Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 747, 4 January 1860, Page 3

Extracts.

' TRIAL TRIP OF THE GREAT EASTERN. (Prom tho ' Times' Special Correspondent.) . > Holyhead, October 11. The few linos I was enabled to send oil' on Saturday aftor noon from Portland just informed your readors that tho Great Eastern was then gotting under woigh. It is more gratifying now to be able to report that tho cruise has been, brought to a successful termination under such favourable circumstances as must givo pleasure to all interested in tho wolfaro of tho greatest maritime and commercial \indertuldng which o£ its kind lias ever yet been attempted. The little cruise which terminated yesterday, though short, was quite sufficient in its results to bo termed emphatically a great success; greater, perhaps, when all things .tiro fairly considered, than could well have beeii hoped, "and certainly than was expected. The short notice from Portland sifnply told that at one o'clock on Saturday steam was up and all was ready for a start. Soon after two the crew were sent forward to heave up the anchor, the steam gear for assisting in getting round the capstan having broken down entirely during Thursday ; and the day previous. Contrary to the opinion of most on board, which rather leaned to the belief that Capt. Harrison would have to borrow some hundred men or so from the Trafalgar before there was any chance of seeing her anchorat the bows,v the work of weighing went on easily and well, and eighty men sufficed to drag the Great Eastern up to and over her moorings. Bringing the anchor out of the ground, however, was not so easily managed; and it was not till all the musical resources known to sailors on such occasions were nearly exhausted that the tenacious grip of Trotman's patent was released, when a slow drift with the tide showed that the great ship was again set free. In another minute, without shoutingsconfusion, or hurry of any kind, and with less noise than is made by a 100-ton coaster, a slight vibration through the ship, with a thin, line of foam astern, showed that the screwengines were at work, and the vessel once more under weigh. "With such ease, and with such perfect quietness and good order was everything accomplished, that tho occasional cheering from the yachts and steamers was almost the first token given to those on board that the trial trip had commenced. At a quarter to four the " way" on the vessel was rapid; her head went round like turning a pleasure-boat, and so little sign was given of the ship being under steam that it seemed rather as if the breakwater had got adrift, and was slowly floating past, than that the monster vessel was really cleaving the blue waves with a force which as yet we have seen no wind or sea to .resist or check. One-.or two of the yachts and crowded steamers raised a hurrah as the vessel left, but on the whole the enthusiasm was limited and tame. Weymouth does not appear to be a very demonstrative place, and its dull influence seemed to extend to Her Majesty's ship Trafalgar, which gave no cheer and made no sign, though sucli a compliment was due if only to induce those on board the big ship to forget their carelessness in firing shotted guns. As the Great Eastern worked,easily up to the head of the breakwater, and before any considerable momentum had been gained by the screw engines, the steam was shut off. Yet, slight as was the impetus then acquired compared to her full steaming power, the vessel made her way over the water for upwards of a mile against a strong tide and gentle wind. Gentle as was the latter, however, it gave a pressure of more than^ 100 tons on her stupendous bulk, yet no more affecting her onward course than the little ripple on the sea which shone and glanced in- the .oloaj sunshine. Just before leaving'the harbour, the last and latest visitors came on board, including among others Mr. C. Talbot, Mr. Appold, Captain Mangles, Mr. Biddlescombe, R.N., Mr. Ogilvie, and one or two others of less note. At this time (4.30) the vessel was well clear of the breakwater, though the long business of getting the anchor to the bows was still going on, involving some tight and slack rope feats on the part of the sailors, to which M. Blondin's efforts must have been a joke. Lowering men over in hatches and bights of hawsers ,to walk about and exercise unusual agility on the stock of a muddy anchor is an effort which " must be seen to be appreciated." When at length the obstinate mass of iron was well clear of the waves, the cause of its detention ■was clearly visible in the huge lump of clay its flukes still adhered to, and which of itself was almost enough to moor any vessel of moderate proportions. Directly the anchor