18^6.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



267 



The church is filled with low ugly pews of deal stained and varnished : 

 this staining is another ridiculous deception, an abortive attempt to make 

 deal look like a better kind of wood ; whereas in fact it looks much worse than 

 in its natural state, for the varnish renders the coarse grain and misshapen 

 knots of the wood offensively and unnecessarily conspicuous. In village 

 churches where the deal boards are either painted of some uniform colour 

 not imitative of a costlier material, or left in their natural state, the lines 

 of this unornamental wood are little seen, and consequently the appearance 

 is comparatively unobjectionable. But to make an ostentatious display of 

 the " figure" of a wood which has no beauty to recommend it is a piece of 

 vulgar pretence, which we always rejoice to see proved, as in the present 

 instance, a complete failure. 



There is a large family pew for the minister screened oBF from the rest 

 of the church by a curtain ; the privileged inhabitants of this pew are 

 therefore enabled to offer up their praises and petitions unseen by their 

 fellow sinners assembled and met together (or public worship. These in- 

 vidious distinctions in a church are most unseemly, especially when they 

 who avail themselves of them are those who are set over the congregation, 

 and whose duty it is therefore to afford an example of fervour and attentive 

 demeanour. 



We regret to see that it is publicly stated elsewhere that this building it 

 creditable alike to the taste of the architect, and the munificence of those 

 who contributed the funds. These general commendations can answer 

 no beneficial purpose whatever. The great object of architectural criti- 

 cism should be the advancement of architecture, and therefore eulogiums 

 of bad architecture (except in newspapers, where their value is pretty well 

 understood) can never be innocuous. We have already praised the external 

 design of the new church, but the interior displays the grossest faults. It 

 has however one good feature which we must not omit to notice. Con- 

 sidering the shallowness of the sacrarium, the absence of a chancel-arch 

 is a matter of commendation. In some modern churches with mere re- 

 cesses for the communion table, the nave terminates with an enormous 

 chanuel-arch, which would be in proportion were there a spacious chancel 

 beyond it, but from the absence of that member appears disproportionate 

 and entirely out of place. These cases are instances of the unthinking re- 

 tention of forms after the use of them has ceased. It also should be stated 

 that the building has not a show-side — it is a church and not a church- 

 front. The architect has avoided the vulgar ostentation of making the 

 most conspicuous side of the edifice the most showy : the eastern side of 

 the church is as much ornamented as the western, although the former can- 

 not be viewed from the public road, and is therefore comparatively incon- 

 spicuous. 



STEAM NAVIGATION. 



We are indebted for the annexed Table showing the proportion of 

 British and American built Steam Ships, to the American Frariklin 

 Journal, it is taken from a Report of IMr. W. C. Redfield, of New York, 

 U. S., to the President of the Board of Navy Commissioners, dated Dec. 

 31, 1841. 



Of the ;team vessels comprised io the table, class A is intended to re- 

 present the largest class of war steamers which has yet been constructed ; 

 together with the most approved and successful class of ocean steamers 

 now employed in transatlantic navigation ; but which, in case of war, will 

 also be employed as steam frigates. Of the former, I have selected the 

 Gorgon, steam frigate, belonging to the British navy, the Kamschatka, 

 lately built in this city for the Russian navy, and probably superior to any 

 war steamer in the navies of Europe ; together with the Missouri, from 

 our own navy, superior in size to either of the above named vessels. From 

 the mercantile class of steam ships I have selected the Great Western, and 

 also one of the four Halifax or Cunard steamers, each of these being per- 

 haps superior in relative power of engine, and probably in speed, to the 

 war steamers already mentioned. It is known the four Halifax steamers 

 are alike in all respects. 



The medium sized war steamers, or class B, are represented in the table 

 only by the United States steamers Fulton, and the two war steamers lately 

 constructed here on the British plan, for the authorities of Cuba. I do not 

 attach much importance to the results shown in this class. 



Class C consists of three American steamers which are employed on 

 coasting routes, viz. — the Narragansett, Neptune and New York ; toge- 

 ther with the South America, one of the steamers employed on the river 

 Hudson. It is to the qualities of this class of steam vessels that I shall 

 more particularly invite the alleutiou of the Board, — believing as I do, 



that it promises to be more efilcient and useful for naval service and coast 

 defence than any other class. 



