The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-19 00:00:00

STATE OF THE STEAM NAVY.
TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL.
My Lord—When Lord Mulgrave, a General in the
Army, was First Lord of the Admiralty, the late Lord
Melville, conceiving that the affairs of the navy were not
properly administered, addressed a letter to the Prime
Minister, rightly judging that he was responsible to the
country for the acts of his subordinates. It is fer this
same reason that I now address your Lordship. For six
years that I sat in the House of Commons I endeavoured
to draw the attention of Government and of Parliament,
and, through them, of the country, to the enormous waste
of public money in the Naval Department, and more
especially in the construction of steam ships of war ;
the then Board of Admiralty and their predecessors
being equally culpable, successfully resisted all inquiry;
and, on one occasion, when I warned them of the folly of
building five or six iron steamers without trying one, I
was met by the Secretary exultingly exclaiming " We
are building forty."
When your Lordship came into office you found it
necessary to propose an addition to the income-tax ;
then, and not till then, were the eyes of the House of
Commons opened, and they clauaourously called for a
Committee on naval and military expenditure.
Your Lordship acceded, a Committee was appointed,
and they began with the navy. On this Committee there
was not one naval officer, but. there were many interested
in preventing the truth coming before the country.
Nevertheless, a tolerable expose was made of the manner
the public money had been wasted.
I shall not now enter into the whole of the report on
naval matters, but will confine myself to what I con-
sider the most important point, because it is the one on
which the safety of the country depends—l mean steam.
After a long and patient investigation it was discovered
that in no instance since the formation of a steam
marine had the constructor of the ship, the maker of
the engines, and the seamen, been brought together to
consult on one of the most difficult points of naval archi-
tecture. It never entered into the heads of the Admi-
ralty, the constructor of the vessel, or the maker of the
engines, that a steam vessel of war was comparatively
useless unless her engines, and, above all, her boilers,
were protected from enemies' shot; nor did they even
think that it was necessary to have the main deck ports
in frigates sufficiently high to use their guns when
loaded even with the small proportion of coals they were
enabled to carry; the main deck was in consequence
never armed; but, nevertheless, the Committee of the
House of Commons reported that we had twenty
steam frigates, when I shall shortly show we
have only three. Publicly and privately, for nearly
twenty years, with all Admiralties, and all parties,
lin vain endeavoured to correct these evils. Although
I had more experience in the construction of steam-
vessels than most naval officer., I had not the presump-
tion to suppose that all my views were correct; all I
asked at different times, in and out of Parliament, was
the appointment of a committee of naval officers and en-
gineers to weigh well all the difficulties, and come to
some system, instead of groping in the dark and wasting
the public money. All my efforts were useless, till in
1825 Sir G. Cockburn, with, I believe, the sanction of
Sir Robert Peel, invited me to build a steam-frigate,
which after much consideration I undertook to do, and
chose for my builder Mr. Fincham, and for the engine-
maker Mr. Seaward. Plans were drawn of the ships
and engines, the builder and the engineer were brought
together ; the plans were considered for months;
officers who had commanded steam-vessels of war and
steam merchant ships were consulted; and finally the
Sidon determined upon. -The great difficulty in steam-
vessels of war is the stowage. Hitherto the proportion
of coals to the horse-power had been too small, and even
then when full, the wheels were buried in the water, and
the frigates were incapable of carrying their main deck
gnus, and thus became only overgrown corvettes, mount-
ing six or eight guns, miscalled frigates because com-
manded by post- captains.
In the Sidon those evils were corrected; she carries
upwards of 700 tons of coals; her main deck ports nearly
seven feet out of the water, and a complete armament of
14 guns, 32-pounders in her main, and four 68-pounders
in the upper, which are now being changed to 24
68-pounders, having a clear main deck, with the excep-
tion of the shaft, the boiler and engines below the water
line, and the coal boxes so fitted that when the coals are
expended water ballast is taken in to prevent the wheels
being too much out of the water; but, notwithstanding
all the care and attention, the Sidon was by no means per-
fect, and, in the first instance, required considerable
alteration in her machinery. A plan, proposed by Mr.
Seaward, to work the standing gear and the eccentrics
below the water line failed, and was obliged to be
changed, and her boilers were much too small to pro-
duce steam; in fact, though propelled by an engine
of 560- horse power. the boilers were only equal to
350; she is now about being supplied with boilers of
larger dimensions. Before the Sidon was built the
Terrible and Retribution were produced—the former
of 1,840 tons and 800-horse power, scarcely carrying
500 tons of coals, a large part of which occupies the
main deck, and the boiler and engines take up the greater
Tep aurmt
eouf
tt,hbeuhthold an bde
wl lower d
and stern
uteecrk s
e;
urhee carriesso bad go
badly arranged
od a r-
that the longest guns that could be found were put in her
and even then they were so far inside the cells of the
port that they were fired with great difficulty and dan-
ger, and the after guns occupy the greater part of the
captain's cabin. This vessel has great speed, and sails
well, but she has neither room for troops or stores, and
is rather an expensive advice boat.
