☛ From New York to Liverpool.
The Sarnia Observer and Western Advertiser
February 9, 1854
From New York to Liverpool in Six Days-The New York Tribune says, The
new steamer W.M. Norris, which is to make the passage to Europe in
five or six days, is rapidly approaching completion. Her outside is
nearly finished, and she will probably be floated in a fortnight.
This vessel is simply flat and sharp, with a good mould for turning
fast in smooth water. She is made unusually strong, having her
timbers strapped diagonally with bars of iron, and by an iron kelson
extending from the keel to the deck, excepting in the central part of
the vessel devoted to the engine. This kelson is composed of two
parallel sheets of iron, near half and inch in thickness, less than a
foot apart, and so fastened and connected as to form a water tank. On
either side of the kelson are bilge kelsons, formed in the same
manner, also connected with the deck. It is expected that these
unusual supports will give an amount of strength and solidity to the
steamer, as to make her excel all other vessels of similar dimensions.
We are bound to speak with ditlidence in the presence of scientific
naval architects, but are conviction is, that no more strength is
gained by this construction, than would be by expending a fourth part
of the money in a fabric of proper wooden supports. The Actic
exploring vessels, and the Newfoundland sealers have shown
conclusively, that wooden structures are fully adaquate to all demands
upon their powers of resistance, and these are as great as any to
which sea-going craft can be subjected. Indeed, we doubt it wood and
iron, in the combiuations on board the Wm. Norris, will prove as
effectual for strength as either used by itself. But the main thing
to be tested in this vessel is, not her ability to resist the wind and
waves of the Atlantic, which she is very likely to do successfully,
but her model. If she does not prove to be too flat, and to draw too
little water to be a good or safe boat, it will be a new experience in
naval architecture.
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