Boats Lying Up

We took a stroll yesterday among our various shipyards for the purpose of ascertaining the number of boats building and lying idle, and found the number to be sixteen.-- They are lying strung along the levee for miles down the river in the following order:. Lucy Bell, a new Mobile packet has just received her last finishing touches, and will make a dart for New Orleans and Mobile this week. This boat is finished in the neatest and most elegant manner, reflecting the highest credit, as well upon the liberal owner, as upon the New Albany mechanics who did the work. She is intended for the Alabama river trade, and will unquestionably win laurels. She is commanded by Capt. W. M. Ferrell, an experienced officer and a worthy gentleman, assisted by Mr. Perry B. Cayce as clerk, late of steamer Messenger. Perry is a whole souled fellow, and travelers taking passage upon her may rely upon having a most comfortable trip South.. Steamer Bee, a little stern wheeler lies just below. She has been lying up here for some time waiting for a purchaser, She has been thoroughly overhauled and her machinery is now in No. 1 order. She is light draught, and suitable for any small river trade which holds out temptation for buyers.. Just astern lies the bird of the flock, the Antelope, owned and commanded by Capt. Ed Brown. She sits like a swan upon the water as she lies moored at one of our wharves for the purpose of receiving her mammoth machinery, and the completion of her joiner's work. The hull is an excellent specimen of workmanship, and reflects credit on the builder, Mr. Hooper. Her machinery is from the Phoenix works--the place where they always get up something nice. Her joiner work is by Messrs. Thompson & Beeler, men that do things up in apple pie order. Her painting is done by Tom Kunkle, a man too well known for us to laudate. The Antelope is intended to run between Louisville and N. Orleans, and is expected to be ready to commence her trips about the 1st of January, and to be commanded by Capt. Edw. Brown, assisted by Lewis Beeler as clerk, the cleverest man on top of the ground, who for energy of character displayed on recent trying occasions has secured troops of friends.. The next boat along side is the J. H. Bell a new boat for the Brazos river trade. She is receiving her machinery from the well known Phoenix works. Her boilers are up, and her cylinders bedded. She is 180 feet in length, 36 feet beam, 7 feet hold, 29 feet floor, and the strongest and best fastened hull ever turned out. She has two engines with cylinders 22 1/2 inches diameter, and 7 feet stroke--three boilers 28 feet long, and 42 inches in diameter. The Bell will be ready for service in the course of two weeks. She will be a neat boat and will astonish the natives around there--sure. She is to be commanded by Capt. Mills.. A little farther down lies the new Huntsville, Capt. Charley Pell's new Tennessee river packet--one of the most capacious and splendid steamers that has been built here this season. She is a buster and the carpenters, joiners and painters are hurrying her along at 2.40 rates. She has her boilers and machinery aboard and partly up. Spurrier and his troop of painters are spreading the pain on in double quick time. Spurrier is a man too well and favorably known to require any quill thunder. The new Huntsville is especially intended for a cotton boat, and will ply as a regular packet in the Tuscumbia and New Orleans trade. She will be commanded by Capt. Charley Pell, of Paducah, late of the steamer Cherokee--a whole souled fellow and a most successful officer in the trade.. Next comes the Laurel Hill, a Bayou Sara packet, Capt. Cotton's new boat. She is a superbly finished boat, in a style of splendor equal to any of her class in the southern trade. The New Albany mechanics may well be proud of her, and the people along the coast may prepare themselves to hail a beauty. As soon as there is a rise in the river she will spread herself out and start South. She has plenty of power and will doubtless shine as one of the stars of the line.. Just alongside of the Hill lies the remains of the people's favorite, Gen. Lafayette, now going to decay. She was one of the boats of her time, and one of whom it might be truely said, "she walked the waters like a thing of life,: and gilded her owners pockets with a heavy purse. But now her day is gone, never again will the shrill notes of her whistle be heard, as she breasts the rude current of the father of waters, or glides like an arrow upon the placed bosome of La Belle Riviere. Her days are numbered. She has been dismantled and is rapidly yielding to the work of demolition.. Next in order is the Mary Hunt, which has recently undergone a thorough overhauling from stem to stern. Immediately after she was laid up her owners commenced the work of renovation, with the intention of making her on her next appearance at the levee one of the finest looking steamboats afloat. She is now finished and ready for business and will start out as soon as there is sufficient water, in the trade in which she is destined to run.. Just alongside lies the swift steamer Belle Key. She has had a long rest, but is recently being overhauled, from her pilot house to her keel, caulked, repaired, and repainted, and will soon have her looking as well as when first turned out and will be ready for business as soon as business is ready for her. She is to run this coming season in the Nashville and New Orleans trade.. Little farther up on the bank lies Capt. Box's fine craft for the New Orleans trade. She is being pushed rapidly towards completion. She is considered to be an easy model, and from the looks of her "Traps" she is bound to be a flyer. Her machinery is now being put up by Capt. Tellone from the noted foundry of Tellone & Co. Her boilers are up and her cylinders bedded, and she will be ready to be launched the first rise in the river.. Next in order comes the old Huntsville, as she lies moored to the landing awaiting for the channel of the river to be liberal enough to afford a sufficient supply of water to let her be towed out to New Orleans. She is loaded with the machinery, hull and fixtures of a new steamer for the California trade to run from San Francisco to Sacramento--is to be taken to New Orleans and reshipped aboard of a clipper ship for California via Cape Horn.. Farther down on the stocks lies Capt. Tucker's flyer. She is being built by Wible & Co. She is already planked and nearly ready for launching, showing the perfection of the model, and giving a clear idea of what she will be when completed. If she does not prove to be a fast traveler there is no use of sharp models. We understand her name is to be Stephen Trabue, (a good name that,) but a more appropriate name would be "Tooth-Pick," as Capt. Jim is a fast man and sanguine that she will not drink a drop of stern water that any boat leaves behind.. Little below on the stocks lies another Pink of the same family-building by Wm. Jones, as it regards model, she will be up to any of them--(she is as sharp as a shingle) and her machinery is to be powerful. Those two steamers will be an honor to the incomparable artisans of our city.. Further down lies Capt. Montgomery's pet, the fleet Reindeer. She has been laying up sometime awaiting a rise to let her sally out upon the bosom of la belle riviere. She has been repaired and repainted from the hurricane-roof the the keel--and is now pronounced as seaworthy and sound as when first launched.. Next boat below is the Empire, Captain Charley Meekin's packet. She has been thoroughly repaired, repainted and is in No. 1 order; so much so that her best friends will not know her in her new dress. She will be ready to make a dart into business as soon as there is sufficient water in the Louisville trade.. Now if any body desires to see a beauty of a boat, an aquatic gem, let them take a look at the next boat below, the A. L. Shotwell, the boat that won for herself a reputation equalled by no boat on the western waters. She is unquestionably the fastest that ever turned a wheel. And after her most successful career during last season, has again come forth on her native element. The renowned Tom Kunkle hath clothed her in a new and fair white garb as peerless and finished as on the day she first skimmed over the waters of the beautiful Ohio.. The Shotwell has been long at rest, but she may be see (with her horns, through smoked glass if eyes are weak) as she now lies moored at the wharf at Lower Albany. The Shotwell will make a dart in the Louisville trade just as soon as navigation is opened.