The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-12 00:00:00

launched, and the Black Prince is also launched. The third
sister ship is about to be constructed in her Majesty's dock-
yard at Chatham. These are three of the larger class. We
have a second class, called the Resistance class, of which
there are two ; and both will, we trust, be launched within
the next month or two. We have two more vessels, which
have been ordered within the last few months, They are
altogether of a new class ; and I shall advert to them pre-
sently. From this it will be seen that we have seven iron-
cased ships under construction at the present moment. It
would perhaps be interesting to the committee if I gave
them some information as to what we know already of these
iron-cased ships. (Hear, hear.) The committee tnay re-
member that it was imagined by many persons that they
would be a failure—that, first of all, speed could not be got
from them, on account of their being so heavily loaded ; and,
secondly, that they would not be seaworthy. We have got
proofs that La Gloire has great speed, and also that she is
seaworthy. (Hear.) We know that she was appointed to
accompany the French Emperor to Algeria last autumn.
We know also that his Majesty was accompanied by one of
the finest and fastest squadrons in the French navy. My
hon. friend the member for Finsbury was at Algeria when
the Emperor arrived. La Gloire was in company with his
Majesty's yacht, which is a very fast one, and the rest of
the squadron were out of sight. (Hear, hear.) It is clear
from that fact that La Gloire is a vessel of great speed.

Then comes the question—ls she seaworthy P When

returning from Algeria the squadron of the Emperor en-

countered a gale in the Gulf of Lyons. I know an intel-
ligent captain of a merchant steamer who was in company
with the squadron at the time, and he said that he never
saw a heavier sea or a heavier gale. I myself saw
La Gloire at Toulon a few days after her voyage, and she
looked nothing the worse for it. She lived through the

gale, and kept company with the Emperor's yacht. Here is

a proof that La Gloire is a very fast boat, and, I will not

say a good sea boat, but a boat that could live in very bad

weather. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the interior ac-
comodation of La Gloire I know nothing. She is kept, like

some Eastern beauty, veiled from the public gaze. (Laugh-
ter.) Perhaps my hon. friend the member for Finsbury

effected an entrance. but if so, I believe he is the only one
who can give us any account of her interior appearance.
The whole of the French iron-cased ships are built of wood
and covered with armour throughout. They have nothing
but what we call schooner masts. They could not at all
trust to sails for anything like speed. They are, in fact,

entirely steam vessels—screw vessels, and have no pretence
to anything beyond that. I believe La Gloire was built on

the model of the Napoleon, and it stands to reason that her

stowage must be confined, both with regard to provisions

and coal. The French build their vessels of wood, and they
build them of a size somethins larger than a line-of-battle
ship. They consider them as vessels for narrow seas—
(hear)—and not for long voyages, and they think it right to

case them entirely with iron. (Hear.) We have adopted

an entirely different principle ; and who is right, and who
is wrong ? No credit is due to me for the Warrior, and, as

she was designed by a former Board of Admiralty, I may
state candidly what I consider to be her merits, and what I
regard as her defects. (Hear, hear.) The great distinc-
tion between us and the French is this,—they aro build-

ing their iron-cased 'vessels of wood, and of a tonnage

not much larger than a line-of• battle ship ; while we are
building our vessels of iron, and of a tonnage of over 6,000
tons ; for that is the tonnage of the 'Warrior, the usual ton-
nage of a 90-gun line-of-battle ship being little more than
3;000 tons. Our ships are only partly cased with armour,
but they are rigged fully as line-of-battle ships, and have
Itnmense stowage as compared with other ships in the navy,
and I believe this large class of ships, of which the Warrior
is one, will have very great speed. It is a very interesting
question to consider which, as a whole, is the better class of
construction. There is no doubt that the French construe-

tion is attended with very considerable advantages on the
score of economy, for we know that a ship of 3,000 tons
costs less than one of 6,000 tons ; but wood is a very perish-
able article, and it is said that with iron plates a consider-
able degree of decay takes place. Why, then, should we
build vessels of 6,000 tons when another nation is building
vessels of only one-half that tonnage with nearly as many
guns—with, perhaps, not so heavy, but still a heavy arma-
ment? Here arises a consideration which, I think, must
have influenced the late Board of Admiralty, and which is,
I think, of great imp ortance. All those engineers who ars
making improvements in projectiles tell us that we are only
in the infancy of gunmaking. (Hear.) I have heard that a
gun is to be produced which will pierce a 6-inch plate. If
that be so, what will be the effect upcn our ships cased with
41 inch plates ? This class of vessels will be rendered alto-
gether useless. One great advantage, however, of building
these very large vessels is that we can, if necessary, increase
the thickness of the plates—we may even double them.

