THE TARANAKI.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2191, 16 May 1870, Page 2

THE TARANAKI.

There is something very like romance connected with that beautiful steamer, the Taranaki. Her history would have afforded 1 a theme for poetry in a less practical age than our own, and the triumph of science in dragging her from her ocean bed would have invested the successful contractors with the prestige of giants. We believe that the Taranaki is th,e f;rst vessel that has" been raised from a depth of one hundred feet, and we are not aware of any previous instance of a vessel having been recovered after lying twelve months below the water. These incidents connected with her, in addition to coming to Port Chalmers for the completion of her repairs, render the Taranaki an object of more than common interest ; and on Saturday wo took advantage of an opportunity to visit her in the floating dock;. Perhaps msny qf our yeadefS may pot tq I aware that Port Chalmers possesses such a means of repairing vessels j for the Dock is at some distance from the Port itself, and lies not far from the shore in a snug bay, pretty well sheltered from most winds. It is capable of receiving vessels of very large tonnage. Those who have not had the chance of seeing a vessel docked might perhaps be as much puzzled how to get one into the Dock as George the Third was how the cook put apples into a dumpling. It is a very simple matter, however. This floating dock, almost large enough to to have enaljlgd I Nqah tq dean thp bottom of the Ark, is so j made that on water being admitted one end, moveable on hinges, can be lowered or raised at will. On water being allowed to enter, the dock sinks the ship is hauled into it, and secured in a previously determined position, the moveable end is raised sml secured and by means of a powerful centrifugal pump worked by a ten-horse engine, by which ten tons of water per minute can be thrown out—or even fourteen tons in need —the dock is pumped dry, and floats with its load. In the case of the Taranaki, Mr Murray, one of the owners of the dock, had peculiar difficulty. From her great length, her prow extended many feet beyond the moveable end of the dock, and means had to he taken to construct a temporary barrier to exclude the water. This was done by stiong planking, in which a notch was cut, exactly fitting the contour of the sides of the steamer. The seams were then caulked and the wooden wall supported by strong beams so disposed as to resist the pressure of the water outside. The steamer was raised on blocks to give access to the bottom, and the dock so ballasted by quantitles of heavy stones as to raise the forepart of the vessel so that the falling door formed a level platform ou wkich to work. Tiiig

arrangement enabled Messrs Murray and Co. to examine and clean the bottom of the vessel through the whole length. At Wellington they did what they could by building a dam round the Taranaki, but they unavoidably left a strong growth of barnacles at the bottom. All these are now cleaned off, and on Saturday the steamer presented to the eye as beautiful a model of a vessel as ever graced the ocean. The shipsmiths were engaged in putting in the few last rivets of the plate that has been substituted for the one broken by the rock, and with the exception of a slight indent on the larboard side which had still to be dealt with, and which a few hours’ work would repair and render atYonger than ever before, not a mark remained to tell the tale of her disaster. The worm (the ten-do vandi*) does not appear to have any affection for paint or varnish. It attacked and destroyed all the unpaiuted wood, but the cabins and cabin fittings remained comparatively uninjured. The accommodation for passengers is excellent, and the fittings, without being extravagant, are elegant ami convenient. The ironwork seems scarcely to have suffered. No doubt there must have been immense labor iu reclaiming the machinery from the dominion of the fishes, but man has asserted his power, and in treading the decks of this splendid steamer it is almost impossible to imagine she has over visited the regions of the dead. The Taranaki left the dock this morning,