J ON STEAMSHIP PERFORMANCE. 347 
_ measured mile in Stokes Bay, was at the rate of 203 statute miles an hour, a 
greater speed by upwards of one mile an hour than had been previously 
attained by any other vessel. The ‘ Connaught,’ when subsequently tried at 
the measured mile in Stokes Bay, attained a higher result, the mean of her 
runs showing the speed of 203 statute miles per hour. Vide Table A. 
The ‘Ulster’ and the ‘Munster’ were built by Messrs. Laird, on exactly 
the same lines as the ‘Connaught.’ The engines of these vessels were con- 
structed by Messrs. James Watt and Co., of Soho, the same establishment 
from whence the engines proceeded for the first steam-vessels built for the 
Post Office for the performance of the Holyhead Mail Service. Bonlton and 
Watt would have been somewhat surprised, if it could have been foretold 
that their successors would have been called on to construct engines tenfold 
the size of what they had made to be placed in vessels tenfold the ton- 
nage of the ‘Royal Sovereign’ or the ‘Meteor,’ and for the same line 
of postal communication. The general arrangement of the engines in the 
‘Ulster’ and the ‘ Munster’ is nearly the same as of those in the ‘ Leinster’ 
and the ‘Connaught.’ The cylinders are in diameter 7 ft., with a length of 
stroke of 96in. The wheels are 33 ft. in diameter over all. The boilers 
have each six fireplaces, 2 ft. 6 in. wide, and the bars are 5 ft. 6 in. long, 
giving in the aggregate as large an extent of grate surface as in the others. 
The area of the heating surface is 18,033 square feet. One funnel is used for 
the four boilers of each compartment; and as the coals are carried on the top 
of the boilers, the entire space occupied in the ship by these engines and 
boilers is but 102 ft. These engines were erected on board the vessels in the 
Liverpool Docks. There is not any measured mile at that port for testing 
speed; but from a return supplied by Messrs. Watt and Co., of observations 
made on several trips, the rate attained appears to have been 174 knots, or 
20°3 statute miles per hour, and the average performances of the ‘Ulster’ 
and the ‘Munster,’ contrasted with the average performances of the other 
vessels, fully prove that this in no degree overrates their speed, when going 
- under the usual conditions of a trial ship. 
_ The internal arrangements of the vessels were planned with the object of 
providing for the comfort and accommodation of the public, in the way best 
 caleulated to mitigate and, as far as possible, to prevent the sufferings so 
usually inseparable from the passage of the rough Irish Channel. For 
although the talented builders endeavoured to design a form which should be 
_ @asy in a seaway, both they, and those for whom they were building, were 
_ well aware that it was utopian to expect, as many appear to have expected, 
_ with ships of even their large dimensions, a uniform horizontal position in 
_ tempestuous weather. Enlarged size has no doubt, in many cases, lessened 
_ the motion at sea; but the chief advantage in this instance is that it has 
_ afforded the means of providing reasonable accommodation for many passen- 
_ gers,—a want which had been so much felt with the previous smaller class 
of packets. The saloons and cabins in the new vessels are large, lofty, and 
well ventilated. The principal one is upwards of 60 ft. in length, by 17 ft. in 
_ breadth, and 9 ft. 6 in. in height, there being state-rooms on each side of the 
principal saloon. There are two commodious deck-cabins. The cabins for 
the second-class passengers are placed forward. 
A better opportunity could not have been desired for attaining a good 
result, than the Holyhead and Kingstown mail line. There was sufficient 
‘depth of water at all times of the tide, with no natural obstruction to the 
Navigation of the Channel ; and the short distance needing no great weight of 
coal, and no cargo being carried, the vessels would at all times have very 
_ hearly the same uniform immersion. 
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