was fished, Captain Harrison passed the word to steam a-head with both engines easily, and the wheels began their revolutions slowly at first, but, nevertheless, making a track of foam upon the water such as they never made on the first start from Deptford to the Nore. The accession of speed from working the paddles was at first but slight—not from any want of poweiybowever, but simply from the •fact that both engines were ordered to work slowly, and though propelling the great ship at something like 11 knots, were really scarcely driving at indicated half speed. Quitting Portland, it was necessary to make rather a round turn on leaving the breakwater, as right ahead on the starboard bow was a small lightship, looking like the skeleton of a vessel, and marking the presence of a dangerous shoal known by the most appropriate and significant name of " The Shambles." Inside this lay a long and turbid ridge of angry water, where the race of Portland ran, and where a deep rolling1 swell like the Bay of Biscay on a reduced scale kept tumbling and breaking into spray like drifts of snow against the high gaunt cliffs. It, however, required no actual watching of the low green mounds of water which seemed butting against the coast to convince all on board that the Great Eastern was at sea. To the infinite relief and comfort of all the passengers the vessel began to yield to reason, and td behave as much like another ship as she could, consistently with her size. It would be too much to say that she rolled at this time, for when the Great Eastern rolls, if over she does roll, your readers may depend upon her accomplishing something in that peculiar style of ocean navigation quite in proportion to her bulk; but one thing is certain, that she went from side to side sufficiently to show that she was susceptible of the motion of the water, and that, if ever she steams across a beam sea she is likely to move to it with a w;ll, though slowly and easily. Her test on' Saturday, however, was on the whole unfair, inasmuch as only a heavy load of coals was on board, and the centre of gravity being below the centre of motion, the Great. Eastern was more easily affected than ever it is likely to be with a full cargo placed on high. At no time here, however, was she moving to an extent that is usual even with large vessels in fair weather in a moderate swell. In proportion with the increase in the size of ships seems the diminution in their labouring in a seaway, and on this principle the Great Eastern is likely to move only as much in a very heavy gale as a smaller vessel will do in a, vary moderate one. Portland Bill was passed at 5.30, and the cruise continued under easy steam across Tor Bay for the Star Light. It is very difficult to write anything like a good litorary chart of the Channel, or convoy steam diagrams to the public in a clear and interesting form. Perhaps, therefore, your readers will excuse my not resorting to the' mere technicalities of expansion grades and throttle valves, and only simply giving the results of the cruise in a plain and generally intelligible form. It will thus suffice to say that the vessel continued under easy

steain-in Loth screw and paddle engines, the former going 31 to 32 revolutions, and the latter nino. In nil tho boilers the steam pressuro was about 211b., tho pressure on tho cylinders boing only just over 171b. This, in fact, was a little more than half speed, yet the Great Eastern averaged moro than 13 knots an houivTho best guide to the rapidity of tho ship's progress was the way in which she passed fast-sailing schooners and overhauled the stoamers. At this time nearly all the swell had ceased, and tho monster ship was rushing over what to hot wore the mimic waves, and leaving loss wake upon tho waters than is caused in the Thames by a Gravesend boat. The only peculiarity about her progress wa3 the three distinct lines of frothy water which her screw .and paddles made, and which stretching out in tho clear moonlight like a broad highway seemed as if the Great Eastern had fulfilled her purpose and really bridged the sea. - . _ Beyond such small ware in the way of singularities, there was really nothing to remark about tho progress, or, indeed, anything unusual whatever to show that the vessel had quitted her moorings in Portland harbour, and was about to solve the greatest nautical and engineering problem of the age. ;:i,, At about 9 o'clock the look-out reported the Start Light on the Starboard bow. It was visible to nautical eyes, but as far as clearly detecting anything was concerned, the landsmen on board might as well have been off the Cape of Good Hope for all they saw. At 9.30 however, it was tolerably bright, and well abreast the