The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-20 00:00:00

THE SUN,- LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20, 1866.

Her Majesty's Sbip Vlraterwiteb.

It has been said by one of the most eminent of
living authorities on marine engineering that there
is very little novelty in the idea of propelling vessels
by water. This is true in the main, as in 1661 a
patent was taken out for au application of the kind,
and was followed by many others, but without any
marked success being obtained until 1839, when Mr.
Ruthven, of Edinburgh, patented a greatly im-
proved application of the principle, which was fur-
ther improved upon and a new patent taken out by
him in 1839. A small boat was constructed and
fitted with the Ruthven machinery and placed on
the Thames, and a working model of the boat and
machinery was also placed in the Great Exhibition
building of 1851, but the principle of hydraulic pro-
pulsion of vessels was viewed with evident disfavour
then by the majority of engineers; the chief objec-
tions urged against its adoption being the large
amount of rubbing surface the water has to encoun-
ter, the cost of producing the propelling power be-
yond a certain rate, and the liability to choke the
perforated bottom of the ship in shallow water, and
shut out the water supply. On the other hand, she
invention offered the not inconsiderable advantages
of a power of propelling the vessel forwards or back-
wards, or of turning her on her centre, stopping sud-
denly in her course, going on ahead again or astern,
all without stopping or reversing the engines. It is
also claimed for the invention that a greater power
can be obtained from the same amount of fuel burnt,
as compared with the paddle or the screw ; that the
power of the engines is uniform, producing smooth
motion with.perfect freedom from vibration or noise ;
no reaction on themachinery with the ship plunging
in a heap sea ; an independence of rudder aid in
steering or turning a circle ; a power of reeving
the vessel of any water entering by a leak or shot
damage by simply shutting off the ordinary water
entrance through theperforated bottom of the vessel's
hull, and a complete control over the movements of
the vessel by the officer in charge, and on the upper
deck, by a valve lever without communication with
the engineers below, the engines never being required
to " ease," " stop," or " reverse," the engineer
simply keeping the engines straight at their work,
and the officer in charge of the ship controll'ing the
propelling power they create by opening or closing a
valve with his lever. The majority of these seemingly
somewhat sanguine expectations proved to be correct
but it was 1853 before the first vessel was blot and
fisted with Ruthven hydraulic propelling machinery
for commercial purposes. The vessel was built partly
at the expense of the Prussian Government, and is
said to be still running satisfactorily on the Oder.
The first indepndent testimony we find in this coun-
try to the value of the hydraulic propeller lies in the
evidence given before Lord Justice Knight Bruce in
September, 1863, on the hearing of a petition of Mr.
Ruthven, of Greenock, for an extension of the pa-
tent granted to his father in 1849, Mr. A. Murray,
the chief engineer of Portsmouth dockyard, stating
that the Ruthven propeller afforded extraordinary
facilities for manoeuvring a ship of war under steam,
and he saw no reason why the speed with the Ruth-
ven propeller should not equal that to be obtained
with the paddle or screw. Mr. Murray also stated
that he had been on official duty to Belgium by order
of the Admiralty to inspect and report upon a vessel
called the Seraing, built by the Messrs Cockerell,
and fitted with the Ruthven propeller. His re-
port was favourable to the principle, and from ex-
periments carried out betwe.:2n the Seraing and a
paddlewheel vessel of the same form, tonnage, and
horse power of engine the difference in speed was
found to be about 10 per cent. in favour of the
Ruthven propeller. Mr. Murray further stated that
he considered the principle of so much value that he
pressed it on the attention of the Admiralty, and
orders were consequently sent down from the Admi-
ralty to Portsmouth dockyard for the lines of a
vessel to be prepared for building, of sufficient ton-
nage to insure a full and practical trial of the inven-
tion and its suitability as a propel'ing power for
vessels of war. Mr. Murray's evidence thus gives
an official history of the causes which originally led
the Admiralty to sanction the building of the Water-
witch and the application to her of the Ruthven sys-
tem of hydraulic propulsion, the first official trial of
which by the officers of the Admiralty took place
yesterday in the trial trip of the W'aterwitch down
the Thames.

