The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-07 00:00:00

~~

r~ -

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 7, 1863.

No. 22,213.

Now ready, in 2 vols., leap. vo., 125.,
ANDREW DEVEREL : THE HISTORY OF AN
ADVENTURER. IN NEAV GUINEA AND ON TIIE
SrAsisn MAIN.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.

Polish Reply to the Russian AppeaL

Europe has waged for the past century determined battle
,ga
inst the Satanic powers of oppression and slavery, and
if she did forget herself for a moment when she allowed
the partition of Poland, if even now in 1563 she may not
he willing to upraise her voice for us in our struggle against
r
the Czar, the Czardom will yet be finally compelled to the
recognition of our inalienable rights, and the lot of entire
Europe will be improved.
Not unto us, then, but to your Czar, call loudly. 131 w
to the unalterable course of history. Of one thing let him
be assured —only he can obtain peace who is willing to leave
others unmolested; and only then will the Russian p.ople
be happy when they permit us to enjoy our happiness un-
disturbed.

part of the turret's defence will extend to just
beneath the upper deck, but is strengthened and
protected by a massive iron rim, wrought in
sections and rivetted together in the strongest
possible manner; the armour-covered portion
of the turret projecting above the upper deck
and, with the rim, being together in shape
exactly like a broad-brimmed coachman's hat of the
olden times. The turret itself of course rests with
the guns and their carriages upon a massive circular
platform or turn-table, the outer rim of which is
fitted with a ring road of stout iron teeth, by apply-
ing to which a cogged wheel, worked by a winch
by either eight or less men at the handles, as may
be required, the turret is made to revolve upon the
machinery below. During the recent visit of the
A,

WARSAW, Aug. 30.
The following reply to the "Appeal of the Rus-
sian Patriots to the Polish People" has been pub-
lished, and is now being sold by thousands :
TUE REPLY OP POLISH PATRIOTS TO THE RUSSIAN
APPEAL TO THEIR POLISH BRETHREN.
For full seven months a murderous contest has raged in
our country between two nations ; the one eager to oppress
and to enslave, the other fighting in self-defence. You have
drawn numerous armies frelH the ren:.ctcst cornet a Of the
empire of your Czar to vanquish our few but heroic defen-
ders, and yet you have not succeeded in breaking our
courage, our devotion, our endurance. Upon the contrary,
you have been able to convince yourselves, that, in al ite of
the inhuman oppression you have perpetrated against us,
you can never hope to succeed in extinguishing our na-
tional spirit. After this recent experience we cannot re
frain from returning a word of truth in reply to the appeal
you have addressed to us heartlessly demanding our self-
annihilation. We desire to reject your cruel request, to
enlighten and bring you back from a false and injurious
policy to show you that the highest object of a noble nation
is not comprised in the oppression of a kindred race or in
destructive dreams of domination over two quarters of the
globe. You should not feel surprised, brothers in Moscow,
that when you—oblivious of the noble destination of a free
nation, and of the interests of civilisation—allowed your-
selves to be hurried on by a coarse, ambitious Czar to ab-
sorbing other countries, and subjugating other nations,
the same Czar and the successors who follow in his footsteps
should have laid upon you a yoke of iron. The Czars
persuade you to be the liberators of the Slavonic peoples,
that, flattering the more noble among you by the aid of this
idea, they may the more easily cast yourselves and all the
Slavonic tribes into fetters.
Three quarters of a century have not yet passed since
Europe began to rejuvenise, and since that period she ad-
vances constantly with giant steps towards freedom and the
happiness of nations. You alone have remained encrusted
by the rough barbarism of ancient times, and the Tartaric
wildness of the steppes. When the object of Slavonic
union is held up to you as the reason for your opposing
European and modern civilisation, you cannot wonder that
we, as well as entire Europe, reject an idea leading to such
an end.
It grieves us deeply that you compel us to fulfil'
sword in hand, the duty of self-preservation against you ;
yet we are ready to forgive all the outrages we have suf-
fered for a century, because we recollect that you have beers
led astray into an evil course by a Government unparelleled
for its:despotism in modern history. We will willingly ex-
tend to you the hand of brotherhood as we ex-
tend it to every nation, while we hope that you will ulti.
ma'ely have sufficient political insight to pt rceive that two
people may easily exist in friendship side by side, but that
it can never be the part of the one to enslave nor of the
other to be brought into subjectioil.

