The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, FOND- N, FRIDAY EVENIAG, SEPTEMBER 12, 1862.

IROXPLA7E EXPERIMENTS.

Some firing at armour plates manufactured by Govern-
ment and a private firm took place at Portsmouth yes-
terday of a very interesting and important nature. The
plates comprised three forged at Deptford Dockyard, each
12ft. in length, 15in. in width, and 41in. thick, the whole
weighing 71cwt. 1 qr. 71b. Of four forged at Portsmouth
dockyard, one was made from scrap it m, unannealed, 7ft.
llain. in length, 3ft. 61in. in width, and full 51in. thick,
weighing 54cwt. 3qrs, 141 b. The second plate was also made
from scrap iron, but was annealed. it was Bft. in length,
Mt. 51in. in width, and full 51in. thick; its weight was
56 cwt. The third plate was made of Shropshire puddled
iron, unannealed, was Sit. in lengtb, 3ft. Tin. in width, 51
(full) thick, and weighed 55cwt. 3qr. £he fourth was also
made from Shropshire puddle, but was annealed, was 81t.
in length, Mt. 71in. in width, and 51in. thick, and weighed
56cwt. 2qr. 71b. The remaining plate was manufactured by
Messrs. J. Brown and Co., at the Sheffield Atlas Iron and
Steel Works, and had been selected from a heap of plates at
the works, which had been manufactured by them for the
Royal Sovereign shield ship, by Mr. Luke, the Government
surveyor, and forwarded to Portsmouth for testing in ac-
cordance with the Government regulations under which
the contracts are entered into with private manufactu-
rers. Its dimensions were-length, 14ft. 11 fin. ; width,
Mt. 3in. ; thickness, 51in. ; weight, 91cwt. 3qrs. The
whole of the plates had been secured to the side of the
Alfred target ship, which was afterwards taken up to the
practice moorings in Porchester-creek, where the practice
took place yesterday from the 95cwt, gun of the Stork
gunboat, under the superintendence of Captain Hewlett,
C.B, Solid 681 b. shot were thrown with the ordinary 161 b.
of powder. Unusual interest was attached to the trial,
owing to the plates from the Government yards having
been manufactured expressly to test the actual cost
of manufacture as a contrast to the price now paid to
contractors, and also to decide upon the respective merits
of puddled and scrap iron for their manufacture, and of the
process of annealing, The presence of Messrs. Brown's
plate yesterday was a chance, but being there for testing, it
offered a means of representing the interests of our large
iron workers on this, to them, most important occasion.
The result of the day's firing ended in the destruction of
the plates made in the Government yards, which broke up
under the blows of the 681 b. shot in an extraordinary
manner, and in the triumphant success of Messrs. Brown's
Royal Sovereign plate, after passing through an ordeal
severer in its nature than any to which a plate had at any
previous time been subjected at Portsmouth. The failure
of the plates forged at Portsmouth yard is ascribed to the
sulphurous nature of the coal with which they were
forged, and an inspection of the broken parts left no doubt
of this being the fact. The Deptford Dockyard plates owed
their failure-leaving out of the question their quality--to
their being only 15in. in width, and being, in fact, iron
planking. This kind of plating has been before tested at
Portsmouth, but it can never, in such narrow strips, stand
the blows of a solid shot. The first shot the plates received
struck the middle strip, buckled up the end, and broke the
bar clear through about 12 inches from the point of the im-
pact. Another shot struck the broken part, and, crushing
itself, carried its own and the plate's broken portions through
the frigate's side, on to the main deck. The remaining two
shots at these plates proved the utter uselessness of their
form. Of the four plates manufactured at Portsmouth, the
annealed in bath the scrap and puddled may be considered
to have been the best, but the fissures caused by each blow
of the shot were so extensive and their appearance at the
close of such a nature that no deductions can be drawn
from the results in their case with any certainty of their
value. _ _

Messrs. Brown's plate received nine shots. The first struck
the centre to the left, made an indent at its deepest part of
1 1-10 in., 81 inches in diameter, and 9 inches from a bolt-
hole. No cracks or bulging. The second shot struck 12in.
to the right of the first, impressed a mark 9in. in diameter,
and an indent of 1 7-10 in., 7in. from a bolt-hole, and no
cracks or bulging. The next shot struck an equal distance
to the left of the first shot, all three now being in line, with
an indent of 2in. and a diameter of 9 in. ; no bulging or
crack. The next shot struck with two-thirds of its circum-
ference on the first shot mark, and spread the metal, in-
creasing the depth of the indent to 3in., but still with no
sign of a crack or separation of the fibre of the metal. The
remaining five shots were fired in succession at the plate
without waiting to inspect the result of each as is usually
the case, as the plate had now stood its test in so extra-
ordinary a manner that it was determined to give it as
severe a trial as possible. At the close of the firing,
on inspecting the plate, it was found that seven shots
had been placed in a crescent form, the length
of the semi-circle, measuring through the line of shots,
being 4ft., and four of these shots having struck in a space
of 20in, by 12in. Only on this spot was there any sign of a
crack, and here it was caused purely by the severe pounding
stretching the metal, and even this was of a very slight
character. This continual strain upon one part of the plate
caused the left hand of the plate to bulge outwards a little,
and raises at the back of the lower shot
mark. To all intents and purpo..., the plate re-
mained perfectly invulnerable at the close of the firing, and
on a ship's side would be fit to go into action with her again,
its protective power being bat little injured. It is the first
armour plate that has received, in any of the long series of
experimental practice at Portsmouth, seven shots in the
same amount of space, and, being a plate selected from a
heap of others by the Government contractor, its successful
resistance to the 68-pound shot in yesterday's trial, under
such severe circumstances, reflects the greatest credit upon
its manufacturers.