The building of the hull of the Waterwitch was
consigned by the Admiralty to the Thames Iron-
works and Shipbuilding Company, and the design
and construction of her engines and the construc-
tion of the enormous turbine wheel, which is the
Ruthven propeller, was consigned by the Admiralty
to the Messrs. J. and W. Dudgeon, the firm whose
name has been so intimately associated with the ex-
position arid success of the independently-working
twin-screw system of propulsion in England. The
hull of the Waterwitch is built of iron, of 778 tons'
measurement, 162 ft. in length by 32ft. in breadth, and
13ft. 9in. in depth. She is flat in the bottom, broad
in her midship section in proportion to her length,
and is "double-ended"—fitted with a rudder at each
end—similarly to some of the small Thames steamers.
Her defensive power as a gunboat consists iu a belt
of armour-plating, of 4i inches in thickness, at
the water-line and centrally on her broadside, with
walls of iron, or athwartship armour-plated bulk-
heads, across her upper deck, the object being to
fight guns over her deck in line with her keelthrough
gunports in the athwartship bulkheads as well as
through broadside ports. The armour-plating is
backed with ten inches of
teak, and is further
strengthened by the usual inner skin of an iron-built
vessel. In the bottom of the vessel, and centrally,
is a raised space extending to a good breadth on each
side of the centre of the vessel, and stilt further
longitudinally, and which may be termed, for the sake
of plainness of description, a long and shallow iron
box. The lower side of this box is fitted with an
immense number of small rectangular orifices, which
give admission to the water from outside and under
the vessel's bottom, but the further passage of the
water from the box is controlled by four sluice
valves, which, it is scarcely necessary to say, are only
opened when the %machinery is at work and help
from the outer water is reatlired to propel the vessel.
Division plates lead the water from the sluice valves
to the next portion of the machinery which is the
" Ruthven," "Hydraulic," or " Turbine" wheel,
which draws the water in through the bottom of the
vessel and ejects it out through the copper propul-
sion pipes and nozzles through an aperture on each
side of the ship, a little above the water line. The
hydraulic wheel is fixed immediately over the four
sluice valves and the water-box or canal. It revolves
in a cast-iron circular case, 19ft. in diameter, which
has been turned carefully throughout its interior
surface, the object of this being to reduce the fric-
tion to a minimum point of the water driven over
its surfaces. The wheelitself is 14ft. 6in. in diameter,
and weighs eight tons. It is made of boiler-plate,
and is divided into 12 sections by arms or blades
fixed vertical and radial (although only vertical at
their extreme diameter, forming a tangent from the
surface). From their outer edge they begin to alter
in shape and position, and at their centre turn spi-
rally, like the blades of a Griffiths' propeller, and
ddge dischargeiil opposite
pipes, in each of
thus obtain a gc grip" upon the water upon their
first suction upon it on issuing,- from the canal.
positions, are
twoOn theree
tawheell-casing
which , is fitted a large parallel two-way plug for
diverting the water as it rushes from the wheel into
the propulsion pipes and thence into the nozzles
outside the ship. The copper propulsion pipes have
a spiral twist given them to reduce friction in the
passage of the water through them, and are about
2ft. 3in. by 2ft. lin., interior measurement. The
nozzle pipes on the exterior of the vessel's sides are
continued about 8f t. on each side of the centre, and
measure at their discharge orifices 24in. by 18in.
They are of brass, and are protected by armour-
plating. The driving power for the hydraulic wheel
is comprised
to d
each in c
h h
h eeengines,
angle of 120 degrees.
T
the crank shaft of the
wheeles, o
the n
directfron from the cylinder piston
d
standingco et
orterat
an horizontal and direct,
in single guide blocks. The
rohc are connected
lattere cting
workingrods
length of stoke of each engine is 3f t. Gin., and the
diameter of the cylinders 38i in. The three steam
slides are worked by one eccentric, cutting off the
steam at about 11-16ths of the stroke, the action
iu every other respect, being exceedingly good.

