The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-29 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAT EVENING, MAY r's 1857

naval and Mintaty intelligence,

Yesterday a telegraphic despatch was received at
Chatham by Col. E. A. Parker, Commandant of
the Royal Mat ines, directing a detachment of that
corps to embark at Sheerness, on board the Aga-
memnon, 21, for the purpose f filling up casualties.
On receipt of the order the detachment left Ch it-
ham for Sheerne-s. _ _ _

The new cement mills which have been con-
structed at Chatham Dockyard having been c(bm-
pleted, are now being fitted with their machinery.
The mills consist of two buildings, each 122 feet in
length and 35 feet wide, and adjoin the convicts'
workshops, which are now completed and occupied
by the convicts who follow various trades. The
workshops are 240 feet in length and 30 feet wide,
and provide accommodation for several hundred
convicts. Among the other buildings which hsve
been erected at Chatham Dockyard is a large police
station, the old one having been taken down to
give additional space for the alterations and im-
provements which are being carried out at that es-
tablishment.

The Vesuvius, 6, paddle sloop, Captain Charles
Wise, arrived at Spithead from Plymouth yester-
day evening, and 'viral-Is, with the Exmouth, 91,
screw, Capt. Eyres, C.B. ; the Colossus, 81, Capt.
Thompson ; the Malacca, 17, Capt. Farquhar ; the
Brisk, 14, Commander Cu.rtes ; the Devastation,
6, Commander Marshall ; the Rolla, 6, Lieut. Nel-
son ; the Sealark, 6, Lieut. Lowther ; the Snake,
4, Commander Commerell ; snd the Volcano, 2,
Master Commander Hockley.
The Melville, 72, hospital ship, Command er Trol-
lope, was taken into dock again yesterday at Ports-
mouth, being still leaky ; this is the third time of
docking during this outfit. When she will be ready
for the 23d Fusileers, or to go to China, at this rate,
no one can foresee.

The news of the loss of her Majesty's fine 50-gun
sailing frigate Raleigh, under the command of Com-
modore the Hon. H. Koppel, was telegraphed to
Portsea yesterday afternoon, and on its dissemina-
tion caused the saddest excitement ; she was a noble
ship, and most admirably officered and manned ;
she was commissioned on the 17th of September last
as the senior officer's ship for the India station.
The freight ship Euphrates has been taken up by
Government to ship 14 tons of ammunition from
the Ordnance stores at Woolwich for Algoa Bay.
The hired screw steam troopship Mauritius, at
Deptford, is having her storeroom filled with artil-
lery supplies from Woolwich for Hong Kong ; and
the Runnymede freightship, of heavy tonnage, also
at Deptford, is embarking a similar cargo for the
same destination. The guns, shot, shell, and other
heavy portions of the cargoes are hoisted into a
number of barges alongside the wharves at Wool-
wich Arsenal by the hydraulic cranes, and are con-
veyed up the river for shipment on board at Dept-
ford, where the vessels are taking in victualling
stores for the army and navy in China. The freight
ship Fortitude, in the London Docks, is also em-
barking Ordnance supplies for Ceylon. The Earl
of Mar and Kellie freight-ship, having completed her
cargo of engineering implements, with 310 tons of
Tower and victualling stores, &c., for Hong Kong
is to sail to-day from Woolwich.
The Ordnance sloop Somerset has arrived at
Woolwich, and commenced discharging her cargo,
which consists of guns and general war stores from
Portsmouth.
The. screw steamer Balaklava, Captain William
Pellatt, in the special service of the Military Store
Department of Woolwich, arrived there yesterday
morning laden with 50 carronades from Portsmouth,
and 400 tons of returned war stores, bedding, cloth-
ing, kc., from the East. She made a remarkably
quick passage from Portsmouth to Woolwich—
namely, in 221 hours.

TEM AMERICAN STEAM CORVETTE

" NIAGARA."