T" soxF OHD,
6, OXFORD STREET, W.
THIS EVENING, will be performed Operatic Selections
from Sir Henry R. Vishop's THE SLAVE and Halevy's
MUSKETEERS (first time in England).
Principal Artistes —Miss Russell, Miss Ell, son, Messrs.
Green, Bernardi, finish, tc., with full band and chorus.

Conductor, Mr. F. Jonghmans.
Flute Solos by Drew Dean, Sac.

Comic, by UNSWORTH ("or any oLher man "), Eugene,
W. Randall, A. Lloyd, and George Hodson.
a Performance by Herr SCHALKENBA.CH on his
wonderful instrument, the PIANO ORCHESTRE, contain-
ing a full band of 40 instruments.
The ITALL MS just been newly Decorated and Ventilated,
and is one of the most Beautiful in the ➢ietropolis.

Long live Poland independent of Russia! Long live
Russia when she hiss learned to be just I Long live the
Sclavonic nations, each in its own limits I and long live
glorious liberty !

Open at 8 o'clock. Admission, 6d. ; stalls and balcony, is. ;
private boxes, 10s. 6d.

English v. American Turret Ships.

PANTERBURY HALL " GHOST."—In order
1..1 to gratify the curiosity of nightly-increasing, crowds,
Mr. C. MORTON has transferred the representation of Pro-
fessor Pi pper end Henry Dirks, Esq.'s, world-famed spectral
Illusion, "THE GHOST," from the ricture Gallery to the
Concert Hall, where a new and elegant stage is erected,
affording a more ample view of the Illusion from Stalls, Bal-
eA3.nilaveesdtebrt Hall.sflt,ivtehe(wi
th alillethhast o.eanlstc.iernar.trna arranged
adtefsotr r
im-
provements and effects), REPRESENTATIONS EACH
EVENING, at Ten o'clock.