however, each engine is distinct in itself, h aving its
own throttle and discharge valves, air, seed, and
bilge pumps, and the ordinary condenser arid india-
rubber foot and delivery valves.
The combined nominal power of the three engines
is 160 horses. Steam is supplied to the engines by
two ordinary tubular boilers, each containing three
furnaces, with 350 brass tubes. The heating surface
per nominal horse-power is 16.7 square feet of
tube surface, and 725 square feet of grE.te bar sur-
face. Every part of the machinery is in beautiful
proportion to other parts in design, and is as beau-
tifully finished in point of work. The hydraulic
wheel and its casing and copper propulsion pipes are
all marvels of workmanship, the wheel and casing,
as iron work,reflecting the highest possible credit on
the Messrs. Dudgeon, the manufacturers. The cop-
per propulsion pipes were manufactured to the Messrs.
Dudgeon's. order by the Messrs. G. and T. Blundell,
the present representatives of the well-known Down-
ton Patent pump firm, of London. Connected
with this part of our notice of the machinery of
the \Vaterwitch it is necessary to state that, in addi-
tion to the sluice valves leading to the hydraulic
wheel from the perforated box-canal in the bottom
of the ship there are also two side sluices which con-
nect the wheel only with the bilge of the ship. These
side sluices are intended to pump out any water from
the ship's hold—the sea sluice valves being closed—
that may gain sudden access through shot or tor-
pedo-holes, or other damage to the ship's hull below
the water line. As it is calculated that with the
engines making 45 revolutions per minute the
hydraulic wheel would eject 300 tons of water per
minute from the ship, the damage done must be of
a very extraordinary nature indeed that would sink
the ship in spite of the clearing powers of so huge a
bilge pump.
In so novel an application of propulsion there is,
necessarily, yet very much to learn, and, as a con-
sequence of this immature knowledge, opinions, even
among profeSsional men, are very much divided as
to the poisible extent of its appEcation and of its
working value, and this diversity of opinion has even
extended into the question as to the precise point at
which the propetling force is first brought to bear
upon the vessel. Without, however, entering fur-
ther upon this subject we may say that the propell-
ing force brought into action upon the vessel's hull,
by the ejection of the water from the hydrarlic wheel
through the propelling pipes and the nozzles over the
ship's sides, is best described by Mr. Ruthven as
" similar to the recoil produced by the firing of a
gun." In describing this more fully Mr. Ruthven
says:--

" Were a gun placed on a line with the keel and
fired towards the stern, there would result a pressure
forcing the vessel forward equal to the force with
which the ball left the gun, and if a continuous firing
were kept up, there would thus result an availeble
propelling force. The water column issuing from
the nozzles on the ship's side resembles the ball from
the gun, and the reacting force which propels the
vessel presses on the bent arm of the nozzle in the
contrary way to the discharge. With this hydraulic
power the propelling force presses directly on the
vessel. The paddle and the screw press the vessel
ahead by pushing back the water, so that the pro-
pelling force acts indirectly on the vessel through

the yielding water."
The Admiralty wisely determined in carrying out
so important and costly an experiment to provide
reliable data with which to weigh the results ob-
tained from the Ruthven hydraulic, as fitted in the

Waterwitch, against the ordinary principle of screw
propulsion, and for this purpose selected the trial
figures of her Majesty's armour-plated twin-screw
gunvessel Viper, a vessel precisely similar to the
Waterwitch in tonnage, displacement, &c., and in
ratio of horse power of engines to tonnage. The
Viper in her full boiler power runs over the mea-
sured mile attained a mean speed of nine knots, and
against this rate the speed attained by the Water-
witch, with her hydraulic machinery, has to be
placed, and considered as indicating the success or
non-success of the system as regards its suitability
for the propulsion of ships of war.

