The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-06 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN IRON-CLAD FRIGATE.

ends than at the engine. Each shaft is 184 feet long,
composed of sections coupled together, and having
a maximum diameter throughout of 17 inches.
The four cranks of each shaft stand at the four
quarters of a circle, The cranks are forged in, and
each crank section is 'coupled to the next. The
engine framing is in arches, passing under the 21
feet deck, and bolted to the bottom and sides. The
cylinders stand perpendicularly between the shafts
and the side of the ship, Each is of 45 inches dia-
meter and 42 inches stroke. Above these and
athwartship is the wrought iron walking beam, 6
feet long. Between each pair of engines is an air
pump, 40 inches diameter with ,21)itiches stroke,
which is driven by a .ever and rod from the walking
beam above. Upon each cylinder:, towards the side
of the ship, is a valve chest, containing a balanced
slide valve, which is worked by a link motion (the
common valve gear) that forms a variable cut off
and reverse gear of the simplest kind. All the vari-
ous crank pins and connecting rods are hollow, and
furnished with induction and return pipes, which
keep a continual stream of cold water running
through them, to check heating. The boilers are
placed five on each side. Each boiler has two fur-
naces, and the upper parts are fitted with 21 inch
return flues, 10 feet long. The total heating surface
of all the boilers is about 26,000 square feet. The
upper passages we have mentioned converge into a
tight flue, increasing in sizeets it runs back, and
emptying itself into a funnel, 12 feet in diameter,
placed nearly- in thee r^ tre of the vessel, The engines
are. made to be workea at high pressure, 601 b. to the
inch. Each of the two sets of engines is about 1,000
nominal horse power, so that working the screws at
100 revolutions a minute wilNive an indicated
power of 8,000 horses. It is very much doubted,
however, even by American engineers, whethbr 60
revolutions can be attained, though all sieculations
on this point are necessarily very vague, as neither
the pitch nor diameter of the screws will be settled
till it is seen how the engines themselves will answer.
The armour plates, as we have already said, rise to a
height of only 8 feet above the water-line when the
ship is fully immersed to her fighting trim, and hero
the guns stand on a ridge or platform of metal,
about 25 feet wide in the stern, and from 15 to 12
feet wide in the bows. On this armour deck are
placed eight guns of wrought iron, —the four in the
bows being 15 inch shell guns, throwing a shell of
some 3501 b. weight, the four in the stern being 18
inch, and throwing shells of more than 5001 b. In
addition to these are four angular and almost conical
loading-houses (covered, like the rest of the armour
deck, with 6 inch plates), one being built between
each gun fore and aft. The guns themselves are
left entirely exposed, their trunnions being bedded
into enormous hemispheres of wrought iron. Each
of these hemispheres forms part of a turn-table,
which is worked on the 21 feet deck beneath. The
whole theory on which she would fight, therefore,
is this :—On the approach of an enemy the vessel
would immerse itself by taking in water till the
ridge of her gun deck was almost level with the
water's edge. The men told off for loading would
occupy the loading-houses, and those beneath would,
with the aid of the tarn-table, work round the muz-
zle of each gun to the entrance of the loading-house,
so that each piece might be loaded, worked round
again, and fired as quickly as possible. Ports, or
doors, sufficiently thick, as it is thought, to close the
entrance of the loading-houses against ordinary shell
protect the men inside when they have once loaded,
but the gun itself, with all the men engaged in
elevating and firing it,is left entirely exposed. Up
to this, the fighting point, then, the whole plan of
the boat is—as the invention of an engineer in 1838
—full of genius. B ut,j udged by our present standard
of ordnance and iron-clad frigates, it must break
down the first time it comes to be really tried
—that is, in action. Apart from the fact that the
guns at three feet from the sea would be" awash,"
'even in the calmest weather, it would be impossible
to submerge the ship to her fighting trim in the
presence of even a strong breeze. Granting, how-
ever, that she could immerse herself in any wea-
ther, what becomes of the men and guns left un-
protected ? The present plan of the Federal Go-
vernment is to have the guns forged of such a size
as will enable them to protect themselves, or, in
other words, so solidly made as that the enemy may
batter at them with impunity. Such a plan might
have answered in 1838, when 68 pounders were not
introduced and the Armstrong 100-pounder un-
dreamt of. But against these weapons it will re-
quire such a gun as was never yet forged in the
world to enable it to take a rap on the muzzle from
a 160-pounder without receiving such an indent as
will never let shot in or out of it again. What, too,
becomes of the men who are to come out of their
loading-houses to train and fire the ordnance in the
face of riflemen clustering at the ports of an enemy?