The visit of the American steam corvet►e Niagara
to this country has excited considerable public at-
tention, which has been increased by the fact of its
occurring almost simultaneously with a spirited de-
bate in the House of Commons, in which steamsh.ps
of war were contrasted with those of sailing ships,
and the uses of large ships with those of small. A
few considerations, suggested by a visit to this le-
viathan vessel, will not, therefore, be inappropriate
particularly as non-professional persons are liable to
be misled by indiscriminate statements respecting
the proportions of a new ship, the sizes of her guns
and the weight of the shot or shell which they are
designed to throw. To prevent misapprehension
upon these points, and to aid the public in estimat-
ing the merits of such a ship as the Niagara, we shall
make reference to some of the new class ships of our
own service, and compare her with them. The compa-
rison will, we think, show that our own naval ad-
ministrators have but little to learn from our Ame-
rican brethren, either in foreseeing future require-
ments, or in adapting the structure and armament
of their ships to sucCrequirements.
The Niagara is a vessel 345 feet long over all,
55 feet in extreme breadth, and when equipped for
sea, will draw 26 feet of water. Her burden is
upwards of 5,000 tons. Her armament is to coin-
prie 12 11-inch guns on Dahlgren's principle, and
these are to fire shells. She is propelled by engines
having three cylinders 6 feet in diameter and of
3 feet stroke, each engine being complete in itself,
and capable of wotkieg without the others. Her
propeller is 18 feet 3 inches in diameter, and is
provided with means for varying the pitch, being
at present set to a maximum pitch of 32 feet. She
is said to have attained a speed of 13 knots per
hour under full steam power ; but if we set it down
at 12 knots, we shall probably do her more than
justice ; for when she was tried at New York she
attained no more than 11 knots.

Before proceeding further, we may state that the
Niagara is, without exception, the ugliest ship of
war we have ever seen. On visiting her at Grave-
send we approached her on the bow, and looked in
vain for a single beauty of form about her. Her
bow appeared to be one great plane, and her side
another, the two being very differently inclined, of
course, and breaking into each other with a harsh,
sudden curve, on which the light struck so sharply
that it produced a positively painful impression.
Besides this, the shade lies so deeply along her
long flat side, that she seems actually to narrow
in midships, where she should, of course, be
broadest. Further, she has no knee of the
head whatever, but an almost upright stem,
and consequently lacks altogether that ap-
pearance of haste and eagerness which cha-
racterises a vessel with a long and graceful
knee. Her sheer is enormous and im-
presses one against his will with the feeling
that her constructor expected her to break or "ho;"
greatly, and made allowance for the change. Nor
does she convey any seine of excessive magnitude
when viewed externally, although, when you have
boarded her, and look away from one end of her
spar-deck to the other, it is difficult to realise the
fact that you have hut a 12-gun corvette before you.
We do not over rate these defects of form, but
having so often admired, and justly admired, the
real beauty of many of our men-of-war, we could
not refrain from mentioning them.

We pass on, however, to other considerations ;
for a war ship may be very efficient and very terri-
ble, notwithstanding any extent of ugliness. But
before we discuss her armament, we will quote from
an article on the Niagara, in the Journal of the
Franklin Institute (American), coutribir ed bya very
well informed writer, the following remarks, which,
so far as we observed, appear to be accu-
rate Her coal bunker capacity will," be says,
"only be about sufficient for 12 days' full steaming,
if so much. Her capacity for stores is so much
below what it should be, that her water-tanks are
constructed to fit down to the bilges, filling the
space between the keelsons (which it is essential
should be left open and arranged for easy cleaning
in warm climates.) Wheu the ship was commenced,
100 ft. was given up to the engines, boilers, and
coal-bunks ; but since her internal capacity has
been found so small, 7ft. of this space bas been
taken off, which has reduced the coal capacity to a
very low point for her power. On the berth deck
the officers' quarters are very roomy, and occupy a
large portion of it ; while the forward part, devoted
to the crew, will (considering the number that oc
cupy it) be found very small.
certain that the constructor of the Niagara
finds many things overlooked, and hence
the difficulty of finding room for all she
has to carry." These are important conside-
rations, and will have the greatest weight in
influencing the judgments which intelligent men
will pronounce upon the ship.
W e now come to the armament of this unique
engine of war. All the size, all the engine power,
and all the sailing power of this Niagara will have
but the one object of sustaining, and carrying about
at a high speed twelve great shell guns. This is the
purpose for which she is made of 5,000 tons dis-
placement, and of enormous length, breadth,
depth, and steam power, and has (or is to have) a
crew of 750 men. The question arises—is the end
worthy of the means ?

Now, in our own navy we have two now classes
of steam-ships—frigates, which carry guns on both
the spar and the main decks. The first of these
comprises the Emerald, the Liffey, the Shannon,
&c., each of about 3,700 tons displacement—two-
thirds of that of the Niagara ; and each manned
with 560 men—nearly 200 less than the Niagara
carries. These vessels have on the main deck 30
8-inch guns ' • and on the upper deck 20 32-pound-
ers, and 1 68-pounder. The mean speed of the
Shannon, ascertained by trial, in Stokes' Bay, on
the 4th June, 1856, was nearly 12 knots (accurately
11.8 knots) per hour. They draw, when fully

