The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 17, 1866.

Torpedo Experiments.

On Tuesday the Floating Obstruction Committee, consist-
ing of Colonel Fisher, R.E. ; Colonel Askwith, R.A. ; Mr.
Ferguson, C.E. ; Captain Horton, R.N. ; Professor Abel,
chemist to the war department ; and Captain 'Dawson,
R.N., secretary, attended at Portsmouth to carry out an
experiment with torpedoes on a vessel moored in Fountain
Lake, one of the many narrow lakes which intersect the
shoals forming the upper part of Portsmouth harbour. The
vessels selected for the purpose of the experiments was the
old wooden frigate America—a vessel that has been "used
up" over and over again for a target-ship for all kinds of
shot and shell fired from the gunnery ship Excellent, and
also as a target-ship for carrying armour-plates on her
broadsides when under trial by the 68-pounder and other
guns. Under this contiguous hard service her old empty
hull has necessarily undergone an immense amount of
ripping up and battering in every conceivable form, has
been sunk and again raised afloat by temporary repairs
time after time, and was altogether on Tuesday, previous
to the grand experiment of the day, but a shattered, yet
still floating, representative of an old wooden frigate tempo-
rarily rendered water-tight in her bottom, but evidently
very weak in frame and planking from ill-usage and age.
The America when moored in position for the experi-
ment had at high water about 4ft. of water under the keel
(consequently lying high and dry at low water), and lay
over a very pretty nest of torpedoes, which had been laid
down in accordance with the wishes of the committee.
Thirteen of these were fired in all, 12 being under the
ship's bottom, and one projecting from a long spar over
the stem of a ship's launch, and under and in contact with
the ship's bows. Of the 12 under the bottom of the ship
four wera charged with 601 b. of gunpowder, two with
501 b., two with 401 b., one with 301 b., two with 201 b., and
one with 101 b. of gun-cotton. The charges in every in-
stance were enclosed in cylinders made from }-inch iron,
with flat ends. The torpedo held in contact with the
ship's port bow by the projecting spar over a boat's stem
was charged with 101 b. of gun-cotton, considered equiia-
lent to 301 b. of gunpowder, was enclosed in a similar iron-
case to the others, and was held in contact with the ship's
port bow about 6ft. below the water-line, the bow of the
launch being not more than 4ft. clear of the bow of the
ship. The torpedoes under the ship's bottom were laid at
various distances and depths, the farthest off being 15ft.
and the nearest 2ft. 6in. The whole of the torpedoes under
the vessel's bottom were thus readyto befired by a common
wire communicating with a magneto-electric battery under
the control of Professor Abel, in a boat at about 70 yards
distance from the ship, and another wire communicated
with the single torpedo suspended under the vessel's port
bow, over the stem of the ship's launch. There being no
peculiar arrangements, in either the form of the cylinders
forming the torpedo case, in the nature or disposition of the
charge, or in the method of firing them at the desired
moment, all was really as simple as could well be imagined,
and if the communications between the instrument before
Prefessor Abel and the torpedo nest was as perfect as was
supposed, the result could only be the blowing in of the
bottom and the almost instantaneous sinking of the poor
frigate.

At noon everything was prepared. The Obstruction
Committee, having previously inspected the preparations
made, were in their boat well ahead of the doomed ship,
having in company Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, the
Naval Commander-in-Chief at Portmouth, in his galley,
the steam launch of the Excellent, with Commander
Arthur and the executive officers of that ship ; the War-
office department cutter, containing Professor Abel with
his instruments and staff, &c., and a number of other boats
with naval and military officers, &c.
The signal was given soon after noon, and the discharge
. _ _

of the 12 torpedoes under the ship's bottom immediately
followed, succeeded in about 30 seconds by that of the
single one suspended from the boat's spar under her port-
bow. The first explosion lifted the ship a good three feet
above the surface of the water, fore and aft, an immense
body of detached water at the same time shooting upwards
to a great height all around her, and falling on her upper-
deck, together with innumerable pieces of splintered wood
torn from the ship's hull by the force of the explosion.
The explosion of the bow torpedo, which immediately fol-
lowed upon that of the main body, produced, compara-
tively speaking, a still greater display than did the united
12 under the ship's bottom. The column of water thrown

