The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVEN! 0, MAY 20, 1862.

IRON-PLATED SHIPS.

Last night, in the House of Commons, Lord C.
Paget, in reply to a question from Lord R. Montagu,
said—l shall have no objection whatever to the pro-
duction of these returns, but in mercy to himself
and the house I trust the noble lord, when he hears
that inventions in reference to iron cased ships come
to us at the rate of about 100 a month, will not in-
sist on printing such a blue-book as they would
make. I can assure him that they are receiving
very careful attention. I cannot follow the noble
lord through all the topics he has introduced, but I
shall be happy to give him all the infortatttinti/ can
as to what is being done in shipbuilding./ f' regret
the right hon. member for Bucks is not present, as
I think he woald probably administer some little
rebuke to an ardent supporter for coming before the
house with a grand proposal for building an iron
fleet, and adding very considerably to the large
navy estimates. The noble lord accuses all Govern-
ments, but lays the principal blame on the present
Government, for continuing to build wooden ships
after France had begun to build them of iron. I
am the more anxious to say a word on this matter,
because I have beard from several quarters that the
present Government has proceeded recklessly in the
construction of wooden line-of-battle ships long after
it was evident that these vessels would be useless. I
beg the noble lord's attention to this point. There
are at present 57 screw line-of-battle ships afloat.
The late Government were in office rather more than
a year, and they originated the conversion of eight
of these vessels within that year. The present Go-
vernment has been in office three years, and they
have only commenced the conversion of four sailing
line-of-battle ships into steamers. The latp Govern-
ment converted eight vessels in one year; the pre-
sent Government in three years have only converted
four. Now take the question of building line-of-
battle ships. The late Government in its one year
of office began to build no less than six line-of-battle
ships. The present Government in three years have
only commenced three; of these, only the frames
were begun, and they have since been used for iron-
cased ships. This accusation, therefore, against the
present Government is most unjust and unfair. And
what is the history of the ships that have been con-
verted ? The present Government came into office
in the month of July, 1859. They naturally adopted
the progr'aMme
.. 6f their predecessors ; and what-
•, • . • o.r . •
ever may be the responsibility for the years 1859
and 1860 must rest principally with the late Go-
vernment. 11
The noble lord had mixed up a great
many matters together ; but the vexatio questio was
the cost of building wooden line-of-battle ships.
The house must not take the noble lord's figures
for granted. In 1859, the year of the Derby Go-
vernment, the sum expended in building and con-
verting line-of-battle ships was £442,000. In
1859 and 1860, after the French had begun to build
iron-cased ships, but when the programme of the
late Government had ,to be
~carried out £786,000
were expended for the same purpose. But in 1860
and 1861 the present Government have expended
only £416,000 in converting this class of ships.
Nothing is easier than to get up in 1862, after we
have made all these discoveries, and tell us what we
ought to do. It is easy to be wise after the event.
But, if the noble lord had given his advice when
the late Government was in office, he would have
done some good. The noble lord has referred to
Captain Coles's cupola vessel, and charges the Ad-
miralty with supineness in not adopting it till after
the action of the Monitor and the Merrimac. But,
as long ago as February last, the dr*wiugs for a
vessel on Captain Col_es's plan were prepared, and
only the consent of the House was wanted to issue
calls for tenders for its construction. The hon.
member for Liskeard took me to task, and charged
me with having said the vessel was being built,
when it was not; but my only object was to show
that the matter had not been neglected. 1 under-
stood the noble lord to say that the Warrior is
totally unprotected at her two ends, which are made
of wood, and that she is entirely unfit to go into
action. He is quite mistaken in that. He is per-
haps not aware the Warrior is wholly lin- iron ship,
though it is true its extremities are not provided
with armour plates. That is a point on which
opinions greatly differ. I for one frankly admit that
I think a system of armour plates all round in the
case of long ships with very sharp bows is attended
with considerable disadvantage, although some emi-
nent judges are in favour of that mode of construc-
tion. The noble lord says we never take up an
invention till it is very late. Why, if he will
only come to the Admiralty he will see that we
have no loss than seven different classes of ships
in progress of the iron-cased family, some of
which are iron-plated right round, and others plated
in the centre and amidships. We are going on with
reasonable speed, but not too fast. It is inadvisable
to rush all at once into a condemnation of our
wooden fleet, and to build only with iron. We
are, however, constructing different classes of iron
cased ships, some of them even as low as 1,000
tons. It remains to be seen whether they will carry
their armour and be fit for foreign service and all
weathers. I think we have not been behindhand,
but arc progressing with sufficient despatch to
maintain our position as a great maritime Power.
Reverting to Capt. Coles's cupola, it should be re-
membered that the late Prince Consort had the
sagacity first to discern the value of that plan. I
was sent for nearly two years ago by his Royal
Highness, who urged and entreated me and the
Admiralty to try that invention, the merit of bring-
ing which to public notice belonged to that great
Prince. I am afraid I cannot follow the noble lord
through all his statements of the misdeeds of various
Boards of Admiralty, but the gist of his complaints
was that we don't institute due inquiry into inven-
tions, that we have no machinery by which they
may be tested, and that inventors feel that we re-
gard them, as it were, as our natural enemies. That
is very far from a correct representation. I am
bound to admit that I have always advocated that
there should be a scientific committee attached to
the Admiralty—(hear)—exactly as there was at-
tached to the Ordnance. When I had the honour
of being connected with the Ordnance there was a
select committee to which all matters affecting the
construction of guns, &c., were referred. I have
often expressed my opinion on this point very
frankly at the Admiralty, and I must say that,
without going quite as far as I go, the Board have
taken very great steps in what I must call Wiight
direction in this respect. First of all let meltrud.e
to the Scientific Committee, or the Iron-platn.6oni-
mittee, which has now been sitting for two years.
If its chairman, the hon. and gallant member for
Wakefield (Sir J. Hay), were not now before me, I
should say something of his merits, but his name is
a guarantee that the committee is well constituted.
Its other members are Col. Henderson, R.A., the
vice-chairman ; Col. Jervois, R.E., secretary to the
Defence Commission ; Dr. Percy, superintendent of
the Museum of Practical Geology ; W. Fairbairn,
president of the British Association, and a most
eminent engineer and author; Wm. Pole, a very
eminent civil engineer, who has been connected with
the iron question for many years, and is now, in
addition to', other duties, professor of civil
engineering in the London University. Every-
thing connected with iron-cased ships is exa-
mined by that committee, and experiments
are continually carried on under a supervi-
sion. The Admiralty have also lately called in
the assistance of many eminent shipbuilders, and
among others the hon. member for Birkenhead (Mr,
Laird),
who has been asked to report on a most im-
portant matter, on which the future of our navy
a
depends—viz., the facilities for coppering
the bottoms of iron vessels. The Messrs. Samuda,
of the Thames
famous shipbuilder
ni vseh
ships,
i r
Iron Company, and Mr. Napier, the
of Glasgow, have likewise been
Within opinion
t hoen I atsht ef
o cr
np fgehr t-
ra
he cleua te hs ti
en
ag
otfoirog
we have had a committee sitting at the Admiralty