IRE NAVY.

Admiralty orders have been received at Chatham
for the paddlewheel steamer Salamander, 6, 220-
horse power, now being overhauled and repaired at
Deptford, to be sent rcund to the Medway, when
completed, to be brought forward for commission.

The Royal Oak, 50, I,ooo.horse power, com-
menced the shipment of her boilers and other heavy
portions of her machinery at Chatham yesterday.
About 200 of the dockyard hands are still employed
on board in completing her for sea. After shipping
her iron masts and machinery she will be
placed in
dock to have the remainder of her armour plates
bolted to her sides.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Augustus F. Mugford, master
additional to the Colossus; Dr. W. J. Hamilton,
surgeon, additional to the Severn ; Mr. J. Bance
and Mr. Barton Rose Bradford have been nominated
to naval cadetships.

stations of the society on the coast of Scotland, and
on the north-east coast of England_
It was reported that some French officers had
recently visited one of the lifeboat stations of the
institution on the north-east coast, and that they
had expressed their high admiration of their com-
pleteness to accomplish the humane object in view.
It was also reported that the important friendly
society, the Ancient Order of Foresters, had re-
cently resolved at their annual court, that a volun-
tary subscription should be asked for from their
members each year, in cid of the funds of the Na-
tional Lifeboat Institution.

With its 122 life-boat establishments, each of
which involves an annual charge of £4O, it is quite
manifest that a large permanent income is required
by the institution to enable it to continue the im-
portant and national work which it has undertaken
of saving the lives of persons of all nations who
may be wrecked on our coast.
Payment amounting to upwards of £6OO having
been made on various lifeboat establishments the
proceedings terminated.

THE GREAT EASTERN.

LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY.

The following is an extract from a letter, dated
New York, Aug. 29, addressed by Captain Paton to
Mr. J. H. Yates, secretary to the Great Ship Com-
pany (limited) :
" I have to advise you of our arrival here on the
27th inst., after a very rough passage across. We
sighted Cape Race during the night about 9 p.m. of
the 23d, but the bad weather prevented the boat
from communicating with us, though the people of
the lighthouse saw and reported us off.
" It is my duty also to inform you of the ship
having touched a sunken rock off Montauk Point,
which is not laid down in the charts. The ship
when she touched was stopped about two miles to
the N.E. of the lighthouse to take the pilot on
board, in a position which I considered perfectly
safe from the depth of water laid down on the chart,
a portion of which I enclose, with the ship's posi-
tion marked on it for the information of the board.
The ship did not hang on the ground a mo-
ment. We felt her touch slightly once or twice,
when she careened over a little. My first impres
sion was that some of the machinery had broken
down, but the ship keeping the list at once unde-
ceived me. The pilot came on board in about two
minutes after, and informed me that, although it
was not laid down on the charts, there was a reef
lying off the point in a north-easterly direction,
called by the pilots the North-east Ripps, upon
which the sea breaks in heavy weather. He also
states that a vessel deeply laden, drawing 19 feet,
struck on the same shoal even further out than we
were from the point. All the pumps were imme-
diately set to work, but the water is entirely con-
fined to the tubes on the port side aft. Immediately
on arrival I engaged a diver to examine the ship's
bottom to ascertain the nature and the amount of
the damage, and up to the present time it is ascer-
tained that a fracture similar to the one sustained
in Milford exists under the smoking room on the
flat of the floor. There is no damage forward of this,
but abaft of it has not yet been examined ; but
owing to the form of the vessel abaft I do not ap-
prehend much further injury. The diver can only
work at slack water. By noon to-morrow, however,
we will have ascertained the whole amount of
damage.
" We have not yet definitely fixed the plan to be
adopted in repairing. One plan is to place a caisson
or coffer-dam under the injured part, with an aper-
ture on the top larger than• the fracture, with a
combing round the said aperture, on which would
be placed some elastic substance, which would fill
up any inequality in the ship's bottom, and render
the dam watertight ; then pump the water out of
the dam, and as it emptied it would bind still fur
ther to the vessel's• bottom. We would then be able
to work inside and put a new plate over the in-

jured part. lam in favour of this plan if we can
work it, as it will enable us to make a permanent
job.

" The cargo, I am glad to say, is being discharged
rapidly, and in fine order. The sailing of the ship
has, of course, been postponed. My agents here
are making every effort to mitigate this unfortu-
nate affair, and to have the repairs effected with as
little delay and expense as possible ; and should
we determine to-morrow to adopt the ' caisson,' I
think a fortnight will see us ready again to take in
cargo."
By the log of the Great Eastern, it appears that
she was off Montank Point about midnight on the
26th, then working easy to her moorings in Flush-
ing Bay, where she arrived at noon on the 27th.
She reported strong gales, principally from N.W.,
and high seas the whole distance.

DREADFUL GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION.