The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-29 00:00:00

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IY E P.APE R

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The Launch of the Watenvitcll;:.

Under ordinary circumstances
,the lfryncissf a
gunboat by the Thames IronWork-Canenipbuild-
ing Company, at Blackwall, would not be a very
notable affair amongst the many wonderful under-
takings this company has accomplished, for our own
and other Governments. But with her Majesty's
gunboat Waterwitch is associated the experimental
trial of a principle of propulsion which will in all
probability make her a very remarkable vessel, and
which is one worthy of the attention of nautical en-
gineers and of those of our Government authorities
to whom the national armaments are entrusted.
The Vixen and Viper are familiarly known ex-
amples'of a new class of armour-plated gunboats
designed by Mr. Reed, the chief constructor of the
navy, and approved by the Admiralty. These two
vessels are fitted with twin screws, and the present
vessel, the Waterwitch, is a sister one of the same
dimensions, nearly the same form, but to be propel-
led by the hydraulic force of jets of water sucked in
by a turbine and ejected by nozzles at the sides of
the hull amidships, a principle we have already seen
productive of such successful results in one of our
Thames river boats, the Nautilus, and which cele-
brated little craft put in a very welcome appearance
yesterday at the launch, which took place in a most
successful manner at a quarter to 2 o'clock, the
Waterwitch receiving her name with the usual hon-
ours from. Miss Elliott, the daughter of Rear Admiral
Elliott, who has taken great interest in the adop-
tion of this mode of propulsion for war vessels as
being of the highest value for their peculiar require-
ments of locomotion, for their handiness during ac-
tion, and as being exceedingly suited for working
such gunboats whilst fighting the enemy with one or
two heavy guns fired in line with the bow, the
.hydraulic gunboat approaching or retreating with--;
out turning, which the turbine jet, being directed at
the will of the captain forwards or backwards,
would enable her to do, while her sister twin screw
ships would be obliged to turn when retreat became
necessary or desirable, and in doing so would, of
course, expose their broadsides to danger.
In length the. Waterwitch is 162 feet, in breadth
32 feet, and depth 13 feet 9 inches ; tonnage, 778
tons. She is defended by a belt of armour 3 feet
below and 6 inches above the water line, the con-
struction being 4i armour plating with 10 inches of
teak backing. She is double ended, like some of
our Thames penny steamers, having a rudder both
at the bow and stern. A strong battery is made in
the centre of the vessel by fore and aft shields, or,
as they may be explanatorily styled, walls of thick
iron across the hull, and forming the fore and aft
ends of the battery.. Through port-holes in these
shields the heavy guns will be trained longitudinally
with the vessel, while smaller guns will be used for
the broadside. The engines to work the turbine,
three in number and of 160 horse power, are being
made by Mr. Dudgeon, and are spoken highly of as
combining many improvements upon his previous
efforts in this direction. The nozzles of the water-
jets are naturally most strongly defended by their
form and construction from injury by hostile at-
tack.
In the Waterwitch they look like two large
fenders a little above the water-line, one on each
side of the ship, and as each presents a thickness of
11 inches of solid iron to any shot or shell that may
strike it, very little, if any, damage is ever likely to
be done to this valuable portion of the means of pro-
pulsion, and the .dangers to paddle -and screw in
action will be greatly, if not altogether, avoided
under this system.
For many years Mr. Ruthven, the inventor of
this mode of hydraulic action, has been endeavour-
ing to obtain a public recognition of its value, and
we are glad that now a fair chance has been afforded
of giving sufficiently convincing proofs to set aside
prejudice, and to induce practical men to favour and
develope its valuable points. The idea of propelling
vessels by hydraulicpower is not entirely of modern
origin, but of the many attempts none succeeded
until the present apparatus was designed by Mr.
Ruthven in 1839. Since then, under his patent,
several small vessels have been constructed at dif-
ferent places ; but although these first essays have
been all favourable in their results there appears to
be some opposition on the part of eminent engineers
stil remaining to be overcome. Amongst the prac-
tical men who have urged the trial of his hydraulic
principle upon the late Government have been Lord
John Scott, Mr. John Spottiswoode, Mr. Anderson,
of Edinburgh ; Mr. Wm. Brown, Mr. John Camp-
bell, Mr. Murray, the chief engineer at Portsmouth
Dockyard ; and Vice Admiral Elliott. To the in-
fluence particularly of the last, as we have stated,
aided by the Comptroller of the Navy, it has been
that the present trial of this method in the Water-
witch is mainly due, and it is therefore somewhat to
be regretted that the gunboat itself should not have
been constructed on the plan submitted by the ad-
miral himself, and which appears to have some de-
velopments in naval architecture likely to prove
very dangerous in combat.
In the practical construction of the Waterwitch
the perforated double bottom is a work of labour
and skill, for which credit may be well given even
to the Thames Ironworks .Company, famous as
they are for their workmanship. The whole central
portion of the under part of the hull is perforated
with a series of hundreds of funnel-like holes,
formed by the nicking and turning in of the nicked
edges of the skin-plates in a direction away from
the bow towards the interior of the vessel. Through
these cavities it is that the water is sucked into the
turbine, and the nicking and in-turning of the
plates to form them must have tested the patienceof
the workmen and the quality of the iron alike.
In pitting the Waterwitch against the Vixen and
the Viper it is scarcely possible, perhaps, to have
had a fairer contest. Some of the gentlemen who
have interested themselves in this hydraulic propeller
consider, however, that in consequence of the decks
being lowered in midships to form the platform for
the guns the nozzles have been unavoidably placed
disadvantageously lower down than was desirable,
and than they would have been in an ordinary mer-
cantile or passenger vessel. Nevertheless, they an-
ticipate successful competition, grounding their
hopes very justifiably on the satisfaction given by
the Nautilus on the Thames, and we think they are
right in considering that the success of this experi-
ment cannot be too highly estimated if anything
like equal speed can be obtained by this method ;
and that in all other circumstances the greatest
advantages will be obtained in navigation if sailing
ships can have an auxiliary motive power attached
to them without being encumbered in their sailing
withqseurlaetliwistsiesanfurthddeteriorating resistance resistance of
paddlesau nryg edwf othhneenbdenheoteg ft of the hydraulic pro-
pellertlhoes shiploss
of
power is in awistheatwhaeystchreewre
andare
paddle
which cannot affect it, and that the safety of
vessels from foundering is immensely increased by
always
thatscar whenees of
the powers of the turbine to discharge so large a
body of water as to be able to overcome any pro-
bable leaks.

PRICE.... 4d.
STAMPED sd.

The Admiralty have already been making im-
portant trials with the Nautilus.

In these somewhat depressed times it was agree-
able to see so much activity at the important ship-
building works. Amongst the vessels in hand in this
yard are the Fatikh, of 6,000 tons, for the Turkish
Government ; the Victorie, of 5,000 tons, for the
Spanish Government ; the Serapis, of 4,000 tons,
for the Indian transport service ; and a fine passen-
ger boat, of 360 tons, for the London, Chatham,
and Dover Company, intended to do 17 knots per
hour.

DESTRUCTION OF YOUNG PARTRIDGES.—The
heavy rain which fell last week during the thunder-
storm destroyed young early-hatched partridges wholesale.
Many broods of young partridges were brought out of the
nest in the beginning of June, and others matured since ;
but, subsequent to the heavy storm of Thursday night in
last week, hundreds of young partridges in all counties have
been picked up dead by gamekeepers, and the mowers in
many localities have also found large numbers in the grass
drowned by the rain. Old birds may now be seen running
with only two or three young partridges with them. The
rabbit stops in the fields also suffered, and whole litters o
young wild rabbits were actually washed out of theburrows
by the heavy rahiand_destroyed.
Ine quotation of gold at Paris is about at par, and
the short exchange on London is 2&15 per 41 sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of «3
Os. told. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
about 1-i(th per cent dearer in Paris Ulan in Lnnclon.