NEW MONSTER STEAMERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 405, 25 June 1881, Page 3

NEW MONSTER STEAMERS.

Edinburgh correspondent of a j|jg£Wa exchadge writes : —" In former have meriiio,ied how the concurrence of the iaU"odaciion of steel for shipbuilding, and i'se sponging up of the active provision trade wuh America, had led to the giving of orders for steamers of gigantic Some of t>. 3 are vow leaving the stocks, avd w'!l soon be running. One of them, the A'len lirer Parisian, of rather more that 500 vons register enjoyed for a few days the distinction of being the btee! vessel afloat. Onthe Ist inst-inl, however, there was" launched from the yf.rd of Messrs J. and G. Thompson, o'yde° a vessel which quite eclipsed the Prn'van. This was theServia, a newCimaid liner, whose gross tornage is 8500, her measurement being—length, 530 feet; breadth, 52 feet «nd depth of hold, 42 feet 9;inches. She can carry 6500 tone of cargo, 1800 tonsof con), and 1000 tons of ballast water; has four decks, and a promenade deck, and is divided into sections by nine waieri'g l !) lunkheads. Her engines are expected to reach 10,500|horss-p6wer indicated. The ship's company will number 200, a±:<:' she has accommodation for 450 firri-ch• -s passengers. She is a'so fitted w-th pt-j jranent berths for 600 steerage passengers, but these can be increased to 20 r -0 if required. -.J'-'e Servla is the largest merchant vessel afloaj, nert to the G-o. t Easiarn. ' The same* bunders Lave now in the'r yaids,- a!so in course of co-osl?;*c-tion "or Jie 'ine, several o.lu r Jhuge bteamei*—viz., i.he Aumnia, 7500 ions; the. Avoiuit,- 5500 tons ; and t'e €a alonvy 4700 to=•« ; besides smr.r-r vessels.

Immense qosni'i'cc of steel are re-qu:i-3d for the construction of these sh'ps, which are usually sice'-decked, as well as built of steel plates, and new steel works are according'y sprngirig up in Larnarkshire. A very large one at Motherwell, known a 3 the Dalzell Stsel Works, ard belonging to Mr David Colville, of the Dalzeil Iron Works, has just begun operation. Its furnaces are capable of producing weekty 400 tons of " Siemen's" steel ingots. The steam hammer used to consolidate the slabs, prior to their being cut into blocks of suitable size for plates, can give a blow eqoal to considerably more than 400 tons. The anvil is a single iron casting, weighing 150 tons, on which is mounted a smaller one with a steel face. The epg?nes, bearing and hot sawing machinery, and, in fact, the whole of the plant, are of th« most powerful description. Colonists of a mechanical turn of mind when "visiting this country, should not onrt to pay a visit to such works as these."