260 REPORT— 1861. 



into the statistics of shipping, with a view to rendering statistical record more 

 available as data conducive to the improvement of naval architecture as respects 

 the adaptation of the form of ships to the requirements of sea-service." 



14. Mr. Atherton has already made a report showing that, by a little variation in 

 the shape of the ship, as great a difference may be made in the freight of goods car- 

 ried by her (that is, her actual mercantile value) as there is between 100 and 102. 



1.5. In continuation of the report on shipping; statistics, the author has devoted 

 his attention to reducing the amount of capital required, by the adoption of a mer- 

 cantile system of contracting, and the establishment of a system of test-trials 

 through tabular forms, and a register of particulars of all vessels. 



16. The author presented a tabular register for all the river steamers in the In- 

 dian Government, and private, railway and guaranteed companies in India. The 

 particidars for register are obtained from three tabular forms of record, return, and 

 report of trials. There is an abstract of correspondence with the East Indian Go- 

 vernment, in reference to the establishing improved steam tug- and tow-boats of 

 the ' Assam ' type on the rivers of India and China, in the left column. 

 > 17. In the right-hand column is an abstract of correspondence vn*h. Sir James 

 Melville, K.C.E., official director of Indian railways (guaranteed), with a me- 

 morandum on the test-trials of steamers, proposing to adopt a imifonn mode of 

 recording the dimensions, calcidated quantities of displacement, and capability for 

 cargo. There .are also rules for testing the strength and capability. 



US. An instance is given of the trial of barges that proved deficient in strength, 

 and of a trial steamer and tow-barge of another contractor that averaged 11 j miles 

 an hour, carrying 600 tons of cargo, and a 4ft. draught, for a three hours' run, half 

 of which time was with a throttle-valve f idl open, to test the efficiency of the boiler 

 to maintain the steam at the conti-act pressure. 



19. The tabular forms presented were as follows : — Record of steamers, form A : 

 Construction ; form of tender or certificate of dimensions and calculated quantities 

 of displacement ; area of mid-section ; weight of hull, engines, and stores ; showing 

 the draught of water, resistance, and capability for cargo ; also the cost or capital 

 per ton. 



20. Return, form B : The particulars of vessels and engines, with record of expe- 

 rimental trips and performances at sea, and consumption of coal. 



21. Report, form C : The same particulars on test-trials, with diagrams to indi- 

 cate horse-power. 



22. These forms of retura and report are similar to those used by the Admiralty, 

 and, with the record of steamers for May, a register may be formed of the particu- 

 lars of dimensions, calculated quantities of displacement, area, mid-section, weight 

 of hidl, engine, stores, and draught, such as will enable a register to be formed of 

 all vessels, so that their coefficiency may be calculated. 



Section 2, — Bejproposals for a General System of Tug- and Tow-Boats of the 



Native Type. 



The steamer ' Forbes,' with engines of 120 horse-power, by Bolton and Watt, 

 similar to the ' Soho,' was built and commanded by me, and after establishing her 

 as a tug vessel at Calcutta in 1830, 1 proposed and carried out the project of towing 

 a ship to China, 3000 mUes, half of it against the monsoon, can-ying a cargo of opium 

 in advance of sailing vessels. This river-steamer was fitted for sea in one week after 

 the arrival of the * Jemasina,' a ship of 380 tons, which she towed; she was fitted 

 with false sides, which increased her breadth three feet, and also with Chinese 

 masts, and had an addition to her fimnel. The photograph which accompanied the 

 paper shows her as she arrived at Lintin, the outer anchorage of the port of Canton. 

 In India, the first river-tug for sea-service was fitted with Chinese masts and sails, 

 like a Chinese jimk. 



The lithogi-aph plan in red, Appendix B, which also accompanied the paper, 

 comprised comparative plans and sections of all the river-steamers, tugs, and tow- 

 barges, trains and flotillas that have been built, tried, and improved, so far as is 

 known from the published accounts, since 1858. 



The first are those of the East Indian Railway Company, on the Bengal system 

 of tug- and tow-boats of similar size, 