The Waterwitch left Woolwich for Tilbury, where
the Admiralty Officials appointed to watch and re-
port upon the trial were to join her, at 8 30 a.m.
_yesterday, in charge of Staff-Commander Dillon,
her Majesty's ship Fisgard, her draught of water
being Oft. -Bin. forward and 9ft. 10i,u: aft., the lower
lips of the nozzle pipes discharging the water on the
outside of the vessel being Bin. below the water-
line. The engines worked almost noiselessly, and
with a beautiful uniformity of action, as their three
connecting rods whirled -round the immense water
wheel up to 39 revolutions per minute, that being
the maximum rate at which it was attempted to
drive them between Woolwich and Tilbury. The
measured mile in Long Reach was passed at 9 30
a.m. in 6 minutes and 20 seconds, the speed of the
ship being 9.474 knots, with the revolutions of the
engines at 39 ; the pressure of steam, 171 b. ; and
the vacuum, 27in. Tilbury was reached at 13
minutes past 10, the time from Woolwich having
been 1 hour and 43 minutes. So far the amount of
success obtained was, without doubt, greater than
had been anticipated, and was a favourable omen
of the results of the day's trial. In running past the
mile in Long Reach the tide was at high water,
slack.
Tilbury was left at noon, the officials, &c., then
on board comprising Vice-Admiral George Elliot,
who may be considered as the main supporter and
advocate of the hydraulic principle of propulsion
with the Admiralty ; Mr. Andrew Murray, chief
engirieer of Portsmouth dockyard ; Mr. Steel, in-
spector of machinery afloat to the Admiralty;
Barnes, from the office of the Controller of the
Navy ; Messrs. John and William Dudgeon, the
makers of the ship's machinery ; Mr. Ruthven, the
patentee of the hydraulic wheel ; Vice-Admiral Sir
Edward Belcher, Commander S. Brett, her Ma-
jesty's ship Vixen, and a number of naval officers
and gentlemen interested in Tuarine engineering.
The ship's machinery was in charge of Mr. Ham-
mock, managing engineer to the Messrs. Dudgeon,
assisted by Mr. Hefferman, the engineer of the
ship. The vessel was steamed down the river as far
as Southend, when, everything having proved to
be of the most satisfactory nature, the course was
reversed and laid up the river again, until the Ad-
miralty measured mile in the Lower Hope was
reached, when two runs were made with the con-
ditions and results annexed :

First Run.—A half-knot tide against the ship.
Wind, force of 3 on port-bow ; time on the mile,
7 min. 15 sec. ; speed of ship, 8.276 khots ; revolu-
tions of: engipes, 41 ; steam pressure, 241 b. ;
vacuum, 27 inches.

Second Run.—Tide, half a knot in ship's favour ;
wind, nil; time on the mile, 6 min. 17 sec. ; speed
of ship, 9.549 knots ; revolutions of engines, 42 ;
steam pressure, 251 b. ; vacuum, 26in. ; mean speed
of the ship in two runs, 8.912 knots.
As neither the Admiralty, Vice-Admiral Elliot,
the patentee of the principle, the manufacturer of
the machinery, or the designer of the ship can ever
have anticipated a greater rate of speed being at-
tained as a mean rate over the measured mile than
seven knots, the rate of 8.912, or say, in round
numbers, nine knots, attained by the Waterwitch
yesterday must have been a surprise as well as a
gratification to all concerned. This very agreeable
result, it is but fair to say, is as much due to the
unusual excellence of the ship's engines as to tile
many acknowledged good qualities of the hydraulic
system of propulsion. The vessel, with slightly
more favourable conditions, which can readily
be given her, will certainly make a full half
knot in addition to her present rate as attained
yesterday, and this half knot may be increased
to,,a, full three-quarters if she is sent to Portsmouth
to complete her trials under the same conditions as
is pursued with all other of her Majesty's ships
the Stokes' Bay mile. For instance, th.e co,mllbituyrni;
to
on the trial yesterday was not equal
the coal burnt on the Portsmouth trial
n
the most
water,cli' nor
was the stoking of the furnaces
ofved —at all
important points in a trial of
approaching to the perfect say, 161th:0111ln soflfire-feeding
trial altogether
carried out at Portsmouth.
n j ;deas which must
yesterday has also suggested
yet be practically tested. previousnla- to any decided
arrived. at as to the
measure of opinion being safely
exact value of the Ruthven prinmple. of hydraulic
We believe the ship will be further
propulsion.
tried on the Thames on two occasions, at light and
deep draught of water, at light draught carrying
her discharge nozzles clear above the water line, and

at deep draught carrying them completely submerged.
At present no one can say which of the two plans
would be the best to carry them. After these, two
further trials have been made the Waterwitch will
most probably be sent to Portsmouth to carry out
further trials, so as to fully elucidate the merits and
demerits of the system. • The indicator diagrams
taken by the Government officials on board yester-
day gave a mean indicated horse-power of 750, and
were pronounced of extraordinary excellence of
figure.

