The Express.
London, England, 1864-03-05 00:00:00

STEERING SHIPS BY TELEGRAPH.

At the Royal United Service Institution yester-
day a highly Interesting lecture was delivered by Lieutmant
A. H. Gilmore, R.N., upon the application of electric tele-
graphy to the stewing sad general management of a men-of.
war. The lecturer stated that it was sow Pewee years since
his late brother directed attention to the subject, and pro-
posed ao apparatus for the purpose to We Admiralty, which
had then berm tried with perfect success on board some
vessels of small aim. The same system has recently been
accepted by the Admiralty, sad is now in use, with certain
improvements, on board the Resistance, the Hector, Prince
Consort, Gilead°, Oracles, and the Queen's yacht, the Vic-
toria and Albert, having been first adopted in that ship on
the occasion of her voyage to bring the Princess of Wales to
England. The great value of a stream of perfect communi-
cation throughout any ship must be evident, as it is from the
want of this that so many accidents happen. Shim come into
fatal collision in fogs arid dark nights before it is possible to
alter the course by word of command. The man at the
look-out has first to give his signal, and this is taken up by
the next man, and so the word is carried, often in a gale of
wind, through several men to the steersman, who possibly
gets an imperfect, or even a directly contrary order, while,
if he gets the right one, it is often too late. Nosy hair-
breadth escapes in this way are commonly to be heard
related by seamen, and no doubt small craft are eometimes
run down which might have been, avoided had it been
possible for the man at the helm to act with sufficient
promptitude. The apparatus appears to be extremely
simple, and it is only surprising, now that we are shown it,
that it was not adopted long ago. There is in front of the
wheel at which the helmsman is stationed, a seat stand,
somewhat like a sna-dial stand, with an upright dial-
plate, upon which week. a band or indicator, and
this plate is made transparent at night by a
lamp. When the ship is steering " steady." the
hand is vertical, or at lest, by its own gravity chiefly,
cad pte to the word • steady ;" when the course is
signalled to " port," or "starboard," the hand moves to
the left or right hand, as required by the officer in COOl.
maod, who of course directs the key-beadle upon a similar
dial-plate before him. Bat by an ingenious contrivance •
tharpsonading meg. is struck with every signal, so that
the man's attention se called to the dial-plate before him.
If he is ordered to steer so many spokes of the wheel to
port or starboard, the Aker gives three, or aoy other
, number of stokes upon his dial. and the gong sounds at the
mine time. If the order " hard down" or • hard up" helm
is to be given, it is only neomeary to repeat the strokes
rapidly. Mr. Gihnore showed the apparatus in action, and
it worked in the most exact and unmistakable manner.
for ships of war, and especially the cupola ships, it would
seem to be quite au indispensable means of working them
efficiently, as ceders may be mot about the ship with emu.
racy under any circumstances, and with • rapidity quite
impossible in the 114•11 either of • storm or a beetle. M.
Gilmore purposes to have • kind of table pith Pe'rethi
plates upon it, each of which I. in comtnnuicatioe with a cer-
' tan part of the ship, as the fighting quarters, the
room, the cupolas, and soon ; this would be placed in the
captain's pilot-house on deck, and this the aecessay orders
tp tight the ship by wanceurnag in any way, to the maga-
zines and totoll,. orOnhaide Suss, prepare to are, to change
or revolve cupolas for the other Eck, sad in CYO of attack.
tog as • ram, to charge or to back off as needed. The im-
menee advantages of all this need sot be dwelt nem, but
the lecturer pointed out especially that in modern warfare
by steam it would be of great importance to be able to
manoeuvre the ship rapidly, end to fire instantaneously at a
ship moving with high speed. The double screw propellers
which are now coming into use would not, he thought, be
fully available without this method of conveying orders in-
stantaneously. As to the ems with which salon would
learn the meaning of the signals and the working of the
system. Lieutenant Gilmore felt quite sure that there was
is. difficulty in this method of steering than in the old
one of steering by the