THANKS OF CONGRESS AND IS TO RECEIVE A GOLD MEDAL.
Information of this system of construction reached Russia after its value had been proved by the American, English, French, Austrian and German Governments, and Mr. Francis was invited to visit that country, where he was received by the Emperor.
In 1860, Admiral Boutakoff, of the Imperial Russian Navy, was ordered by the Emperor to proceed to Liverpool and examine the system of construction, with a view to its applicability to service on the Aral Sea, in Asia, and report as to its utility. From documents placed in possession of the writer, he is enabled to present a copy of the Admiral’s Report, as follows:
“Liverpool, 15th November, 1860.
“Honored Sir: I have sent to the Scientific Committee of the Marine Ministry, with my reports of the 15th and 17th of October, for publication in a marine journal, a short article concerning the corrugated iron steamers. In addition to information therein contained, I would state that it is my conviction that for our rivers, which are from year to year getting more shallow, there cannot be built a more suitable steamer than the above. In the discharge of my duty, I communicate to you the result of the trials which have been made at the Liverpool factory.
“The corrugation of sheets of iron is effected, as may be known to you, crosswise and not lengthwise, and the sheets of the hull are riveted together by lapping one upon the other, corrugation upon corrugation, and a double row of rivets put in.
“It was important to ascertain the relative strength of the riveted lap to a whole sheet before proceeding with the construction of the steamers. For that purpose we placed upon two blocks a riveted sheet a a (as marked in the diagram accompanying this), three feet ten inches in length by two feet six inches wide and three-sixteenths of an inch thick. We then began by laying on it, directly over the line of the rivets, zinc slabs, b b, each weighing thirty-one pounds English.
“The sheet broke at one row of rivets after having placed upon it 188 slabs, or 160 poods of fourteen pounds each (nearly three tons); after this test a whole sheet of the same measure was placed upon the blocks, and it bent after 199 slabs or 170 poods, (over three tons) had been placed upon it.
“Finally we took a plain sheet of iron the same measure, not corrugated, and it bent and fell from the blocks after ten slabs had been placed upon it. I believe that such results settle the question in regard to the local strength which corrugation imparts to iron and its adaptation in the construction of vessels.
“With sincere regard,
(Signed.)“ALEXANDER BOUTAKOFF.
“To Admiral Arkass.”
TEST OF CORRUGATED IRON LAP MADE IN LIVERPOOL BY
ADMIRAL BOUTAKOFF, R. I. N.
On a call from the Russian Government, the inventor submitted photographs and drawings of the steamers constructed by the Liverpool Company, addressed, according to instructions, to the Grand Duke Constantine.
After some little necessary correspondence, shorn of all diplomatic red tape, a contract was entered into between the Imperial Government and Mr. Francis, for the construction of a fleet of light-draft steamers, to be pushed to completion rapidly as possible. The result was that, ere the year 1862 had passed, steamers, fully engined, and ready for service, were erected at the Liverpool factory, and taken apart again for shipment. These vessels were 150 to 200 feet in length, built on similar lines to vessels already constructed by the Company. When the steamers had been put together, tested and again set up at the factory, they were boxed for shipment, in sections, both hulls, floating dock and machinery, when they were ready for
THE STRANGEST ROUTE EVER TRAVERSED BY SHIP.
From Liverpool they went first to St. Petersburgh—thence to Moscow—on to Nijni Novgorod—across the Volga—over the Ural Mountains—to the Aral Sea, in Asia—where they were at length unboxed, the sections once again put together and, lo, a