It has been already observed that "the news we
get from Charleston should teach us to look nar-
rowly to the machinery of turret ships." As the
Prince Albert, building by Mr. Samuda on the
Thames, and the Royal Sovereign, converting at
Portsmouth-dockyard, are the only turret ships we
have at present in hand, and as the last-named ves-
sel is the more forward in her construction of the
two, wo purpose offering a few remarks on the ma-
chinery of her turrets, and also to give a general
idea of their construction with their frame of
ee-shaped iron ribs projecting from the inner skin,
and filled in with teak, the iron lattice-work outside
both, embraced in its turn bylhe teak cushion on
which rest the 51iu. armour-plates.
It is to a certain extent impossible to draw any
correct inference as to the part our two turret ships
would have played in the attacks upon the forts at
Charleston from the defeat of the Federal turrets in
their attacks upon that place, for we do not
even know how the revolving turrets Were pivoted
upon their decks. We, however, know enough
of the double turret vessel, the Keokuk (sunk
in the first action), to draw a comparison between
ship will be
the draught
could have been.
her and our Royal Sovereign, and we think it will
el we
aal vessel exceptingssel e ole
vbaestalty En
nelgieisithher for purposes
The length of the Keokuk (159 ft. 6in.) and her light
oo
ff
offence
water) tohradefence
Federal
draught of water (Oft ) precluded her carrying
any great weight of armour, and her hull may be
considered as vulnerable to a 12-pounder rifled gun
from stem to stern. The turrets weighed each 40
tons, and were built up of alternate layers of wood
and iron—a system that has been proved by
actual experience with the Stork's smooth-bore
68 pounder at Portsmouth specially adapted
for speedy destruction by a 68-pound round
shot, and in one-tenth part of the time it would
take with a similar projectile to destrny a wooden
structure of the same weight. The Keokuk's turrets
were, as stated in the Times of April 25, formed of
an internal groundwork of 1-inch rolled plates,
covered with bars of iron four inches in depth,
standing edgeways, placed 11 in. apart, and the in-
terstices being filled with yellow pine. Over all this
were three iron plates. each yin. thick, boiler-plate,
in fact, bolted together with bolts of 1-kin., with
countersunk heads, 1 foot apart. The turrets were
in fact nothing more than iron and wooden planking
coated with three thicknesses of ordinary boiler-plate.
It is worthy of particular notice that the Keokuk's
two turrets were not revolving, but that she was
fitted with "twin screws," worked by independent
engines, to give her hull the necessary power of re-
volving and bringing the guns in her, turret to bear
upon the enemy. This important principle was
referred to by Sir James Elphinstone on intro-
ducing his motion on iron-clad ships in the
House of Commons, and was first brought
under the notice of the Admiralty by the Messrs.
Dudgeon, of Limehouse, who have built several
vessels on the principle for mercantile purposes.
That the Admiralty is, fully aware of the value of
the " twin screw" system as a means of manceavring
ships of war under steam is evident from the
answer given to the hon, member for Portsmouth
by Lord Clarence Paget, and by the order recently
given by the Admiralty to Messrs. Dudgeon to
construct a small steamer on this principle for
experimental purposes. The turrets of the Keokuk
had, however, one fatal fault. They had iron
Pendulum shutters fitted to their ports, so as to
Close them against the enemy's shot while the
gun's crew ware engaged in reloading.
The result
of this arrangement was that the shutters when
closed were struck by shot from Fort Sumter, be-
came •
lammed on their pivots, and the guns inside
were thus enclosed in a cylinder without ports
through which enemy's fire.
they could return the
It is evident , therefore, from the foregoing facts,
that the d • estruction of the Keokuk was owing to the
disposition
and lightness of her armour, and that
her offensive powers were rendered almost sail by the
jamming of her pendulum port shutters when struck
by the enemy's shot.
The destruction of the Keokuk must not, how-
ever, he looked of the
upon as at all condemnatory
Federal Monitors. If we can trust the accounts
since received itr this country of their doings under
the batteries of the Confederates, they have been
under terrific storms of shot from the rifled 200-
pound bolt to the spherical smooth-bore, without
suffering any material damage, and proving the
d
value of a turret's
defective surface while their of-
fensive powers have been sufficiently
demonstrated
by the destruction of the Confederate ironclad Ata-
lanta by some nine shots from
the Federal turret-
ship Weehawken. The Americans are the first
people who have pitted iron turret-ships against
ironclads—that is, Confederate improvised
ironclads,
coated with railway bars, and against forts armed
Brookes, or with such guns as the
rookes, or the Blakley and
Whitworth rifled 120 and 200-pounders, and after
an experience in such matters, such as no other na-
tion can at the present time possess, they continue
building monster Monitors, and arming them with
15-inch guns, and Northern men, we are told, say,
"Our navy, whieh was
only 60 at the commence-
ment of the war, has been
raised to 600."
To return to our own Royal Sovereign. It is ne-
cessary to repeat here that she is being fitted with
four turrets, the one forward being the largest of the
four, and intended to carry tw
300 pounder smooth-
bore guns; while the three
others will be of less
diameter, and will carry only one gun each of the
same calibre. From the inner skin of the turret,
formed of half-inch boiler
plate, will project out•
wards iron ribs .-3-shaped, 10 inches • in length and
20in. apart, the spaces between
filled in solid with teak. Round the outer cir-
cumference of this combination of teak and iron
ribs is a crossed trelliswork of finch iron, and
on this trelliswork, and through all and out-
side all is bolted 8 inches of solid teak. Here is a
structure at once far better calculated to resist
the impact of shot than the turrets of the Keokuk
could have been, although the turret of the Royal
Sovereign which has been so far described is as yet
without its armour; for round the outer surface of
the turret on the 8 inch teak cushioning are to be
laid the solid 51 inch rolled armour-plates, which
are now being manufactured, and bent immediately
on leaving the rolls to the required segments of a
circle, at the Parkgate Works, Yorkshire. In the
immediate front of the turret or vicinity of the two
ports, however, the resisting power of the 5 inch
armour-plate is further Supplemented by a 4t- inch
rolled plate, so that in the section of the turret's
entire circumference which will be exposed to the
shot of an enemy the defensive powers of the
turret will consist of, from outwards, 101 inches
of iron, 31 inches of teak, 5 inches of 1-inch
iron trelliswork, 10 inch iron ae shaped ribs
filled in with teak, and the inner iron skin.
The outer circle of armour-plates is to be bolted,
or " married," as we believe it is technically ea-
pressed, round the turret's upper rim, to a mas-
sive iron ring 19 feet in diameter, 14 inch by
2 inch iron, and weighing 2 tons 9 "t' This

