STEAM NAVIGATION-ENGLISH AND AMERICAN STEAMBOATS. sea navigating our coasts, at least to the extent to which it has been carried in America. slender built, and a more delicate mould, give the requisite strength to their vessels, and thus a much We have obtained for the present number of the greater speed, which essentially depends upon these Family Magazine, spirited engravings of the splendid two qualities, is generally obtained. In America the English steamship Liverpool and our favourite Amer- position of the machinery and of the cabins, which are raised above the deck of the vessels, admits of ican steamer, Swallow. It will be seen by com- powerful engines, with an enormous length of stroke paring these engravings that there is a wide differ- being employed to propel them; but this arrangeence in the construction of these steamers-onement would be wholly inapplicable to the vessels having the appearance of a large ship with a steam engine in her hold-the other "a long, low," and rakish go-ahead steamboat in the American sense of "But perhaps the strongest proof that the Amerithe term. The English steamers are built for can vessels are very differently circumstanced from those of Europe, and therefore admit of a construcservice; ours, generally, for rivers. The former tion more favourable for the attainment of great have within the last twelve months, most triumph-speed, is the fact that they are not generally, as in antly established the fact, that they are capable of Europe, navigated by persons possessed of a knowlnavigating the Atlantic with as much safety as a edge of seamanship. In this country steam navipacket ship, and make their passages in one half the gation produces hardy seamen, and British steamers time. In regard to speed, we claim the superiority.- being exposed to the open sea in all weathers, are It is probable that the Swallow would run quite round furnished with masts and sails, and must be worked either the Liverpool or Great Western once in every by persons, who, in the event of any accident happening to the machinery, are capable of sailing the five miles. vessel, and who must therefore be experienced seamen. The case is very different in America, where, with the exception of the vessels navigating the Lakes, and one or two of those which ply on the eastern coast, there is not a steamer in the country which has either masts or sails, or is commanded These facts forcibly by a professional seaman. show the different state of steam navigation in America, a state very favourable for the attainment of great speed, and a high degree of perfection in the locomotive art. In the "Civil Engineering of North America," by the celebrated English engineer, David Stevenson, we find a capital paper under the head of "Steam Navigation." He visited this country in 1837 for the purpose of examining our publick works, and the work with the above title gives the results of his examination. Had we space we should be glad to give this article entire; as it is, we must content ourselves with the two extracts from it which fol low: "The early introduction of steam navigation into "Whatever differences of opinion may exist as the country, and the rapid increase which has since to the actual invention of the steamboat, there is no taken place in the number of steamboats, have afdoubt that steam navigation was first fully and suc- forded an extensive field for the prosecution of valuacessfully introduced into real use in the United ble inquiries on this interesting subject; and the States of America, and that Fulton, a native of builders of steamboats, by availing themselves of the North America, launched a steamvessel at New opportunities held out to them, have been enabled to York in the year 1807; while the first successful experiment in Europe was made on the Clyde in the year 1812, before which period steam had been, during four years, generally used as a propelling power in the vessels navigating the Hudson. make constant accessions to their practical knowledge, which have gradually produced important improvements in the construction and action of their vessels. But on minutely examining the most approved American steamers, I found it impossible to trace any general principles which seem to have served as guides for their construction. Every American steamboat builder holds opinions of his own, which are generally founded, not on theoretical principles, but on deductions drawn from a close examination of the practical effects of the different arrange "The steam navigation of the United States is one of the most interesting subjects connected with the history of North America, and it is strange that hitherto we should have received so little information regarding it, especially as there is no class of works, in that comparatively new and still rising country, which bear stronger marks of long con-ments and proportions adopted in the construction of tinued exertion, successfully directed to the perfection of its object, than are presented by many of the steamboats which now navigate its rivers, bays, and lakes. different steamboats, and these opinions never fail to influence, in a greater or less degree, the built of his vessel, and the proportions which her several parts are made to bear to each other. "It would be improper to compare the present "So lately as twelve years ago, about thirty hours state of steam navigation in America with that of were occupied by the steamboats navigating the this country, for the nature of things has established Hudson in making their passages from New York a very important distinction between them. By far to Albany, a distance of about one hundred and fifty the greater number of the American steamboats ply miles, which is at the rate of only five miles per on the smooth surfaces of rivers, sheltered bays, or hour. Passengers were then conveyed in barges arms of the sea, exposed neither to waves nor to towed by steamboats, to avoid the danger which, wind; whereas most of the steamboats in this coun- according to the following extract from an advertisetry go out to sea, where they encounter as bad weath- ment of the sailing of the vessels, seems at that