1842. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



359 



ENGINESRXNG V^ORKS. 



SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE. 



Oa the 2-lth of August, the ceremony of laying tlie foundation-stone of the 

 suspension bridge now being erected across the Danube, to unite the cities of 

 Pesth and Buda, was enacted. Of the gigantic work now in progress, two coffer 

 dams, unequalled in cubical dimensions by any ever yet constructed, are now 

 completed and water tight, being those on the Pesth side, whilst those on the 

 Buda side are in an advanced stage. That destined for the sustaining pier on the 

 Pesth shore was the scene of the display : it was fitted up as a vast saloon, with 

 graduated seats all round it, to acommodate 2,000 people, with a " loge^' or 

 box, for the royal party. Shortly after 5 o'clock p. m. a discharge of artillery 

 announced the departure of the Royal cortege from the Palatine's Palace at 

 Buda, and in due time the Archduke Charles, descended the spacious stairs 

 made in the framework of the dam, accompanied by the Palatine, bis Arch- 

 duchess, and their two children, the flower of Hungary's nobles, the magis- 

 trates and officials of the cities, aides-de-camp, and, amongst others, Mr. W. 

 Tiemey Clark, the engineer of this gigantic work. Their highnesses having 

 reached their places, remained there to hear read, and to sign with others 

 the inscription, in Hungarian, to be placed beneath the foundation-stone ; 

 which being done, it was. with the coins of the realm, placed by the engineer 

 in its destined bed, and on a signal being given by him, the "traveller" (the 

 machine for raising, lowering, and setting the ponderous masses of stone in 

 such works) was moved forward from the other end of the dam, bringing 

 with it a block of granite of about 90 cubic feet in size, and which, being 

 lowered and fixed in its berth, the Archduke Charles was presented by the 

 Baron Sina with a gorgeous and elaborately-worked gold and silver trowel 

 (executed by Messrs. Mortimer and Hunt, of London) and mallet, and there- 

 upon the usual ceremony of applying both to the stone was gone through by 

 his Royal Highness, and then by the Palatine, his wife and children, the 

 Primate, the magistrates of the city, the Baron Sina, the Count Stephen 

 Izchenyi, and the engineer, which being communicated by the hoisting of a 

 flag to those without, a response was given by a discharge of 25 cannon, and 

 thus closed this interesting and splendid ceremonial. It is not the least in- 

 teresting part to know, that this great work, is from the designs, and under 

 the direction, of our distinguished countryman Mr. W. Tierney Clark, F.R.S., 

 civil engineer, to whom the Archduke Charles on this occasion, in the name of 

 the Emperor, presented a gold snuff box, with the cypher of the imperial 

 donor emblazoned on it in magnificent and large brilliants. To Mr. Adam 

 Clark, the resident superintendent of the work, his Highness presented a gold 

 box, set in briUiants, and gave 100 ducats (£50) to be distributed amongst 

 the men employed. The trowel, on which is a representation of the proposed 

 work in basso relievo, with the mallet, has been handed over by the Archduke 

 to the national Museum, as a memorial of the day and undertaking. 



" As soon as it is raised a few inches from the bed where it now lies, 

 cable chains, worked by powerful capstans on shore, will be attached to it, 

 and the wreck slowly dragged toward the quay into a position where it will 

 be high and dry at low water. 



THE TELEMAQUE TREASURE SHIP. 



The following extracts from a private letter in the Times will be found to 

 contain much interesting inteUigence respecting the raising of the Telemaque, 

 which was sunk in the Seine, near Quilleboeuf, about 50 years ago. 



" My attention was attracted by a pile of timbers rising out of the river, at 

 a short distance from the quay at Quilleboeuf, on which a number of men, 

 whom by the silent energy of their movements I recognized as EngUsh, were 

 hard at work. These were the preparation for raising the treasure-ship, I 

 was politely received by Captain Taylor, one of the chief adventurers in this 

 speculation, and the conductor of the operations, who during my stay took 

 pains to give me every possible information on the subject in which I was 

 interested. 



" It appears from minute examination by soundings and by divers, that the 

 Telemaque is lying on her side on a bed of sand and rock, in about eight feet 

 water at ebb tide, a drift of mud sloping the height of her deck, but on the 

 Other side half of her bottom above her keel is entirely clear. The parties 

 who have hitherto attempted to raise her have proceeded on a plan which 

 has often succeeded in tolerably smooth tidal waters. They have passed 

 chains round the vessel at low water, carried the ends of these chains into 

 two large barges moored at the head and stern of the Telemaque, and then 

 expected that as the tide rose the barges would raise the sunken brig by the 

 chains. But as the tide in the Seine rushes up in a sudden and lofty wave or 

 bore, the barges were dashed up suddenly, and the chains were either disar- 

 ranged, or, being unequally strained, broke. 