All the other Musical and Pictorial attractions as usual,
including Operatic Selections, &c. ; Cksworth (the modern
Demosthenes), Eugene, Arthur Lloyd, George Hodson, &c.

OYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE. The
GHOST ! The GIIO ! ! The ONLY COMII
GIIOST ! ! !—The beautiful FAIRY FOUNTAIN.—A
Grand Divertissement lw Signora Rachele and Mariannina
and Signor Guiseppe France•co, assisted by a corns of
Twenty young Ladies—Selections from favourite Operas :
Principals, Miss M‘Gregor, Mr. Albert, Signor Georgini, and
Mr. Vernon Rigby.

INTICOSI A, the Great Violinist. will make his
First Appearance in England THIS EVENIA G
and Every Evening, at the ALHAMBRA..

ARGYLL ROOMS, Windmill-street, Piccadilly.
These elcn.ant Rooms, entirely and costly redecorated,
are NOW OPEN for the Winter Season.

The musical department is under the directorship of Mons.
llien, conductor of the band. This celebrated band will be
called for,the future "The London Band."
Manager of the Rooms—M. GRENET.
Sole Lessee, R. R. BIGNELL.
Admission, ls.
Doors open at 8 o'clock.

Reflect upon the results your self-imposed task of Pan-
slavism and consequent efforts to enforce it upon us have
brought about. You have shed our noblest blood in vain
and have destroyed our prosperity. During the last cen-
tury hundreds of thousands of us have succumbed beneath
the knouts of your executioners; other hundreds of thou-
sands have perished in the mines of Siberia; hundreds of
thousands more have been slain in the battle-fields of the
Caucasus; still hundreds of thousands incessantly sigh in
the subterranean dungeons of your fortresses, and the
death-dealing damps of their caseniates ; tens of thousands
have been the victims of the frequent gibbet and the mur-
derous court-martial ; millions of our property have
become the prey of your greedy officials ; our religion
is suppressed, our sacred places are profaned, our nobles
waste away in poverty, and all that is great, dear, and
holy iu our eyes is trodden under foot. Murder, there-
fore, robbery of freedom and property, suppression of the
belief of our fathers and our national holy places, are the
results for a century of such fraternity as you offer us.
Urged on by the lust for domination of your Czars, hopeless
of compelling us to adopt your civilisation, so far inferior to
our own, you have turned your heathenish cruelties against
us. By such barbarities and our consequent annihilat ion you
hope to be able undisputed to call our native land your own.
Your Czarina, Catherine, set up to be the protectress of
our freedom, and selfishly and with cold calculation
turned the weaknesses of our ancestors to our misfortunes,
What are we to expect of you who now pretend to be con-
cerned for our welfare? We mark a satanic smile upon
the lips of our oppressors when they hail us " brothers."
We have learnt from bitter experience that hypocritical
brotherhood and the treacherous care of your Government
for the good of the slaves are not intended to realise the
artificial dream of Panslavism, but are meant to ensure our
annhilation and extinguishment as a people.
You threaten us with extinction by German trade if de-
prived of your protection, and yet your absurd laws and
the proverbial dishonesty of your officials do not permit one
honest undertaking to prosper ; your system of perpetual
Government contracts, with all the corruption they entail,
abstracts capital from legitimate trade ; the banks under
your administration are not open to fairly conducted com-
merce; the rate of interest in the countries under your rule
is as high as in Turkey— a circumstance in itself fatal to
the development of trade.
Your Czar Nicholas, whom you are not ashamed to
style the " magnanimous," encouraged and cherished the
German element in Poland, to set up a balance against the
Polish nationality. The plots of the tyrant have been frus-
trated. The Germans have acquired an affection for us and
for their new country, and now fight bravely in our ranks
against the foreign yoke.
We see that the endeavours of your Czars are to bring
about the hour when, striding across the fettered Slavonic
peoples, they can wave their blood-stained flag upon the
Bosphorus and the Baltic, and make the German people
also their serfs. But we desire only to be free ourselves,
