The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-12 00:00:00

Her Majesty's Ship Minotaur.

The Minotaur iron screw frigate, 6,621 tons,
1,350 nominal horse power, resumed and concluded
her official trials under steam at light draught of
water on Saturday. The ship's anchor was weighed
from Spithead shortly before noon, her draught of
water being the same as on the previous day-23ft.
lin. forward and 24ft. tin. aft, and her safety-valve
loaded at 251 b., the immersion of the upper blade of
the screw being 6in. Rear-Admiral G. G. Wellesley,
C. 8., superintended the trial, with Commander
Brett, of H.M.S. Asia, in command of the ship.
Mr. Matthews, Mr. Penn's joint partner in the firm
of Penn and Son, represented the makers of the
engines, and was responsible for the machinery.
The furnaces were in charge of the usual steam fac-
tory party of stokers from Portsmouth dockyard,
and the steam factory and reserve officers of the
yard conducted the trials. Six runs were taken over
the measured nautical mile course in Stokes Bay
with full-boiler power, and four runs afterwards
with half-boiler power. The following were the re-
sults :

FULL-BOILER POWER.
Run. Time. Spoed of Ship.
m. s. Knots.
1 3 57 15.190
2 4 8 14.516
3 3 55 15.319
4 4 20 13.846
5 3 47 15.859
6 4 27 13.483
Mean speed of the ship
...
... .. 14.778 knots.
Mean revolutions of the engines ... ... 57i
Maximum ditto
0.6 ••• 59
Minimum ditto 56.
ea • .••
Pressure of steam in boilers ... "'tsi lb.
Vacuum ... ... ...
... ... 23 in.

11.91,P-801/3CR POWER.

Run.

_
Time. Speed of Ship.
lr 8. Knots.
4 20 13.846
5 28 10.976
4 21 13.793
5 27 11.099
Mean speed of the ship 12.406 knots.
Maximum revolutions of engines... 49
Minimum ditto
••• OOP 47
Pressure of steam in boilers ... ... 20 lb.
Vacuum ... 27 in.
The engines worked throughout from the start to
ease and smoothness, and
without a hitch of any kind occurring. A compari-
sonhe finish with astonishing
with the performances of other vessels over the
measured mile will be here the truest test of the
value of the rate of speed attained by the Minotaur.
The Warrior, 6,109 tons, 1,250 horse power, has
been set up as the standard vessel of her class for
comparison of speed, and if we take her, in the first
instance, we find that she was tried at the measured
mile on Oct. 17, 1861, drawing 25ft. of water for-
ward and 26ft. Sin. aft, having then her guns, crew,
and six months' stores on board—proceeding, in
fact, to sea on a cruise on the day following the
trial. Her mean speed of six runs with full boiler
power was 14.356 knots.

- The Black Prince, sister ship to the Warrior, was
tried on May 22, 1863, with all her weights also on
board, drawing 26ft. of water forward and 27ft. aft,
and realised a mean speed of 13.502 knots with full
boiler power.
The Achilles, 6,121 tons, 1,250 horse power, was
tried on March 15, 1865, drawing 25ft. 11in. of
water forward and 26ft. ilin. aft, and realised
14.322 knots with full boiler power.

t. 9in. forward and
at light draught.
The Achilles
23ft. 7in. aft, but from some unexplained cause only
`Warrior
was was
tried never
at tried2f
made 14.358 knots. The Black Prince at a light
draught of 21ft. ilin. and 24ft. 3in. made 14.213
knots. The Minotaur has, therefore, beaten both
the Black Prince and the Achilles at light draught,
but as the Warrior was never tried under the same
circumstances, she gives no opportunity for compa-
rison with the Minotaur's performance of Saturday.
If we compare the deep-draught trial of the Warrior
with the light-draught trial of the Minotaur, it will
be found that the former, with a mean immersion
of 2ft. 41in. in excess of that of the Minotaur, has
only been beaten in speed by the latter by .422, or
less than half a knot.

The only inference that can possibly be drawn
from these facts is, that although the Minotaur has
reached the highest rate of speed of any ship of war
at the measured mile, yet her gain at light draught
is so slightly in excess of the Warrior's speed at deep
draught that the latter ship is undoubtedly the faster
of the two, and will still retain the position she has
held uninterruptedly since her first period of com-
mission by Capt. the Hon. A. A. Cochrane, C. 8.,
as the swiftest ship under steam in her Majesty's
navy. True, it may be said that the Minotaur ex-
ceeds the Warrior slightly in tonnage and displace-
ment. This, however, is more than compensated
by the increase in boiler space and length of ,piston-
stroke given to the Minotaur to increase the nomi-