The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-11 00:00:00

Strengtheningships with armour-plates or shields
would seem to be no modern invention. It was
practised in the age of Elizabeth, and with conside-
rable success. This appears from the following
carious extract, which is taken from a contemporary
MS. preserved in the State Paper Office. It was
penned in the year 1596 by " poor Captain John
Yorg, of Gt Lawraunce Powitneislane, in London,
near to the owld Swanne," a veteran of 40 years,
experience in naval affairs. Like too many more
of our early mechanical genuses he profited little
by his skill, and (to the disgrace of the Queen) still
less by his patriotism. The captain was specially
employed in the memorable summer of 'BB " for the
discovery of the Duke of Medina," i.e. to give warn-
ing to the Government of the approach of the
Spanish Armada. He was afterwards associated
with another officer of his own rank named Prowse,
in disposing the fire-ships which effectually dis-
persed that magnificent fleet when anchored off
Calais—a service for which the poor gentleman was
never remunerated, nor even compensated for his
" own great ship, worth more than a thousand
pounds," which was one of the eight selected
for combustion. A very curious document is the
inventory of her contents.

Yong's paper, or "motion" as he designates it,
is addressed to the Earl of Essex. By substituting
shields for "frames," and rendering his account in
modern English, it then might very well pass for
one of those descriptions of experiments in naval
architecture, and the resisting of a ship's hull,
with which we are now-a-days so frequently
favoured by contending engineers :
" May it please yor honor to consider of this
article following :

" If yt maye please yor honor to thinke good of
this mocon to the greate strengthening of her Maty
navye, as other princes have bin inforeed to doe the
like; that is to saie, some of the greatest shippes
and some of the others to be put into frames made
of straight & smotlae rownde masts, not verge bigg
but reasonable; and the frames to be made in this
sorts, viz , from the fore parte of the forecastell on
the one side, & soe all alongst & rownde abowte the
poope alsoe, and aoe all alongst the other side upp
to the fore parte of the forecastell also ; and that
theare muste bee made rounds holes through the
ships side no bigger then thende of the masts will
go in, close and straighte to fill the wholes; & the
eandes of the masts must be made fast down to the
deg or overlops ; but you must remember to place
the eandes within boorde, just between yor greate
peeve, for hindering of the tranesing of them in the
time of seruico, & the longe masts wch must
make the frame without boorde, and theye must
be made faste to the eandes of them wihowte
boord, & fastened with strong plates of Iron made
purpose, or ells with bowlts rings & forlocks,
within beorde & without alsoe; and yor frames maie
be in lengthe without borde 10 or 12 foote longe,
or longer or shorter at yor pleasure ; but the King
of Denmarke in his ships their frames wear eightene,
ffo sre and twentie, & thirtie foot longe with-
owt borde ; but in my opinion they weare to
monsterous longe; but w thin horde thende of your
masts maye be as shorte as you shall think good,
By this yolleeye two hundredth men shalbe able to
hold owte a thowsande men, yea two thowsande
men, and alsoe the enemie lying in this great daun-
ger so near to or greate ordynance, & theye being
not able by noe meaner posible to make entrie for
the frames, & wee may easilie sincke them or spoile
them in shorte time ; & these frames will not hinder
the tackling of the shippe, & you may take them of
when &on when you thincke good. I have seen
the King of Denmarke inforced to doe all this, ar ells
the King of Sweathlande woulde not have lefte him
not one shippe, & if he had left his navye he hod
loste his kingdome alsoe, for the Kinge of Sweath-
lande his ships weare more in number & bigger, &
muche better manmed, with abundance of all war-
like furniture & municen, & of greatecopperpeeces
wch shoote a hondredth weight of osementes• er
shot at euery shot ; Sr euery one of his good ships
were made of saker shot proof above in their cage
works, and bet weene winde & water of cannon shote
proof, to keep them from sincking ; and theye had
alsoe greate murdering peeces of copper to scowre
their fights. Moreuer, the frames foresaide are good
to be used especiallye in the narrow seas, yf the
great inuincible fleet of the Spaniards doe come
again, for the frames will make or navie ten thou-
sand men stronger then euer they weare before. I
meene, if all or the moste parte be put into
fframes of or men-a-war heere put at home, for
that the frames are not to be used in farre & and
long voyages excepte you will bestowe them
in yor ships some parte within borde & some
parte withowt, the logest lasht wthowt borde, and
when you come where yor enemies bee you maye
sone put them owt for yor defence; but it will be
troble•ome to carrie."

