THE BURMAH.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 237, 27 January 1860, Page 2

THE BURMAH.

We publish the following letter respecting the above vessel kindly furnished us by Messrs. Nash and Scaife. '* Lyttelton, 14th January, 1860. Messrs. Nash and Scaife, Nelson, Dear Sirs,—Since our last of the 30th ult. we have yours of same date to reply to. We regret to have to inform you that the TJurmah is still out, and we are now reluctantly forced to fear that she will never arrive. She was spoken by the Regina south of Tasmania, and as we have no word of her from Hobart Town and Otago, we have given up the hope that she might have put in for water. The Regina also reports sighting icebergs about the same time. We are, Dear Sirs, Yours truly, DALGETTY, BUCKLEY, & CO. Pro. H. R. Stevenson.

New Apparatus for Deep-sea Sounding.— An account by the inventor. Professor W. P. Trowbridge, of the United States' Coast Survey, appears.in Silliman's American Journal, with a plate. This apparatus has been devised to avoid the friction of the water upon the line or " endwise resistance," as it is called by Mr. Airy, the Astronomer Pioyal. This object is obtained by attaching to the sinker a tube or case in which the sounding-line is compactly coiled, and from which it will be discharged freely, thus causing the plummet to carry down the coil while one end of the line is held fast at the surface; the line being uncoiled from the descending sinker in the manner that a spider falling a height gives a thread in his descent by which he retains communication with the point above, to which the thread is attached. The motion of the line in an extended form through the water beiug thus avoided, all the condition of free descent are secured ; and the plummet will descend to the greatest depths with a rapid and uniform velocity. An American Gunboat.—On the 24th of last June

the steam gunboat Seminole, one of the seven vessels last ordered by Congress, was launched at the Pensacola navy 'yard. Her model was drawn by Naval Constructor Porter. The Seminole is a bark-rigged

steamer of 800 tons burden, she is (what the newspapers have lately called " a novelty ") built on the genuine gun-boat principle, which means that she can carry a very heavy armament into shallow water, and that she combines strength and roominess with swiftness and comparatively small proportions. One of her guns will weigh no less than 25,0001ti., and is a most destructive weapon. Besides this, two 32-pounders of 42 cwt. each will be on board, making the Seminole, when fl ell manned by expert sailors and marines, a

powerfuly (although somewhat diminutive) antagonist to ship or fort. The machinery of the vessel is of the first class. We examined it minutely at the Morgan Ironworks on Thursday. It consists of two splendid engines of the "horizontal back-acting steeple" discription, 750 horsepower, with cylinders 50 inches in diameter, and 30 inches stroke. The pistons are connected with cross heads by two rods. There are a Purson's patent steam condenser nearly finished, and two pumps, one for air and the other for water, worked by projecting arms forged on the lower piston rods, attached to the machinery. The boilers, of which there will be two and on auxiliary one, are Martin's patent, measuring respectively, 61 feet six inches long (six furnaces) and 18 feet I inch long (five furnaces), The " auxilliary " is smaller than these. Both boilers are of the same height—viz., nine feet eight inches, and the same depth, nine feet three inches. The propeller will be of brass, a twobladed true screw, nine feet six inches in diameter and 17 feet pitch. The total weight of the machinery will be 304 tons, and the consumption of coal about 22 tons per day. She is expected to make 10 or 11 knots per hour under steam alone, and from 11 to 13 under steam and canvas. The Seminole ranks with the Narragansett, and is smaller than the other five steamers of her class in course of contraction.— \lfew York Times.