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106a THE IEABEB. [No. 398, Novumbee 7. i...
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THE GRE.VT EASTERN.—FAILURE IN THE : LAU...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Public Meeting?. Hilt I'Haui.Ich Na1mkii...
pose—the instruction of artisans ; made some observatious in favour of an abridgment of the hours of labour and of requiring the test of examination in the case of schoolmasters ; and concluded by referring to the Indian re-volt . He conceived that the possession of India is in no degree necessary to our wealth or national grandeur - but that , if we lose it , we shall not be safe in any part of the world . Besides that , observed his Lordship , if we abandon pur hold on our Eastern Empire , " we leave millions on millions to the most cruel of all fates—the anarchy , the rapine , and the bloodthirstiness of their own contending chiefs and tyrants . " The Right Hon . fll . T . Baines moved the first resolution or sentiment . nd
am doing so merely alluded to the past services of £ he noble chairman . The resolution was— " To impart a scientific form to the processes of our great industrial arts , and to introduce the study of these into the class instruction of the artisan would at once dignifv industrv and render it more productive . " The iev . A . Barry seconded the motion . Mr . E . M . Milnes , M . l \ , next proposed the following sentiment ;— "That the study of literature and the fine arts is eminently calculated to refine the sentiments and elevate the character of the community . " He then addressed the meeting in support of tie views thus expressed ; and , various other sentiments having been proposed and spoken to , the evening was ¦ wound up by a vote of thanks to Lord Brougham . Lord
Brougham arrived in Liverpool on Wedhesdav And on Thursday proceeded to the Institute and School Of Art , Tor the purpose of inaugurating the Queen ' s College , recently formed in connexion with the Institute and with the London University . His Lordship spoke at considerable length on the value o f such educational establishments . Alluding to the subject of free African labour , he said : — " I grieve to find what I predicted in the House of Lords last July , that , in the ridiculous pretext to encourage ' . the emigration , ' as it is called , of 'free African labourers , ' which is an attempt to revive the African slave trade ( hear , hear \—l griev e to Bay that what I then predicted has been more than verified , and that the innoeent , useful , and civilizing commerce of Africa is for the present suspended by that speculation . I hope and trust that there will speedily bean end to it . " Hia Lordship afterwards visited the Jiree Public Library and Museum .
EAST LAKCASHXRE TO 1 ON OF MECHANICS' INSTITUTES . The Lord Bishop of Manchester presided on Wednesday evening at the first annual distribution of prizes and certificates awarded by . the ' Council ' .-of the East Lancasnifw f nion of Mechanics' and other institutes . The distribution took place in the assembly room of the 3 Juraley Mechanics' Institution , in presence of upwards « f a thousand persons . On the platform were Sir John Pakington , M . P . ; Mr . "William Gowper , M . l \ ; Sir J . P . Kay Shuttleworth ; Colonel Patten , M . P . ; Lord Cavendish , M . P . ; Bolonel Towneley , High Sheriff of Lancashire , and other local promoters of popular education . The three first named delivered addresses , and several resolutions were adopted . US . AYKTON , M . P ., AND HIS CONSTITUENTS .
A public meeting of the inhabitants of the Tower Hamlets was held on Tuesday evening at the Beaumont Institution , Mile-end , for the purpose of hearing from Mr . Ayrton , M . P ., a statement of his proceedings in Parliament as a representative of the borough . Having addressed his auditory on the chief topics of the day , a resolution approving of his Parliamentary conduct was adopted bv acclamation .
THE DTJKE OF NEWCASTLE AT EAST BETFORD . The Duke of Newcastle performed the ceremony of laying the corner-stone of the new National Schools , now in the course of erection at East Eetford , on Tuesday , and in the evening attended a meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel -in Foreign Parts . His Grace delivered a speech in favour of the objects of the society , and , after reviewing the course of its operations in various parts of the world , referred specially to India , and maintained that the Government -would not be justified in endeavouring by compulsion or reward to convert the natives to Christianity . We must trust to the purity of our morals and the blamelessness of our lives for effecting the spread of our religion among the Hindoos and Mahometans .