and to leave the liberty of others undisturbed.
It was we who magnanimously freed Vienna and Aus-
tria from the Crescent, but that Nicholas is not to be thus
described who stifled Hungary in the selfish hope of pro-
curing a willing vassal is the House of Hapsburg. Ger-
many knows that in time of peril we have stormed her bul-
wark ; therefore she wishes our national existence secured.
When our forefathers supported Napoleon I. they were
attracted by his powerful genius. France of to-day is still
the country of the great nation that can feel for our heroic
struggle, and we may believe that her sympathy is si▪
ncere
and warm. The English people also fully understand the
difference between your Czardom and our liberty. For
this reason the sympathies of those nations are dear to us.
But we shall never debase ourselves to expect ai▪ d and
enemies salvationo from r
ourom rsyou,ce who
ohave
haveshowno you r e
deceivedl ves
us us c, ha
nd bitter
w e
shall never be decoyed again by the honey of your deceptive
words. Forget your dreams, and think not you can compel
us to ally ourselves with you, as Lithuania formerly voluns
tarily allied herself with us, our civilisation, and our free-
dom. We will not join with you to lead kindred races into
the clutch of the Czar. You call upon us to occupy the ad-
svoanlscnedg posts. That
lustTh autftewriellowngeu,
conquest. The
for
againstthoEeraenrvaltpnieogn:
on of
you,
The only way to blot out the disastrous consequences of
the partition of Poland is, not that we should not fraternise
them.
Europe
are our friends, and we have nothing
with you, but that you should depart from our country—
that, undisturbed by you, we may enjoy the freedom wa
de-
sire, and which we heartily wish to you also. Not until
then will a liberal ruler succeed in calling forth nobler ideas
among you; and, freed from the incubus of an unfortunate
thirst for conquest, he will find himself able to raise your
intelligence, your civilisation, and your prosperity.
You say you have not desired we should be absorted
by you, and yet for the last fifty years you have been ex-
tirpating everything Polish with the wildest barbarity in
Lithuania and the adjacent countries, yon have banished
ooidArfnauffieonnirLlcdai
teachingsii
sil
devastated
families into
elauoheidantama gtvtoaeohneeundertffemorrere
ohcmtneuhdsretteuhehreoeesistvniso, ctohaeruoneorlldoaelvbsodri,
efee f
fst have
volunteeringdra
your
oce,
ioe
mating
dr
saints'
au placedirn tme their
yer
totherhave
monuments.
tvo sei
withh
? wretchedness, tlles ehaevnoow t e
casting
becauseobjectst
ing t
h ofo
theyuss
have
ad vsoo extinguishingfom Polish
lt
itse thehd
our brethren
that
nemiontognwePi
tsoehrl Poles
our
ra De
national
tyiroput so
destruction
el
of
ftrdupa
eroteli
Poles,
etno,
when
maintainne n
cheered
the
the
namet
. that
thdofao.
in your capital.
We must look upon it as nothing less than derision
when you hold out to us, in union with you, the prospect
of culture for the purpose you say of utilising our natural
advantages.
What? Since you came to us you have arrested our
progress, crippled our education, suppressed our schools,
destroyed our archives and libraries, stolen our treasures
of art and science, and now dare to talk of our culture com-
bined with you ? Your Nowosilkows, Okimows, and Mucha-
flows have paralysed our learning, crushed every soaring of
the spirit, debased our gifted boys to machines and puppets,
transformed our amiable girls into dolls, have appointed
men of the vilest character to be the teachers of our youth,
and have systematically laboured at the demoralisation of
our children by the aid of these creatures ; and you talk of
our displaying our culture.
Your barbarous censors have stifled the germ of all that
was noble, lofty, and good—have banished art and science
—have done all that in them lay to encourage a rank and
poisonous literary growth; among us ; and you prate of
culture.
Yes, we strive after fame and freedom, but our fame is
the liberty, not the subjection of others. Yes, unfortunate
Moscow brothers, we submit ourselves to the will of
Providence. Do you, too, bow to the same decree. Do
you know it? It says, "Victory to freedom over slavery,
to enlightenment over darkness, to the freedom and inde-
pendence of every nation.". In the name of this decree,