on submarine rams—a subject which the noble lord
said we had never thought of. IVe have, besides,
a standing committee at Somerset-house, composed
of practical naval officers of all ranks, who have
laid before them a vast number of proposals relat-
ing to anchors and other things. The noble lord
accuses us of never listening to anybody about
anchors. Why, we have been testing a new anchor
during the last month at Woolwich. It is quite
true that Mr. Trotman has a standing grievance
against the Admiralty because natal officers do not
altogether approve his anchor, which I, indeed,
hope may answer, although it is to be doubted
whether, taking all the roughs mid smooths of a
sea-going fleet, it will be as useful as the ordinary
anchor. That, however, is a matter of opinion. I
might also advert to the practising which daily
goes on at Portsmouth on bawd the Excellent,
under officers experienced in gunnery. When I
bring in our bill for experiments at the end of the
year the house, I believe, will not think that we
have been too niggardly in these matters. I can
only assure hon. gentlemen that we have at this
moment before our attention a considerable charge
in regard to our navy; and I am bound to say
—and it has been alluded to to-night by the
noble lord the First Minister—that we have
intelligence that the French have made con-
siderable progress in their iron-cased fleet
since I delivered my statement last February,
in which I gave a list of their ships of that descrip-
tion. Ido not express any opinion for or against
what the French have done:dine° then. I, howoyer,
regret it, because as soon as the French build we
shall build too—(hear, hear)—and so we ever shall
do. Remember, then, that the French now have
built and building 36 iron-cased ships of various
sizes. I say we must have a corresponding increase.
(Cheers.) We have various vessels that will very
shortly be commenced in our dockyards—vessels
that were already built, and which will be emi-
nently useful as iron-cased ships, and I also trust, at
least as far as we can at present see, we shall not
have to call for any increase in the estimates of the
present year.

grant.

creased means aro required; which you will readily

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