AN IMMENSE VESSEL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1587, 19 January 1884, Page 2

AN IMMENSE VESSEL.

Tlio most prodigious vessel on the records of tbe ancients was built by order of Hiero, tho second Tyrant of Syracuse, under tho superintentlnuco of Archimedes, about 230 years beforo Christ, the description of which would fill a small volume. Atlienajua has left a description of this vast floating" fabric. There was, ho states, as much timber employed in her as would have' Served for the construction of fifty galleys, Tt had all the varieties of apartments aud conveniences necessary to it palace—such as banqueting-room, j baths, a library, a temple of Venus, gardens, fishponds, mills, and a spacious gymnasium.' The inlaying of the floors of the middle apartments represented in various colors the stories of Homer's Ilaid; there were everywhere the most beautiful paintings, and every embellishment and ornament that art could furnish were bestowed on the ceilings, windows, and every part. The insido of the temple was inlaid with cypress wood, the statues were of ivory, and the floor was studded with precious stones. The vessel had twenty benches of oars, and was encompassed by an iron rampart or battery; it had also towers with walls and.bulwarks, which were furnished with machines of war, one of which was capable of of throwing a stono of 3001bs weight, or a dart of 12 cubios long, to the distance of half a mile, To launch her, Archimedes invented a screw of great power, She hod four wooden and eight iron anchors; her mainmast, composed of a single tree, was procured after much trouble from distant inland mountains, Hiero finding that he had no harbors in Sicily capable of containing her, and learning that there was famine in Egypt, sent her loaded with com to Alexandria, She bora an inscription of which the following is part:—' Hiero, the son of Hiorocles, the Dorian, who weilds the sceptre of Sicily, sends this vessel bearing in her the fruits of the earth. Do thou, 0 Neptune, preserve in safety this ship over tho blue waves."—Tho Sea: its stirring Story of Adventure, Peril and Heroism,