LAUNCH OF THE LARGEST CLYDEBUILT VESSEL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1539, 10 July 1873, Page 2

LAUNCH OF THE LARGEST CLYDEBUILT VESSEL.

1 A'Horae paper says :' — On ;Saturday after : noon a magnificent screw-steamer; named the' City of Chester, built for Messrs Inman,_ of Liverpool, was launched from the ship-build-ing. yard[:of iMessrs .^.jT.; Caird^and; Co., Greenock. .The vessel is thelargest merchant , steamer that' has 'ever 'been built oh 'the'Clyde, and she is further. said to be the largest afloat, with 'the sole exception of the Great Eastern. The City of Chester is to'be engaged ; on :■ the Liverpodl, • New York, > and Philadelphia service, and willtake her station during the summer. Her dimensions are as. follows :— Her length' over all is 458ff; a_t " water'line, 425 ft.; breadth, moulded; 44ft ;' depth, extreme, 38ft Sin ; moulded, amidships, 36ft 4in; hold, 34ft 9in ;: saloon deck, 7ft 4in ; lower deck, 7ft' 6in j height of bulwarks, 4ft; tonnage; gross, 4,800'; under spar deck, 4,500 j builders' ineasuremept, 4,156. Engines, compound, high and low condensing, 800, horse -power. . ,. Boilers, fifteen in number, with thirty furnaces. ASc'dmmoaatioh is provided for 1 32 firstclass passengers^ ; -and ? 11, 310 .■ * third-class. No provision is made for second-class passengers.'. F.Her ! ship's i company,' properly so- ; called, consist of 44 seamen, 42 engineers and> firemen, and' 49 officers (navigation and'engineering) and ship's servants, bringing the whole number up" to 135. ! Her store of fuel will amount to 1400 tons, and her cargo space sufficient for about 2000' tons of merchandhe.: The speed desired to ba obtained oa the ocean Bervice is about seventeen knots per hour. The vessel is ship rigged. The jkeel. of ; the: City of ' Chester was; laid; in December, - 1871, < and "the-con-struction of a vessel of such large dimensions was so unusual in . Greenock,- that great interest Iwas-felt in her,,progreßS«™About.halfpast twelve everything, was. in readiness for the launch ; and the' vessel, having been christened byjMrs J. T.;.Cairdj glided ,gent}y| down the slip, and entered the water in fine? style amid the cheers; of jthe, spectators.! The company on the balcony then adjourned to the.jpiners'lpft and partook, of , a service of: cake and! wine, Mr J. T. Caird, senior partner of the firm of builders,, presided,,, and proposed ' ' Success to the City of Cheater. " He said; that, the steamer was the. largest that has 'been' built on the Clydei It would be vain, however, to.expect that,. she would remain for any length of time the largest vessel, for, at the farthest, jtwo -years would see her quite eclipsed in size: ' (Applause) We understand that thftMesßrs, Caird ,w,ill.imme-, diately 'commence the construction of another screw steamer for Messrs Inman, and that she will be 50ft longer, and have^ 600 tons, mofe'burthen than the City of "CHeste'rT