CONSIDERING what a vast amount of wealth has been every year engulfed beneath the waves since mankind engaged in commerce by sea, it is matter for astonishment that so little has been attempted in an organized and scientific manner for the recovery of any portion of the same when vessels have foun- dered in accessible depths. It would ap| ear as if our practical engineers and other scien- tific men had magnified or been staggered at the difficulties in the way. As if they had almost forgotten the diminished weight of all bodies in so heavy a fluid as water: that the weight of a corresponding bulk of water must in every case be subtracted from the actual weight of any body of solid matter Appledore, Bideford, Devon.—A. 28-feet 1 immersed in it, to determine its weight whilst so immersed, and therefore the power required to raise it; which circumstance so greatly diminishes the difficulty of raising sunken bodies to the water's surface. Be this however as it may, the fact exists that many millions' worth of property has been resigned to destruction in the neighbourhood of our own coasts alone, without any sys- tematic or scientific efforts being made for its recovery up to the present tune; whilst even in the fairways of harbours and other great thoroughfares of shipping,' the relics of wrecked vessels have been allowed to remain, to the destruction of others that have run over them, in consequence of the diffi- culties which have seemed to stand in the way of their removal.

Looking on the matter in this last point of view alone, as a not unfruitful cause of shipwreck, and altogether apart from the preservation of property, which does not so immediately concern us, we cannot but hail with considerable satisfaction the ingenious and interesting invention of Captain STEPHEN RANDOLL SMITH; as also the fact that a com- pany, that mighty engine in this country &r effecting great enterprises, has been formed, and has met with considerable support, for carrying it into immediate operation.

The objects of Captain SMITH'S invention, as its title in part implies, are to effect the recovery of sunken vessels and property where the value of such shall be sufficient to yield a profit, and to remove those which He in such positions as to be dangerous to navi- gation. The principles upon which the plan rests are those which have been tested and proved in every possible way. They do not involve any new, hypothetical, or speculative reasoning, but are legitimate conclusions from proved data: iu such an undertaking it is only the application of the well-known laws of hydrostatics that merits and will obtain the consideration of scientific minds. The principal machinery with which it is proposed to effect these objects, and the manner of using it, are as follows:— 1. Two flat-bottomed, capacious iron vessels, rigged to carry sails, but with two auxiliary screw-engines of 25 horse power in each, and .furnished with all requisite sling- ing and heaving-up apparatus. The united capacity of these two vessels, applicable to sustain the heaving-up and suspending power, is equal to 2,746 tons, or nearly seven times as great as the calculated weight of a 120- gun ship of war when immersed, the latter being equivalent to 402 tons only.

2. A powerful tug-steamer for the pur- pose of towing the two lifting vessels with the wreck suspended between them, into port, or into shoal water. This vessel is also fitted with slinging and lifting appa- ratus.

3. Three or more tubular boats termed submarine surveying stages, furnished with complete diving-apparatus, chain-ladders, &c., for the purpose of ascertaining the exact position of sunken vessels, or other property, before taking the requisite measures for its recovery.

4. A screw-steamer for the purpose of towing the submarine surveying stages when in operation, and for general purposes.

The leading feature in Captain SMITH'S plan is that the chains by which the sub- merged vessels are hove up and suspended, are conducted by means of tubes, through and perpendicular to the central or keel-line of the lifting-vessels; and when it is neces- sary, to raise the sunken vessel nearer to the surface than she can be by these central chains, it is proposed to heave her higher up by chains passed over the inside gun- wales of- the lifting-vessels, and water is then admitted into compartments on their off-sides, which counteract the strain on the hearing-chains over the opposite or inner gunwales. By these two contri- vances, the lifting-vessels are always kept in an upright position, which in such a work is of great importance, and must much facili- tate the whole operation, especially when the sea might not be perfectly smooth.

We subjoin some remarks on, and expla- nations of, the plan of the proposed opera- tions of the company, with which we have been favoured, together with a small sketch which will convey some idea of the manner of slinging and heaving up a sunken vessel.

We will therefore conclude our own obser- vations by stating that we conceive the importance cannot be exaggerated of an undertaking, which, if successfully brought into operation, will recover a vast amount of property that, however its original owners may have been covered by insurance, is none the less lost to the country and to mankind; and which we think, so far as we are capable of judging, can hardly fail to be, as we heartily trust it will be, a remunera- tive speculation to its projectors and to all those who embark in it, and aid in carrying it out. The capital of the " Sunken Vessels' Re- covery Company " is 60,000?. in 6,000 shares of 10Z. each, with power to increase the capital to 500,0002.

The offices of the Company are at No. 9, Cornhill, London, .where plans and pro- spectuses can be obtained.