equipped for sea, 21 feet of water forward and 22
feet aft —4 feet less than the Niagara. The cost of
constructing one of these ships would fall short of
that of the Niagara, if built in England, by many
thousands of pounds, and the cost of maintenance
in the two cases would, exclusive of 'he cost of fuel,
be roughly in proportion to the number of men ;
that is as 550 to 750, or as 11 to 15.
The second class of these new frigates comprises
the Diidern, Doris, &c., each of about 3,501) tons
displacement—also about two-thirds of that of he
Niagara ; and each manned with 475 men—nearly
30) less than the Niagara carries. These vessels

have on the main deck 20 10-inch shell-guns, and on
the upper deck 10 32-pounders, and 2 68-pounders.
The speed of these ships will be much greater than
that of the Shannon, as, though of smaller dimen-
sions than she. their engines are of considerably
greater power, the nomind horse-power, in the
one case being 600, and in th,, other 800. The
Diadem and the Doris, when fully equipped f
sea, will draw 19 feet of water forward and 20

feet aft-6 feet less than the Niagara. The cost of
constructing one of these frigates is still less consi-
derably than that of the class first described, and
the cost of maintenance is also r duced in propor-
tion to ih.A number of men as before.
Although a frigate of the Emerald class could
have many advantages over one of the Diadem class,
vet, as the 1 titer has a speed unques ionably equal
to that. of the Niagara, we will confine our atten-
tion to the smaller frigate. Let us then imagine
that the Diadem with her 32 guns meets in battle
the far more bulky and costly Niagara with her 12
guns, and let them fight first in close, ac-
tion, and secondly at long range. First,
then, while near her foe, the Diadem opens fire
with 10 10-inch shell guns, 5 32-pounders,
and 2 68-pounders„ the latter being pivot guns,
and capable of being fired both on the same side of
the ship. The Niagara returns the fire with 711-
inch shell guns. Now, supposing the broadsides of
each are discharged with equal rapidity, we shall
have the Diadem delivering 10 10-inch shells for
every 7 of the Niagara's 11-inch, and surely the
combatants would not be unfairly matched if these
shell guns alone were fought. But in addition to
these the Diadem is pouring into her antagonist
5 32-pounder, and 2 68-pounder solid shot, and
not a single shot has the Niagara to give in return
for these. At the same time the Niagara presents
to her foe a surface for attack nearly three times
as great as her foe presents to her. And further,
as a matter of fact, the guns of the larger ship
could not be worked with anything like the
rapidity of the frigate's guns ; for every one
of the 11-inch shells weighs more than even
two men can conveniently continue to raise
for any length of time, and requires to be got into
the gun by cumbrous means, while the gun itself is
of such large proportions as to occasion great labour
in working it. Moreover, every shed must be got
up as it is required from the shell-room below,
while the solid shot of the frigate lie in abundance
ready to. hand round every hatchway, and close to
the guns from which they are fired. In addition to
all this the whole of the guns of the Niagara are a,
a considerable height, 15 feet from the water ; and
consequently, if there is a little sea on, are rolled
about through large angles, while those of the
frigate, being near the water, are comparatively
steady, and therefore aimed with a precision and
destructive effect which are quite unattainable in
the larger ship. We cannot therefore doubt that
in close fighting the Diadem would speedily cap-
ture her great, ungainly, and costly enemy.
It would be absurd to say that the Niagara is not
designed to engage in close action, and would inva-
riably avoid doing so. We may quote Sir Howard
Douglas with advantage upon this point : "It will
not," be says, " be always in the p.,wer of the com-
mander of a ship, however desirous he may be
of avoiding close action, to be able to accomplish
that purpose ; for in thick weather, or in a dark
night, vessels may unexpectedly fall in with, and
be very near before they discern each other. These
contingencies may happen, and a close action may
thus be suddeelybrought on." (" Naval Gunnery,"
4th edition, p. 257.) In addition to these eventu-
alities, there is the very probable one of the ship
falling short of fuel, and being unable to avail her-
self of her steaming powers.
Next let the same ships engage at long range.
The speeds of the two ships being supposed still
equal, we have only the relative merits of the
armaments to consider in this case also. Now,
it is well known that shells are fired over great
&stances with far less accuracy than solid shot,
and also that their range is much less. Shells
are much more affected than the solid shot
by the action of the wind ; and are also very liable
to irregular rotations, because of the want of coin-
cidence between their centres of form and centres
of gravity, which results from irregularities in the
thickness of the metal of the shell, from the re-
