The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-17 00:00:00

The Iron-plated Ship Royal Oak.

The official trial of this vessel, the first of our con-
verted and fully armoured frigates, commenced on
Monday at the measured mile in Stokes Bay, near
Portsmouth, under the direction of Capt. H. Broad-
head, commanding her Majesty's ship Asia and the
steam reserve at Portsmouth. Two previous at-
tempts had been made to commence the trials, but
failed, owing to the rough state of the weather.
On Monday the Fancy gunboat, having Captain
Broadhead and his staff on board, left Portsmouth
harbour for the ship at 8 a.m., and on emerging
from the harbour entrance the Royal Oak came
in full view as she lay broadside on at
Spithead (about two miles distance) with steam up
and her anchor short apeak. As seen thus far off
it was almost impossible to conoeive anything more
nautically ugly both in the outline of her hu'l and
her rig. The long squat-looking hull, with its
tumble home stem and peculiar shaped stern, re-
sembled some of the large frigates lately built in
French private shipbuilding yards for the Russian
Government more than anything yet seen in the
English navy. The disposition of spars aloft is
precisely similar to that of her Majesty's ship De-
fence, but the disproportion between the hull and
rig of he ship is greater apparently with the Royal
Oak than with the Defence. In the disposition of
the spars and rig there is the same bastard arrange-
ment of mixed systems of double topsail yards, the
stumpy bowsprit forwards, and naked mizen-
mast aft, altogether giving the ship a
look of having been dismasted at sea and
afterwards run into Spithead under jury
rig to receive a new outfit. A closer view
of the ship did not at all diminish this feeling with
regard to the ship's appearance aloft, but the hull
improved considerably as the distance was short
ened, until, when at last the gunboat steamed slowly
around her, the ship's real size and truly formidable
character were at once seen and acknowledged. Her
naked stern, with its sharp apex above the rudder,
is doubtless the very form required for strength and
for throwing off an enemy's shot, and well matches
her cutter form of bow, the latter without any en-
cumbrance of head, cutwater, and the weighty orna-
mental mass with which a ship's stem is generally
loaded. With the exception of two main deck stern
ports which give a chance to sweep her gun desk
from aft to forwards, and which it would be wisdom
to fill in with timber and armour plating and a ra-
ther too great exposure of the rudder, the hull of the
Royal Oak is to all outward appearance all that can
be wished for in an armoured broadside gunship.
Inboard the ship has fine roomy decks. On her
upper deck she carries three 110-pounder Arm-
strongs, besides the usual complement of boat guns
and fieldpieces. Just abaft the mainmast is the
" pilot house," at present without its armour, and
close to the wheel is Gisborne's patent electric tele-
graph aignaling apparatus. This deck, being above
her line of armour, is unprotected except by her
wooden bulwarks and hammock nettings. The
main deck, which is protected all rcuad by the
ship's external coating of armour, and therefore has
no armour-plate bulkheads built across it forward
and aft, presents to the view a continuous battery
of 95cwt. 08-pounders and Armstrong 110-pounder
breech loaders. The ports are closer together than
those of the iron ships, but there is abundance of
room to work the guns, and a sufficient height
between decks for every necessary purpose and
to assist ventilation. The crew of the ship mess
on the lower deck, and the main deck is thus kept
clear of ail mess-tables and utensils, which gives it
a much more showy and imposing appearance than
is the case with the main decks of the iron frigates
where the men mess between the guns. The
lower deck of the ship, however, from the fact of
the ship carrying armour all round, is necessarily
unprovided with side-scuttles, is consequently ex-
cessively dark, and, losing air with light, would
very possibly be unhealthy on such a station as the
West Indies. A great deal has been done to remedy
this serious defect, and under the supervision and
instruction of Mr. Baker, chief engineer of Chat-
ham Dockyard, a comprehensive system of up and
downcast air tubing and shafting has been fitted.
This is stated to be quite or
f
sufficient al! ship
ventilation, and very possibly is so while any
strength of wind is passing over the sbip's upper
deck and through the gun-ports, bra it will not be
sufficient with the ship lying at anchor in a warm
climate, or even when at anchor in a home port
or roadstead on a wet windless day, with the
upper deck hatchways covered with their weather
tarpaulings.
In such a climate, or on such a day,
the sluggish air requires assistance, and a small
two bladed fan placed in a cowl over one of the
ship's
hatchways would supply the ship with a con-
tinuous stream of pure fresh air, and drive out the
foul air through the upeast air shafts, which are
admirably fixed and adapted for the purpose.
The engines of the ship are of 600-horse power,

