The recent successful trip of Cleopatra’s Needle in a vessel of unique construction will recall that of the Bermuda floating-dock, which it will be remembered was towed across the Atlantic and placed in its present position. Bermuda being, from a naval point of view, the most important port on the North American and West Indian Stations, it had long been felt to be an absolute necessity that a dock capable of holding the largest vessels of war should be built in some part of the island. After many futile attempts to accomplish this object, owing to the porous nature of the rock of which the island is formed, it was determined that Messrs. Campbell, Johnstone & Co., of North Woolwich, should construct a floating-dock according to their patented inventions: those built by them for Carthagena, Saigon, and Callao having been completely successful. The dimensions of the dock for Bermuda, which was afterwards named after that island, are as follows:— Length over all 381 feet. Length between caissons 330 „ Breadth over all 124 „ Breadth between sides 84 „ Depth inside 53 „ 5 in. She is divided into eight longitudinal water-tight compartments, and these again into sets of compartments, called respectively load on and balance chambers. Several small compartments were also made for the reception of the pumps, the machinery for moving capstans, and cranes, all of which were worked by steam. She is powerful and large enough to lift an ironclad having a displacement of 10,400 tons, and could almost dock the _Great Eastern_. The building of the _Bermuda_ was begun in August, 1866; she was launched in September, 1868, and finally completed in May, 1869. For the purposes of navigation two light wooden bridges were thrown across her, on the foremost of which stood her compass, and on the after the steering apparatus. She was also supplied with three lighthouses and several semaphores for signalling to the men-of-war which had her in tow, either by night or day. In shape she is something like a round-bottomed canal boat with the ends cut off. From an interesting account of her voyage from Sheerness to Bermuda by “One of those on Board,” we gather the following information respecting her trip. Her crew numbered eighty-two hands, under a Staff-Commander, R.N.; there were also on board an assistant naval surgeon, an Admiralty commissioner, and the writer of the book from which these particulars are taken. The first rendezvous of the _Bermuda_ was to be at the Nore. [Illustration: THE BERMUDA FLOATING DOCK.]