7 HJS WAHBHOTJSEMEN AND CLERKSSCHOOLS . The fourth anniversary dinner of this institution took place on Thursday evening at the London Tavern ; Mr . Charles Dickens in the chair . In a" bpeech bright and glowing with humour and fancy , Mr . Dickon . s sketched a list of tho Bokools which he does not like—the oldfashioned schools of ignorance , tyranny , and pretence 5 and then , in a strain of fitting seriousness , indicated the kind of school which he does like . u It is a school established by tho memhera of an industrious nnd useful order which supplies the comforts and graces of life at
every familiar turning in the road of our ex . istcuco ; it ^ 3 a school establi shed by them for the orphan and necessitous children of their own brethren and sisterhood ; it is a place giving an education worthy of them—an education by them invented , by them conducted , by them watched over ; it is a place of education where , while the beautiful history of the Christian religion is daily taught , und while the life of that Divine Teacher who himself took little children on hia knees ia daily studied , no sectarian
illwill nor narrow human dogma is permitted to darken the face of the clear heaven which they disclose . It is a children ' s school , -which is , at the same time , no less a children ' s home—a home not to be confided to the care of cold or ignorant strangers , nor , by the nature of its foundation , in the course of ages to pass into hands that have as much natural right to deal with it as with the peaks of the highest mountains or with the depths of the sea , but to be from generation to generation administered by men living in precisely such homes as those poor children have lost—( cheers )—by men always bent upon making that replacement such a home as their own dear children might find a Imppy refuge in if they themselves were taken early away . " Mr . Dickens also proposed in eloquent terms the health of the President , Lord John Eussell ( who was not present ) , and of Mr . W . H . Russell , as the representative of the press .
106a The Ieabeb. [No. 398, Novumbee 7. I...
106 a THE IEABEB . [ No . 398 , Novumbee 7 . i « r ,
The Gre.Vt Eastern.—Failure In The : Lau...
THE GRE . VT EASTERN . —FAILURE IN THE : LAUNCH . A cnv . XT-disappointment was experienced on Tuesday morning by all who take interest in the tj . i "antic vessel just completed at Millwall . On that day ( not on Wednesday , as erroneouslv stated last week ) , an attempt , was made to launch the huge ship ; but it failed , and , unfortunately , the circumstance was attended with injury to live men who were employed in the operations , and to th e vessel herself breat uncertainty prevailed in the public mind up to Monday as to when th-j launch would take place , and for a time it was supposed that it would be postponed for . 1-considerable period ; consequently , on . Tuesday morning there were not so many si »
-htseers on' ¦ the ground , as might have been expected . Several engineers , '¦ however , from all parts of England , and some from France , Germany , iJussia , and America , were present , and the notabilities' included the Comte de Paris :,- the Due d'Autnale , and the . "Siamese ambassadors—the latter with a
numerous retinue . I hese visitors from the far East seemed to think more of the general public , to whom they sought to display themselves to the best adthan of the
vantage , launch ; and they were rewarded by a very gracioas reception from the lookers-on . The river showed a large number of vessels covered with , hosts of curious gazers , and the river banks were not without their crowds of eager expectants ; but the scaffoldings which were erected on the top of the neighbouring houses were but thinly peopled . .. During the previous night , the various supports towards the river were removed ; and about halfpast twelve on Tuesday the operations of the tlay comnienced . We must here borrow from the Times the lucid account given by its reporter of the preparations for the launch , and of the lamentable failure : —
" On the river side , four large lighters were moored in tl » e tideway , and worked with crabs and sheaves upon the chains , which were fastened to the vessel amidships . Each of these four lighters was capable of applying a strain cf sixty tons , all of which was to be used to draw the vessel down the launching ways in case of any contretemj > s which might prevent her running . Two lighters were also moored at the stem and two at the stern of the vessel . The chains passing from the ship to these latter were returned agaiu on shore , so as to be worked with a double purchase . Small stationary engines on land were used to haul in these , and made the whole force available to pull the vessel off tlio shore upwards of six hundred tons .
" These wero the means taken to draw her down to the water , but the greatest eiVorts of Mr . Brunei were , of course , concentrated in the check tackle which was to pull her back and prevent her dashing into the river at the fearful momentum <» f twelve thousand tons weight , sliding down an incline of one in twelve . For this purpose two most powerful drums had been constructed , to which the cradles were attached by enormous sheaves or pulleys of cast iron , expressly cast for this purpose , and weighing five tons each . One sheavo was fastened to each cradle , and wrought iron chain cables of the largest size connected these with two other sheaves , each of which was secured to the drum , which paid out the chain , and , in fuot , regulated the whole operation . Those drums and tue framework on . which they rest having to bear tho strain of the whole mass in motion ,
extraordinary precautions wore taken to render them as massive as they could be made by any known combination of wood and iron . Tho shape was that of an ordinary reel , the axle of which was formed by beams of timber and strips of wrought iron bound together so as to form a drum about twenty feet long and nine feet in diameter . At each end of tho cylinder arc the wheels of tho drum or discs , sixteen feet in diameter , each of solid iron and weighing upwards of twonty tons , so that tho weight of each drum is more than sixty tons in all . The axlo of tho disc is sot in a frame of iron , while arouud ito outer edge passes u band of wrought iron to work in tho manner of a friction dutch or break . This , with tho aid of strong irou lovers twenty feet long , brings mich a pressure to bear upon the discs of the drum as to lower its rate of revolutions , or entirely stop them in cauo of tho chain being puid out too faaU These drums -weio
set in a solid bed of wood formed by driving masses of piles into the gravel , so as to form " Sw" ) timber twenty feet square . Thu is bound to gether ^ iron and strong shores pass from the cube of tile * X the bed of piles on which the launching-wavs are Wil So that , in fact , no matter what the strain , itvas iZ sible for the setting of the drums to g ve , uoffir whole river ' s bank gave way with them ? One or the 1 drums is built opposite each cradle ; the chains used be tween them and the cradles are the chain cables of IT great ship itself , which are 2 £ iuckes in diameter or about sixty pounds the link . Between each drum Wl the cradle on which the vessel rested an hydraulic S » was fixed to ' start' her . That " at the forward enduZ a pressure of six hundred tons ; tho one at the stern ml thousand .
