The Stubborn “Leviathan”

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The talk and the writing about the launching of this vessel have now become leviathanlike in dimensions. We wait with patience for the period when we can say, "like leviathan afloat, lay her bulwarks on the brine." By the latest news from Europe, five attempts at launching had already been made and failed, and further operations are suspended for a long time to come, on account of the breakage of chains and hydraulic pumps employed to move her. No less than three hydraulic rams, one powerful windlass, and the double chains which drag the vessel towards the river have all been burst or broken. She still sticks on her ways, at two-thirds the distance from where she was built. The London Times states it will cost $500,000 to launch her ; the London Engineer says it has cost $350,000 already, and as it has to be moved twice the distance it has already traversed, it may cost more than $1,000,000. Just think of one million of dollars being expended upon launching this monster ! What in the name of common sense possessed its builders to construct her at such a distance from the water ?

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