On the return of the Waterwitch up the river for
Woolwich after the trial, the officials and company
on board partook of luncheon in the Commander's
cabin, and Admiral Elliot, in proposing "The Health
of Admiral S. R. Robinson, the Controller of the
Navy," spoke of the ver3 handsome manner in
which the Controller had on all occasions supported
him in carrying out the details of the construction
of the hydraulic machinery of the Waterwitch,
and in determination to give the principle a full
and fair trial. To Mr. Andrew Murray, the chief
engineer of Portsmouth dockyard, also, very high
credit was due for the weight he had brought to
bear upon the subject by the exercise of his
great professional knowledge, and the spirited
mannerin which he had, so to speak, pledged his
professional reputation upon the success of the
hydraulic principle of propulsion up to a certain
line. To the Messrs. Dudgeon the gallant Admiral
said, in conclusion, all possible credit and praise
were due for the manner ii which they had done
their part in their manufacture of the magnificent
machinery of the ship, which could not possibly
have been placed by the Admiralty in better hands.
Admiral Sir EDWARD BELCIIER proposed, in
highly eulogistic terms, " The Health of the Messrs.
John and William Dudgeon, the manufacturers of
the machinery of the Waterwitch, and the expositors
of the twin screw principle."
_ _

The future trials of the: Waterwitch, if carried
out with the attention they deserve, will be of a
most interesting character.

MR. EWART, M.P., IN' DUMFRIES.

On Tuesday night the member for the Dumfries Dis-
trict of Burghs addressed a meeting of his Dumfries con-
stituency in the Mechanics'-hall, which was well filled on
the occasion. Provost Turner occupied the chair, and
briefly introduced Mr. Ewart, who was received with
cheers. He said—Mr. Provost and gentlemen, it is not
without emotion that I hear those testimonies of your kind
regard, which you still honour me by bearing towards me.
It is true, as my excellent friend the Provost has said,
that 1 have been in the practice of coming here, I believe
with scarcely an exception, annually since I have had the
honour of representing you. 1 think it is a wholesome
thing for a member to see his constituency, and for those
whom ho has the honour of representing saying to him
what they think proper, so that he should acquire from
this return to his mother earth—as in the fabled mythology
of old— new force and new vigour and new resolution to
support that which is good in his propositions to the
Legislature, and to oppose all that he deems to be evil.
(Applause.) Now, gentlemen, I can truly say that what-
ever may have been the effects of the opinions of others
on my conduct, it has always been animated by a desire
to do my duty, and I have been sustained in that
desire by the kind reward with which you have
allowed it to be attended. In the few words which I shall
address to you I shall advert in the first place to domestic
affairs ; in the second place, to what has happened abroad;
and in the third place, to the humble endeavours of myself
to carry into effect what I thought was for the general
benefit of the country. With regard to domestic matters,
it Would be almost impossible to avoid bringing first the
groat question of Reform. That is a question that agitates
the country from the one end to the other; and although
persons may take different views of it, they all see the
injustice of the present state of things. What are the evils
under which we are at present suffering ? An inadequate
representation of the people is the most obvious. In the
next place, there is a most unequal division of the localities
that send members to Parliament; and, in the third place,
I grieve to say that we have in England, at least, and per-
haps in Ireland, but, I am happy to say, not in Scotland,
manifest indications of corruption. I hold that the real
remedies for these evils are that, in the first place, there
should be a more equal distribution of constituencies. In
the neighbourhood of where I reside in England there is one
town belonging to a noble Marquis that returns two mem-
bers, and another small place where a few hundred voters
return two members. That is an anomaly that should be
done away with, and that can only be done by a re-arrange-
ment of the localities that send members to Parliament, so
as to make them more adapted to the requirements and the
necessities of the ago in which we live. I need not say
that I hold the oxtensiou of the franchise to be indispen-
sable fer the s..,curity and welfare of the country. Is the
last session of Parliament, we wore offered a fair compro-

