Atlas Engineering

The Atlas Company was founded about seven years ago by a dozen or so young Sydney
engineers, all practical men, and by dint of hard work and good management, they have
succeeded that they now look for no superior establishment in the colonies. The
commencement of their operations at the head of Darling Harbour was the signal for the
change that has sinoo como over the seono in that quarter-a damp .and watery waste being
changed in the course of a four years to a scone of activity not found elsewhere in the
metropolis.
Two or three years after starting, the firm found a necessity for increased room, and for actual
water frontage. This was secured by the purchase of about three acres on the western side of
Darling Harbour adjacent to the Pyrmont bridge. Here the boiler-making and the marine work
are now carried on, and it is intended to add a branch for locomotive building.
The number of men now employed is 250. The manager is Mr. J. Edgington ; engineer
foreman, Mr. Thomas Irons ; blacksmith's foreman, Mr. Edwin Sohofield ; ironmoulders'
foreman, Mr. J. Bonnor draftsman, Mr. M. Mainwaring: foreman ship builder, Mr. H. Looa ;
and boiler makers' foreman, Mr. G. Boulton.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/70939477?searchTerm=atlas
engineering&searchLimits=

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acheron-class_torpedo_boat


As Sydney was the major base for the Royal Navy in Australia, the New South Wales Government
had no incentive to acquire their own naval forces. However during the Crimean War this sense of
security vanished and in 1854 the government called for tenders for the construction of a gunboat to
help in the defence of Sydney.

The gunboat, named Spitfire was not only the first warship ordered by an Australian government
but also the first warship built in Australia. After the launch of Spitfire in 1855 no further steps were
taken by the New South Wales Government in establishing a naval force until 1863 when the
formation of a Naval Brigade of 120 men was announced. Support for the Naval Brigade was so great
that by 1864 it consisted of five companies, four in Sydney and one in Newcastle, with an overall
strength of 20() men. Headquarters for the Naval Brigade was established at Fort Macquarie, where
the Opera House stands today. Unfortunately the Naval Brigade had no ships of its own, Spitfire
having been given to Queensland in 1859.

The disadvantage of not having any vessels for the Naval Brigade was recognised during the late
1870s when the government ordered the construction of two second class torpedo boats, Avernus
and Acheron. These vessels were built in Sydney by the Atlas Engineering Company of Pyrmont.
http://www.gunplot.net/main/content/australias-colonial-navies