Class D in the table consists of the steamer Balloon, a very light vessel, 

 built solely for the navigation of the upper part of the Hudson, but which 

 has been well proved in her sea-going qualities in rough weather, and has 

 been also employed on Narragansett bay, and on James river ; together 

 with the steamer Gladiator, which was first employed on the coast routes 

 eastward of this city, but now runs regular trips on the southern coast, 

 between Charleston and Wilmington. This class, I shall attempt to show, 

 is also capable of rendering moat important services. 



It would have been easy to have added other examples of this and the 

 foregoing classes had it consisted with the size of the table, or been neces- 

 sary to the immediate objects which were had in view in its compilation. 



The English methods of computing the tonnage of steam vessels, not 

 being suited to show the full size or capacity of the vessel, and disagreeing 

 also with American rules of computation, I propose to adopt the following 

 as a rule for obtaining the approximate tonnage, viz: — " Multiply the 

 length between the perpendiculars (reckoned from the rabbets of the stem 

 and stern post at the level of the deck) by the full breadth of the hull at 

 midships, and the product by the central depth from the top of the deck 

 beam to the top of the floor timbers, or of the ceiling thereon: divide this 

 product by 100, by separating the two right-hand figures, and the quotient 

 may represent the conventional, or approximate tonnage," 



As the estimated working power of marine engines will doubtless con- 

 tinue to be expressed in horse power, and as the power actually obtained in 

 practice, even with like engines, must necessarily be variable, it seems de- 

 sirable to obtain, also, a ready rule for this estimate and expression, found- 

 ed on the capacity of the cylinder, or of that portion of it through which 

 the piston moves, at each stroke. I have, therefore, in the construction of 

 the table, adopted a rule founded on this principle, "and have estimated 

 fourteen huudred cubic inches of the capacity aforesaid, as being equal, 

 approximately to the power of one horse." This rule affords results which 

 perhaps correspond more nearly with the working power of English marine 

 engines, than with those which are found in the best American steam ves- 

 sels. 



For my estimate of the actual buoyancy of the several vessels in the 

 table, as compared with their entire weight in line 17, I have taken the 

 immersion of the midship cross section, both at the greatest load and at 

 light load, as being the measure of weight ; and the floating area of the 

 same section, from the water line Io the top of the beam ends, as being the 

 measure of surplus buoyancy. This method of computation is probably 

 sufficient for the purposes of comparison ; although the entire weight or 

 displacement of the vessel as compared with the whole floating capacity 

 between the entire water line and the top of the central beam ends, would 

 show the surplus buoyancy more accurately, and would increase somewhat 

 the comparative buoyancy shown in line No. 17 of the table. The want of 

 room has caused the omission of some other comparisons which might be 

 interesting and useful. 



On examining the table it will be seen that a strong contrast is presented 

 i the proportions and other qualities of the steam vessels of the classes A 

 and B, as compared with those of the truly American classes C and I). 

 This contrast is mainly founded on the more bulky proportions and greater 

 weight of the two first named classes. 



One of the most important elements of proportion in a steam vessel is 

 the ratio of its length to its breadth ; as will appear from considerations to 

 which I have already alluded. In the class A, of frigate build, the pro- 

 portion of length to breadth, line 22 of the table, is found to be as SCS to 

 one : while in class C the proportion in nine to one. The proportion also, 

 of deptk to both length and breadth, lines 23 and 20, afforU us a constrast 

 equally remarkable ; while the proportion of breadth to the draft of water, 

 lines 27 and 28, are no less worthy of our attention, 



I do not now propose to examine all the various practical results which 

 are exhibited in the table, nor to point out the many important inferences 

 which may be drawn from the facts here presented ; but shall confine my- 

 self Io a passing notice of some of the chief qualities which appear to claim 

 our attention. 



It is well known that the finer proportions and lesser weight of the steam 

 vessels of classes C and I) ensure for them a higher rate of speed than can 

 be attained by the vessels of the other classes, even if we allow to the lat- 

 ter, in favourable circumstances, the full aid of sails. Nor can it be 

 doubted that superior speed in ships or war steamers must constitute a 

 chief element of success in naval warfare. 