PR1CE.....-..4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

nominal, by Messrs. Mandslay, Field, and Son, and
are from the same patterns, with the exception of
some minor improvements in their detail, as those of
her Majesty's ship Marlborough. They are on the
firm's horizontal principle, with direct action, and
have cylinders of 82 inches diameter, with a four
feet length of stroke. The fire grate surface is
565 square feet, the heating surfaces in furnaces
and flue is 2,400 square feet, and the
heating surface of the tubes is 13,300 square
feet. The weight of the engines is 186 tons,
of boilers 206 tons, and of water iu boilers when
filled 118 tens. The coal boxes have a measurement
of 24,480 cubic feet, and stow 600 tons of coals—
seven days' consumption. The propellor is a
Maudslay-Griffiths, weighing 11 tons 11 cwt. It
is 19ft in diameter, with a length of 3ft 101 in, and
is set at a pitch of 27ft 6in. It has a varying pitch
down to 22ft, but to alter the pitch at any time the
ship must be placed in dock, as the screw has been
made a fixture, in this following the example of the
French Imperial Marine. The stowage of the ves-
sel below in her holds and storerooms is as near
perfection as anything of the kind can possibly be.
The water tanks are fitted on the plan of Mr. Wallis,
of Portsmouth Dockyard Tide Gauge-office, and by
which means each tank is filled from the conden-
sers, without the trouble of pumping by hand, as is
ordinarily the case. The steering of the ship is
managed by a simple reversion to the old gun-
room tiller, i.e., a long straight tiller projecting
from the rudder-head into the after cabin, in a
line with the keel, and the manner in which the
ship answered her helm on Monday satisfied all on
board that the resumption of the old description of
tiller has given back to our ships some considerable
portion at least of their old power of answering the
helm, even before the introduction of the screw.
The ship has been evidently fitted out regardless
of trouble or expense, and there is but little margin
left for any fault-finding in so large an amount of
work. There are, however, two serious faults in con-
nexion with the ship's armour which it is impossible
to pass by without some notice. The armour plates,
which are admirably put on the ship, are bolted on
with galvanised bolts, and every schoolboy knows
the result of placing iron, zinc, and salt water in
contact with each other. The second error is the
" tapering" of the armour plating at the bows and
stern. Both errors have nothing to do with Chat-
ham yard, both being "by order ;" but both
are most serious, and are being perpetuated

in all the iron-cased vessels now converting
in her Majesty's dockyards. It is indeed said that
the "tapering" of the armour-plate has been aban-
doned by the Lords of the Admiralty, and that an
order is about to be issued that the planking of the
ship's side is in future to be tapered in lieu of the
plate, and that the latter is to be bolted on the
ship's side in all its rough strength.
By the time Captain Broadhead and his staff
had reached the Royal Oak's upper deck from the
deck of the Fancy gunboat the ship's anchor was
hanging to the cathead, and by nine a.m. she was
steaming out towards the Warner Light, to clear
her fires and otherwise prepare for the race over

the trial ground of the measured mile. The morn-
ing was fine, with a light breeze from W. by N.,
just sufficient to furnish a good draught to the
fires, but not prejudicial to the ship's way when
going against it. On reaching the lightship the
Royal Oak's course was altered, and her head
laid for Stokes Bay, where the trials of speed
with full boiler power were at once entered upon
and completed with the following results :

No. of Revolution Time. Speed of Pressure
Run. of engines. at. s. Ship in knots. of steam. T, acuum
1.. 59 .. 455 .. 12.203
2 61% .. 440 12.500
3 .. 440 .. 12.857
221 b. 221 in,
4 61 .. 52 .. 1P920 22z
in,
.. 61k .. 430 .. 13'333
6.. 61 .. 5 9 .. 11'650

First mean speed in knots, 12.351, 12.678,
12.388, 12 626, 12.941 ; second mean speed in knots,
12514, 12.533, 12.507, 12.558. Mean speed of the
ship, 12-528 knots.
It as well here to place in juxtaposition the tem-
peratures of the engine-room and stokeholes at this
time, as we have referred at some length to the great
want of ventilation in ships coated with armour all
round, and the means which have been taken to
remedy this evil in the Royal Oak.
In making the first run at the mile the tempera-
tures were recorded as follow—On deck, 68 deg. ;
in engine-room, 73 deg. and 76 deg. ; in the forward
stokehole—fore part, 84 deg.; middle, 109; and
after part, 113 deg.; in after stokehole—fore part,
103 deg.; middle, 105 deg.; and after part, 103
deg.

