The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-24 00:00:00

TRIAL OF THE HECTOR,

gt:Seneral
We have to record the death of Sir John Camp•
bell, who in the course of the present century bud
THE ARMIYb.,
:us born in the
seen much military service.
Royal dockyard at Chatham in 1780, and entered
thes.,
gade-
Crawford, and was in the action of the Miserere and
mor army
in i n
thle 800.
expedition Iu
nhdeers served vrei d
a ie
u ds a r
the attack on Buenos Ayres, which, having been
founaed by Don Pedro de Monden. in 11'15' was
taken possession of by the British in 1800, It was
retaken six weeks after by the inhabitants, and a
British new attempt to take it by the
(in which Sir
S. Campbell acted a brilliant Part) after they had
received reinforcements failed with
great loss. He
served at R01e1,3 and Vimieria, and with the cavalry
under Lord Ancil -sr,
t, t.. -y at Sahagun and Benevento in
1808, In the 101 l •
owtOg year he entered the Por-
tuguese army as a B • • • ram, major and Portuguese
iieutenant•colonel . '
a 11 —e serveg :.,n all the campaigns

The official trial of this frigate commenced at
tonnagesinr
a
Portsmouth yesterday, and will be completed to-
day, weather permitting. The Hector is the first
vessel of her class, at present confined to herself and
the Valiant, that has been put through the test of
the n measuredd is
amile;n
intermediaryone
asn to
on taerrmmoeudri abteet
between
class
and between4li n 0
tt
ab
ne r Warrior
classes. and
l, DefenceFor
tbe
es
classes,
as
se to
Warrior
reasons, some description of her is necessary pre-
vious to recording her
performances yesterday.
The Hector was laid down
in Messrs. Napier's
buildingyard at Glasgow in March, 1861, the draw-
ings, &c., being furnished from the Controller's
Department of the Admiralty, and was launched on
the 21st September, 1862. Her • •
principal dimen-
sions are—length between perpendiculars, 280 ft.;
breadth, extreme, 56ftsalso,j,, dewsfrom,. re
side of keel to spar-deck, 40ft. Teititiago;iii tiers
measurement, 4,123 tons. Launching weight, 3,050
tons. Draught of water when launched, lsft. 81in.
forward, 19ft. Bin. aft. Displacement at load -wilier-
line, 6,400 tons. Weight of iron used in construc-
tion of hull, exclusive of armour, 2,588 tons; weight
of armour-plates, 873 tons; weight of armoured
shield on upperdeck inside stem, 121 tons ; weight
of rudder, 91 tons; weight of engines, 165 tons;
do. boilers, 220 tons; do. water in boilers, 90 tons;
do. propeller and shafting, 641 tons; do. coal boxes,
37 tons ; do. cupola for hot shot, 7 tons ; do. spare
fans, 12 tens ; weight of coal railway for transports
lug coal from coal bunkers to furnaces, 5 tons
weight of auxiliary engines, 91 tons ; do. spare
engine gear, 20 tons; do. sundries, 23 tons.
The propeller is a two-bladed Griffith, hav-
ing a varying pitch from 22ft. 6in. to 27ft. 6in.,
and set now at 26ft. 6in. Space for coals in
bunkers, 450 tons, the amount she had at the com-
mencement of her trial yesterday. The masts are
of tubular iron, and weigh—main, 171 tons; fore
17 tons; mizen, 51 tons. When the ship came round
from Scotland she was also fitted with an iron tubu-
lar bowsprit, which could be topped up by means
of a massive brass hinge, fitted on the stemhead,
weighing 251 cwt. Since the ship has been lying
at Portsmouth, however, this complicated affair has
been taken out of her, and she is now fitted with a
running bowsprit, simple and light in character,
and that can be run in and laid along the vessel's
deck with the greatest ease at any time it may be
wished to dash the ship's 'heel" into the broadside of
an enemy. The engines are 7ft. below the ship's esti-
mated water line, as shown in the drawings, and
occupy a space of 27ft. longitudinally. They are
on Messrs. Napier's horizontal trunk air-pump
principle of 800 horse-power, nominal, and are mar-
vels of engineering work and beauty in casting.
The cylinders have a diameter of 82 inches, and the
pistons a stroke of 4ft. The boilers are six in num-
ber, three on each side the stoke hole ; each boiler
having four fires, or 24 in all. The arrangement of
the boilers in the Hector is precisely the same as in
others of her 111 jesty's ships,—the fires face each
other, and the stokers work in a kind of iron tunnel
some 10ft, or 12ft. in diameter, with burning fur-
naces on each side, and all but literally roasted
alive. Some day this may be remedied by simply
placing the boilers back to back, when the fires
would then face the coal bunkers, and save the cost
and trouble of transporting, as is now the case, the
coals from the bunkers to the different furnaces in
the stokehole and for the accomplishment of which
an overhead railroad has to be fitted to transport the
coal bags,—in the Hector, as shown by foregoing
figures, weighing in the aggregate five tons,
The difference of temperature, and comfort to
the men in their work and improvement in