ship. This was an unmistakeable landmark, and showed the ship to have gone, with all her. del ays, and under easy steam, about 13 knots (15 miles) an hour, the distance from the Bill of Portland to the Start being 49 nautical, or 56 statute miles. The bearings of this light were carefully taken at 9.30, to note the exact time in-which the run between it and the Eddy stone, an exact distance of 25 knots could be accomplished. The test, as it proved' however, was not a fair one, as soon after 10 o'clock the escape valve, in the bottom of one of the paddle-cylinders was jammed open, allowing a small amount of steam to escape with a hideous uproar, and filling the engine-room with a warm vapour, in which it was both uncomfortable to breathe and difficult to see. This was not only a considerable annoyance to the engineers below, but necessitated an immediate and important reduction of.speed to enable the valve to be secured. The fires were accordingly slacked down, and the paddle-engines reduced their revolutions, from 10 to little over 5. This diminution of speed continued for little more than half-an-hour; nevertheless, the Eddystone Light, bright and clear, like a star upon the water, was sighted before 11. Precisely at 20 minutes past 11 the Great Eastern was well in the stream of mellow: light which it cast upon the waters, a little oasis iv tho midst of that wildest and most dread of all deserts—a rough and angry sea. Thus, then, notwithstanding the stoppage of the paddles and slackening of the rate, a distance of 25 knots, or nearly' 30 statute miles had been run at halfspeed within an hour and three-quarters' time. From this period out nothing of note occurred, the paddles working easily at from 9 to 10, and the screw at from 32 to 34 revolutions per minute. To many of your readers these numbers of revolutions may be mere arbitrary terms, 'signifying nothing.' It may, therefore, give them a better idea of the tremendous nature of the size and speed of the engines which work so easily when it is said that at ten revolutions the paddle-wheels dash through the water at something like 1,600 feet per minute, and the screw revolved at 2,500. When accomplishing this the consumption of fuel was at the rate of 250 tons a day for LVbtK" engine^ the indicated power being nearly 5000 horses—about 2000 horses for the paddles, and a little over 3500 for the screw.

This number of revolutions, though really very little more than three-quarter speed/should have given the Great Eastern a clear run of more than 16 knots an hour under favourable circumstances. The wind, however, was abeam, the weakest point of the great ship; her immersion was not sufficientby nearly six feet; and for rapid going she ought to' have been down by the stern at least 18 inches more than she really was. Her forward draught of water was 21 feet 4 inches, and aft 24 feet 10. The stern should have been down five feet more than the bows. As it was, not less than a foot of the screw blades was out of water, and the slip, or loss of power was, of course, great, more especially when the long heavy waves kept passing astern leaving the screw half bare at least once a minute. Yet, in spite of all these drawbacks, the average running of the big ship was more than 13 knots. Throughout the night very little change was made in the rate of going. The Lizard was sighted and passed at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning. The deep^ rolling swell which sets in on the cpast of Cornwall, however, made itself clearly manifest long before this point: indeed, at 2.30 the Great Eastern evinced an amount of liveliness that would soon have acted in a widely dissimilar manner on many of the passengers. All nice calculations as to what she did move or what she could effect under certain peculiar circumstances were set at rest at once; and the ship began to roll' so much like another vessel that but for the perfect ease and steadiness of the motion the whole affair would have been disagreeable in. the extreme. The actual roll was as near 12degrees as possible—quite sufficient to make a most considerable commotion on the lower, decks, where, trusting in the perfect immobility of the craft, such small articles as empty casks and piles of lumber had been stowed-away. This motion, such as it was, lasted about an houf, just while the ship was abeam of the long swell. On the whole its effect was rather cheering than otherwise, as it showed that.the Great Eastern was in her own way like any _other ship after all. There was something almost unnatural and portentous in the rigidity with which she had stalked over the waters in her run from the Thames. Her motion, however, was but trifling when compared with the usual feats