In the sixth mile run they were as follow—On
deck, 69 deg. ; in engine-room, 72 deg., 72 deg.,
and 75 deg. ; in forward stokehole—fore part, 91
deg.; middle, 120 deg.; and after part, 112 deg.;
in after stokehole—fore part, 102 deg. ; middle,
104 deg. ; and after part, 103 deg.
The speed attained by the Royal Oak must be

considered in the highest degree satisfactory in all
the sense of the words, if it is considered that
the ship's official estimated speed was set down as
111 knots, and that she has actually exceeded that
rate by over one knot per hour.
In considering the Royal Oak's speed, it will be
as well also to remember that she is a wooden ves-
sel, with her bottom coated with Muntz's metal,
therefore not liable to foul in the manner our iron

ships do, despite their protecting pigment covering.
So far as this would affect the ship's speed, then, it
may fairly be reckoned, that if the Warrior, Black
Prince, and Royal Oak were stationed in the West

Indies for three months, the Royal Oak at the end
of that time would be the fastest ship of the three.
It is almost needless to refer back to the fact that
the Royal Oak, like the Prince Consort, Caledonia,
and Ocean, is an armour-cased frigate, converted
from the frame of a 91-gun screw liner. Her en-
gines having been made from the same patterns as
those of the Marlborough, 131-gun screw three-
decker, now the flagship of Vice-Admiral R. Smart,
K.H., Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, a
comparison between the performances under steam
of the lofty three-decked steamship and the long
armour-plated frigate may be interesting.
In the " light draught" trials the conditions and
results were as follows :—Marlborough, tried May
12, 1856.—Draught of water, 21ft. lin. forward,
and 22ft. 10in, aft.; displacement of hull, 4,510
tons; speed of ship 11'866 knots. Royal Oak,
tried March 24,1863.—Draught of water, 2Offt.h4uilni:
forward, and 23ft. lin. aft ; displacement()
knots.o
said to be 6,500 tons ; speed of ship 12.
In the seagoing draught of water triabl4,sBttrhi
tions and results were :—Marlbodrieoutrigare,
245 ft Gin.;
1, 1858.—Lengthbetween pie.rp.endrau ee
dc oJnudni
draught of water,
extreme breadth, 61ft.
72fr3rlin,
aft. ; displacement
25ft. 4in, forward, and 2eed
of ship, 11'233 knots.
of hull, 6,050. tons;
jan June i 5,
1863.—Length between
; lextreme breadth, 58ft. Sin.
RpeorypaelnOdieekuintxd273l.t.
draught of water, 23ft. Bin. forward, and 25ft. Tin.
aft. ; displacement of hull, 7,430 tons ; speed of
ship, 12.528 knots.
At the close of the full-power runs it was re-
solved to anchor the ship again at Spithead until
the following morning, it being impossible to con-
chide the whole of the trials, including the runs at
half speed and the testing the turning powers of
the ship in making circles in one day, and the ship
was accordingly steamed into Spithead and her
anchor dropped in nearly its old position.
Soon after the ship brought up Vice-Admiral Sir
Miahael Seymour, G.C.8., Port Admiral and Com•
mander-in-Chief, steamed alongside in the Fire
Queen steam tender, Master Commander Paul, and,
accompanied by Captain A. Campbell and Com-
mander Soady, privately inspected the ship.
It is almost needless to say that the working of
the ship's engines and boilers gave the greatest
possible satisfaction, and reflected the customary
credit upon the manufacturers, Messrs. Msudslay,
Field, and Son, of Lambeth.
Yesterday morning the ship weighed anchor at

e\
IX
8 a.m., and soon afterwards left Spit, "k • ,^c
under charge of Capt. Broadhead, for el -1/
outside the Nab light vessel, where she couti. boa S
tested in her power of turning and completing
circles under ful' steam On reaching the desired
position, however, a hot bearing was discovered,
and the full-speed circles had to be abandoned, and
the programme of the ship's trials for the day cut
down to six runs, with two boilers (one-third the
ship's boiler power), and two circles afterwards
with the same power. The runs were made as
follows :
No. of Time. Speed of Revolutions Pressure
Runs. min sec. Ship. of Engines. of Steam. Vacuum
1 .... 8 19 .... 7'214
2 .... 7 43 .... 7'775
3 .. 6 49 .... 8501
4 .... 8 26 .... 7'114
5 .... 6 46 .... 8•867
Mean speed of the six runs, 7 979 knots. Tho
circles were made under the same conditions of
power, and yieeled the following results :--
Circle to Circle to
Star board. Po: t.
Time occupied in getting up he1m....47 sec. zo sec.
Anfau of rudder 26 deg. .. i 94 deg.
Tutus of wheel 3.1 .. 31
Time occupied in making half-circle.. 3m. 425ec... 3m. 43sec.
Ditto, full circle 7111.275ec... 7m. 50sec.
Revolutions of Engines previous to put-
ting up the helm 37 .. 37
Revolutions after wards ' .. 34i
Men at the wheel
The diameter of the circles were little over
twice the ship's length. The ship answered every
touch of her helm as quickly and sensitively as a
cutter, and her powers in this respect form a
wonderful contrast to any other of our screw
ships of war. The ship will conclude her trials
to-day.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE,

ODIHAM MEETING.-TUESDAY.

