AbrUlrjed from a Morning 

 Paper. 



STEAB2 NAVIGATION. 



Steam Ttig.—Oa the 9th July, 1840, a trial satisfactory in its results was 

 made of the new steam tug boat, which has lieen built for the River Clyde 

 Trustees, by Messrs. Hedderwick & Rankiu. The engines by Messrs. Smith 

 & Rodgers, under the personal superintendence aud specifications of William 

 Buld, engineer of the Clyde. This small steamer has been built for the pur- 

 pose of drawing the punts which carry the material dredged up in deepening 

 the river. She is about 140 tons. Iler dimensions are, keel 82 feet long, 

 with fore rake 86 feet; breadth between paddles 18 feet, depth 9 feet, and 

 draws 5 feet 8 inches of water. She carries two engines, each about 30 

 horses power. Diameter of cylinder 30 inches ; length of stroke 3 feet 6 

 inches. The diameter of the paddle-wheels are 12 feet, and float-boards 

 5 feet S inches by 1 foot 2 inches. If the engines make 34 strokes in a 

 minute, the velocity of the wheel per hour will be 4-58 miles. This little 

 steamer has been constructed in the most solid and substantial manner, only 

 for the purpose of drawing heavy loaded punts, aud not for speed ; yet upon 

 her first trial, and against a strong breeze of wind, she steamed from" Glasgow 

 to Port Glasgow, a distance of eighteen miles, in one hour and fifty-nine mi- 

 nutes ; and there can be no doubt that her speed will exceed ten miles an 

 hour when everything shall have been put into proper working order, for she 

 has run from Glasgow to Renfrew, a distance of five miles in 32 minutes. 



Pacific Steam Nauigation Company,— On Tuesday, the 4th ultimo, the Peru, 

 one of the vessels belonging to 'he Pacific Steam Navigation Company, 

 started from her moorings at Blackwall on an experimental trip <li,wn the 

 river and back to Blackwall. She is a very splendid steamer ; her engines 

 are of 90 horse power each, and her burden 700 tons. Over her paddles are 

 placed safety boats of a large size, and capable of aflbrding means of escape 

 fur the crew and passengers, in the event of fire or any other accident to 

 wliich long voyages are exposed, but vvhich precaution, there is every reason 

 to think, Irom the excellent arrangements of this steamer, will be superfluous. 

 Nevertheless, it is a matter of congratulation to those who are about to tra- 

 verse the immense space of water which divides England from .South America, 

 that such contrivances have been adopted for their security, and great praise 

 is due to Captain G. .Smith, the inventor and adapter of tiiese safety boats. 

 Their appearance adds to the elegance of the steamer, they take up less room 

 than the paddle-boxes which in general cover the paddles, and, as they are 

 more snug, so they hold less wind, and consequently occasion less impedi- 

 ment to the speed and management of the ves.sel. This ada; tation has been 

 made use of in the ruyal navy, and has been found to answer all the purposes 

 intended by the inventor, but it has never been employed in me cantile 

 steamers until on board the Chili (which belongs to this company) and the 

 Peru. A model of the invention has been exhibited at the Polytechnic Insti- 

 tution, and the results exhibited in miniature have been satisfactory. The 

 Peru and the Chili v. ere both built in the yards of Messrs. Curling and Young ; 

 tlieir engines are from the manufactory of Messrs. Miller and Ravenhill. In 

 these vessels coal will not be used during the voyages, but the prepared fuel 

 of Mr. Oranwill be substituted. The Chili started about a fortnight previously. 

 Both she and the Peru will touch at Rio. and proceed through the Straits of 

 Magellan to the Pacific Ocean. The arrival of these vessels in the Pacific 

 will be an era in the history of navigation. They will create a communica- 

 tion between localities which cannot be attained by sailing vessels under two 

 months in the short sjjace of a fortnight, and « ill help in no little degree to 

 civilize the inhabitanis and restore good good government.— a desideratum 

 too long wanted in the regions to which their operations are destined. It 



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