The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-15 00:00:00

THE ROYAL ALBERT.

FURTHER PARTICULARS.
There was a general belief on Saturday morning that
this noble vessel would be christened by the Princess

Royal ; and even after the ceremony was over, those
who viewed it from a distance persisted in saying that

this youthful Royal personage performed the baptismal
rite in honour of her distinguished father. The account
of the launch in our Saturday's edition stated the fact

correctly—viz., that it was her Majesty who stepped

forward and broke the bottle of wine against the bow
of the Royal Albert. We find, however, that a Sunday

contemporary fell into the error of attributing the act
to the Princess, and two morning journals to-day repeat

the mistake.

In addition to the particulars we have already given
of the interesting event, we may mention that it was

Sir J. Graham who handed the bottle to her Majesty,
and explained the manner in which it was to be thrown.
The bottle was a small one, of clear crystal, filled with
sherry, covered with fine thick Honiton lace, and having

two wreaths of roses, thistles, and shamrocks entwined
round it. It was attached to the good ship by silver

cord.

The following details of the size, tonnage, and con•

struction of this ship will be read with interest :—The

Prince Albert bas beeu-sotnewhat

constructing ; in this, as in many other particulars, dif-
fering widely from the old school of naval ship-building,
when it was no unusual thing to hear of ships of the line

being as many as thirty or forty years upon the stocks.

Mr. Oliver Lang, late master shipwright of the dock-

yard, had the honour of designing her, and her keel was

laid down on the anniversary of Prince Albert's birthday,

August 26, 1842. It was originally intended that she

should be a sailing ship of the line, but the value of the
screw as an auxiliary propelling power for men-of-war
was shortly afterwards demonstrated, and when she was
more than three-fourths completed, in January, 1852,
she was altered to a screw ship of the line, lengthened

by 15 feet, thereby adding about 300 tons to her esti-
mated tonnage, and making room for the screw-propeller

and its maclinery. Her carpentry and interior con
struction differs materially from the former mode o+

shipbuilding ; great mechanical skill has been exhibited
in the diagonal bearings, and other additional strength-

enings she has received to enable her to withstand the
shock of her powerful armament ; and Mr. Rice, the
present master shipwright, by whom her completion has

been carried to a successful issue, has exhibited much

good taste and ability in finishing off the details. The
engines are being fitted by Messrs. Peon and Co. ; they
are of the patent trunk principle, and of 500 horse-power
It may be not uninteresting here to glance at the pro-
gressive improvements that have taken place in the size,
construction, and armament of our men-of•war within

the last fifty years. It is unnecessary to go back to the
days of Henry VIII., when Woolwich was first raised
to the dignity of a royal dockyard, and when we find
the bluff monarch personally inspecting the new ship
that had been built for and named after him, the Harry
Grace A Dieu, the largest vessel ever built up to its time,
1515. The destiny of this vessel was peculiar and unfor-
tunate, as she was burned forty years afterwards in the
dockyard in which she had been built. Although she
was at the time the wonder and admiration of the world,
the Harry Grace A Dieu would have but a poor chance
with one of the smallest frigates recently despatched to
the Black Sea or the Baltic. Coming down to a period
only fifty years ago, let us take the Victory, of 104
guns, in which Nelson achieved his crowning triumph
and met his death, in the moment of victory. In her

day she was regarded as the perfection of a line-of-
battle ship. She carried 104 guns, and measured 186
feet in length. Her breadth way 524 feet. and her bur-
den 2,162 tons, while the weight of her broadside was

.
nine hundred pounds. Advancing thirty years later
we have the Caledonia as a model. She carried 120

