Thanks to the fact that nowadays more and more books are digitized we are able to read books that are some times for decades no longer available for the public for several reasons. That's quite a pity while these books contains useful information while the archives are destroyed, incomplete or nor accessible.
P. 263: “The Columbus was launched while I was at Quebec in August, 1824. I went down the day before to the island of Orleans, on the west end of which that gigantic ship was constructed, to see her on the stocks. Although I was before aware of her extraordinary dimensions, I had no conception of the huge appearance of such a vast mass. Mr. Wood, who superintended the building of the Columbus, very politely showed us all the preparations for launching, and the interior arrangements of the vessel, and we certainly beheld all with astonishment. The length of the Columbus on deck was about 320 feet, breadth something more than fifty, and extreme depth of the body about forty feet. There was then about 3000 tons put on board before launching. Every thing was on a gigantic scale; the launch-ways were laid on solid mason-work embedded in the rock ; the chain and hemp cables, capstan bars, &c. exceeded the dimensions of common materials in the same proportion as the Columbus did other ships; yet this huge fourmasted vessel was strongly framed, timbered, and planked, on the usual principles, and not put together like a raft, as many people imagined. We returned to Quebec in the evening ; and early on the following morning we proceeded again in a steam-boat to the Isle of Orleans. The day was one of the most lovely I ever beheld ; the St. Lawrence, smooth as a mirror, reflecting a facsimile of the surrounding sublimities, and of a sky the most serene and beautiful. Vast crowds were assembled on the eminences on each side the colossal ship, and on the south banks of the St. Lawrence. Several magnificent steam-boats, filled with much of the beauty, fashion, and gaiety of Canada and the United States, were drawn. up to the eastward. In one, there was the band of the 70th regiment ; in another, that of the 38th; and in a third, a Highland piper, playing the wild martial music of the Grampians. There were, besides, innumerable boats, filled with people, drawn up in order on the river.At eight o'clock, when all eyes were directed towards the Columbus, in silent, anxious expectation, the leviathan ship appeared moving onward, gently increasing in speed until she glided into thep.263: the Atlantic and arrived safely, after a quick voyage, in the Thames, but on returning next year towards America was lost some few hundred miles west of Ireland.
Source
John M’Gregor. British America. Vol. II, 2nd edition. London, 1833.
P. 263: “The Columbus was launched while I was at Quebec in August, 1824. I went down the day before to the island of Orleans, on the west end of which that gigantic ship was constructed, to see her on the stocks. Although I was before aware of her extraordinary dimensions, I had no conception of the huge appearance of such a vast mass. Mr. Wood, who superintended the building of the Columbus, very politely showed us all the preparations for launching, and the interior arrangements of the vessel, and we certainly beheld all with astonishment. The length of the Columbus on deck was about 320 feet, breadth something more than fifty, and extreme depth of the body about forty feet. There was then about 3000 tons put on board before launching. Every thing was on a gigantic scale; the launch-ways were laid on solid mason-work embedded in the rock ; the chain and hemp cables, capstan bars, &c. exceeded the dimensions of common materials in the same proportion as the Columbus did other ships; yet this huge fourmasted vessel was strongly framed, timbered, and planked, on the usual principles, and not put together like a raft, as many people imagined. We returned to Quebec in the evening ; and early on the following morning we proceeded again in a steam-boat to the Isle of Orleans. The day was one of the most lovely I ever beheld ; the St. Lawrence, smooth as a mirror, reflecting a facsimile of the surrounding sublimities, and of a sky the most serene and beautiful. Vast crowds were assembled on the eminences on each side the colossal ship, and on the south banks of the St. Lawrence. Several magnificent steam-boats, filled with much of the beauty, fashion, and gaiety of Canada and the United States, were drawn. up to the eastward. In one, there was the band of the 70th regiment ; in another, that of the 38th; and in a third, a Highland piper, playing the wild martial music of the Grampians. There were, besides, innumerable boats, filled with people, drawn up in order on the river.At eight o'clock, when all eyes were directed towards the Columbus, in silent, anxious expectation, the leviathan ship appeared moving onward, gently increasing in speed until she glided into thep.263: the Atlantic and arrived safely, after a quick voyage, in the Thames, but on returning next year towards America was lost some few hundred miles west of Ireland.
Source
John M’Gregor. British America. Vol. II, 2nd edition. London, 1833.