up by the explosion was lifted to a much greater height
than in the preceding instance, and the actual effect pro-
duced on the ship appeared to be more decisive. Thus,
while there could be no doubt that the 12 torpedoes
under the ship's bottom had sufficiently damaged her
to insure her sinking, still no sooner had the bow tor-
pedo been fired than the ship at once dipped her bow
deeply in the water with an apparent inclination, had
there been depth of water sufficient, to raise her stern in the
air and go down bow foremost. The vessel's keel was on the
mud, and the water inside her up to the beams supporting

he planking of her main deck is about 50 seconds from

the time of the firing of the first torpedoes. The greatest
apparent damage visible immediately after the explosion of
the torpedoes as the ship lay on the mud, with the water
inside her level with the height of water outside, was for-
ward, where, to some distance abaft the fore hatchway, the
keel of the vessel was evidently broken in two, the deck
there being settled down at various angles, and the beams
broken by the collapse and severance of the vessel's frame.
At low water the exact amount of damage inflicted was

fully ascertained, and was found to be much less externally
than had been anticipated, but very much in excess of what
might have been expected internally if any opinion had
been formed from the extent of the outer damage. Of the
12 torpedoes under the ship's bottom only those forward had
damaged the ship, the six placed under, abaft the greatest
swell of the ship at the main hatchway, having exploded
without displacing any part of the outer planking. Under
the fourth port from forward on the starboard side, how-
ever, the torpedoes had taken full effect, and blown an im-
mense hole through the ship's bottom fully 20 feet in width
and extending from the floor timbers upwards to the main
deck beams. Across this immense hole lay broken timbers
and plankings entangled with bent and broken iron diago-
nal bracing•. This was enough to have sunk the ship of
itself, and was the chief cause of her going dom., b 0 rapidly.
The remaining 11 torpedoes had shaken up and opened the
planking, but they had effected no actual breach through
tho ship's bottom, although the effects of the shock of their
united explosion could everywhere be seen. The gun-cotton
torpedo that was exploded under the vessel's port bow, sus-
pended 6ft. below the water, from the end of a spar, had
ripped off several of the bowptanks and started the timbers,
giving admission to the water, but not actually destroying
the frame of the ship.

Inside the ship the real amount of the damage was some-
what frightful to look at. Every part of the ship appeared
to have been shaken out of place in a most extraordinary
manner, and, forward, the unsafe state of the decks, with
huge pieces of splintered beams quivering overhead, made
it a matter of considerable peril to venture there. This
was, perhaps, not altogether the effects of the shock given
by the explosion of the torpedoes. The explosion had
been the immediate cause of the damage, but the latter
may have been completed by the vessel striking the
ground heavily with her keel in the " send" of the water,
when she fell again from her lifting by the explosion. The
main and lower decks of the ship now lie driven up in
three huge transverse furrows from the after-hatchway
forward, at angles of from 20 to 30 deg., the sides of the
ship stand away from the deck-beams, and all is perfect
wreck. it is almost impossible for any vessel to have been
more effectually or suddenly destroyed, at the same time
that the difference in the appearance of the damage from
the inside and the outside of the ship is most remarkable.
As the object of the committee in making the experiment
on the America is understood not to have been so much to
ascertain the exact amount of mischief that could be in-
flicted on a ship by the explosion of a given number of tor-
pedoes, as to ascertain to what extent torpedoes may be
relied upon for certainty of action at distances from the bot-
tom of a passing ship, the main inferences to be drawn from
the results of yesterday's experiments may be considered to
be that all torpedoes should be brought in close contact with
the body they are intended to destroy, or they run the
chance of proving harmless, and they should be brought
directly under that body, or their force may be deflected.
The first inference is supported by the present undamaged
state of the America's after body, where the torpedoes were
placed furthest from the ship, and the second by the fact of
the slight damage done to the ship's port bow by the single
gun-cotton torpedo, which evidently expended its force
upwards with its immense column of water deflected off
by the angle of the bow lines.

