The, we believe, is the first steam propeller, complete in all her parts, which has been built in this vicinity. The ship Massachusetts, barque Edit, and schooner Midas, though built here, had their engines made in New York. The R.B. Forbes, too, had some of her work done at New York; but that has long since been replaced by our own engineers. The propeller schooner Carioca, a few two-boats, and other small craft, may be said to embrace nearly all our experience of ocean steamers. Yet we have no hesitation in asserting, that in either beauty of model, or compactness of motive power, the Rajah Wallie is equal, to say the least, to any propeller of her size which has been built at New York or Philadelphia.
She is 165 feet long on the keel, 173 on deck, and 180 over all — has 26½ feet breadth of beam, 18 feet depth, including 7 feet 3 inches height of between decks, and will measure about 600 tons. Her dead rise at half floor is 30 inches, swell of sides 4 inches, and sheer 1 foot 6 inches. Her lines are slightly concave, her ends long and sharp, and her stem almost upright. The angular form of her bow is slightly modified into the convex, as it rises above the load line, and upon the rail the outline of the bow is almost semi-circular. A gilded, and gilded carved work along the trail boards, ornament her forward; and her stern, which is curvilinear, is also ornamented with an eagle and other fancy work, richly gilded. She has a narrow waist, set off with the mouldings of the upper wale and the plankshear, and this is carried round the sterm, having the upper wale for its lower outline. She is sheathed with yellow metal up to 16 feet forward and to 17 aft, and the hull above that is painted black. The whole height of her bulwarks, including the monkey rail, is 4 feet.
She has a topgallant forecastle, with a sunk deck, which forms accommodations for her crew, and abaft the foremast a house for the galley. Her half-poop deck, like the topgallant forecastle, is the height of the main rail, and has a small house in front, which forms a portico to the cabin below. The after cabin contains five state-rooms and other apartments, is wainscoted, painted white, and beautifully fringed with ornamented gilt work along the cornices, pilasters, &c., -- and aft there is a stained glass sliding window, with two eagles, and other ornaments upon it. Leading fromthe after cabin forward is the main cabin, which contains eight spacious state-rooms, and is ornamented in the same beautiful style as the other. In the angle of the run, under the after cabin, she has a fine pantry, tastefully fitted up. Over the cabin she has large skylights, cased over by permanent frames, which open at the top, and are well adapted for warm weather. She has also deck and side lights in her state-rooms, and perforated ventilators between the beams. Her cabin furnitur is beautiful, and tastefully arranged.
Before the main cabin there are five state rooms, a mess room, engineer's work room, &c. These rooms are principally for the accommodation of her officers and engineers. As these details will give some idea of the outine of the vessel and her accommodations, we will now give the leading particulars of the style of her construction.
Her frame is of white oak, and most of her ceiling and planking are of yellow pine. The keel is of rock maple, sided one foot and moulded two feet, and she has double keelsons, each twelve inches square. Her floor timbers are ten by twelve, and along the bottom she is filled in solid, and bolted fore and aft. The floor timbers, keel and keelsons, are extra bolted with copper and iron, and she has also sister keelsons her whole length, and fore and aft pieces in the wake of the engines. Her frame, too, is braced with iron inside of the ceiling. The braces are four inches wide, five-eights of an inch thick, are four feet apart, extend diagonally from the floor heads to the gunwales, cross on another, and are bolted together at every intersection, and also through every timber.
The stem, cutwater, and apron are very stout, and closely bolted. She has three stern posts. First, the inner one to which her planking is bolted, and beyond that the rudder post, which, with the keel below, and the work above, forms a square in which the propeller revolves; crossing these two above the propeller is the third, which extends diagonally from the head of the rudder post, over the inner post, and fays to the keel inside. The diagonal and inner post are each 17 by 22 inches, and the rudder post 17 inches square. Those are all bolted, kneed and filled in, beyond the power of working apart. She has also hooks forward and aft, which completely span the angles of her ends. Her ceiling and planking vary from 4 to 6 inches thick, with stout water ways and thick work in the between-decks, and she is square bolted from the keel to the gunwales. Her deck frames are made, so that her boilers may be taken out with ease, when required. Both her decks are of hard pine 3½ inches thick. She is a very strong vessel, most admirably designed in all her arrangements, and finished and equipped in the first style of workmanship.
Her motive power consists of two engines, with cylinders 34 inches in diameter and 28 inches stroke. The cylinders are placed in the wings at angles of 45 degrees to the plane of the horizon, and consequently work at right angles to each other. The connecting rods of both are applied to the same crank; and the air pumps as well as the feed and bilge pumps, are worked by the same engine. The condenser and air pumps are very compact and work with ease and safety, and are of sufficient strength to guard against derangement. Her boiler-shells are 25 feet long and 7 feet in diameter; and the spaces in their wings, and in part of the wings of the fire-room, are coal bins set off with iron partitions. the shaft is 11 inches in diameter and 50 feet long, and the propeller is 11 feet in diameter with three blades inclined upon the screw principle. The propeller revolves entirely clear of the rudder post, so that if the latter were swept away it would not in the slightest interfere with the former. The engines are direct action, and not geared like those of the heavy ships engaged in the Atlantic trade. We have seen the engines of several steamers, and have paid some attention to their application, and economy of space, but we are free to confess that we have never seen any so compact and so well arranged as these. They occupy 10 feet space fore and aft, the fire-room 8 feet more, the boilers 25 feet, in all, only 43 feet, and all below the between-decks, and abaft midships, leaving over 100 feet of hold for the stowage of cargo. We have the authority of one of the best engineers of this city, for saving that, in design and workmanship, her motive power has not been equalled in this country. Mr. Otis Tufts, who made her engines, is well known as one of our ablest engineers, and we hope he will soon have an opportunity to show his skill upon a larger scale. His foundry, at East Boston, has every facility for the construction of the largest engines. East Boston stands ahead of all the world for clippers; give her engineers a fair chance, and she may yet take the lead wirh steamers.
The Rajah Wallis is barque rigged, but rather lightly sparred. After her motive power has been fairly tested, her propeller and smoke pipe will be unshipped, and she will proceed to Batavia under canvas, where she will again have her motive power put in action, and run as a packet between several ports along the coast of Java. She was built at Medford by Mr. Lapham [?], under the superintendance of Capt. Cassius Darling, who also owns her. Captain W.W. Smith, a gentleman well acquainted with the East India and China trade, commands her. She is now at East Boston, nearly ready for a cruise.
Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius.
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