of screw vessels in this particular. Captain Harrison and Mr. Bold, one of the managing directors, remained upon the bridge throughout the night. At nearly 4 o'clock, when the haze was getting very thick indeed, a small brig was seen right under^ the starboard bow. As usual with these small coasters, she was. showing no light, and keeping no look-out, and but,for the anxious, vigilance exercised on board the big ship, the brig would have been under the waves in two minutes more. Her escape was narrow enough, aiid nothing short of the instant stoppage of the engines, and actually reversing the screw saved.her from swift destruction. She, drifted from under the starboard paddle within 20 yards, quite close enough to enable Captain Harrison to speak to her master, and to express a very strong opinion on his style of navigation and conduct generally. The Scilly Islands were sighted soon after six o'clock, and the usual amount of topographical enthusiasm was evinced in behalf of the dirty-looking reef of stones known as the " Bishops," on which another of those deep sea lampposts stood—a tall and rather ugly lighthouse. Let any one look carefully over a good chart of the Channel, and the number and variety of its lights will rather surprise him. In its way it is as well lighted as Piccadilly. Sunday morning was one of the finest days for a ■trial-trip that oould possibly have chanced. ■ Thero was a fair sailing breeze from the north-east, which promised to come up with the sun, till it blew fresh;; yet the day was mild and warm, and, for the Great Eastern, at least, the water was aa calm as a millpond. There were very few vessels- to bo seen—in fact, it seemed like Sunday even, in the Channel, and

those which were visible now and then w<*e evidently having a much rougher time of it than seemed possible, judging by the rigidity of the great ship. ■ Up to this time both the screw and paddle had been working easily,—the former, as we have said, from 30 to 34, and the latter in proportion, that is, about 9£. 'Everything had now got well into working order, so much bo that, though the directors were determined to put nothing to actual risk of accident, it, was felt that the vessel might bo fairly urged a little faster. It was intended that the ship should be tried under both engines, and then under the screw and paddle separately, in order to know the working value of each from actual test. Mr. Blalco and Mr. Imngdon, of Watt and Co., expressed their concurrence in the proposition. Mr. Scott- Russell, however, declined to drive his paddles alone, on the ground that ho could not disconnect his wheels from the' paddle machinery, and that, therefore, if the screw worked by itself, it would have to move the ship as well as his engines. ■ This refusal, or rather his declining to be a party to the trial disappointed many, who nofc only were anxious to see what each engine could effect, but especially to ascertain, from ■ the best of all tests, whether or not the paddles had been too much reefed, and were fairly doing what all wished them to do. As a preliminary step, it was decided to drive the ship at a nearer approach to her full power than had yet been attempted. A greater amount of. pressure of steam was, therefore, ordered to be got upon the boilers, and, pending this, the passengers went below to Divine service, in the chief dining salooon aft. The Rev. Mr. Nicholson, a large shareholder in both the old and new companies, read the service, Mr. Lay, the chief paymaster, giving the responses. At the conclusion of the service the rev. gentleman preached a short sermon on the text, " Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh," in which the late catastrophe on board the vessel was alluded to in appropriate and feeling terms. Service over, and as a matter of course there was a general move among the small congregation to the deck, and, to the satisfaction cf all,' the great ship was found to be under canvas for the first time, and tearing through the water under all fore and aft sails; The wind was blowing then very fresh indeed from the N.E., and the staysails and topsails had been set on all the masts, and were drawing freely. The look of her vast spread of canvas and the extraordinary effectit produced as one stood at the wheel-house and gazed beneath the long vista of brown sails stretched to the very utmost, and sending off the wind with the sustained roar of a' volcano; was something'almost indescribable. No mere description could convey a lair idea of the curious effect of the long unbroken avenue of masts, sails, and funnels, like a whole street of steamships, if such a term is fairly applicable. The total spread was only 25,000' square feet—not more than half of what the vessel carries, and certainly less khan half of what she will require to drive her at anything like great speed. None of the square sails could be set, and though all the fore and aft sails drew well, the breeze was not even; as much as the traditional capfull, when exerted on the enormous hulk of the Great Eastern. Nevertheless, slight as was the wind, and small as was the amount of canvas spread to meet it, in proportion to the size of the ship, the result quite realized'the opinions t have already expressed as to her sailing qualities. The vessel was going. 