The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-01 00:00:00

TRIAL OF 7HE BLACK PPINCE.

Like her sister ship the Warrior, the Black Prince is
peculiarly fortunate as regards the weather on her speed
trials—Saturday, the day appointed for her trial at full
power, having been beautifully fine, with the wind light a
N.B. off the land, and the water almost without a ripple.
Capt. Broadhead, commanding her Majesty's ship Asia and
the reserve at Portsmouth, conducted the trial, Mr. A.
Murray, the engineer-in-chief of Portsmouth dockyard,
with Mr. Murdoch, inspector of machinery afloat, and Mr.
Ward, second engineer of the dockyard, superintending the
working of the machinery. Mr. Quadock, master ship-
wright of Portsmouth dockyard, with a part of his staff,
was also on board. Messrs. Mathews and Holiday repre-
presented Messrs. John Penn and Sons. Among the visi-
tors to the ship were Mr. Corry, M.P., the secretary to the
Board of Admiralty, which ordered the construction of the
ship, Admiral Sir Thomas Thompson, Colonel Sir Henry
James, R.E., &c. The ship lay at anchor, at Shithead,
with steam up and chain up and down ready for tripping
the anchor on Capt. Broadhead and staff arriving. on board,
and on that officer's arrival preparations were at once made
for taking the ship to the trial ground. In weighing the
anchor, however, considerable delay took place, as on Tues-
day, in connection with the steam capstan, this time one of
the rollers giving way. Eventually, however, the anchor
was got up and stowed, and the ship reached the course
just in time to complete the required six runs while the tide
remained available for the purpose. Since the ship's par-
tial trial on Tuesday, when she only realised a mean speed
of 12.2 knots, she has been placed in dock and had her bot-
tom thoroughly cleansed and the weights on her safety
valve also rendered equal to those carried by the Warrior
on her trial. Under these circumstances, as both ships
were built from the same drawings, and their engines were
made in one shop from one set of patterns, it might reason-
ably have been expected that the speed of both ships would
have been as nearly as possible equal; but the result of
Saturday's trial has definitively proved the Black Prince,
under present circumstances, to be fully a knot per hour
inferior in point of speed to the Warrior. The results of the
six runs of the Black Prince on Saturday were as follows :
Run, Revolutions
min. sec. in knots. lb. Ford. Aft.
1 358 15126 Engines.
221 24 24 52
2 5 5 11.803 24 24 52
3 4 5 14.694 25 24
4 455 12.203 25 241 51±51
6 418 13953 24± 24± 51±
6 435 13.091 25 • 241 51
Mean speed of the six runs, 13.317 knots.
After making the fourth run to the eastward the ship's
course was made towards the Sandhead Shoal, off Hyde, to
gain room in which to turn the ship for commencing her
fifth run to the westward. A small steamer, said to be the
Lady of the Lake, was crossing from Portsmouth to Ryde,
on her way to Cowes and Southampton, with a good num-
ber of passengers on board, and, either by gross negligence
or a foolhardy spirit on the part of those in charge of her,
attempted to cross the frigate's bows, the latter at the time
going at full speed. The passengers on board the small
steamer were all absorbed in watching tho progress of the
mammoth ship, and appeared to be totally unaware of
their dangerous position, while no one on board paid any
attention to the signalling from the frigate to alter their
course. A few moments more and the two ships would
have been in contact, when the captain of the passenger
steamer rushed on his bridge and by his wild gesticulations
appeared to have become suddenly awake to the dangerous
position of his ship and passengers. His orders were not
given a second too soon, and his little vessel must have
answered her helm well and quickly to have extricated
herself as she did, just clear of the Black Prince's course.
It may be as well to insert here, by way of comparison,
the result of the Warrior's six runs on her trial of speed.
They were as follow:

Time. Speed in Steam, Vacuum.
Run. MM. Sec. knots.