i ..,.......
:9,
~\ ::;44.
_. ::--"="7;/,.'' •-:\
.....,,- 7. 1;.. i.11°4',..' .
5.7,
,v ::::i,
- ....,..,,,,
....,47.,z.:41
. ,
~,,,. ..,
, - # '''Y
1/4'..-..:::...4.2.,•‘..:
' :5!*:te,,,,,A-E,,, 't'
,i, :
••,-:. ' 14's
,c,:-. 0! 4 )N,:;,lo•2itil.' os-1. trWlie '
• Cl'.
I
- ,
M -:•
,•,•• -,..- , k\.\. .4 Ciar N........„ ).„.
~ • , '4,zkir I i viSk ' -^, "yr :, , .., . 1;..
. •
1, '1 441 r ' 't
.11 ''' sC),,li. .4"'li .47 ‘.... W."' ..,, .......ett, ,
4, SW ~,,..- _- ,th?-"; ..iiiil% r 0 ! 'illatit- ."7.
~,l. :,,..,,, 0,
.*,-....,„,.. ,
'-- 0 ...„,...ait N-,:s7A'.-6111,....iti0,v ::,‘\:4l' .1.'7-4 -<,--''' ----*: , , • , ~.. 4.
-.„..„ ..,
...., .„.,
..„.... ~ ... ,
„..., .
iiii..........
.. ..11,-;, .. ~,, ''''
'1 I .I'. ititt,4oo.l ''''.(lo.lo.' 40 • . ir-- -4, -.et.—

dmiralty to Portsmouth, the foremost turret, com-
plete in all respects except its armour plating, which,
however, was represented in its weight by its equi-
valent in pigs of iron ballast, revolved in a complete
circle in 4 min. 40 sec. with eight men at the winch
handles; and in the presence of Mr. Reed, Chief
Constructor of the Navy, a quarter circle was turned
and back again the same distance in one minute.
Subsequently, however, with eight men at the
winch handles it has turned a quarter circle in 23
seconds, or a complete circle in 1 minute and 32
seconds, thus enabling the two guns in the turret to
be brought to bear from one broadside to the other
in 46 seconds.
The Royal Sovereign's turret "machinery," with
the bed upon which it rests, we will now endeavour
to describe, premising that the diameter of the turret
is less than that of the turn-table or the machinery
upon which the turn-table revolves. Level with the
ship's lower deck, or, as it must now be, her main
and lower deck both, upon upright timbers from the
ship's keelson, are laid logs of teak about 20 inches
square, and extending over a space of nearly 80 feet
in circumference. On these square timbers has been
constructed the bed proper which supports the turret
turn-table, and machinery.. It is in appearance a
gigantic cartwheel, 26ft. in diameter, the nave and
periphery being constructed of English and Ameri-
can oak, the periphery entirely of banded strips of
American, and the spokes of English oak. The
periphery of the wheel measures 24in. by 12in., and
the spokes each 18in. by 12in., all fitted with the
nicest accuracy and bolted down immovably to the
square logs of timber resting on the uprights under-
neath. The axle to this monster wheel exists in the
iron cylinder, which will give entrance to the maga-
zine below from the turn-table, and which, 26in. in
diameter, 7ft. 6in. in length, and 3 tons each in
weight, are fixed upright through the centre of the
wheel's nave ; two cast-iron collars, each 6ft. in
outer diameter, and each some hundredweight, being
fixed, one on the upper and the other on the under
side of the deck, and securing the axle or cylinder
thus in its position immovable as a rock. The upper
part of this cylinder, therefore, projects upwards of
2ft. from the wheel's nave, and becomes the pivot
upon and round which the turn-table and turret
revolve. From a brass collar which encircles this
cylinder, next the nave of the wheel, radiate
outward 24 iron rods, on the outer side of which
are fixed 24 bevilled iron wheels, 18in. in dia•
meter and 19in. broad, and which, set in a double
circular iron framing, work round a metal
roadway laid on the periphery of the wheel, a
second brass collar round the cylinder being fitted
with a set of small brass bevilled wheels, the turn-
table thus fitting over and round the cylinder or
axis, and resting with its inner circumference on the
small brass rollers, which encircle the cylinder, and
its outer circumference, upon the 24 bevilled wheels,
which work upon the iron roadway laid upon the
periphery of the wheel. Every part connected with
the iron work of the turret, and which is being
executed under the superintendence of Mr. A.
Murray, Chief Engineer to the Admiralty at Ports-
mouth, is very massive in its character, and beauti-
fully finished, and so far as any judgment may be
formed at present there is nothing to suggest the
slightest fear of the Royal Sovereign's turrets re-
volving freely under the heaviest storm of shot that
can be brought to bear upon them, or under circum-
stances of the greatest possible inclination which
may be given to the ship's deck in the roll and tumble
of a channel sea. Revolving on an immovable
central axis as does a steamship's paddlewheel, it
certainly appears that even 15 or 20 degs. of inclina-
tion should not interfere with the turret's working.
The side armour of the ship, gin. plates, from the
Atlas Works, Sheffield, are supported behind by 3ft.
of solid timber, which is strengthened and supported
in its turn by alternate wood and rolled iron beams,
placed at one-half the usual distance apart, to each
of which iron knees of great weight are attached,
and by the crossed diagonal iron banding over the
inner skin of the ship,
The alternate wood and iron beams are covered
with lin. iron plates, all of which at their butts and
edges are rivetted together with 4in. straps of lin_
iron. Stringer plates also run fore and aft this iron
deck. Over all this iron is now being fixed the upper
deck proper of the ship, which consists of 6in. oak
plank, and over a certain circumference of this
oak planking, in the immediate vicinity *of each
turret, will be fixed the ring of tapered armour
plating which will form the glacis of each turret at
its base. The ship, owing to the fact of her having
been converted from a Symondite three-decker, will
necessarily draw too much water to manoeuvre close
in with the shore in shallow water, but she will
doubtless be, when completed (if armed with guns
equivalent in their power to the American Moni-
tors) the most formidable ship of war in the British
navy, whether for purposes of offence or defence.