13 J knots when sail was made at 10 o'clock. In the course of half-an-hour more the Great Eastern was running nearly 15 knots or Vl\ statute miles an hour. At this time the screw engines were working up from 38 to 40 revolutions a minute, and the paddle from lOf to 11. At this Trate of steaming the screw and * paddle engines were working at 251bs.' in the boilers, the screw consuming at the rate of 160 to 170 tons of fuel a day, and the paddles from 100 to 110. The maximum horse power indicated by the paddles was : 2,900, which gave about 11 lbs. of coal per nominal horse-power, and 41bs. for the horse-power actually gained. The screw was indicating an actual horsepower of 4700, which was at about the rate of 10| lbs. the nominal horse-power, and 3§ actual. This in round numbers, gave nearly 1|- horse-power per sectional square foot of ship from the paddles, and 2f ditto from the screw. The highest rate of speed of engines was a little over 11 to the paddle, and 42 to the screw. Both worked with the most perfect ease and smoothness. There were no hot beari ings, no perceptible vibration, no noise-or movement of any kind or sort whatever, The accuracy of every part seemed marvellous. There was only one draw-back to the general perfection, and that, as usual, was in the conduct of the never-to-be-sufficiently-anathematised-donkey engines. Those to the paddle-engines were, it is said, more,or less troublesome throughout, and one connected witli the screw broke down entirely. ' Beyond this trifling matter, there was no improvement which the most critical engineer could suggest j except, perhaps, that the paddle floats should be a trifle deeper in the water. The working of the screw engines, when their rate of speed was taken into account was something wonderful. The bearings were passing one another at the rate of 280 feet a second, without even melting the tallow off the friction surfaces.

At this time (about one o'clock) an unfortunate accident occurred to one;; of-the engine-fitters to the paddles, named M'G'ri?<^> He was.in the act of oiling the steam-trunnion of one of the cylinders, when, as it is presumed, from some momentary inadvertence on his patt, his arm was caught between the cylinder and the quadrant, and crushed, to pieces at the wrist. The intense agony at the moment extorted a loud cry from the unfortunate'man, which brought eager assistance to his side, but the instant the fractured limb was released M'Grogan recovered his composure^ and_ walked coolly- to the surgery, and, notwithstanding" that the medical officers of the ships at first thought there was no hope of saving his hand, he declined to submit to amputation, though the wrist was only held on by a comparatively, small portion of the muscles. Fortunately he is still doing well, and there is now a fair chance of saving his hand, though it can never be of the slightest, use to the poor fellow. The coolness and courage with which he bore the injury and subsequent pain were really astonishing. At 1.20 the patent log was sent astern well clear of the ship, and? not raised till 7.4Q the same .evening. This, though the steam was slackened down oh nearing the Irish coast, indicated a distance run of 72 knots, giving a mean ofl4l-, or 17 statute miles per hour; .Allowing for the want of ;trim, on the part "of the vessel, and consequent absence of immersion iri; both screw and paddles, it was calculated from this data by all the nautical authorities on board, that in proper condition the vessel might be depended oh for 18 miles an hour throughout a long voyage, and under steam a one.' That in a strong and favourable breeze she will at times accomplish 18 knots, or more than 21 miles an hour, there is now not tlMshadow of a doubt. It .is useless to make a lorig'story longer by dwelling on various minute particulars which, as yet have not been ascertained with sufficient accuracy^ to wan-ant their being received as dam. In the course of another day or so move will ba kriown, and a better estimate can then be maae ot the results of this trial trip than can, pJ)ssxWv.be now The'bld Head of Kinsale was :sig^pp.3p, and soon the bold outlines of the^lrislvcMst seemed to grow from the sea in all its rugged-grandeur,' till headlands, rocks, and bays, appeared almost" beneath the vessel, as her course was altered and the Great Eastern's head, turned up the Channel,