In fact, the explosion of torpedoes such as were used
yesterday, adds nothing to our previous knowledge of the
subject. It is now many years since Captain Warner
became famous by his "long-range shell." In 1846
torpedoes were supplied by the Admiralty to Captain
E. Belcher, now Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, on leaving
England on his Arctic expedition, breaking up the ice in
Wellington Sound. Elaborate plans of torpedoes for attack-
ing the Russian fleet at Sebastopol, and also for destroying
those laid down in the Baltic by the Russians themselves,
were also laid before the English Admiralty by their
chemist, Mr. Hay, but from some cause were never brought
into use. The cases used by the Obstruction Committee on
Tuesday were simply cylinders filled up with their charge,
and fired as a boy might fire a surreptitiously gained car-
tridge of sporting powder in the playground of his school.
Science was altogether seemingly discarded for the day for
the sake of a "grand blow up," and the results simply
bring to mind a story still current among English naval
officers of a young midshipman serving in her Majesty's
ship Edinburgh in the Baltic during the war with Russia,
who improvised a torpedo with some rather startling re-
sults. The youngster had just cleared out the last pot of
jam that had been sent him from home, when the idea
struck him and his messmates that it would be rare fun to
turn the empty jam pot into a torpedo, of which there was
then much talk, naturally enough, among the Baltic fleet.
The pot was filled with powder, plugged up, lowered out
of the gun-room ports, and fired. The consternation on
board was something great, and many imagined the ship
andtorpedo e beaunl
pk
r. t Twha
se sde
duly
ye t ,q
ah
aorwt
eerv-edre,
cwk
eads
andsNso'aosnlyingdid,se oov
admonishedve reer a
to play no such pranks in future.

Royal Geographical Society.

At the meeting of this society on Monday evening
—Sir Roderick Murchison in the chair—the first
paper read was by Captain Montgomery, describing
some of the results of the trigonometrical survey of
the mountainous region of Little Thibet, which se-
parates India from the Russian territories. The
difficulties of carrying on the survey were all but in-
surmountable, for not only did the physical features
of the country present the greatest obstacles, but, as
the district is beyond the boundaries of the British
possessions, the prejudices and suspicions of the
Chinese authorities bad to be overcome. There are
several ranges of mountains, some of them being the
highest in the world, one of the peaks, of which a
drawing was exhibited, baying an elevation of
26,680 feet, or more than 10,000 feet higher than
Mont Blanc. It is situated in Ist. 36 deg. and 76
deg. east long. A great portion of the survey was
conducted above the clouds, surrounded by snow,
which sometimes proved very treacherous, and sud-
denly gave way, sinking down for many feet and
leaving deep chasms. On one occasion mentioned by
Capt. Montgomery his party had spread out their
dinner on the snow and were about to sit down, when
the whole of their provisions disappeared and were
buried far below. The difficulty of carrying food and
the instruments required for surveying to such heights
greatly obstructed their progress, and to add to the
obstacles, part of the survey was carried on during
the time of the mutiny in India, and the men em-
ployed to assist in the work were Asiatics, who had
been accustomed to a hot climate. The highly elec-
trical condition of the atmosphere also interfered
with the operations, the frequent lightning render-
ing it often dangerous to elevate a flag-staff, and
one of the theodolites was destroyed. So far as the
expedition was allowed to proceed they succeeded
in mapping the district with great accuracy, but
they were stopped from going further north by the
jealousy of the authorities, who would not allow
Europeans to enter that part of their territory, and
Captain Montgomery was obliged to employ a
native agent, whom he had instructed in the use of
instruments, to take observations in the lower coun-
try as far as Yarcund, the latitude of which town
was ascertained to be 39 deg. The person so em-
ployed died, or was murdered ; but his papers were
secured, and from them a generally reliable map
has been made. The mountainous region on the
north of our possessions in India is estimated to ex-
tend 400 miles ; and at a distance beyond the moun-
tains of about 300 miles the boundary of the Russian
territories commences. Captain Montgomery read
his paper so hurriedly that a great deal of it was in-
audible at the distant parts of the room, and, as it
was occupied more with geographical details than
with descriptions, it was somewhat impatiently lis-
tened to. Sir Henry Rawlinson and the Surveyor-
General for India made some observations, pointing
out the importance of the survey, and eulogising
Captain Montgomery for having accomplished so
much under difficult circumstances.

