THE BESSEMER SALOON STEAMER.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 95, 19 September 1874, Page 3

THE BESSEMER SALOON STEAMER.

If the English papers are any guide, immense interest is being taken in the progress now so rapidly being made towards completion of this steamer, which, as most of our readers are aware, is being built with the view of entirely doing away with the risk of sea sickness. Already the vessel has been plated ; and the engines and boilers are to be fitted in place whilst on the stocks, so that when once afloat the steamer will be ready for the trial trip. We select the following description of the vessel from the Scientific American as being the best which we have yet read :—The ship is 350 feet long at the water line, and for 48 feet at each end the deck is only about 4 feet above the line of flotation, so that in rough weather the sea will wash over these low ends. The decks on this portion of the vessel have a considerable curve, and the sides of the ship are rounded off so that the water may escape as speedily as possible. This form of end has been selected with a view to obviate any tendency to pitching. Above these low decks a breastwork is erected about 8 feet high. The whole of this breastwork deck is to be devoted for the use of the passengers, and that portion fore and aft of the paddle boxes will be protected with stanchions. The vessel will be propelled by four paddle wheels, and 90 feet of the space between the paddles will be occupied by the swinging saloon. Beyond this and at each end the space is occupied, nearest the saloon by the engines, and next by the boilers. At one end of the breastwork there will be accommodation for the crew of the ship, and beneath their quarters stowage room for passengers' luggage, &c. At the opposite end of the breastwork the space is fitted with cabins for the special use of ladies, and below these cabins there is a saloon 52 feet long, and fitted with sofa seats all round. Along the sides of the breastwork deck, between the paddle boxes, there are other cabins for passengers, besides smoke rooms and refreshment rooms. The Bessemer swinging saloon is making good progress, and already a good idea of the principle may be obtained by an inspection of the work. The saloon proper is about 70 feet long, 26 feet wide, and very lofty. The weight of the saloon is borne by four large bearings, one at each end and two near the centre. The end bearings are fixed on iron transverse bulkheads, which are well stiffened by fore and aft ways to prevent them buckling. The saloon will be one of the most superbly fitted apartments afloat. The top of it will form a promenade deck, and it will be fitted all round with seats. The saloon will be entirely under control of the machinery invented by Mr Bessemer, and it is declared that it will be kept perfectly free from rolling during the passage across the channel ; and passengers, it is expected, will not any more unpleasant sentatiou than they would in going up or down the Thames. The ship will be supplied with two very large life rafts on the plan patented by Mr Christie, and she will be steered, and her capstans, &c, worked by hydraulic machinery. She was designed by Mr E. J. Reed, C. 8., M.P., and Earle's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, at Hull, are both the builders and the engineers.

Au Illinois County Clerk refused to issue a marriage license because the man was only four feet high, while the woman was six, He said that he. knew something about domestic life with the proportions reversed, and could not assist a fellow-man " to buy into a lottery when the odds were so fearfully against him."