The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-26 00:00:00

TRIAL OF THE _RESISTANCE.

The official trial of speed of this frigate, the fourth of
our iron ships in commission, took place yesterday at the
measured mile in Stokes Bay, near Portsmouth, with both
full and half power, and was attended with the most satis-
factory results. Captain Broadhead, commanding the re-
serve at Portsmouth, who conducted the trials of the War-
rior, Black Prince, and Defence, yesterday also conducted
the trial of the Resistance. The other offieials on board
consisted of Mr. G. Murdoch, inspector of machinery
afloat, and Mr. Ward, assistant to Mr. Murray, the chief
engineer of Portsmouth Dockyard and Steam Factory.
Mr. Holliday represented the makers of the engines,
Messrs. Penn and Son. The ship was under weigh by half-
past 10, drawing 23ft. 9in. of water forward and 26f. aft., a
little more by the stern than her sister ship, the Defence,
drew on her trial, her draught of water on that occasion
having been 25ft. sin, aft and 24ft. 3in, forward. A run out
was first made as far as the Nab light vessel to secure the
anchor and clear the fires, after which she was taken to the
trial-ground to commence her runs at the mile with full
boiler power. The weather promised in the early part of
the day to be of a very unfavourable character, but by the
time the ship had reached the mile the wind had consider-
ably moderated, and the day eventually turned out un-
usually fine for the time of the year, and therefore favour-
able for developing the speed of the ship to its fullest ex-
tent. In making the runs to the westward the wind was
on the ship's port bow, and on the returning run to the east-
ward on her starboard quarter. The six runs with full
power were made with the following results :
Speed in Revolutions
Run Time. Knots. Steam. Vacuum. of Engines.
Min. Sec. Forward Aft.
1 .... 4 58 12.080 20 24 .. 23/ 67
2 5 17 11.356 „ ), • • 71 68/
3 .... 443 12.721 „ • • If 68
4 .... 5 39 10619 „ )1 • • If 68f
4 33 13.186 „ )2 • • ff 67f
6 .... 5 51 10.256 ~ • . ~ 68
Mean speed of the six runs, 11.832 knots.
With half-boiler power, two runs were made as follows :
Speed in Revolutions
Knots. Steam. Vacuum. of Engines.

Run

Time.

Min. Sec.
1 .... 5 6 11.764 201 b.

2 .... 641 8.977 „ 9)
Mean speed of the two, 10.370 knots.

These results give the Resistance a superiority of speed over
the Defence, both vessels being of precisely the same build
and dimensions, with engines manufactured from the same
patterns—at full power at a quarter of a knot, and at half
power of no less than P 315 knots, the latter a very impor-
tant gain. At the close of the runs at the measured mile
the ship took several runs through Spithead to get up her
steam again to full power, when she was tested in making
circles to port and starboard, the two experiments having
the following results :—With helm hard a-starboard, the 1
rudder was hove over to an angle of 241 degrees in 40 '
seconds, with 3/ turns of the wheel ; the half-circle made
in 3 minutes and 11 seconds, and the full circle completed
in 6 minutes and 19 seconds, the revolutions of the engines
being 591. With helm hard a-port the rudder was hove
over to an angle of 241 degrees full in 38 seconds, with 3a
turns of the wheel ; the half-circle made in 3 minutes 17
seconds, and the full circle completed in 6 minutes 35
seconds, the revolutions of the engines being 59. The
angles of the rudder obtained are very remarkable, as show-
ing a greater power of wheel and tiller over the rudder than
has ever yet been experienced in any of our large screw
ships. This increased power is obtained by a simple altera-
tion and addition to the wheel on a plan suggested by Mr.
Robinson, assistant-master shipwright of Sheerness Dock-
yard, by which the spindle of the wheel is sufficiently pro-
longed to receive an additional wheel to the ordinary two,
thus gaining great additional force with the tiller ropes.
The tiller is a long massive piece of forged iron, standing
out from the rudderhead fore and aft the ship, with a curve
from the rudderhead to give it play round the screw well,
and working over a quadrant which gives the angles of the
rudder. So long as rudderheads, gudgeons, and pintles stand
this application of immense power to rudderheads may
answer in getting the rudders of our screw ships hard over
when required, but an application of steam power below
the water line would be far more simple, efficacious, and
free from all danger of accident. In testing the action of
the machinery, and the control which could be possessed
over its working by the engineer, the engines were stopped
dead from full speed in 19 seconds from .he time of moving
the telegraph to give the order, were started again in 9
seconds, and when again at full speed were stopPed and
turned astern in 20 seconds. The indicated horse power of
tho engines was 2,372, or nearly four times their nominal
power. The propeller, like those of the other iron ships,
is an improved Griffiths, or 18 feet diameter, and with a
pitch of 21 feet, having an immersion of its upper edge of
7 feet. The temperatures were : Aft
Engine-
Fere, Stokehole.
room. Stokehois. 128
At 11 o'clock 91 .. 110 • • 138
At 11.30 9B .. 131 . a 138
At 12
i n .. 142
At 12.30
?,, .. 1-3.-5 .. 146
At 1
-Under the cowl which admitted the air in
hole the temperature stood at 100 g:
ocinctile 11th of April from
The Resistance was launched
yard, near Millwall. She
Messrs. Westwood and Maio s'
,th, has a breadth of 54 feet,
feet, and is of 3,668 tons,
is 292 feet in her extremi ecj:e:r ,st
a depth from her spar u.e ger rig, like her form of hull, is
v 0 Defence, with the exception that
builders' raeasurereens
fore and main topgallant yards on
precisely the same
,lion
improve her appear-
elidingshe carries in add hich certainly
olos, sv
ft For armament she carries on the upper
minter p .
ante greatly
:11:under pivot Armstrong guns, two 25-poun-
decktwo 32-pound
two 110
der AmistronogPusn,
der Armstrongefireld- smooth bores of 45cwt.,
besides 12-P_
for boat service. piece and smooth-bore
Lrass Pieces On her main deck she carries
six ocwt. guns, throwing 681 b. shot, and four 110-pounder
iv,estrongs, all on sliding carriages with directing bars. The
general appearance of her decks and their arrangements are
all that the most fastidious in such matters could desire.
With an utter absence of all useless ornamentation,
everything is in splendid order, and has more the appear-
ance of being the result of continued exertions during a two
years' commission instead of being only of as many months.
The ship in her equipment carries two things on board
which are seldom found on board ship—the electric tele-
graph and gas. The former has been fitted on a plan that
was worked for many months on board the Wonga steamer,
running between Sydney and Melbourne, under the super-
intendence of Mr. Gilmore, formerly commander of the
Wonga. In the Resistance it forms a communication
between the fore and after bridges, and by the officer of the
watch at sea moving a handle on a dial plate a needle in a
case hanging in front of the quarter-master at the wheel
points to the signal wished to be given, starboard port, or
steady, as required. The whole arrangement is very
simple, and cannot well be misunderstood, either by the
officer working the handle on the foreward bridge or the
man at the wheel. The gas is manufactured from oil,
ion Mr. Gurney's plan. The gasometer is on the upper deck,
htwaen, OA bQQm tiQat% MA Shlse tllO &Mal 1at04117105 is