The Hurstbourne Stakes of 15 sovs each, 5 ft, with 50
added, fur two-yr-olds ; colts, Bst 101 b , fillies, Bst 71b ,
winners extra, and maiden allowances. Straight half-

mile. 17 subs.
Mr. Reldiff's Cranbury, (allowed 31b), Bst 71b .. (Payne) 1
Mr. Payne's Olitipa filly, Bst 41b (J. Goater) 2
Mr. R. R. Bignell's Bold Houghton, Bst 71b (S. Rogers) 3
Mr. Trimmer's Verbena, Sat 71b (Peppler) 4
The following also ran :—Attraction, Star beam, and De
Grey.
Betting-7 to 4 agst Cranbury, 100 to 30 agst Starbeam,
4 to 1 agst Bold Houghton, 11 to 2 agst Olitipa filly, 100 to
15 agst Attraction.
The refractory conduct of the Olitipa filly caused a slight
delay, but they were at last despatched to a capital start,
Starbeam, on the extreme right, making play for the first
200 yards, when Cranbury took up the running, closely
followed by Attraction, Bold Houghton, and the Olitipa
filly. At the road Attraction dropped back beaten, and,
with the exception of Payne, all the jockeys were hard
upon their horses. Approaching the enclosure the Olitipa
filly quitted the rest, and, coming with a final rush, was
only beaten by a head; Bold Houghton was beaten a
length from the second, whilst a head only separated the
third and fourth ; Attraction was fifth, De Grey sixth, and
Starbeam last.
The Stewards' Stakes of 5 sots each, with 30 added, for
two-yr-olds , colts, Bst 101 b ; fillies, Bst 71b , maiden
allowances; winner to be sold for £56. Straight half •
mile, 15 subs.

Mr. Skipton's The Doe, Bst 21b.... (Peppier) 1
Mr. H. J. Smith's Sensation, Bst 21b .. (W. Bottom) 2
Mr. Saxon's Jane Shore, Sat 21b (Midgley) 3
Mr. Reeves's Rosemary, Bst 21b (J. Reeves) 4
Betting-6 to 4 agst The Doe, 3to 1 agst Sensation, 100
to 30 agst Jane Shore, and 7 to 2 agst Rosemary.
Jane Shore was first off, and maintained the lead for
about 200 yards, when she gave way in favour of Rose-
mary. Before they had run a quarter of a mile, however,
The Doe went to the front, and won easily by two lengths;
Sensation, who passed the other pair at the road, beat Jane
Shore half a dozen lengths. The winner was bought in for

125 guineas.
The Manor Plate of 50 sovs, for all ages; winners extra.

Three-quarters of a mile,
Mr. Y. King's Pony, 3 yrs, Gst (Deacsn)tl.
Mr. Nightingall's Hilly Grove, 3 yrs, 6st 21b
(Jas. Nightingall)t2
Mr. Goddard's Zeloo, 3 yrs, Gst 111 b
The following also ran :—Maud filly, Incitatus, Royal
Sovereign, Vindicta, Killarney, Blue Bell, and Barmaid.
Betting-7 to 2 agst Pony, 4to 1 agst Incitatus, 100 to
15 each agst Killarney and Royal Sovereign, 7 to 1 each
agst Vindicta and Hilly Grove, 10 to 1 agst Barmaid.
Owing to Hilly Grove and Barmaid being troublesomo
at the start, tbere was considerable delay at the post. They
were, however, despatched on pretty good terms, but
Hilly Grove instantly getting into stride, was in front,
with Incitatus and Pony next, Zeloo being last off. The
latter quickly made up her disadvantage, and was on

terms with the leaders in the first few hundred yards.
After reaching the turn, Pony headed Hilly Grove; but,
upon arriving at the road crossing, Hilly Grove again got
the lead, and next these followed Incitatus on the right,
and Zeloo on the left. A t the distance Hilly Grove and
Pony came on together, and, after a spirited struggle, the
race ended in a dead heat; Zeloo was beaten half a length
from the pair; Incitatus was fourth, Killarney fifth, Vin-
dicta sixth, and the last two were Blue Bell and Royal
Sovereign,

Deciding Heat-11 to 10 on Pony. The two came on
abreast to the distance, where they cannoned and ran
locked together to within a few strides of home, when
Pony got his head in front, and won by a head. On re-
turning to scale, an objection was lodged against the win-
ner, which was gone into before Lord Dorchester and J.
Nicholson, Esq., who, after hearing the evidence, decided
in favour of Pony.
The Odiham Handicap of 10 sous each, 2 ft, with 5 added,

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1863.

