The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-18 00:00:00

IRON SHIPS OF WAR.

Last night, at eight o'clock, a numerous audience
attended at the Hall of the Literary Institution,
Royal-hill, Greenwich, to hear a lecture delivered by
Mr. E. J. Reed, chief constructor of the royal navy,
on the subject of " Ships of War." After briefly
referring to early naval architecture, the lecturer
observed that the Americans were the first to intro-
duce armour-plated vessels, and in 1843 Mr. Stevens
constructed an, iron-cased floating battery for that
Government; He believed the idea of constructing
such war vessels in Europe was not derived from
America, but rather from the active mind of the
French Emperor. The Warrior was undoubtedly the
bold and truly British answer to the iron-eased fri-
gates built in France; and although that vessel had
same defects, she was worthy of every praise, as the
first specimen of our iron ships. 'The Warrior, as
well as thejßlack Prince were completely iron plated,
and thus a portion of the vessel was exposed. The
Defence and the Resistance were built on the same
principle, but they were not so much plated, and
therefore their seagoing qualities were superior. The
Rector and the Valiant were plated right round in
the region of the guns, and were of immense
strength. After describing the Minotaur, Agincourt,
Northumberland, and other iron ships in progress,
Mr. Reed contended that the Warrior and ships of
her class were too long, and he firmly believed that
the same rate of speed could be obtained from a much
shorter vessel. The attention of the Admiralty had
been much devoted to this question ; and he could
assure them that no more iron ships for the royal
navy would be laid down of such a length as 400
feet. Whilst one of these long vessels had a large
portion at each extremity exposed, a shorter vessel
could be armour-plated from end to end, would sail
as many knots per hour, and a great saving would
be effected to the public. These matters of detail
did not escape the attention of those men who were
now at the head of naval affairs. Naval construc-
tion is a peculiar art, resting upon abstruse branches
of science, and involving principles and calculations
with which non-professional men in office could not
prudently interfere with in an arbitrary manner,
and hence the practice of the profession was to run
in grooves, out of which it was most difficult to re-
move even in times of the greatest emergency. In
fact it was only by a violent wrench—by giving
sudden and unexpected scope
new ideas the thing can be done° aytoaulnl,gaeni:dmwehneannidt
has to be done it is attended by such pe.in and dis-
appointment to many
and courage to that it requires great nerve
undertake it, That had recently
been proved in his own case,
pene-
trating and pu • some extremely
re-minded people having discovered
that
his appointment to his present office was a
"disgraceful job," He supposed these people did
think
it disgraceful for a Board of A.dmiralty to
appoint to an
office involving much hard work, and
grappling with difficult and pressing questions, a
man who has neither attained the age
taken part in elections in what are called "Gore
ara
meat boroughs.' (Hisses and cheers.) Mr. Reed
ive
M p
w
then discussed the question of the CO
i t
roe a
or th
merits of ships built entirely of ' of 60, or
of timber, and expressed an opinion in
disaster to the
favour of the latter class. The late
Prince Consort proved in a I!arkable, manner
: hull of that
wooden
considerable
the vast strength of the
ship. It was true that
sheextent of seven feet, as
s
water, but not to the extent
ped
even five feet of
stated ; for if she had hiP
water, every fire to her boilers must have been
extinguished, whereas she kept up steam through-
out. An officer who was
sent to Kingst on to in-
spect the vesse. after
1 she came to grief r eported—..
n• not one
been disturbed." It scaycely ever
bolthead had
that an ordinary wooded ship,
From one end of the ship to the o
'without
happened
an la iron plate upon her, after encountering Channel
storm, returned to port with such triflirac damage
as that done to the Prince Consort. He could not
fully enter into the details of the imp) •ovements
effected, and now under considertt tion, with
to the construction of iron ships,
regard
e alreadygard
ut one of
the chief of these was the introduction of the " un-
sinkable principle," invented by Mr. Li Lngley, of
consisted in di..-viding
Deptford. That system
the
iron hull into numerous watertight
compartments, by means of the decks themselves,
and preserving the int •
egrity of these cc ;napartments
by affording an entrance to them throui ;h the hatch-
ways only. He
could
state with the 1 ID:nest confi-
dence that the Ad • miralty was now 13, lild ing a cor-
vette, from whichthe •
swiftest iron ye ssel now afloat
could not hope to armed
escape, and which sI Could be
in a most effective manner. The Aetrairal ty had to
contend with incessant hostile criticism,., 'Proceeding
from persons free from responsibility,

The general effect of the bullo4,;waggon has
been humorously compared by Captain KD ight (in his re-
cently published Diary of Travels in Cash Ater( 1 and Thibet)
to " being run away with in a dust-cart th rough Feachurch-
street, the gas-pipes being up at the time,,,

EATRE ROYAL DRURY - LANE, ___
3lanazers, Messrs. E. Falconer and F. B. Chatterton.
THIS EVENING, her Majesty's Servants will nerform
New and Oritzinal Farce, by Messrs. Wm Brotrzh and A.
Halliday, entitled MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS:
characters by Mr. J. Neville, Mr. G. Weston, Mr. Warde,
Mr. J. Minis; Mrs. C. Melville, and Miss Hartieur.

After which. Lord Byron's Choral Tragedy, MANFRED.
/Messrs. Phelps, Ryder, Rayner, Meagreson, Ward, Spencer ;
Miss Eburne, Miss E. Atkinson, Miss Leclercq, and Mrs. E.
Falconer. Vocalists—Miss Poole, Miss Ritter, Miss Cicely
Notl, Miss Heywood, and Mr. Swift.
To conclude with an Original Farce. by J. Oxenford,
Esq., entitled BEAUTY OR THE BEAST. Principal cha-
racters by Messrs. Addison, G. F. Neville, Barret, Spencer,
and G. Weston ; Mrs Edmund Falconer and Miss R. Leclerc'.

THEATRE ROYAL HAY M ARKET.-
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr, Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, SILKEN FETTERS : Messrs. Chas.es
Mathews, Chippendale, W. Farren, Howe, &c. ; Mesdam
C. Mathews and M. llarris.
Followed by THE GOLDEN FLEECE. Messrs. Charles
athews,
Mathews, Compton,Weathersby, ac. ; Mesdames C. M
L Keeley. Griffith, &c.
Followed by COOL AS A CUCUMBER. Mr.
C. Mathews.
And MY HUSBAND'S GHOST.
Commence at 7.

ROYAL LY CEU NI THEATRE.
Under the Sole Management of Mr. Fcchter.
BEL DEMONIO (a Triumphant Success) will be repeated
Every Eveningntil further notice.
THIS EVENING, the Comedietta, b W.
Silbert, entitled
UNCLE BABY : blesses. Widdicombe; J.Gentitle ,•
bliss P. Leclercq, and Carlotta Leclercq.
After which, at Eight o'clock, BEL DEMONIO, a Love
Story, in Twelve Tableaux, taken from Stendhal's "Italian
Chronicle by' Mr. John Brougham. Principal charac-
Raymond, Moreland, Smith, Clifford, '
ter by Mr. Fechter, supported by Messrs. Jordan, Charleq
Brougham, Emery Raymond,
Collett, Andrews, Sims ; Miss Kate Terry, E. La
Lee, and Miss Elsworthy. venue, ht re.
Doors open at half-past 6—commence at 7.