moval of a portion of the metal to form the fuze
hole, and from the weight of, and resistance upon,
the faze itself. By experiments made on board the
Excellent gunnery ship, it was proved that the
number of shells which struck the objects fired at,
was only two-thirds of the number of solid shot
which hit when fired under precisely similar cir-
cumstances. It was also ascertained that at a dis-
tance of 3,000 yards, the differences between the
ranges of hollow shot (or shells) were between 300
and 400 yards, while the differences between the
ranges of the solid shots did not exceed 200 yards.
Now we have as yet discovered nothing which in-
duces us to think that the shell guns of the Niagara
are to be unattended by the ordinary thawbo.cks of
shell guns. Indeed, the excess of their magni-
tude above that of our own 10-inch shill guns
would manifestly tend to increase their comparative
disadvantage.
Sir Howard Douglas, than whom we know of no
higher authority iu these matters, distinctly tells
us that " A 10-inch gun for firing hollow shot (or
shell) is inferior in range to a 68-pounder gun with
solid shot. The difference of weight between these
two pieces of ordnance is only 9 cwt., but the supe-
riority of the latter in power of range, accuracy,
and penetrating force is of vast moment in steam
warfare. . . . Comparing a 10-inch shell gun
of 84 cwt., charge 121 b., and a hollow shot of 841 b.
with a 68-pounder gun of 94 cwt., charge 161 b., and
solid shot, in respect of their range, we see that at
an elevation of 1 deg. the difference of range is
142 yards, at 2 deg. it is about 190 yards, in bo h
cases in favour of the latter ; at 3 deg. the 68-
peunder ranges about as far as the 10-inch gun
does at 4 deg. ; the range of the former at 4 deg. is
greater than that of the other at 5 deg. ; and at
higher elevations the differences in favour of the
68 pounder increase considerably. At 15 degs. the
range of the 10-inch gun is 3,060 yards, and that
of the 68-pounder gun 3,673 yards . . . It should
be added that hollow fillet (or shell) being greater
than solid of equal weight, are more liable than the
latter to suffer lateral deflection from lie action of
the wind and ocher causes."
With these facts before us it is easy to predict
that the Diadem, with her long-range, accurate,
and effective 68-pounders in addition to her 10-inch
shell guns, would deliver a far more effective fire
into her huge antagonist, than the latter could hope
to return.
Thus we have seen that under both conditions—
of close action and long range—our cheap and small
ship is superior to the American experimental mon-
ster. It is also well worthy of remark, that the
comparatively light draught of water of the Diadem
would enable her to be use I in many operations to
which the Niagara would be altogether inapplicable.
Having thus forth the respective merits of the
war ships which the surveyor of our own navy has
prepared, and of that which the American Govern-
ment have produced, it only remains for us to state
that the Niagara has been found incapable of fulfil-
ling the object for which she came to this country.
This is a circumstance, however, which in no way
affects her absolute qualities. The accommodation re-
quired is of an extraordinaryextent, and such as it is
not easy to obtain. L is required to stow no less
than 1,300 miles (weighing 1,200 tons) of electric
cable, in one piece, in each of two ships. In the
Agamemnon, a 90-gun steam-ship of our own navy,
we have found a vessel which has a disposable
47 in mean breadth, and about 12 deep ; and if
space in the hold of no less than 45 feet in length,
this will not take quite the whole of it, she has
an extremely roomy orlop deck, upon which a
portion may be placed in sufficiently large coils.
The Niagara does not, and we never expected she
did, contain clear spaces of anything like the same
extent. Our Government will, therefore, endea-
vour to supply a second ship adapted to the pur-
pose, and the will of our American friends will be
taken for the deed. The Niagara will, however,
soon,
w accompanyet
trust see
tseeleegrtahpebeiexpedition,landedsuccessfully
and will
upon the side of the ocean whence she came.—
Mechanics' Magazine. acble

INSTINCT OF A 110IIND.—One day last week a bitch
hound, which had been Bold, with others, at Mr.
Greaves's recent sale at Ongar, and taken into Norfolk
(where she had had a litter of puppies),. left them, and
found her way back to her old kennel at Ongar. She
has been again sent per train to her new owner.—Essox
Standard.
WILFUL MURDER AT NEWCIA.STLE-lINDER-LYNE.—A
brutal murder was perpetrated about one o'clock on
Sunday morning last, in Blue-buildings, Fletcher street,
Newcastle. The name of the victim is James Rogers.
He is about 40, an Irishman and unmarried. He was
lounging at the door of the house at which be lodged,
when a countryman, named Rogan, who hni some
grudge against him, and bad often sworn to be revenged,
went up to him, armed with a poker, with which be de-
liberately beat in his skull. Death was almost instan-
taneous. Rogan has absconded, and a reward of 2E.
is offered • for his apprehension.,---Wavorlmmpton
Chronicle.