What becomes of the half-inch iron door which
closes the loading-houses when struck by a per-
cussion shell a and, above all, what would become
of the whole affair from stem to stern if the War-
rior (which, according to the American papers, she
ought to blow out of the water in 10 minutes) were
to steam straight at her when immersed, and send
her bodily under the waves ? There is very little
doubt but that in a short time this Stevens's Bat-
tery will be afloat: But it will be just as much
behind the iron-clad frigates of this age as the old
American sailing 84's still on the stocks since 1815
are behind the screw liners of the present day. The
Federal Government, it is said, are building three
gunboats, to be cased with 3-inch armour plates.
Each of these, though costing only a tenth of the
price, is likely to be ten times as efficient as the
boasted Stevens's Battery, which ought to fall an
easy victim to the first frigate or corvette, wood
or iron, which lays her alongside. As a seagoing
armour frigate, she is so certain to be a costly
failure, that, even pressed as they are for war
vessels of any kind, the Federal Government
would willingly avoid finishing her if they could.
But the voice of the New York Press is so unani-
mous in favour of her being sent to sea as a check
upon the maritime preponderance of the Warrior,
that we may soon expect to find her afloat, though
not for long, if she ventures far from land.

Very few few of our readers probably are aware that
as long back as four-and-twenty y
set's ago the Ame-
rican Federal Government recognised the import-
ance of having armour-plated ships, and, aided by
one of their best engineers, Mr. S tevens, worked
out some of the chief difficulties of this method of
construction, and actually commenced an enormous
armour ship at the dockyard at Hoboken, New
York, in 1842. Towards the expens es of this great
vessel the Federal Government at .different times
granted some 500,000d015., and the Meors. Stevens,
the builders, spent about 200,000 dols. of their own
money, when, finding, in 1850 and 1851, that the
Government was in an ultra-pacific mood, and no
more money likely to be forthcoming, they wisely
declined further outlay on their own account, and
the works on the vessel in consequence gradually
languished and stopped, leaving this most curious
ship still on the stocks and but half finished.
Now, however, public interest in the plan is re-
vived, and as only 500,000 dole. wore is requi-
site to complete the vessel, the works on it are
again going forward, and the American journals
are already exchanging anticipatory gratula-
tions on the havoc and devastation which
this boat, when launched, will carry among
its enemies far and wide. Launched it undoubtedly
will soon be if hostilities should unhappily be forced
. is in
upon this country, and as it its way a most
curious vesiel, thaugh ita, 'perhaps, a very formid-
able one, an account of its principles of construction,
armour, and armament will just now be of interest
to our readers. When Mr. Stevens first contemplated
the idea of an armour-coated frigate, he found from
experiments that it required 16 times the thickness
of oak or teak to offer the same amount of resistance
to shot as iron, and that a well-made 4-inch slab of
wrought metal was equal in resistance to 5 feet 4
inches of oak. According to this theory, then, the
sides of our new Warriors are equal in resistance to
a thickness of 8 feet 10 inches of oak or teak. Mr.
Stevens's object, however, was not so much to stop
an enemy's shot as to have his plates at such an
angle as would give them a different direction,
which is another thing altogether. For this purpose
he determined that the armour should not be laid
at a less angle than 30 degrees, and that the plates
should be of 6 inches thickness, which, at such a
slope, he calculated would be equal in resistance to
a foot in thickness placed upright. With armour
of such immense solidity a deep immersion of the
ship was inevitable, and to do away, therefore, with
the necessity for coating her too heavily or over too
large a surface, ha devised a method by which the
ship, when!going into action, would instantly fill
her compartments with water, so as to bring her
down almost completely under the sea, submerging
all but the funnel and the ridge of guns on the apex
of the slanting armour plates, which cover in her
deck much after the fashion of a common ridge roof.
