The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-06 00:00:00

IMPROVEMENTS IN 6 TEERING

APPARATUS.

A letter in a contemporary says :—Perhaps never
in the history of naval architecture has a vessel
attracted so much attention as the Warrior, partly
from a feeling of national pride, partly from the
stupendous principle involved. In your Naval
and Military of January the Ist there was a report
of the Warrior as follows :

" From what could be ascertained during the
short time she was under weigh, in going out Spit-
head, of the power of her new tiller, it is said to
have acted much more efficiently on the helm than
the old yoke did. It does not, however, improve
the steering qualities of the ship, the only means of
amending which will be to give her a larger
rudder. Under circumstances of slackened speed in
narrow channels and tideways, she will go which-
ever way her bow takes. The Black Prince acts
precisely in the same manner."
The complaint here is that the rudder power is
insufficient—a power which is necessarily most im-
portant in the successful working of a ship, and one
which demands our most earnest consideration as a
maritime nation. The remedy proposed is a larger
rudder ; allow me to suggest that a rudder should
be placed in bow as well as stern, a plan which is
not untried, for it has been put to practical test in
India, where there are upwards of 40 vessels built
on this principle, at a cost of £200,000.
At the meeting of the British Association in 1854.
I proposed as follows :—" That the Great Eastern
be provided with a rudder at the stem as well as
stern, and that there be fitted before the after rud-
der, and above the screw shaft, a steering wheel or
three armed paddle, across the stern, the wheel
being two-thirds in diameter above the water to be
worked by a 10-horse engine or water pressure ac-
cumulator, invented by Mr, Armstrong." I also
stated " that I considered if the length of the ves-
sel was reduced from 680 to 500 feet, she would
then be of a far more navigable proportion of six
breadths and about 16,000 tons, and if asked what I
considered the safety limit as to size and proportion
I should not recommend more than 300 feet by 60."
It is more than probable that if these suggestions
made before the vessel was laid down, had been fol-
lowed, the severe accident that befel her from lying
in the trough of the sea would not have occurred.
I can easily account for the Warrior, which is 420
by 58, following her bow in a tideway, or coming
round against her helm when at slack speed, and to
obviate this I now make the same suggestions as I
did with regard to the Great Eastern.

The system of steering with rudder in bow as well
as stern has been adopted in 18 vessels, built as
troop steamers for the Indian rivers, on the recom-
mendation of a committee that visited the Rhone
and Danube in 1857, the largest designed to carry,
at 2ft. draught of water, 800 troops, and 370 ft. long
by 40ft. broad, built of steel one•eight of an inch
thick. It was tried on the Thames in 1861, and con-
siderable alterations were found necessary which in-
creased its cost to £50,000. This, liko the other
seventeen, was shipped for India for reconstruction
and further trial, requiring an outlay of £250,000.
The difficulty complained of in the Warrior and
Black Prince is that they, in narrow channels and
tideways, come round against their helms. This
difficulty has been often experienced before, and a
few trials of patents for improvements for steering
have taken place, of which the results have not been
published.
The steering and efficiency of river steamers is now
almost a national question, more especially with re-
gard to India, as one, if not the most important,
means of developing the rich resources of that coun-
try especially as regards the transport of cotton from
the fertile districts in which it is produced. No less
than £50,000,000 guaranteed capital has been ex-
pended on trunk lines of rail ways, an extravagant and
entirely artificial means of transit, while on the river
navigation, which is by nature far better adapted for
that purpose, the whole amount of public and pri-
vate capital employed does not much exceed
£4,000,000.

In the official retum of the Admiralty as to the
condition and number of British war vessels, I see
that there are 700 propelled by steam, from the
Warrior of 6,000 tons and 1,200-horse power, built
with 4 inch iron plates, to the gunboats of 150
tons and 40. horse power constructed as mentioned
in your Naval Intelligence of the Ist inst. I should
suggest the expediency of making practical experi-
ments in steering and towing in narrow channels
and shallow waters ; this to be done by the Naval
Reserve when undergoing their annual course of
drill and instruction.