The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-31 00:00:00

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IRO:LCLAD SIIIP, S.

TO THE EDITOR OF TIIE Tin ES.

Sir,—At this moment, when the re Construction
of our navy appears inevitable, even to the greatest
disbelievers in iron-cased ships, it be loves us to
ponder well upon the revolution these iron-cased
ships will create in warfare generally,- but more
especially the defence of our island.
For years we have very judiciously been making
various experiments upon every sort of iiron-els.d
targets, sectione of ships, sections of forts, even old
floating batteries, and, lastly, with shields or revolv-
ing towers on them. Valuable as these experiments
may be, the one on the °three side of the water that
has taken place in the nature: course of cveuts is
of more value than all. Let u.s, then, banish •aul.
old prejudices and take advantage of what expe;:i-
ence shows us, for if we only have courage to act it
may save us millions of money and, it may be, even
the deepest humiliation.
An iron• clad duel has been fought ; wooden ships
have been destroyed and proved woase than useless..
Batt ironclad steamer, after having first sunk and,
dispersed a wooden squadron, passes through the
fire of forts, then fights a close action with another
iron- clad vessel of five hours' duration, and sifter pass-
ing through this ordeal swims—we hear she with-
drew apparently y but little damaged. May not her
withdrawing have been in consequence of her am-
munition or fuel having run short ? From this we
learn that supremacy at sea belongs to those iron-c lad
ships which have the best protection, the strongest
prow, the heaviest ordnance,
and the best filled:
magazine. Again, last, thought not least, this prac-
tical-
experimenttien—yiz.,
hw a
e solvesrewe
in
another all-important ques
future
to protect our
harbours from iron marauders and our dockyards
are spending
.'f‘otrtPsr;esteh'ettwoteal estimate for
fr m
millionsbei being
en destroyedstationary?
which, according to the Commissioners' Report, is
£11,850,000* (paragraph 171) ; and then follows (in
paragraph 172)—" We have now completed the
task assigned to us by your Majesty's Royal Coen-.
missioners to the extent of our present Instructions.,
reserving only for a subsequent report" (and outlay)
" the question of an internal arsenal. We submit our
unanimous recommendations to your Majesty's
gracious consideration with the firm conviction that
their adoption will place the power of this country
for self-defence on a par with its other elements of
greatness and strength ; will give security to its
industry and commerce, afford a guarantee for the
maintenance of peace, and add a new glory to your
Majesty's reign." But mark how contradictory to
this was the effect produced upon the people of
New York when it was known that one solitary-
iron-clad vessel, the Merrimac, had passed the fire of
the Federal batteries, armed with the " heaviest
Columbiads," without having received the slightest
damage, had sunk and dispersed a wooden squadron,
and had gained for the time entire command of the
coast. A panic was the consequence. They felt
at New Yerk their batteries were useless against
a monster from whose sides the heaviest balls
glanced off like hailstones,t and they were only
restrained from the desperate and degrading alter-
native of blocking up their harbour by the tele-
gram which informed Them that the progress of
the iron monster had been arrested by another
iron ship, the Monitor. Let us pieuse for a moment,
and transfer these scenes to our ONSTV shores ; let us
imagine, at Portsmouth or London, for instance,
the intelligence has been received of thb' approach
of one of these iron monsters ; let us suppose that
the forts upon which so much is to be spent. and
upon which our security is to be based have been
erected, and that the fleet (one of the conditions
urged for their erection) is absent ; where, I would
ask, would be the feeling of security which the
Commissioners exult in when we have these facts
staring us in the face ? What protection would
these forts at Spithead be against such vessels,
which need never come within 1,000 yards of these
forts, and at the same time be within good 'borne
herding distance of the dockyard ? I maintain, as
I always have done, that these forts will be worse
than useless, for they would only add to the smoke
and confusion of action, and exhaust those resourcee
which the nation supplies for the security cf its
industry and commerce. "This action, sir, -has
proved every word that I wrote advoeeting- an
organised coast defence (or patrol) of iron-cased
ships, in lieu of those immovable forts, which ships,
if ever we possess them, must not permit a vessel
to come near our ports, but must grapple with and.
arrest her as the Monitor did the Merrimac.

