The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-10 00:00:00

LAUNCH OF THE POOPVAIL

A magnificent addition was made on Saturday to
the already numerous steam fleet of the Peninsular
and Oriental Company by the launch of the Poonah
at Blackwell. A large number of invitations to
view the launch were issued by the directors of the
Thames Iron Works Company (by whom the Poonah
has been constructed), and thus a valuable opportu-
nity was afforded of inspecting the vast works con-
nected with that establishment. The enormous ex-
tent of the works, the army of workmen employed,
and the gigantic size of many of the vessels in course
of construction, afforded a spectacle scarcely to be
equalled in any other part of this kingdom. The
surprising revolution that has lately occurred
in the construction of ships of war is strikingly
evidenced by the fact that by far the greater
amount of tonnage building in the yards of the
Thames Iron Company consists of war ships, and
this, too, in a time of profound peace, when there is
no extraordinary pressure upon the resources of the
Government dockyards, such as has formerly been
the case in times of war when the aid of private
shipbuilders has been called upon to supplement the
efforts of the national establishments. At Black-
well, as our readers are aware, was built the famous
Warrior, and the slip upon which that monster of
the deep was built is now occupied by the Mino-
taur, an iron-cased ship, larger and more com-
pletely protected than the 'Warrior, the latter having
a partial coating of iron 4+ inches thick upon a teak
backing of 18 inches thickness, while the Minotaur
wilt he protected from stem to stern with iron
armour 51 inches thick, backed by nine inches of
teak. The total tonnage of this vessel will be up-
wards of 6,800 tons, and as she is very far ad-
vanced in outward construction her gigantic bulk
overtops and dwarfs other vessels in the same yard,
which, by themselves, are wonders of massive
strength and enormous size. The Minotaur is not
the only vessel constructing by the Thames Iron
Works Company for the,British navy, as, in another
part of the yard is to be found the Valiant, an iron-
cased frigate of 4,100 tons burden, to be protected
by armour plates similar to those used by the War-
rior. This vessel is rapidly progressing, and is ex-
pected to be launched in the ensuing spring. Other
Governments besides our own have appreciated the
vast resources of the Thames Iron Company, and
accordingly we find building for the Russian Go-
vernment an iron floating battery 22Jft. long and
53ft. in breadth, measuring 2,800 tons, and intended
to carry an armament of 26 68-pounder guns upon
a draught of water of 14ft. only. This vessel is to
be covered with armour plates 4+ inches thick, upon
9 inches of teak backing. The company are also
commencing the construction for the Spanish Go-
vernment of a frigate of about 5,000 tons burden. to
be covered with plates 5+ inches thick ; and for
the Turkish Government another frigate of about
4,300 tons burden, to be di milarly protected.
Two iron-cased gunboats for the Government of
Denmark have recently been built and despatched
from these works, and in addition to the
im-
portant services rendered to the nation in the con-
struction of such vessels as the Warrior,
Minotaur,
and the Valiant, the Thames Iron Companyaes for the is also
manufacturing the massive armour p
Ocean and the Royal Sovereign, which vessels arc;