(Hear.) I have taken the trouble to ascertain what would
be the effect of an increase of thickness upon the flotation
of one of these ships, and I find that with a 9• inch plate
the immersion would be increased only two feet. (Hear.)
If, therefore, it should be, necessary to increase the thick-
ness of the plates to 6 inches or more we shall be in a posi-
tion to do so. (Hear, hear.) This is in itself a reason why
the Government, I think, acted wisely in resolving to build
vessels of this large tonnage. (Hear, hear.) It is of im-
portance, too, that these vessels should he able to take a
large stock of provisions and coals, and accordingly the
Warrior is provided with a great power of stowage, so that
she might be well supplied in these respects. Another thing
which we consider to be absolutely necessary, and which
other nations consider to be unnecessary, is that these
vessels should be fully riggel. The iron -cased ships of other
nations are merely rigged with schooner masts. We have
rigged our vessels independently altogether of their engines,
and that I take to be a wise course, because it is impossible
to say where these ships may be required to go. They may
be called suddenly from one station to another, and it is,
therefore, important that we should be able to dispense with
their engines. (Hear.) Another point to which I shall
advert is the extent of the iron casing. Other nations think
it right that their ships should be entirely cased with iron,
but ours are only partially cased. The reasons for this are
manifest. There can be no doubt that when ) en build ships
of great speed with very fine ends, and load these ends with
heavy armour plates, it is impossible those ships can go well
in a heavy sea. (Hear.) This is one of the defects of the
foreign iron-cased ships now building. They will do toler-
ably well in smooth water, but in a heavy sea they will be
total failures. But it may be said shot will penetrate these
exposed places, and vessels will be liable to be sunk. This
I think is rather hypercritical, but I may state that the
greatest care is taken to provide against such a contingency.
The ends of the vessels are built in compartments water-
tight, and any serious damage from shot or otherwise will
bo prevented. I have gone carefully into a calculation as
to what would be the effect upon the Warrior if a shot
struck her and went through the bow or the stern, and I
find that the effect would be perfectly trifling—indeed it
would amount almost to nothing—as the shot would only
affect a particular compartment, :to which are fitted pumps
connected with the engine. (Hear.) It must not be sup-
posed that because these ships are not cased with iron
throughout they are not sufficiently strong. All the plates
of the Warrior are 9-16ths of an inoh in thickness, and if a
shot struck at an acute angle the effect would be that it
would be warded off altogether. Then the Warrior is fitted
with cross bulkheads both fore and aft, in which in an en-
gagement the crew will be completely cased in armour,
though the ship is not entirely eased with iron. (Hear,
hear.) 'We are trying some little variety in the system,
such as putting iron plates round the main deck, that
being the fighting deck, and there are other variations,
to which I need not allude. Let me say a word or two
about building these ships of iron and not of wood. Every
person at all conversant with such matters will agree with
me when I say that an iron ship is imperishable. lam not
prepared to say there are no defects in the class of ships to
which I am referring, but taking into consideration the pos-
sibility of our being obliged to case them with thick plates
of iron, we have acted wisely in constructing them of iron,
because I believe that these ships with proper care may be
made imperishable. There is one great defect of iron ships,
however, which to my mind answers the argument of the
hon. member for Sunderland, and those who, like him, de-
sire that we should cease to build wooden ships. I know
there is an opinion held by many eminent shipbuilders that
the navy should be composed of iron ships altogether; but
I totally differ from that view. I think those large ships to
which I have referred should be built of iron. ,They are
ships that will not be ordered on distant voyages. But-for
duty on distant stations, where there are no means of get-
ting docks, we must ever maintain 'our wooden ships.
(Hear, hear.) If an iron ship were kept for a couple of
months in an equatorial latitude her bottom would be-
come like a lawyer's wig. (A laugh.) Sho would not
steer, and would become totally useless. (Hear, hear.)
I think, therefore, on the whole, that the late Board of
Admiralty, and the present one, have acted wisely in
constructing very large iron-cased ships. I be-
lieve wo are likely to obtain important information with re-
gard to the exact form of construction that should be fol-
lowed in future, from the discussions that are going on in so
many societies with regard to these vessels. (Hear, hear.)
There is, for example, the Society of the Institute of Naval
Architects, from which we expect to derive much valuable
information. The Admiralty watch with great interest what
is taking place in that society, and I hope it will profit by
the excellent papers that are read there by the eminent men
belonging to it. (Hear.) I have thought it right before
going into the estimates to occupy the time of the house with
the matters to which I have just referred. I shall now direct
the attention of the House to Vote No. 1, which includes the
pay to seamen. With regard to this vote, I may state that
there are some changes which have taken place since last
year. I have endeavoured to put in a distinct form the
actual pay, with the allowances of every description, given
to officers and men. It is important to see what we give to
seamen over and above their pay and allowances. Hon.
members are, no doubt, aware that the seamen of the Royal
Navy do not receive their pay as in the merchant service, but
if their pay and all the allowances they receive are reckoned,
it will be found that they obtain considerably higher pay than
in the merchant service. (Hear, hear.) First, we have an
established additional pay of £85,673 ; below that we find
good conduct pay to petty officers and seaman of £25,000 .
further on we have a bounty to seamen of £lO,OOO ; so that
altogether the seamen of the fleet receive higher pay than
the merchant seamen, (Hear, hear.) It would be very
satisfactory indeed, if the pay of the seaman of the Royal
Navy could be simplified, so as to show what be really gets