PRICE • .4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

I will, therefore, merely draw your attention to
the late Admiral Sir R. S. Dundas's letter to
the Royal Commissioners, wherein he shGws that
for the estimated expense (L 840,000) of these
three forts at Spithead 20 of our screw and
now useless line of battle ships could be converted
into most efficient iron blockships. It must be re-
marked that the Monitor, which is described by
the Times' special correspondent as fitted with a
revolving tower on my principle, and carrying
only two guns, drove the Merrimac of 10 guns off..
It is not my wish now to advocate my principle,
for after the complete success of my experiments,
and the achievements of the Monitor, it is unne-
cessary; facts speak fer themselves ; but I will un-
dertake to show that I can convert into a shield
ship any of those screw line of battle ships. She
shall be practically invulnerable, and she shalt
carry a broadside according to her tonnage of from
12 to 14 guns, 110 or 68 pounders ; if 300 pounders
are brought into use she shall carry a broadside of
from five to six of them, and that these ships shall
work those heavy guns when the Warrior and
such like vessels dare not open their ports. Let me
again ask if a coast patrol as I propose of these con-
verted vessels, with others carrying from two guns
up to 12, would not give this country more secu-
rity than these forts which are estimated at mil-
lions, but may cost any amount before completed,
and then only serve as unmistakeable beacons for
the enemy's iron clad ships to pass between ?
Your obedient servant,
COWPER P. COLES, Captain, R.N.
2, Clarence-parade, Southsea, March 27.

* Estimate is ono thing, eventual cost is another, parti-
cularly as we now talk of casing these forts with iron.
t DESCRIPTION PROM AN EYEWITNESS.--The Times,

March, 27, 1862.
" The water battery of heavy Colnmbiads on the point
commenced playing upon the monster in a way which must
have given those on board a very good idea of a very severe
hailstorm ; but, bless you, the only notice she took of them
was to occasionally throw a shell or two into or over the
camps" (or into Portsmouth dockyard, if at Spithead.)
" She entirely ignored the existence of the American fri-
gate Congress."

of cheap
days
oanDEdl
booksM
start-
ling to observeobservehow large a leaven of supereition still lurks in
Raaslltt
nuiPOSvTerOsaßlSe.feantiotnh,eisteisclettomy
popular mind. One might reasonably
the expect that before
the march of intellect, of which so much is said,
all witches
would have taken flight on their broomsticks, and that Guides
to Fate and Oracles of Fortune would have long ago passed
out of print and credence. Not so, however ; " knowledge
comes, but wisdom lingers ;" and although the black art has
decayed sadly in dignity and profit since
the days of the re-
nowned Mother Shipton, it has numerous votaries to this
hour, not only among the lonely cottars of Dartmoor, or in
other remote, sequestered parts, but within h •
hearing of
Bow bells, and in the ver
have only to take up one yof the weekly
of our civilisation. You
weekly newspapers to find
advertisementsof
mysterious wording and eccentric grammar,
in which the modern seers invite a trial of their skill, and
intimate where and how
they may bo consulted. Many of
the old women who perambulate the town, pretending to
buy old bottles and candle-ends, are adepts in the craft, and
d
employ it to gain an influence over weak-minded servant-
maids, and induce them to connive at the robbery of tLeir
masters. Others are to be found in the•cellars of Lambeth
and St, Giles, where they give audience to many simpletons
of low degree, if not, as is currently believed by the neigh-
bours, to ladies of quality in the disguise of charwomen.
Them are men, also, in the profession, and lam told that
if you knock at the door of a certain helve in Southwark,
bearing a large brass plate inscribed " Engineer," yon will
be introduced to a dirty old man with a long beard and a
cutty pipe, who casts nativities and unveils the future on
the most moderate terms, varying from 2s. to 55., accord..
ing to the presumed station of the visitor. Since the
gipsies were ousted from their favourite camping ground at
Battersea, the fortune-tellers of that race have forsaken.
London, but they are still to be met in unfrequented coun-
try lanes. Tho Spiritualists may also be reckoned among
tha modern false proPhet' Although they find their dupes
among the upper ten thousand, their quackery is as vulgar,
a .
and generally more blasphemous than that, of the s • - sibyls of
more humble life.—Oncc a Week.