Acheron conducted her first trials around Sydney Harbour on 1 March 1879, the trip proving
most successful. The Town and Country Journal reported inter alia on 8 March:
The strange craft attracted much attention from the persons aboard the various yachts and
steamers as she passed everything at a rate that made them seem to be comparatively standing
still, even such boats and the Bellbird and Manly ferry steamers being relatively nowhere and
being so small and low, the speed appears much greater than it would in a larger vessel.
A speed of 16 knots was attained on a number of the runs. As well as their defensive
function, Acheron and Avernus were deployed for other military purposes and on occasions
served as dispatch boats.
A visiting French Admiral, M. Le Petit Thouare, accompanied by some of his officers,
inspected Acheron and her sister boat, Avernus in early 1879. He expressed surprise that such
boats . . . could be constructed in Sydney and that the final cost of both was some hundreds
of pounds less for each vessel than was paid to the leading torpedo boat builder in the United
Kingdom, Vosper Thornycroft, by the French Government for similar vessels . . . so
reported The Town and Country Journal.
Another trial was conducted in early April, The Town and Country Journal reporting:
The little steamer left her moorings in Darling Harbour just upon 11 oclock, and steered
around Millers Point and towards Fort Denison. Even at half speed she ran past the fastest
steam-launches and ferryboats, the passengers aboard which gazed upon her with evident
bewilderment. At a distance of 400 or 500 yards she is hardly perceptible, and it was a
surprise to all the spectators afloat and ashore to find the craft come suddenly upon them and
pass away as quickly, leaving nothing but a disturbed and foamy track behind her.
No alteration whatever had been made in the vessel since she left the slip, but the engineers
were somewhat more acquainted with their work, and as she approached Pinchgut to do the
mile, it was a matter for speculation whether she would improve on her first performances.
After passing Fort Macquarie the order full speed was given, and the little craft nearly
jumped out of the water. The equilibrium of the unwary was immediately disturbed, and the
vessel, now pushed on by 200 horsepower, darted through the water like a fish. The wind was
right ahead, and the water lumpy, but the vessel passed through rough and smooth alike,
taking aboard occasionally a little of the damp element for the entertainment of the principal
electrician.
The measured mile between Pinchgut and Bradleys Head was run in four minutes and 36
seconds. This was not satisfactory. Twice the engines had to be lowered, owing to some
oversight below, and the vessel was fetched back. In the next trial the engineers were better
prepared, and she did the mile in a trifle under four minutes thirteen seconds. This was the
QUICKEST RUN IN AUSTRALIA.
It meant 17 miles an hour, the average of our railway trains, and this wonderful result was
accomplished against a strong head wind, and a heavy handicap in the shape of extra weight.
As no alteration of propeller, expected to secure an advantage of two knots, had been made,
the trial was considered very satisfactory. The distance having been run, the steamers head
was turned, and at easy steaming overtook the fast (Manly) passenger boat, the Fairlight, and
then heading up the Parramatta River, she ran round Cockatoo.
She flew past the dock under a good head of steam and in passing the American mail boat,
her rapid movement caused a sensation aboard. The trials over the mile were afterwards
repeated with varying but most satisfactory results, and at the close Major Cracknell
expressed the greatest satisfaction at the performances.
Internal Arrangements
Acheron, described as the first torpedo launch ever constructed in Australia, was divided
into ten watertight compartments:
the first, enclosed by a collision bulkhead bore the torpedo spar and compartment
a fore cabin. Moving further after, there was
a small stores compartment, then
the steering compartment,
torpedo compartment
the boiler room
the engine room
the after cabin (for 12 people in the role of dispatch vessel) and another,
two separate divisions before the stern.
According to the Sydney Mail newspaper of 8 March 1879:
. . . each boat could be steered from the stern or from a small sunken position directly forward
of the funnel. A bullet-proof steel visor protected the helmsman in the sunken position, who
also had the duty of launching the torpedoes.
The steel plates for the hull were the only portions of the material imported. The vessels were
designed as 80 feet long, with a 10 feet 3 inches beam. They were fitted with engines of a
novel description, constructed nearly altogether of steel, and had cylinders 11 inches and 19
inches diameter, and 14 inches stroke. These engines were fitted with a surface condenser of
copper, intended to run at about 350 revolutions per minute. The engines were mounted on
steel columns with wrought-iron sole plates to obtain the maximum power with the minimum
weight.
The Sydney Mail also reported:
when not employed, Acheron and her sister were maintained out of water, on special cradles
at Berrys Bay, and though there was little probability that they would be used for other
military purposes than drill and practice, they were employed of dispatch purposes. The
boats after cabins, with space for about a dozen people, were neatly fitted out; and
throughout the work, the builders embellished the dangerous little craft, as far as possible,
without sacrificing the useful to the beautiful.
Torpedoes
The spar weapon was a lengthy wooden rod, pivoted at the bow and fitted with an explosive
at its tip. To attack an enemy ship and at the same time avoid detection, Acheron and Avernus
would be required to make a stealthy approach to the vessel, at low speed, most probably at
late evening or in the dark of night. The single funnel on each boat would be lowered during
such an action.
With a 62 foot long torpedo spar, about 45 feet of the weapon would protrude over the bow,
the remaining 17 feet on the boat designed to keep the weapon steady. Orders to fire the
explosive into the side of the intruding warship and go astern were to be given
simultaneously to avoid damage to Acheron. Within a few years of introduction into service,
the two torpedo boats were converted to carry the more modern 14 inch torpedoes, launched
from cradles mounted along the port and starboard sides, about halfway along the vessels
length of 82 feet 6 inches. Tests were carried out with the new weapons on 9 May 1885, after
both boats had been modified in Morts Dock in Sydney.
In Service
The careers of both Acheron and Avernus were confined to the waters of Sydney Harbour,
with each almost exclusively active at weekends and on public holidays. Fortunately for
Sydneysiders and the boats crews, the two craft were never called upon to meet an
adversary; what the results might have been are now only conjecture.
Experiments with the boats propellers were carried out in 1879 in an effort to increase
speeds, but sadly, these proved unsuccessful. By April 1885, just seven years after being
built, Acheron and Avernus were reported in a state of disrepair and in need of drydocking at
Cockatoo Island. Another docking was conducted in May 1885.
Neither boat saw active duty in 1886 and late in that decade they were being described as
Sydneys third line of defence, the first being the Naval Artillery and the second, the
defensive mines. During May 1896, both boats were again refitted, their boilers lifted and
repaired and hulls overhauled.
Fates
On 1 March 1901 Acheron and Avernus were integrated into the Commonwealth Naval
Forces, presented by New South Wales to the new Australian fleet. However, on 6
November 1902, it was announced that the two boats would be sold by the Federal
Government, the state receiving reimbursement from the sale. The next month Acheron
fetched 425 and Avernus 502.
Acheron received a new lease of life as Sydneys quarantine boat, named Jenner, before
being paid-off in the late 1930s. Avernus had a less spectacular ending to her career, being
abandoned on the shores of Rushcutters Bay before finally being sunk for reclamation of land
at Glebe in the 1940s.
For many years, nothing but the history remained of Australias first true warship. However,
in the mid 1990s a long thin hull, thought to be the remains of Acheron, was detected by a
Navy workboat equipped with a side scan sonar, west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Acheron and Avernus Data as completed
Type Second class torpedo boat
Displacement 22 tons
Length 82 feet 6 inches
Beam 10 feet 6 inches
Draught 4 feet
Machinery Surface condensing engines, 200ihp, single screw
Boilers Multi-tubular type
Speed 16 knots (normal) 18 knots (maximum)
Bunkers Four tons of coal
Armament
Two sets of dropping gear for 14 inch torpedoes
(originally spar torpedo)
Cost 8,784 (total)
http://www.navyhistory.org.au/australias-first-warship-the-torpedo-boat-acheron/

Ship model,"Acheron", torpedo boat., 1877


http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=211569


Garden Island
Atlas Engineering also made steam engines. One is at the Powerhouse and I took Lens photo
standing on it.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/imageservice/nla.news-page5788849/print



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1243