A paper by Commander Forbes, " On the Wes-
tern Shores of Volcano Bay, Yesso," was then read,
in which he described generally some of the volcanoes
now in a state of eruption near that bay, which p -
pears to be a concentrated seat of volcanic action,
for not only are there several mountains erupting
igneous matter, but many geyzers ejecting boiling
water. Commander Forbes described a peculiar
tribe who inhabit a part of Yesso, who are called
hairy men, from the fact that all parts of their bodies
are covered with hair. He had succeeded with some
difficulty in obtaining the possession of one of
the skulls of this tribe, which he had submitted to
the inspection of Professor Huxley, who was present,
and on being called on by the chairman he explained
the peculiarities it presented. He said it differed
remarkably from the form of the skulls of the Chi-
nese and other Asiatic races, which are generally
round, in being remarkably long, resembling in that
respect the skuPs of Esquimaux. After some obser-
vations by Commander Forbes on the Japanese, the
meeting adjourned to the 28th inst., when the anni-
versary of the society will be held. An Indian
prince from Singapore was present, and sat on the
right hand of the president, who introduced him to
the meeting.

The Cholera in Liverpool.

The state of affairs appears to be rather more
hopeful. There is nothing to indicate danger of
the disease spreading among the inhabitants, and,
if a fresh influx of Germany can be avoided, it is
expected that the disease will speedily die out. The
worst feature of affairs at present is that there are
now 13 cases in the workhouse, where the danger
of contagion must necessarily be greater, despite
every precaution, than on board a ship in the river.
Another case of cholera has been taken to the work-
house from a German lodging-house in Kent-square,
and another from the Bankhall depot. Two more
deaths are reported from the Jesse Munn ; 12 cases
remain on board. Much dissatisfaction has been
expressed at the landing of the passengers at all,
either at Birkenhead or Liverpool ; but the local
authorities can scarcely be censured since, after the
three days'quarantine,they had absolutely no power
to detain them. Still, the fact is patent that the
course of action had the effect of multiplying the
centres of the disease in a fourfold degree, and in-
creasing the danger of contagion to a still greater
extent. There has been some talk about removing
the Germans at the Birkenhead depot to that at
Bankhall, but it appears that there is not sufficient
accommodation for them at the latter place. There
is no depot at the Harrington dock. There was
some negotiation about taking a building there, but
the Bankhall warehouse was preferred.

The National Steam Navigation Company have
resolved to burn all the fittings and beds on board
the Helvetia at once, and also those on the War
Cloud and Jesse Munn as soon as their occupants
are removed. The emigrants' luggage has been
landed and handed over to them. All the vessels
will be thoroughly fumigated.
It is interesting to know that the Erin, another
of the company's boats which sailed on the 11th of
April, for New York, with 1,069 emigrants on board,
has arrived safely, with only three deaths of children
during the passage, and those were stated to have
arisen from sea sickness. The Queen, another of the
company's boats, has taken out a large number of
emigrants, of whom 600 were Germans, and the
Louisiana, also a full complement, without any case
of cholera on board.

Among the emigrants at Birkenhead there is a
young woman, about 25 or 26 years of age (a Ger-
man), who can speak the English language. This
young person, without hesitation, offered her ser-
vices not only to interpret, but as a nurse, and in
both these capacities she acted until the appointment
of a regular interpreter and a staff of nurses. Her
noble and disinterested services on behalf of her
suffering countrymen having become known in Bir-
kenhead a number of benevolent persons raised a
subscription, and on Tuesday Dr. Robinson, the
medical officer of health, as their medium, presented
her with about £lO, and informed her that it was
also intended to give her a gold watch, bearing a
suitable inscription, as a reward for her exertions
to alleviate the sufferings of her fellow passengers
in a strange land.