In the same paper, Capt. Yong suggests the re-
vival of " the oulde fashion, in the time of King
Henry VIII.," of having " a chaine nettinge of
iron" suspended to the sides of the largest men-of-
war; the adjusting of which he describes at length.
He strongly urges its re-adoption in the Royal
Navy as a perfect safeguard, both against the fire-.
works of the enemy, and their attempts at boarding.

* Osemund or Osemuth : i. c., balls made of the best
Swedish iron.

G.RTAT FIRE NEAR TH NORTH FORE-

LAND LIGHTHOUSE.

MARGATE, Wednesday:—The most extensive fire that has
occurred for many years in the county broke out yesterday
afternoon, and as late as eight o'clock to-night was not
wholly extinguished. The scene of its operations covered
a large superficies, upon which stood sundry ricks of wheat,
barns, thrashing houses, stabling, cow-houses, the farm-
house, and sundry other outbuildings. The premises
were probably as large as any in the district, and known
as Blackburn's Farm, standing between St. Peter's and
Kingsgate, near this town. The discovery was made by
one of the farm servants through seeing smoke rolling 11P
from the centre of the homestead. It was then found th•s,
a considerable quantity of grain had from some cause be..
nabcome ignited, and although an instant attempt was xn
subdue the fimiies,they travelled with the most extrsoor:'
filled
swiftness, firing in rapid succession two large bur, agricul-
with grain, 7 ricks of corn, the farmhouse, varie
t' f flame
tural depots, and presented an immense shy
t Ramsgate,
which could be seen at dark distinctly son the other
and it is said by passengers by the steams that the white
Expresses were
side of the sea. One thing is quite certair P
~ ed up as if some
cliffs of Ramsgate were splendidly !nig;
grand pyrotechnic display was goi!ge„,- a. nd upon the light
sent off in all directions for the engT being seen from the
ruonfgmen could be got ,toge-
and the smoke of the aonflagratiom-
with full vigour and
wbs_ethose from Margate, Rams-
distance, the fire-bells were
as soon as a sufficient nu
ther for manning the engines' et started to the scene of
gate, and the Isle of has Previously obtai ed too firm a
hold to succumb to suchd.
devastation, but the A 116 a P
limited hydra ulic force, and the i
Penns travelled to the spot in
horseback, in waggonettes, and,
caoraecchoenst,inbureodngthoasrPsrs7;l:ehicles. The f:3 gines, as before
in fact, all a
vast amount of
kin to
ienr y
that one remarkedparpart
nf
thatheaotuntthrey firewa -s
.
combat effectually with such a
extinguishing. perfect—not kept in. •
stated, were
bens.
far from hose of the London Brigade,
F
u-
apparatusalld e v
an efficient
ince th . . b • ortunately,
state, were all saved just in the nick of •
the horses
like the other
the stabling,ust amount to several 4 time, bus
property, was destroyed. The
._45 x„ thousand pounds sterling.
total ie . •
The fire, it is supposed, was caused from some of the grain,
Iduring the late wet season, having been stowed away whilst
damp, and over-heating ; hence the calamitous event,
which in the true sense of the word it h,s unquestionably
proved to be. Mr. Charles; White, of the County Fire-
office, and Mr, nadsell, surveyors to the principal London
fire. offices, were present during the day, but they were then
unable to find out the amount of loss or the insurance.

GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY.—After the meeting
of the proprietors, reported yesterday, a special board was
held, at which Mr. Love was elected chairman, and Mr.
James Goodson deputy-chairman of the company.
THE NEW TRAINING SHIPS AT LEITH.—It will
interest our Naval Coast Volunteers to know that the line-
of.battle screw. steamer Meanee, 80, 400 horse-power, 2,691
tons —the vessel is intended to take place of the Edinburgh,
60, on Scotch coast— is ordered to be brought forward for
commission, with a complement of 650 officers and men,
including Royal Marines. She is to be furnished with an
armament of 24 32-pounders, each of 50 cwt, on her main
deck ;26 8 .inch 65-cwt. guns on her lower decks; and
2 110-pounder and 8 40-pounder Armstrong guns on her
upper deck. In addition to these she will be supplied with
two 12-pounder Armstronge, and a fow brass field guns for
boat service.