mise of this question, which was rejected. I know not
what wo shall have offered to us by the other party, the
present Government. Of their liberal tendencies you are
all aware. (Laughter.) Whatever may be their tendencies
—whether liberal or not—l believe they will be obliged to
follow the impulse of the popular tide, and to concede some-
thing to the people. Now, what may that be ? I hoard one
member of the present Conservative party advocate Reform
to the extent of household suffrage ; and I have heard the
Attorney-General of the late Government advocate the
same thing; and if the present Government offered house-
hold suffrage, I would deem it my duty, as far as I could, to
support it ; if it was the general opinion of the House of
Commons, I would not be one to oppose it. From the
speeches to which I have referred, I deem it not impossible
that such a proposition may be made by the present Con-
servative Administration. But, as I said before, it is im-
possible to go on without a proper and fair distribution of
the localities which send members to Parliament. The
hon.gentleman went on to say that he should like to see the
system of voting-papers in use at University elections
adopted at elections generally, and to condemn the disgrace-
ful state of corruption in which recent inquiries had shown
a number of English boroughs to be. In Scotland he was
not aware that any corruption existed at all, which he
attributed to the superior education of the people. But
corruption was not confined to political affairs ; it had ex-
tended to the money market ; and in recent speculative
proceedings there had been a want of British honour and
of common prudence which reminded them of the days of
Sir Robert Walpole and the South Sea Scheme. He went
on to say that he hoped next session would see the aboli-
tion of Church rates, and some effetivo dealing with that
colossal iniquity the Irish Church, which proceeded on the
assertion of the supremacy of the Church of the minority
over the Church of the people of the country. He then
referred to the state of India, and the famine prevailing in
some districts, and said that two things required for her
prosperity next to governing her justly were increased
means of irrigation—water being, so to speak, the life-blood
of India—and increased communication by road and rail.
lie next alluded to the result of the war in Germany, and
the consolidation of the German empire, which he regarded
as beneficial to Europe ; he congratulated the working
classes on their prescience in upholding the cause of the
North against the South in the American war; and de-
plored the error made by the Emperor of the French in in-
terfering with the affairs of Mexico, which furnished a use-
ful lesson to politicians. He believed that the proposed
foreign interference in the affairs of Rome would meet with
a similar fate, and be contemptuously rejected by the Ita-
lian people. He then glanced at his own legislative efforts
in connection with the abolition of capital punishment, the
introduction of the decimal syitem, the extension of free
libraries, and university reform ; and after thanking his
constituency for the trust 'so long reposed in him,
said ho
hoped, whenever he resigned his honourable position, ho
should restore that trust to them uncontaminated. (Cheers.)
On the motion of Dr. 11‘Culloch, seconded by Councillor
Ewing, a vote of continued confidence in Mr. Evart was
unanimously agreed to.

-- ---,
SOUTHAMPTON, Oct. 20.—(Renter's Telegram.)—
The North German Lloyd's steamer New York, horn New
York on the 7th, has arrived. On the Sth she spoke the
steamer Bremen. The Now York experienced fine weather
to tho morning of the 13th,
from the eastward, increasing. to a hurricane at 4 p.m., and when a heavy gale commenced
at 7 she shipped a heavy sea, completely sweeping her for-
ward deck. The ship's chief carpenter and two seamen
erroneously Q.°"
were killed and two others wounded. No news has been
received of the Saxonia, which left New York at tho same
time as the New York, and doubtless encountered tho
same weather.
THE EYRE DEFENCE AND AID FUND.--A meeting
of the committee was held yesterday, at which the
advisability of at onto retaining counsel to defend Mr.
Te Mr. Rolt, Q.C.
Eyre was discussed, and although nothing was definitively
settled, the following gentlemen were suggested Cy
different members of the committee :—Tho Solicitor..
sum received in the
'bee
General, Mr. Sergeant Ballantinc, Mr. Coleridge,
Mr. Karslake, Q.C., Sir R. Palm,ears, Qh:
it was also announced that Mr. Alfred.
forwarded it contribution, making the nnysor, had
aggregate about £4,000 ; and not
stated, £12,000.

➢lr. Sergeant Payne has resigned, the office of
coroner for the City of London and borough of South-
wark, which he has held for 37 years, having been elected
in 1829.

CAPTURE OF WHALES AT C LEVEDON. —0 n Thurs-
day two large whales of the bottlenose tribe were found
lying on tbe shingle off Little Harp Bay, Clevedon, a short
way out of the water, and about 40 yards from the shore at
low tide. Iu this usually quiet watering place the circum-
stance, of course, varied the general monotony, and im-
parted something like excitement to the inhabitants. After
firing several shots at the whales they were at last secured
and dragged ashore. The larger whale measured 23 feet
from the nose to the tip of the tail, and the smaller one
feet, both being of proportionate breadth.