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

TRIALS OF THE BLACK PRINCE.

Yesterday, in accordance with the arrangements
previously announced in The Sun, the trial of this
frigate, with her screw at an altered pitch, took
place at the measured, mile in Stokes' Bay, near
Portsmouth, again under the supervision of Captain
H. Broadhead, commanding her Majesty's ship
Asia and the steam reserve at Portsmouth, and his
staff, comprising Mr. G. Murdoch, inspector of ma-
chinery afloat, and Mr. Ward, assistant to the en-
gineer in chief of the dockyard. The pitch of the
screw on the ship's previous trials was 30ft.
and yesterday she was tried with it set at a pitch
of 28ft. 6m. This alteration, it was calculated,
would allow the engines to get away with an in-
creased number of revolutions, develop their power
to a greater extent than had hitherto been done,
and give the ship an additional speed towards mak-
ing up the deficiency of 1,037 knot by the result of
her last full-powered trial as compared with the
Warrior's average. These anticipations were fully
realised as regards an increase in the number of
the engine's revolutions and an increased develop-
ment of power, but the question of speed remains in
as unsatisfactory a state as ever—that is, if the in-
tention of the Admiralty has been in reality that
the Black Prince's speed should equal that of the
Warrior, which we suppose is the cause of these re-
newed trials. In our previous report of her full-
powered trials, attention was called to the fact
of the mean draught of the Black Prince being then
74- inches in excess of the Warrior's on her trial.
It was also suggested that the Black Prince should
be lightened to precisely the same draught as the
Warrior, and again tried at the mile, when the
difference in speed between the two ships, if any
was then found to exist, could be satisfactorily
accounted for. The ship, however, has been kept
in readiness for sea, and instead of yesterday mak-
ing her trial at lightened draught and on equal
terms with her sister ship, she actually drew a
greater draught of water-27ft. 3in. aft and 26ft.
4in. forward—than she drew on her previous trial,
when it was 27ft. 2in. aft and 25ft. llin. forward.
The consequent result of this is that in her trial of
yesterday the Black Prince had a mean immersion
of hull of about 8f inches over that of the Warrior
when on trial. This will by some be assigned as
the true cause of the difference in speed between
the two ships; others may ascribe the difference in
speed to a difference in form or in finish of the
ship's bottom ; but none can decide the matter satis-
factorily under present circumstances, or apportion
to each one, or any two or three of the supposed
causes combined, the loss in the 13.581 knots per
hour of the Black Prince yesterday, as compared
with the 11.354 knots per hour of the Warrior on
her trial. This is much to be regretted. The two
ships are acknowledged to be at present unap-
proached by any other ships in the world in either
form or power, and any difference between them in
so important a matter as speed should have been
fully and satisfactorily accounted for, not as a mere
matter of curiosity, but as a guide for our own use
in the future.
The ship weighed at Spithead a little before noon,
and took a turn through Spithead to secure and
stow her anchor, after which she was placed on the
trial ground in the Bay, and the required six runs
completed with the following results, the machinery
being in charge of Mr. Tucker, chief engineer of
the ship, and Mr. Holliday, Messrs. Penn's manager
afloat, the firm being also represented on board by
Mr. Mathews, one of its members :
No. Time. Speed in Revoln-
of . Vacuum. .
min. sec. Knots, Steam. bons of
Run For. Aft. Engines.
1. 358 15.126 23.5 23 23
2. 5 6 11165 25 5 23.5 23.5 564
354 15.384 24.5 25.5 23.5 56
4. 5 4 11.811 24 23 23 51;
• 354 15384 23.5 24 24 56
6. 5 3 11•880 24 23 23 66
Mean speed of the six runs, 13584 knots. In-
dicated horse power of the engines, 6,100. Slip of
the screw, 141- per cent.
Here we have an excess of indicated power of 540
horse over the Warrior, and also a superiority in
the number of the engines' revolutions, the War-
rior's maximum revolutions having been 55, and her
minimum 53*.
The temperatures were :—During the first run,
on deck, 60 deg.; engine-room, starboard side, 86;
middle, 83 ; port side, 103 ; fore stockhole, forward,
72 ; middle, 102 ; aft, 85; after stockhole, forward,
90; middle, 116; aft, 112. During the sixth run:
—On deck, 60 deg.; engine-room, starboard side

93 ; middle, 86 ; port side, 97 ; fore stockhole, for-
ward, 78 ; middle, 106; aft, 94; after stockhole,
forward, 105; middle, 126; and aft, 104.
A fresh N.E. wind prevailed during the greater
portion of the trial, but it moderated as the runs
were being made, and, being off the land, could not
have produced any effect injurious to the ship's pro-
gress. At the conclusion of theruns the ship again
anchored at Spithead, and awaits orders from the
Admiralty, which last evening were hourly expected
on board, to proceed to Portland, supernumeraries
for the Warrior having been sent on board from the
flag-ship of the commander-in-chief at the port.

The Military Tribunal of Paris has just tried a
Gendarme of the Imperial Guard, named Willaume, on
eight several charges of stealing Crimean and Italian medals
from his comrades. It appeared from the evidence that
the loss of these medals caused no little excitement in the
corps. ro.d that all attempts to discover the thief proved
fruitless, until a jeweller named Forgelot applied at the
barracks to complain that a Gendarme, who had given Ihe
name of Martin, had defrauded him of 20fr. There was no
Gendarme of that name, but the description given by the
jeweller fixed suspicion on the prisoner Willaume, who
was arrested, and ho then confessed that he had stolen all
the eight medals and sold them to Forgelot, pretending
that he had got them all from comrades who had been dis-
charged ; and added that Forgelot had advanced him the
201 r. now claimed for the purpose of buying medals which
ho (prisoner) pretended had been offered to him by six or
seven soldiers in barracks at Courbevoie. The prisoner
persisted in his confession b efore the Tribunal, and was
accordingly found guilty and condemned to five years'
imprisonment. The jeweller, who appeared as a witness,
was severely reprimanded by the Tribunal for purchasing
the medals under circumstances so auspicious, and was in-
formed that he would have to auswer for his conduct be
fore the competent tribunal