The Telegrams now showering in upon us from the
eEtna come fast and thick, with tidings as hot and
fierce as though they were redhot stones and boiling
lava. They are tidings still of the fiercest fighting,
hither and thither, at opposite extremities of that
vast and already fearfully ravaged seat of war in
America. Here the storming by the Federals of
Port Hudson—yonder their persistence in the
siege of Vicksburg—yonder, far away to the North,
the preparation of General LEE at the head of his
victorious Confederates to cross the Rappahannock,
and the preparation, on the other hand, of General
HOOKER. to prevent his crossing it—if possible.
The Battle which we now learn was raging all
through the 27th and the 28th ult. between the
Federal forces, under General BANKS, and the Con-
federate defenders of Port Hudson, proves to have
cost the former on the first day of the assault, that
is on the 27th, alone, from two to four thousand
men placed ho/s de combat. And all to no purpose,
as previously had befallen the Federal troops
under General GRANT before Vicksburg. All to no
purpose, at any rate, up to the moment when these
last advices left the scene of conflict. The Northern
army having been withdrawn by its commander
from its advanced position—retreating in obedi•
epee to those orders along its whole line to its
original position before this attack upon Port Hud-
sen had been commenced. According to the belief
prevalent in the North, when the .Etna was leaving,
the Federals and General BANKS would there and
then, in that resumed original position, await the
reinforcements which had been hastily sent
for by that commander, from New Orleans. In
the meantime, so far from the Northern army
under General GRANT, resuming its inter-
rupted attack upon Vicksburg, it was stated
to be on the contrary engaged up to the very close
of May in erecting earthworks with a view to its
own protection The utmost show of audacity on
its part being directed to certain cautious and gin-
gerly operations in mining, to the end that some
of the Confederate forts might be safely blown up.
As to the bombardment of the beieagured city by
the fleet lying off there on the Mississippi, that
seems to have proved so utterly futile and ineffectual
from first to last, as to draw from Admiral PORTER
the naive acknowledgment that the Confederate
works in defence of Vicksburg were really and truly
stronger than he should have looked for ! What
renders the position of GRANT all the more serious
after his reiterated repulses from Vicksburg by the
Confederates, is the doubt entertained as to the pro
sable doings, as to the possible position of the most
formidable leader of the Confederates in that part of
the seat of war. It used to be thus always, it will
be remembered, during the lifetime of General
STONEWALL JACKSON in regard to his movements. It
has more than once so happened, very uotably,in the
instance of General BEAURECARD. It is precisely
in this way falling out now in reference to General
JOHNSTONE. The Federals upon that subject seem
to be fairly bewildered. They know not in what
direction to look for him. Now his appearance is
to be confidently awaited from this—now, again,
from that, totally opposite, quarter. The likelihood
being all the while that JOHNSTONE will eventually
t UP" when and where he is least expected. The
favourite notion in his regard, according to the last
accounts, appeared to be that, with from 15,000 to
30,000(rather rough guesses, these, evidently as to the
mere number of followers he had contrived to gather
together) he was making his way steadily in between
theßigßlackßiver and th yaz°'with the design of
recapturing Haines'Bluff, andf°so interrupting any
further Federal communicatison. hmyuneh edeans of the latter
river, that is the Yazoo.
was attached to this statement as to hi. t, indeed,
where-
abeuts and his intentions, that one corps of the Fede-
ral army had been actually detached and sent forth
in the direction indicated with a view to interrupt
JOHNSTONE on his march. So cheerless, however,
appeared to be the prospects in reference to this
unhappy siege of Vicksburg, that one of the New
York papers (the World) actually owns to a belief
that it will drag its slow length along all through
the summer. That is to say, of course, if the Con-
federates will hear of it. At the very time, moreover,
that this confident avowal of almost hopelessness,
in regard to the capture of Vicksburg, is
blurted out at New York—comes to the Federal
population an ugly rumour enough from the direction
of Vicksburg : one, however, that we hardly in any
way feel disposed to credit : a rumour to the effect
that General GRANT, haring been repulsed at all
points, had fallen 'oa.ck upon the line of the Big
Black River, where he was preparing himself to
prevent the crossing over of JOHNSTONE to the re-