Cfork harbour was passed before 7.30, and the wind fallirig'/iight some time before, sail was shortened and the vessel was onco more under bare poles, going rather against the little breeze that still kept up and' threatened to grow fresher as the night •wore on. Up to 12 at midnight the weather was fine, though the moon got damp and groasy^ooking, as if it had caught cold, and light watery clouds rose up in the horizon, ns portonding heavy wind. Gradually the breeze got up as the glass went down, long snow drifts of spray began flying about wildly from the crests of the waves, tho sea became muddy as tho, sky waxed dim, and it beoamo pretty evident that we were in for squalls. The long moaning noise through the shrouds grow deeper and hoarser, till the Great Eastern at last was steaming head to wind against some heavy gusts. So the night passed. The Tuskar Light, on the Irish coast, was abreast at 230 a.m. on Monday, and day broke in what is generally termed dirty weather in the Channel. The morning was cold and raw, with squalls from N.E. Very few- vessels passed, and those were under shortened sail, beating up against the wind, with heavy lurches^ as they struggled with the waves, occasionally hiding their bows in clouds of foam and taking in green seas over all—yet to all this the Great Eastern never moved or altered by a fraction. Going head to wind is the forte of the big ship. As yet, from all that has been seen, the stronger the wind a-head and the rougher the sea,, the easier this vessel seems to take it. It is more than probable that, till this vessel meets with an Atlantic gale she will never move as much as she did on this trial trip round to Holyhead. Soon after 10 o'clock the Great Eastern must have been abreast of Holyhead, though the weather was so thick that it was impossible to make the land, and on such a coast and with such a wind it was not considered prudent to go too near, so.then the great ship wound her course up Channel, meeting the waves, which were rising with fast increasing might literally with all the steadiness of a rock. A short and heavy sea can generally be met with in the Race of Holyhead, and on Monday morning, though not a tithe of what it would have been if the wind had blown from the opposite quarter, there was still a wicked swell on, and quite enough to fairly try an ordinary vessel. Sometimes the bows of the Great Eastern were left alniost bare as the turgid waves ran under her; sometimes it almost reached the sponsons of the paddle-wheels, rising and falling more than 20 feet on her vast hulk, but making no manner of difference upon her way whatever. Just as on the first, trial trip off Dover, she held her course without moving to the right or left, and showing less unsteadiness in a really heavy sea than she had done in a calm on leaving Portland. Soon after 10 o'clock the helm was put hard aport, and the Great Eastern for the first time since she has been built, made a fair turn round in the open sea. The helm was put over to 17 degreps, and the ship went completely round at moderate speed inl9 minutes, and in a distance of a.mile and a-quarter. This, as regards both time and distance, was veiy little more than half of what it •would have taken any line-of-battle ship in Her Majesty's service to accomplish. It was calculated on board that going round on tlie port side, with the help of the wind, might easily have been done in five minutes less time. A little after 11 o'clock the dull bleak mountain of Holyhead showedout on the horizon like, a cloud ofunusualdensityaudmenace. Still the weather, was too thick and the wind- too high to venture all at once upon the harbour, so it was resolved at the last to try the vessel under screw and paddle before taking her up to her moorings. The distance, therefore, was pretty well kept off the dark mass ■which loomed through the haze and marked tho land, and the revolutions of the screw were slackened down to 12, leaving the paddles to carry on the ship -alone. Under this trial, which it was equally important and interesting to all concerned ) to have carefully solved, the paddle engines behaved" splendidly. At first the screw was worked at 20, when the revolutions of the paddles fell off from 10. to less than nine, the ship going nine knots. The screw then stopped dead, and the paddles had to iow.it. Under this strain, though still working as noiselessly and easily ; as before, the paddles'fell from nine revolutions to below seven, gradually, recovering themselves to seven and a quarter, the shiD going from seven and a half to eight knots, against the wind ahead. •

