Fast Steam Launch

The Hitajrnia, a small boat whiah plies on thft river Thames, England, is said by the New York Advertiser to be the fastost boat of its size afloat, and a trip in it is an experience. At ordinary speed the Hibernia behaves like an ordnary boat, cutting her wa.y through tht'. water and leaving a moderate impression in the form of shore waves. With a slight touch of the regulator she leaps forward, and as the speed ir. creases she gradually sinks a little by the stern, rises a little by the head, until at a cortain speed the bow ris.es clean out of the water, Bnd the boiit nies along at the top of it, throwing a doublé wall of spray, between which she flies at a speed of about tweni.y-nine miles an hour with the stream and twenty-six and a quarter miles against the stream. Some idea of the power of this boat may be gaUiered from the following Statement uf dlmensions and engine power: The length of tha boat is 48 feet 8 inch? over all; bread th, 7 feet Si inches; Jraught 1 foot i inchea, and depth of propeller below the water line J feet 6 inches. The boiler is of steel locomotivo pattern, with barrel fivs-sixtèenths inch thick, quintuple rivetod in longitudinal seama. Tba engines are two-cylinder, both high pressúre, 7 inch diameter, Btroke 6 iniihes, revolutions about 750 per minuta up to 1,050 revolutiona per minuta when doing the highest speed. Ths propRller has threo bladf s oí hammerad doublé shear steel, with carefufly p-ropared surface and knife edge, keyed in a wrought steel boas and accursutely balanced. The engines are o.' smalt dimensions, exoept in tho weering and hard working parts, and here the dimensions are very large, and at first glance disproportionatelv strong. E very d.tail lias been most carefully desigsed, and carried out with equally caruful workmanship and excellent finish. Tho boat wa,s built i chieily for umpire work at regattas i and coaching university crews, and j has run ovr 3,Si)0 miles without the touch of a spannr.