The Retribution is of 1,680 tons, with an 800-horse
engine, carries no main deck guns, and is so ineffi-
cient that her power is about to be reduced to 400-
horse. The Sidon was followed by the Odin, of nearly
the same dimensions and the same horse power, but
2 feet 9 inches less depth of hold. She carries little
more than half the coal, fewer guns, and these guns too
low. Her main deck is not clear. The lines of both
are the same, with long flat floors, and they have proved
themselves excellent sea boats. Captain Henderson's
evidence may be seen in the Committee on Merchant
the time the Odin was ready for sea I was SteAamnueurst.
ap-
pointed to command the Channel squadron; the Sidon,
Odin, Dragon, Avenger, Stromboli and Vixen were put
under my orders. With coals in proportion to the horse-
power the Odin was first, Sidon second, and Dragon and
Avenger nearly alike; with 700 tons of coals in Sidon,
and about half in Odin, the latter beat Sidon a mile an
hour. Both were so steady they could work their large
guns in a heavy swell with ease; the others, with the
exception of the Dragon, could not cast them loose.
Before the trials, 1 suggested that the construction
of the Leopard should be suspended, which was acceded
to; but, owing to want of concert, the engines were
forgotten, and they were finished, though the vessel is
still in frame. After the trials were over, I urged the
Admiralty to make the Leopard an improved Sidon,
by adding a foot to her breadth, and 10 to her length;
but by some unfortunate fatality their Lordships
took a middle course, and instead of her being
superior to both, she will be better than the Odin,
and inferior to the Sidon, and the engines will require
to be raised at least a foot to make them agree with
the vessel, thereby losing the advantage of being under
the water line; and, strange as it may appear, at the
very moment I am
writing, notwithstanding the report
of the Committee of the House of Commons of the want
and,trhee s e
Navyn wchea
at
nhi is a
a pointing
n still
() t m
re
of concert between the shipbuilder and the engineer, they
have never been to this moment brought officially to-
gi
ne tohehri os p ;f
the
power extraordinary,efsummeetihege Sur-
veyorthem
out what is necessary to
constitute a steam ship of war.
During the two years I commanded the Cbannel
squadron no less than 29 steamers have passed through
my hands. They have all been tried in every possible
way; reports have been made upon them; and an ela-
borate table describing both vessels and engines, to the
most minute parts, submitted to the Admiralty; but,
notwithstanding, we are still working in the dark, and
the four or five steamers now on the stocks will be little
more efficient than those already in the water. They
are too large for corvettes, and too small for frigates;
the depth of hold is the same as in the Odin, and
though it has been proved that the Odin can carry
main deck guns, these new vessels, though within a
few tons of the Sidon, are positively being constructed
without main deck ports, I have before stated that the
Committee of the House of Commons- has reported
that we have 20 steam-frigates. Where are they?
We have three—the Terrible, Sidon, and Odin; all the
rest are steam corvettes, mounting six guns, commanded
by post-captains, and misnamed frigates. Even the
Penelope, a lengthened frigate, has been obliged to give
up her main deck guns. In addition to these we have
three line-of-battle ships and four frigates with screws,
but they are only auxiliaries, and have not the speed of
paddle steamers.
I have been obliged, my Lord, to go into these details
to enable me to show that with such an inefficient steam
marine the country is not safe. The French have a
much more efficient steam navy than we have. We have
more horse power, and, I believe, more tonnage; but my
Lord, France has 20 steam frigates capable of mounting
32 guns each, and of carrying 2,000 troops with ease.
These vessels were ostensibly built for packets, but were
afterwards turned into men-of-war; and though different
Admiralties have been told of this over and over again,
they either did not, or pretended not, to believe it. I
have seen them, been on board of them, and reported on
them; and I presume it is now beyond a doubt, as it is
known than in less than 30 hours some of them have
carried 2,000 men from Toulon to Civita Vecchia,
and one, with a vessel in tow, took a regiment of
cavalry there. I will not a ask your Lordship
what the French are doing at Rome ; it is
enough for my argument that they are there; and
that they went there without telling the Romans they
were coming. I advise your Lordship to look at the
chart not at the distance from Toulon to Civita
Vecchia, but at the distance from Cherbourg to Port-
land. Expeditions, my Lord, are not what they used to
be before the invention of steam and railroads. It took
s y carry
ria, w
h it;
when
war and
—if we dare. Ilas we,
was most
on the probably
point
oint
of b
months to collect transports and troops, and months
shall remonstrate
an d
afterwards to move them to their destination. The
,
eing
declared,
French are now besieging Rome—they most probably
will
your Lordship forgotten the affair
of
our ships were lying for months at Spithead waiting for
men, and the French so superior to us that we might
have been beaten in detail? If your Lordship has for
rptten it, I have not. Ras your Lordship forgotten the
affair at Otaheite, when we were powerless, and even
forced to patch it up, and I doubt if the indemnity is
paid to this (ley? Has your Lordship forgotten that we
sent a fleet to Copenhagen and stole the Danish fleet in
profound peace, without declaring war? Has your Lord-
ship forgotten that we sent a squadron to intercept the
Spanish galleons, without declaring war? Has your Lord-
ship forgotten how this country was bamboozled by France
about the Spanish marriages, and that by a regular Go-
vernment, notwithstanding the entente cordiale ? and has
your Lordship forgotten the Duke of Wellington's
letter, in which he exposed the defenceless state of the
country ? I have not forgotten, these occurrences, and
1190 k upon our present position with the
greatest ap-