better. In one word, she would not pay to break up. On the other hand, by a
comparatively moderate further outlay, she might be made the finest trading
ship afloat. There are two harbors at all events into which she can always
get, namely, Milford and Sydney. There are others, of course, but these
will do; and the ship could trade between these two ports. By taking out
her paddle engines, she would be relieved of a weight of 850 tons. The
removal of her paddle engine boilers would further lighten her, and would
give in addition an enormous stowage space. By using her both as a cargo
and a passenger ship, the whole of the upper portion could be utilized for
emigrants, let us say, and the lower decks for cargo, of which she could
carry nearly, if not quite, 20,000 tons. She would possess the great
advantage that, notwithstanding she was a cargo ship, she would be nearly,
if not quite, as fast as any, save a few of the most recent additions to
the Australian fleet. There is every reason to believe that she has been
driven at 14 knots by about 6,000 horse power. We are inclined to think
that the power has been overstated, and we have it on good authority that
she has more than once attained a speed of 15 knots. Let us assume,
however, that her speed is to be 13 knots, or about fifteen miles an hour.
Assuming the power required to vary as the cube of the speed, if 6,000
horsepower gave 14 knots, then about 4,800 would give 13 knots--say 5,000
horse power. Now, good compound engines of this power ought not to burn
more than 2 lb. per horse per hour, or say 4.5 tons per hour, or 108 tons a
day. Allowing the trip to Australia to take forty days, we have 4,320 tons
of coal--say 5,000 tons for the trip. The Etruria burns about this quantity
in the run to New York and back. For each ton of coal burned in the Great
Eastern about 15,000 tons of cargo and 3,000 passengers could be moved
about 3-1/3 miles. There is, we need hardly say, nothing afloat which can
compare in economy of fuel with this. Taken on another basis, we may
compare her with an ordinary cargo boat. In such a vessel about 3,000 tons
of grain can be moved at 9 knots an hour for 600 horse power--that is 5