EXTEAOEDINAEY SHIPS. 
n 
essential difference. Steam power_, then_, being adequate to 
the work before it_, these sea-trains will be perfectly 
manageable in fine weather. Now for a storm. Bow on the 
front compartment receives the wave,, and being empty of 
cargOj rises buoyantly to it ; compartment after compartment 
is passed by the rushing waters^ and each yields more or less 
to the uplift, according to the weight that is in it. Well, the 
compartments are all so hinged together, that the requisite 
amount of vertical fiexibility is freely given. There may be 
some loss of engine-power in extreme cases of the various 
pitchings and '’scendings of the various compartments ; but, the 
connections being lateral, and at the upper part of the vessel, 
act freely as hinges to the compartments, on the risings and 
depressions of the waves. So much for vertical motion. 
There seems more reason to dread the lateral force of the 
waves, and accordingly we find this has been the point most 
strongly urged against the connector- ship, and the one that 
has acted most to the prejudice, so far, of her commercial 
application. Now what is the wave which comes against the 
side of a vessel at sea ? A rushing body of water ? No ; it 
is not like a breaker on the shore ; it is a rolling* force of 
motion passing on in an undulating course through a body of 
water. In sea waves there is a translation of force, but no 
actual rush of water. Wave after wave lifts whatever fioats 
upon it, but there is no progression of the floating object. If, 
then, the Connector were broadside on to the waves, they 
would simply lift her. But here the important question 
comes, whether they would lift every compartment equitably 
together, or whether from the inequalities in the height of the 
waves in the strike of their crests, there would not occur such 
an amount of irregular motion amongst the various compart- 
ments as to cause sufficient twist between one and the other 
to damage or break off the connections. For our own part, 
we certainly think sufficient play and strength can be given 
to the connecting joints as to permit of such trains being put 
to sea and managed in all weathers, except, perhaps, the most 
violent storms. Even if disconnection did take place, it would 
not follow that further disaster must be the sequence. 
There is yet another extraordinary ship that ought to be 
noticed, though none of us have seen her, and though what 
good she is to do passes comprehension. That is one destined 
to go down to the bottom of the sea. The first experimental 
vessel did go there and stuck fast in the mud. Perhaps some 
of our readers may think that so many ships go there unin- 
tentionally that it is a superlative invention to design one to 
go there especially. But so it is. There has been designed a 
submarine ship. She was not intended to dive for freights of 
