THE NEXT GREAT STEAMER.

Kumara Times, Issue 1043, 3 February 1880, Page 4

THE NEXT GREAT STEAMER.

Mr John Burns, of Glasgow, in a letter to The Times, supplies the following interesting details regarding the new Atlantic steamer which his firm is building.:—” In regard to an announcement lately made in The Times that the Canard Company contemplated the construction of a steam ship of great size and power, it may interest, the public to know that my partners and I have just concluded a con tract with Measrs James and George Thompson by which that firm is to build on tb'e|olyde, for our fleet, a screw steamship, the size of which will be exceeded only by that of the Great Eastern, while the speed will be greater than that of any ocean steamer afloat. This new vessel will be of 7500 tons, and 10,000 horse power, her dimensions being 500 ft in length, 50ft in breadth, and 41ft in depth, propelled by inverted direct-acting compound ■ engines, with three cylinders and seven oval-tubular boilers, having 38 furnaces, and; 1000 ft of effective fire-grate surface. She will have an extra promenade deck, and will practically be a five-decker, being fitted for 450 first-class and 600 steerage passengers, with accommodation for a crew, of 200 officers and men. Her cargo capacity will. be equal to 6500 -tons, with 1700 tons of coal and 1000 tone of water ballast, having a double bottom on what is called the * longitudinal and bracket system. This vessel has been designed, after lengthened consideration, to meet the requirements of our transatlantic service, and we have adopted in every detail of (he. ship and engines' the most advanced scientific improvements compatible with the safe working of<ao great a vessel. Among the important matters into which we have crucially enquired has been that of the employment of steel instead of iron, and after a practical and thorough examination into the merits of both materials, we have adopted steel for the hull and boilers, but under a provision so stringent that every jjlate, before acceptance, will undergo a severe and rigid test by a qualified

surveyor appointed and stationed at the steel manufactory for that special purpose, and that the manipulation of the steel by the builders shall be subject to an equally careful supervision by qualified engineers of our own appointment. The steel is to be made on the Simens-Martin process, and all rivets as well as plates throughout the ship are to be of steel. The name of the new vessel is to be the Sahara, and she is to be ready for sea in March, 1881.