Such is the Royal Sovereign, the first of England's
turret ships, a vessel that if armed with weapons of
offence equal to her defensive powers may stand a
favourable comparison with the best of the American
Monitors. When completed and ready for service,
however, it might be a wise act to take her outside
the Wight, and give each of her turrets a concen-
trated broadside of 68-pounders from a steam fri-
gate going past at full speed. Such an experiment,
startling as it may seem at first sight, would most
probably save the country some millions sterling
during the next few years, whether the Royal Sove-
reign proves to be a successful or unsuccessful expe-
riment as our first turret ship. 'We, however, believe
she will prove the former.
There are many of the details in so novel a work
as our first attempt at a turret ship which would
most certainly be carried out in a very improved
form in any second conversion or construction, and
it is a question deserving serious consideration whe-
ther in any future originally designed turret or
broadside gun ironclad ships the adoption of " twin
screws," each screw worked by its independent en-
gine, may not be preferable to revolving turrets with
their somewhat costly and complicated machinery
below. A fixed turret possesses the same deflective
surface as does the revolving one, and must be
equally effective if the ship's hull possesses the power
of turning in lieu of the turret. It is a significant
fact that the most successful blockade runner of
Charleston is a twin screw vessel, carrying a large
cargo in proportion to her tonnage at
of water, and possessing, by means of her indepen-
dent screws, such a facility for changing her
Posi-
tion that the Federal men-of-war have not as yet
once hit her, although she has often been within
shelling distance.
The Royal Sovereign is
destined to be an experi-
ment ship in more ways than one, as in her will
be tested for the first time t alight draught
merits of a newly
patented system of self-acting ship ventilation in-
s timbers
circulation
or e c
of
air throughout the framework of the ship. This is
a
onds staff surgeon on board
her Majesty s s
vented by Dr. Edm
furnish ship Victory, which professes not,
only to
an ample supply of pure fresh air
to the crew, but also to effect the very important
orebsyer veirnegatitnhge ship'sa nt r sfrom
con mbe
effected by converting the timber .51/LICVS from the
keel upward, between the "ribs," so to speak, of
the ship into draught channels leading into a tunnel
object of
of
rot,p

~~~ d~~

PRICE..... ..4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

shaft fore and aft on each side of the ship's berthing
deck, which communicates by cross shaftings with
the funnel, the draught of the funnel furnishing the
motive power for the suction of a continuous current
of air upwards through the ship's timbers, and
carrying off the foul air and gasses from the ship's
hold and bilges without tainting the air the crew
breathe on the berth deck. At present, in our ships
of war, the foul gasses from the hold and bilges rise
up between the ship's timbers, and not only keep
the timbers surrounded and steeped in their damp
rottenness, but also contaminate the air breathed by
the crew of•the ship on the berth deck, into which
they make their way by the openings over the men's
mess tables and between the beams, or the perfo-
rated zinc fillings-in of the officer's cabin. There
is not the slightest doubt that the fearful sickness
which occurred only a short time since on board
many of her Majesty's ships, and even on the Medi-
terranean station, was owing to these causes,
strengthened in several instances by the decay of
green timber which had been used in the ship's con-
struction. By Dr. Edmonds' system the stream of
air is drawn through the ship's timbers from the
cabin and berthing deck, the officers and men thus
having the first benefit of the fresh air, which then
passes out of the ship through her hold, the open-
ings between her timbers, along the air tunnel
on each side of her deck, and thence by the
cross shafting into the funnel, whence it is
thrown out clear of the ship overhead with the
smoke and fire from the furnaces. The Admiralty
view the system in such a favourable light that they,
have ordered it to be applied to the Zealous, iron:-
cased ship, building at Pembroke, and to the
Favourite at Deptford, both on Mr. Reed's designs.
In these two instances, how ever, Dr. Edmonds' sy s-
tem of ventilation will be carried out in a more
complete form than it is being done in the Royal
Sovereign. The Zealous and Favourite will have
extra air channels, in the shape of hollow deck
planks, between each beam on the mess deek, by
which means the air breathed by the men below at
the mess tables, or by the officers in the cabins, is
at once drawn off and thrown off with the general
outgoing stream to the funnel. The subject of ven-
tilation is one of the gravest character, whether
considered in relation to the crews of cur u:en of-
war and merchant ships, passengers on board the
latter, or the preservation of timber-framed ships
from the devastating ravages of dry rot.— Times.