time er and as heavy waves as ordinary sailing vessels. to have attended the steam navigation of the coun The consequence is, that in America a much more try: Passengers on board the safety barges will not be in the least exposed to any accident which | navigate, that have given rise to the employment of may happen by reason of the fire or steam on board of three distinct classes of vessels in American steam the steamboats. The noise of the machinery, the navigation, all of which I had an opportunity of sailtrembling of the boat, the heat from the furnace, ing in and particularly examining. boilers, and kitchen, and everything which may be considered as unpleasant or dangerous on board of a steamboat, are entirely avoided.' These safety barges,' however, have been entirely laid aside, and the voyage between Albany and New York is now generally performed in ten hours, exclusive of the time lost in making stoppages, being at the astonishing rate of fifteen miles per hour. They have effected this great increase of speed by constantly making experiments on the form and proportions of their engines and vessels, in short, by a persevering system of trial and errour, which is still going forward; and the natural consequence is, that, even at this day, no two steamboats are alike, and few of them have attained the age of six months without undergoing some material alterations. "These steamboats may be ranged under the following classification: First, those navigating the Eastern Waters. This class includes all the vessels plying on the River Hudson, Long Island sound, Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and all those which run to and from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Norfolk and the other ports on the eastern coasts of the country, or what the Americans call the seaboard. Second, those navigating the Western Waters, including all the steamers employed on the river Mississippi and its numerous tributaries, including the Missouri and Ohio. Third, the steamers engaged in the Lake navigation. These classes of vessels vary very much in their construction, which has been modified to suit the respective services for which they are intended. classes. They also differ in having masts and sails, with which the others are not provided. "These observations apply more particularly to the steamers navigating the Eastern Waters of the "The general characteristicks by which the EastUnited States, where the great number of steamboatern water boats are distinguished, are, a small builders, and the rapid increase of trade, have pro- draught of water, great speed and the use of conduced a competition which has led to the construc- densing engines of large dimensions, having a great tion of a class of vessels unequalled in point of length of stroke. On the Western waters, on the speed by those of any other quarter of the globe. other hand, the vessels have a greater draught of The original construction of most of these vessels water and less speed, and are propelled by highhas, as already stated, been materially changed. The pressure engines of small size, working by steam of breadth of beam and the length of keel have in great elasticity. The steamers on the Lakes, again, some vessels been increased, and in others they have have a very strong built and a large draught of water, been diminished. This mode of procedure may possessing in a greater degree the character of seaseem rather paradoxical; but in America it is no un-boats than any of those belonging to the other two common thing to alter steamboats by cutting them through the middle, and either increasing or diminishing their dimensions as the occasion may require. It is only a short time since many of the steamboats were furnished with false bows, by which the length of the deck and the rake of the cut waters were greatly increased. On some vessels these bows still remain; from others they have been removed, subsequent experiments having led to the conclusion, that a perpendicular bow without any rake, is best adapted for a fast sailing boat. When I visited the United States in 1837, the Swallow' held the reputation of being one of the two swiftest steamers which have ever navigated the American waters, and this vessel had received an addition of twenty-suring safety, or the inefficient manner in which four feet to her original length, besides having been otherwise considerably changed. Before these alterations were made on her, she was considered, as regards speed, to be an inferiour vessel. "The inferences to be drawn from these facts are, that the great experiment for the improvement of steam navigation, in which the Americans may be said to have been engaged for the last thirty years, is not completed, and the speed at which they have succeeded in propelling their steam vessels may yet be increased; and also that, in the construction of their vessels, they have been governed by experience and practice alone, without attempting to introduce theoretical principles, in the application of which, to the practice of propelling vessels, by the action of paddle-wheels on the water, numerous difficulties have hitherto been experienced. "There are local circumstances, connected with the nature of the trade in which the steamboats are engaged, and the waters which they are intended to The following judicious remarks on the causes of explosions will be read with interest : "The vapour contained in the boiler of a steam-engine is liable to have its volume increased or diminished to a dangerous extent by sudden variations of temperature, and the application of an apparatus capable of counteracting the tendency of such changes of temperature to produce rupture, is absolutely indispensable to the safe operation of the boiler. The want of the ordinary precautions necessary for in these are applied, together with the very high pres- The fre "In order to lesson the chances of explosions from the expansive power of the steam, properly constructed boilers are provided with safety-valves, which are loaded with a weight proportioned to the pressure of steam which the boiler is capable of resisting. So long as one of the safety-valves is |