guns—her length is increased to 205 feet—she is
about a foot broader in the beam ; there is an addition
of 600 tons to her burden, which is about 2,750 tons,
while the weight of her broad-ide of metal is nearly double
that of the Victory-, or about 1,7501b5. Before us is the
latest effort of naval science, and it is only' by a contrast
such as we have been making, or by comparing her side
by side with a line-of-battle ship of a former period, that
we can fully estimate her gigantic size, or tremendous
power. If the thing were practicable, there would be
no difficulty as regards space in placing the Caledonia
in her hold. The extreme length of the Royal Albert is
276 feet, she is therefore 30 feet longer than the Duke of
Wellington, and her extreme breadth 61 feet ; her bur-
den is 3,760 tons, and the weight of her broadside of
metal more than four times that of the Victory, and
more than double that of the Caledonia, or close upon
4,0001b5. The mere weight of timber and iron in her
hull alone is 3,000 tons, and when thoroughly fitted and
equipped the weight is no isse than 5,000 tons. A peep
at her interior discovers to us the resources and arran,re-
inents of a little town, for such we may not inappropri-
ately consider the popnlation of 1,100 omen by whom she
will be manned. There are no less than five decks de-
scending gradually till we arrive at the recesses of the
hold, where are placed the stores, the magazines, and
the machinery. On the upper deck is the poop, where
the commander usually takes his station, the quarter-
deck, the gangways, and in front the forecastle. Below
this is the main deck, the great working part of the
slop ; the third is termed the middle deck, and the
fourth the lower, or gun-deck, oti which the heaviest
guns are generally placed, and the flooring. of which is
constructed with unusual regard to strength and soli-
dity. This lower deck is some six or seven feet above
the water line, so that the ports may be opened and the
guns may be worked with safety even in a rough sea,
and here we leave the light of day and descend below
the level of the water to the orlop deck, where the cock-
pits are placed. A stray shot will occasionally find its
way even here ; but several feet lower down, where lies
the gunpowder to the amount of some forty or fifty tons,
stored away in the fore and after part of the hold, all is
darkness and gloor—and all, it is hoped, is perfectly
secure from an accidental spark. These magazines are
approached by passages and guarded by strong doors,
which are never opened until every fire and light in the
ship (except the Argand lamp, which lights the maga-
zine, and which has its socket surrounded by water), is
extinguished. Attached to the magazine is a pipe con-
nected with a cistern of water, so that in case of fire it
may be in a minute or two inundated. But in the event
of the magazine being flooded, the ammunition is per-
fectly safe--the cartridges are in hermetically sealed
zinc cases, so that by means of another stop cock the
water can be turned off, and the ammunition is again fit
for use. While these precautions are taken with regard
to the safety of the ship, her machinery is also equally
well protected. The coals are stowed away in bunkers
to a thickness of twelve feet on each side of her engine-
room, so as to render it impervious to shot. The
screw itself will weigh about ten tons, independently
of the shaft, a beam of wrought iron of a weight and
dimensions almost incredible, if we did not take into
account the tremendous power required to impel a float-
, ing mass of some five or six thousands tons, at a speed
of 12 or 13 miles an hour through the water. The
screw can be readily detached and hoisted on deck in a
few minutes, while being so deeply submerged when iu
its proper position it is out of the range of shot. It is
estimated that the speed of the Prince Albert will be
13 miles an hour, and at this speed, with her tremendous
weight and power, she would cut an ordinary man-of-
war to the water's edge without firing a shot.
Her armament will be arranged as follows ; on the
lower deck there will be ten 8-inch guns for firing shells
or hollow shot, and twenty-six long 32-pounder guns.
On the middle deck will be six 8-inch gun,, and thirty
32-pounders. On the main deck, thirty-eight 32-
pounders, and on the upper deck twenty 32-pounders.
On the forecastle there will be a 68-pounder gun,
mounted on a pivot, and this last will be one of the most
formidable of all. The gun will weigh five tons, and
will throw a solid iron shot of 681 b. weight a distance
of three miles. if any one has stood upon the platform
of a battery when heavy guns have been fired, lie must
have witnessed how, after a few discharges, the massive
granite and the solidly-knitted oak and iron framework
has been shaken and dislocated by the force of the concus-
sion, and he can fancy what must be the strength of the
timbers of a man-of-war when a whole tier or broadside
of these guns is discharged at once.
The total number of guns will be 131. The Royal
Albert is, however, pierced for 140 guns, to which
amount her actual armament might be increased by the
addition of nine light guns.

TRE RUSSIAN FRIGATE DlANA..—Advices from Val-
paraiso to the 3d alt. state that the 'Dian a, 52, left
Valparaiso on the 23,1 of March for Sandwich
Islands. The French frigate Forte. GO, left at the same
time for Callao. A Valparaiso paper says : During
the time the Russian frigate was in port her officers and
men were often on shore. The officers are remarkably
intelligent, well-bred, and good-looking men, and have
by their urbanity, affability, and gentlemanly deport-
ment secured the esteem and good wishes of many
persons here, both native and foreign. When questioned
as to the prospect of war between Russia and France and
Great Britain, they were naturally reserved. But when
asked, in reference to the probability of a hostile encoun-
ter between the Diana and President, what were their
opinions of the issue, the Russian commander was only
heard to say---' We shall never strike our flag.'
From
the appearance and character of the officers and men,
we can readily believe that they are capable of keeping
their word, and would rather sink with their ship than
survive the disgrace of a defeat." English coals were
selling at $l6 to $l7. Freights to England were quoted
at 41. 10s, to 51.10 x.