The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-09 00:00:00

THE WARRIOR.

Yesterday morning the grand frigate hoisted her
pennant at last, and made her first brief voyage
from Blackwall to Greenhithe. Beyond the mere
fact of its being the first voyage there was not much
of interest in the proceeding. She had the assist-
ance of many powerful tugs, was under steam her-
self, and answered her helm so readily as to be al-
ways completely in hand. With such aids, not-
withstanding the very strong wind and sharp turns
in the river, she proved as manageable as a penny
steamboat, and within two hours of the time of her
leaving the Victoria Dock was quietly swinging to
her anchor a little above Gravesend. The time fixed
for her departure yesterday was 1 o'clock, about two
hours before high tide, in order that she might have
the check of the stream against her in dropping
down the river. Before that hour, however, she
was warped out from the corner where she has so
long been fitting, and brought to the entrance of
the dock leading to the river. With a vessel of such
enormous size and weight, and in a dock so crowded
with shipping, to move her at all was a labour re-
quiring no ordinary care and vigilance, and the
work had to be accomplished very slowly. By 11
o'clock, however, she was brought quietly to the
entrance, and before 12 Capt. Cochrane had all in
readiness for going out into the stream at a moment's
notice. Steam was got up in all the boilers, for
though professing to depend on the tugs for mo-
mentum and guidance, it was very prudently deter-
mined that in case of any mishap, such as a hawser
breaking, the Warrior should be quite ready and
able to take care of herself if required. There was
an almost total absence of curiosity to witness her
departure from the docks, and in fact, very few at
all ventured to brave the gusts of wind and torrents
of rain that swept across the river like banks of
mist throughout all the early parts of the day.
This lack of interest, however, was evidently due
solely to the wretched weather. Precisely at half-
past 1, the tide in the river having risen to the level
of the water in the docks, a regular team of steam
tugs made fast to the Warrior's stern, and the gates
being opened, went blustering and splashing out
into the Thames, towing the massive, black, and
ominous-looking ship stern foremost after them.
As she cleared the dock gates the ensigns and pen-
nant were run up, the band of the Marines playing
" Rule Britannia." No cheering was attempted,
for there was plenty tube done at once, as the force
of the tide and wind came full on her broadside,
and in spite of all the sturdy efforts of the tugs
began to drift her up the stream. The tugs made
a gallant struggle for it, but in vain, and if the
Warrior herself had not been in working order
with her engines she might have gone much fur-
ther up the river than would have been either
safe or convenient. As it was a very few turns of
her gigantic screw, which seemed to stir up the very
bottom *sf the Thames, soon checked her progress,
and sent her into the middle of the river, facing fair
down the stream. Once in this position, no farther
difficulty was experienced. In the very sharp turns
just below Woolwich and just above Greenhithe it
was of course necessary to use considerable care,
and to screw astern till she was sometimes brought
almost to a standstill. Beyond this, however, all
went as well as could have been desired—she fouled
nothing, never touched the ground, and was, as we
have said, quietly at her moorings in less than a
couple of hours after she had started. At all the
bends of the river she answered • her helm like a
yacht, and though the wheel worked stiff and was
hard to get over, yet a very few turns did all that
was wanted. Admiral Keppel, Commodore Sey-
mour, and Commodore Eden, who were on board,
were delighted:with the perfect ease with which
she was at all times held in hand. The engines
worked with an ease which, considering their im-
mense size and newness, was almost marvellous.
Not a single part required alteration, easing, or even
adjustment of any kind whatever. Mr. Penn was,
of course, on board, and would have liked nothing
getter than to have driven her at full speed right
away. But this high speed, in a narrow river
crowded with shipping, was quite out of the ques-
tion, and he could only once or twice partially
gratify his inclination in this respect by going full
speed astern, when at the turns the Warrior's head
was nearer the shore than was desirable. The greatest
pressure of steam in the boilers at any time was 211 b,,
but as a rule it was kept below this. The greatest
number of revolutions obtained, or, more properly
speaking, allowed per minute yesterday wast 58,
and at this all worked as smoothly and Tile lyas
when the screw was scarcely turning. This number
of revolutions was required only once, and that
merely for a minute or two, to turn the Warrior
astern. At full speed at sea the engines will make
62 revolutions per minute, which will give her a
speed of screw of 18 knots. Allowing as much as
one-sixth of this for " slip" (in the case of the War-
rior the slip is not expected to exceed one-eighth),
we shall have a speed of 15 knots--a speed which
no man-of-war in the world comes within a knot
in hour of. As far as can be judged at present
om:cis every prospect of the Warrior making even
more this
great velocity in her trial trip next
month. .1-^_he highest speed attained yesterday was
'Woolwich, when the tide was
soon after pasbjng
almost at its heig2it, though on the whole slightly
against the vessel. Going at rather less than 50
_
revolutions she went at Ihe rate of 141 knots. At
no time, even when her rate
waschangedibration of the
from slow
ahead to fall speed astern, #
was
he v
screw more than perceptible, practu7ally speaking,
either in the bows or on the quarter-dock. With
A wooden Tepee' of the game length and exsrtiog the