its healthfulness, would, under the proposed
alteration in the position of the boilers, be
almost beyond belief. The means existing on board
for assisting in the ventilation of the stokehole is a
fan wrought by a 40-horse power auxiliary engine,
which is also used for general ventilating purposes,
clearing the main deck of smoke when in action
with an enemy, and supplying the blast to the
cupola furnace, and supplies the liquid iron for hol-
low shot. The pumps on boards consist of Down-
ton's patent, from 9 to 12 inches in diameter, worked
by cranks on which upwards of 100 men can be
employed at one time. In the formation of the or-
dinary iron hull, the Hector is very similar to the
Black Prince and the Warrior; her frame, floor,
bulkheads, outside planking, &e., being nearly of
the same dimensions with those two ships through-
out. Like our other iron ships, she has no external
keel, it being built up internally at about 3ft. in
depth, and with the longtitudinal girders and floors
form sections of cells which are plated internally
and externally, and thus bind together the bottom
and frame of the ship. The topsides are built of
10-inch angle iron frames, with yin. plates, over
which are two layers of teak, the outer layer being.
Bin. thick and fixed perpendicularly, the inver
layer being 10in. thick and fixed longitudinallea
and thus next the ship's inner skin. On the teak
cushioning rest the armour-plates, 41ie- in ths•teekm
nem on the broadsides, and tapering round
the
eto our
and stern. So far the ship is very similar
but
other iron-armoured ships afloat and building,
..
with her sister
in the disposition of her armour she,
1 others. For a
vessel, the Valiant, differs from al
length of 220 out of her 280 feet the Hector carries
the level of her upper
her armour-plating from
deck down to 5 feet below-her estimated low-water
band of plating 9 feet in
line, and continues a
and stern, thus incl. •
width round the stem osin g
the gag deck with armour fixed externally on the
ship, but leaving about 30 feet oneach bow
from the lower edge of the
and quarter gun-deck
armour band
to and below the water line unpro-
tected.sleet this weakness or
To 0 apparent weak-
ness, the ends of the ship are strengthened by a mass
of bulkheads perpendicular and transverse, rising
as high as the under part of the main deck. Her
armour-plate bulkheads, which in the Warrior and
other iron ships in commission extend nerds the
gun deck and confine the fighting portion of the ship
in close action to a rectangular box, rise only to a
level with the under part of the gun deck from the
orlop deck. One of these she carries athwartships at
each end of the 220 ft, of plating which protects the
ship below the water line, an would thus arrest
any shot or shell coming in from before or abaft the
the broad belt or armour. It is a question, however,
wiletllisr the armour plates on these transverse bulk
bow aud .
nlat.
stern, -
heads would not be more sensibly used up I - r
ing the unprotected portions of the_____
__ _
__
As the Hector is built to act as a ram when engeg
. - liorniman's Tea is choice and strong, moderate
u herself, a strung tit price, and whoi,
ing au enemy of less speed than
,beine lo uco. These advantages have
across her fore- secured for this .
semi-circular bulkhead is built up
d plated with 41 packets by 2,250 AT t" a general preference. It is sold in
gc-nts.
castle and just inside her stern, an
prevent her upper
to Ex Hilwriox CLocic-16 The entire finish is of the
inch armour plates ,intendedhe enemys broadside when highest, easlese_pai, .
ig 1\ ems May 'l9 196', Clocks do-
deck being raked by t
on. The decks of the aiDir dby the first. arti,its o C ill%) da -1-:-; the 'd.rawin, i,--all,
running down upon her
istecti7oak planking, laid on dining^ room, bed room, library, ).'oall, staircase, I;acket,
ship are composed of 6- counting
n whole supported on 12- carriage, church, turret, railways, worebonse,
I-111• rolled iron bearnS, the house, musical, and astronomical. Church and turret
• liroubeams. Tho height between
in. and I.rollec clocks specially estimated for. Benson's illustrated pita-
deck is 71ft. in the clear. There
decks on the gun ,filet on clocks (free by post for two stamps), with desei ip-
water-tt
ti ht compartments in the ship's bat- lions and prices, enables those who live in any part of the
are nine
has also the usual wing passages,
tom, and world to select a clock. Also a short pamphlet on cat he-
she
free for cn
d by
bulkheads, running fore and aft at the drat and public clocks,
e stamp. Prize ine,,ll
divide and honourable mention in classes 33 and 15. 3. W. Bea-
of
back the armour plating and its teak backing.
son, 33 and 31, Ludgate-hill, London. Established 171').
The ship's maindeck is open throughout its entire Watch and clock maker by special warrant of appobotieent
length. The port holes ase.l.3it. apart, aft, Bin. deep, to hie 11 Bell. the Prince of Wales.