" Captain Taylor has moored a barge near the wreck, and upon it he has 

 established his head quarters. Thirty picked English workmen live there 

 night and day, taking advantage of every favourable hour of the tide. In the 

 barge they have their workshop, their forge, and berths, and kitchen, all 

 quite man-of-war fashion. The first operations of this last undertaking were 

 commenced by driving wooden piles pointed with iron, and on these piles 

 a stage has been erected so as to form a solid superstructure or bridge resting 

 over the Telemaque. Iron harpoons with barbed points were then driven 

 right through the vessel, and chain cables were passed round the bow and 

 the stern, and longitudinally from the stem to stern of the vessel. The 

 next process will be to fix powerful screw-jacks, and then by them, slowly 

 and evenly worked, to raise the brig. 



Opening of the Southampton Docks. — The tidal dock of this great na- 

 tional commercial undertaking was opened in the afternoon of Aug. 29th. 

 The dock is said to be the largest in England, the inside, from wall to wall, 

 covering an area of sixteen acres. It is excavated to that extent, that there 

 will be always eighteen feet water at low water spring tides. The opening 

 is 150 feet in width, thus admitting vessels of almost any tonnage. A shed 

 is now building on the north-east side, 360 feet in length, and fifty feet wide 

 in the floors, for the storage of goods, from which a tram-way leads to the rail- 

 way station, distant about 300 yards. This dock was commenced three years 

 ago (this month), at a cost of about £140,000., and, had it not been for un- 

 foreseen causes, would have been opened for traffic some time since. The 

 vessels belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental and the Royal West India 

 Mail Company, will henceforth make use of it ; and no doubt every vessel of 

 consequence will take advantage of the facilities thus offered for landing and 

 shipping goods. The latter company have contracted for the use of a portion 

 of the dock for the sum of £2,000 per annum. There is another dock, 

 now in progress, called the inner or wet dock. It is impossible to state 

 when this will be finished. Want of funds prevents that accomplishment for 

 the present. This dock covers an extent of fourteen acres, and is the nearest 

 to the town. 



Boulogne Harbour. — We understand it is definitively settled that our 

 jetties are to advance 600 yards further into the sea, so that vessels drawing 12 

 feet water, will be enabled to enter them at all hours of the day and night. 

 When they will be commenced is one question — but when finished is 

 another. Our English readers must not imagine that we^no, not we, but 

 the Fonts et Chausse'es — have yet to learn how to go ahead by steam, as our 

 unfortunate harbour too plaiuly demonstrates. — Boulogne Gazette. 



Colchester Navigation. — The plan for constructing a ship canal 

 from Wivenhoe to the Hythe, as laid before the public in Mr. Bruff's plan 

 and report has, we undstand, met with a very favourable reception among our 

 trading community, who are of course the best judges of the merits of 

 such a plan, and of the benefits derivable therefrom. The possibility of con- 

 structing such a work for a very moderate sum (Mr. BrufF states £56,000, 

 exclusive of the land) gives it a powerful claim to public attention, and the 

 advantages Colchester would derive from its establishment are obvious. — 

 Essex Standard. 



Netccastle.upon-Tyne. — The banks of the Tyne at Newcastle are very 

 abrupt, and the breadth of the river about 620 ft., over which a timber 

 bridge is projected on the plan of the viaducts on the Shields railway, the 

 centre arch of which is intended to be 280 ft. span, and 100 ft. above high 

 water at spring tides. The estimated cost is £100,000, proposed to be raised 

 in 5000 20;. shares. The number of passengers per week traversing the pre- 

 sent bridge is 170,000, one-third of which, it is expected, would pay toll: 

 but the project does not progress. What a splendid opportunity here pre- 

 sents itself to adopt the use of iron to its fullest extent, especially as the 

 price of that material is so unprecedentedly low, and the facilities of casting 

 large pieces and quantities has so much increased. — 0. T. 



Whitby Pier. — This pier has been lengthened, and is now about half a 

 mile long. In a very short time it will be open to the public, and we have 

 no reason to doubt but that it will equal most of the pieis in England. — Hull 

 Advertiser. 



STEAM NAVIGATION. 



East India Steam Navigation.— The steamer India having performed her 

 last voyage from Suez to Bombay against the height of the monsoon, a cir- 

 cumstance unprecedented in the annals of navigation, it may be intert-sting 

 to compare a statement of that steamer's performance on her last two voy- 

 ages, the first having been made in the fair season, and the second against 

 the strength of the monsoon. On her first voyage the India left Calcutta on 

 the 10th of January last, and steamed to Suez in 25 days and 14 hours, run- 

 ning 4,849 miles, or 182J miles per day, consuming 680 tons of coal, or 

 7-6 lb. per horse power per hour. On her second voyage she left Calcutta 

 on the 9th of May, and steamed in 34 days 4,658 miles against the wind, 

 averaging 137 miles per day, and under sail four days ; total distance 5,089 

 miles, consuming 900 tons of coals, or 74 lb. per horse power per hour. 

 This result is most important, as showing that the communication by steam 

 can be kept up with the eastern side of India at all seasons of the year. On 

 the first voyage the Calcutta letters reached London in 46 days; the second 

 voyage her letters were detained 24 days in Egypt waiting a conveyance. — 

 Hants Independent. 



The James Watt. — Messr> Maudslays and Pield have received orders from 

 Government to proceed immediately with the engines of 800 H. p. 



Cherokee. — The engines sent out to Canada for this vessel are from, the 

 manufactory of Messrs. Maudslays and Field. 