" The launch was fixed to commence at eleven o ' clock but things were not arranged for the moving ¦ of the monster when that time came . Gangs of men -were employed in hauling chains , in . clearing away the slightest obstacle upon the ways , and giving the metals the iinnl coating down of . black lead and oil . 3 Ir . uru _ nel ' s position was high up in a little rostrum fixed on the inner side of the vessel . On this spot he was in a liue with the conspicuous marks which had been erected on each s-idc of the ship and facing him ou Mr . -Penn ' s factory on the other side of the river . From this point he was to regulate the- advance of stem ami stem by signals , which were communicated to the gangs of work - men , both to pull her off and hold her back by ¦ . ' means ' of lings—a white Hag being the signal to haul together , and a red one to cease ou all points . "It was nearly half-past twelveand the public wero
, beginning to yawn and manifest inipatience , when the-v were somewhat ' appeased , by seeing the ehristeniuj bottle of wine , gaily decorated with flowers , carried foi > ward to the stem of the vessel , llete it was soon suspended , nnd Miss Hope , the daughter of the chairmaai j of the Great Eastern Compjinv ¦ giving it- a ¦ heartv
, swing , dashed the wine over the bows of the vessel , and bade ' The Leviathan' God speed , umid the cheers of thousands , lu a few moments afterwards , the word was
passed to commence the launch . At the signals , the lighters slowly but steadily commenced to haul taught their tackle from the river ,. which it was thought "woull of itself be sufficient to bring the vessel gently down . It appeared , however , to have no effect beyond once " -or twice producing in the vessel itself a sullen rumbliug noise like distant thunder as the great strain told upon her hull . It remained thus for about ten minutes- llxpectation was wound up to the highest pitch , wheu the peculiar hissing noise of the hydraulic rams at work to push her oil' was heard . We should have mentioned that each of the drums was constructed so as to bo
turned by ordinary windlasses , in order to "wind up the slack chain between the drums and the cradles , otherwise , if any black were left when the hydraulic rains started the vessel , it would run it rapidly out , and Heaven only knows the consequences that might ensue ; When the ' rams' began to work , the order was distinctly given to ' wind up '—meaning to coil in this slack between the drum and the cradle . This was accordingly done at the forward drum , but , unfortunately , at the s tern of the vessol the men did precisely the reverse , and uncoiled more slack chain . Among the number of engineers "who were looking ou tho danger of this was seen at a glance , but there was no official to check the men , who seemed ordinary ' navvies . ' Suddenly ,
there was a cry of ' . She moves , sho moves ! ' tlio iore part of the vessel slipped , and tho stern rushed down rapidly . It seemed to slip some three or four feet in the space of a couple of seconds , in consequence »> f the sUck chain from tho after drum offering not the least check . In an iri 3 tant , the strain came upon the drum , which ^ vaa dragged round , and of course , as that was connected with tlio -windlass by multiplying wheels , the latter turned some ten or fifteen thucs for every loot tho drum moved . The men at tho -windlass madly tried to iiold it , but the heavy iron handle ilew round like lighlaing , striking them nnd hurling five or six high into the air an if they had been blown up by some powerful ex-ploacci
sion . A panic seemed to spread as thin shocking - dent took place , and the men stationed at tho tacldo and fall of tho level next the windlass' rushed away , i'ortunately , most fortunatelj ' , for the lives of hundreds of the spectators , the men at tho lover at the other nidi ) of tho drum stood tirm , and hauling an their tackle , chew their lever up and applied tho break on tlio drum with suck terrific force that the shin instantly stopped , though sho seemed to quiver uudor tho sudden check as if she had received a heavy blow , and tho check tackle and miusivo pile of timber which restrained tho drums Htruined uudibly . The whole of thia took place in the course oi two or threo seconds . Tho vessel dropped , the men wero hurled from tho windlas . s , and with a Ueavv
rumbling noise tho tremendous structure was atill on the waya ' again , almost before tho spectator had time to imagine whut had occurred . For a moment there was rut her a panic , and a disposition to run i'roui tho spot , but it was only momentary . 1 ' our of tho nun who wore injured wero carried oil' to tho l ' oplur Hospital at once , und a fifth , who auuuicd to have sustained some severe internal hurt , was ul'tenvanla n & iiutud from the yard .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 7, 1857, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07111857/page/6/
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