So far, then, this trial was considered, and most justly, to be satisfactory in the highest degree, and the general impression left was, that even greater results would have been obtained if the paddles had pot been so much reefed as to give them less power in the water. If the screw had been disconnected from the machinery, this also would have added to the speed of the paddles afc the rate of at least a knot an hour. It is, however, hard labour for an hour or more to disconnect the screw, and this waste of time was not thought prudent when no result beyond what was already known could ; be obtained. The Great Eastern was next tried under her screw alone. At the first start the paddles were turned at the rate of six revolutions to save the screw from the labour of turning them and the massive machinery towhich they were attached. The screw then worked at 36, the vessel going \\\ knots. The paddles were then in the course of a short time brought to a dead stop, and this reduced the revolutions of the screw to 33, and the speed of the vessel to nine knots. In both cases the result was almost precisely what has been calculated and anticipated, excepting always the allowance to be made for each engine having in turn to overcome the "resistance offered by driving the paddle's or towing the screw. What, perhaps.was not anticipated was the immense accession of momentum famed by the union of both engines, and which as now placed the immense speed and consequent success of the Great Eastern beyond all chance of doubt. ..■"..'.■',■■ These trials, with' the turnings and slackenings they involved, brought the vessel close under the South Stack Light at Holyhead, which rose in the now clear sunshine in all its rugged magnificence of light and shadow, its splintered masses apparently falling to decay, like the ruin of some island of the olden time. The good folks in the Stack .Light seemed evidently not a little* puzzled to account for what appeared from land to be a series of most meaningless evolutions. Certainly to the non-initiated the wayward and eccentric course of the Great Eastern must have looked unusual, to say the least. The value of the experiments, however, was undoubted, and the results achieved were on the whole of the most satisfactory character. At 3 o'clock the weather had cleared and set in fine, and the Great Eastern, at last having solved all the questions^ which were capable of being solved under steam in such a narrow channel, stood in for the harbour of Holyhead. It is not a very easy place to take a vessel in of the length and depth of the Great Eastern, but Captain Harrison had the ship as much under command as a Thames wagerboat, and moving her easily up to the. spot selected tor her, the anchor was Jefc go in about nine fathoms, and the vessel moored at a. few minutes to 4 0 clock. Thus terminated, under the most favourable auspices, the second trial trip of this ship; the whole distance accomplished being 480 knots in about 40 hours,, exclusive of the time devoted to the experiments. This'gave an average on the whole run of a little over 12 knots (15 miles) an hour, and for more than three-fourths of the whole voyage the ship was only going afc half speed. 1 airly estimated, the result,exceeded even sanguine expectations, and Captain Harrison now feels conwent: that, th^,^^^^^ roav be depended on to

average 15£ knots or 18: statute miles au hour, and. under ordinary favourablo circumstances of summer wind and weather- to make stretches of from 17-§ to 18 knots an hour. During the whole voyage the paddles xnado 23,870 revolutions, and the sorow 81,030. In neither oiigines was there an approach either to boating or noise. On Monday tho escape valve on one of the screw cylinders of Messrs. Watt and Co. got jammed open in a similar manner to the screw on Saturday. The mere accident, if 'such •it may be called, is scarcely worth mentioning, if it were not for the fact that speed had to be reduced to remedy the defect. , The question now arises—how long tho Great Eastern will remain at Holyhead, and whether or "no sho will start for America this winter F As far as can be judged from the successful results of this trial trip it would seem that the ship is capable of going anywhere and doing everything. Nevertheless, much remains to be done in the way" of making ready for an Atlantic cruise, and at present there seems as little probability of. the Great Eastern starting across the Atlantic this month as of Holyhead itself. The visit of her Majesty is still expected next week, though whether it will take place on Monday or Tuesday is still uncertain.