Mr. Stevens, in fact, considered water as the
cheapest and most thorough protection to be found
against the flight of projectiles, on account of its
perfect non-elasticity. His design, therefore, has
been to get as much as possible of this cheap defence
round his vessel, and, iu fact, as we have said, to
submerge her altogether, excepting her ridge of
guns and chimney.
Having said thus much of the chief principles
Mr. Stevens proposed in his ship, we shall now en-
deavour to show in what manner they are carried
out in the actual construction of the vessel itself.
The principal dimensions of it are :
Length over all .. .. .. .. 420 feet.
Length of beam over all .. .. .. 53 „
Breadth, exclusive of armour .. .. 45 „
Depth from main deck .. .. .. 21 „
Depth to upper or gun deck .. .. 24 „
Minimum draught of water .. .. 16 ~
Draught in fighting trim • . • • 21 „
Tonnage .. . • 4 • Ir Ir. 5100 -4011,8 M
Weight of engines .. • • • • 5'48.-. i, - I
Weight of boilers •• •• .. 266 ~
Weight of hull • • • • • • • • 1,447 ~
Weight of armour and loading houses.. 2,0J0 ~
Weight of eight guns and carriages .. 198 „
Weight of coal (entire capacity) • • 900 ~
Water lo immerse to 21 feet .. .. 923 „
Immersion without water .. .. 17 feet.
Area of midship section at 21 feet .. 810 „
The bottom part of the hull is built of rolled plates
one inch thick, tapering towards the top where they
meet the armour plates to half an inch. The iron ribs
like those of the Warrior, are 2 feet apart through.
out, and are formed by two_ 6 by 31 inch massive
angle irons rivetted together by their 31 inch flanges
so as to form an X. One side of the 6-inch flange
is rivetted to the outer skin, the other is punched
for rivetting to an inner skin, if on trial the vessel
should be found to require it. The main, or 21 feet
deck, as it is termed, is wood plated with iron,
strong enough to keep out any shells which might
enter from the apertures above. Over this 21 feet
deck (so called from the fact of its being 21 feet in
height from the inner kelson) the armour plates, 6
ieenhenitotenadehsetrwnesoe2bwsn ighbfc:cuohofa
fightinglaaoetlomlciinn
com-
partments thick, are built like a cover, sloping inwards
at an angle of 30 degrees for about 15 feet,
when they terminate in a flat armour deck, on which
the guns are placed fore and aft, and the loadings
houses are built. Externally, however, this armour
plate projects at each side beneath the water outside
the 21 feet deck, till it meets the inch plates
which form the bottom of the vessel, so that the
sedtpfstcbnocuuheaooetrebveriiattktolemrhhewmn,rreeeit is almost the same as that which would
be presented by a frigate plated and built on Mr.
Jones's plan of angular armour. The main or
21 feet deck is supported by the sides of the ship,
and by trusses of boilerplate placed upright from
the bottom of the vessel. Over the engines this
iron deck is supported by the engine frames, and at
other points secured by cross bulkheads. Longi-
tudinally with the sides of the vessel are two lines of
plate girders, passing along the upright trusses,
bolted to the deck beats, so that the main deck is, in
fact, secured to every part of the ship, and forms
both
About a
saestrrh2onutgacnstefaoebteerhestrfoslnueedste,:lepabfafair.
aonieosl
gTerotnmaerdi
aachettiol
mitnehteopifnisrafdrerevtcpbonabaothuotroewrelrmemleeomreuncbaw;sptteoitrwtshheoeerao,
heldnreirarhurdepsbtigbefin:gcalpronbhyehwnioaelertadmalpntidweiathatdebepetgsa,
rerliousu:
wboate.
wonmasibnofhndknsvteptiwmeihenehei
vrnetneehoei wholesboexasguryestteaflaxihehenarnotlnnotehgnafebgrdnt fabric.
ptthraiermtvm,eaesnd immersed all but the peak of her gun .deck.
dAebeokv, ebtehi
ne
g2,li
nf e
feat decke
t,t
the
eis
spacewhat
betweenis ca lled thet
he 124 feet
1
feet
and the armour cover over all. There are two screws
to this vessel, one under each quarter, and each
screw, of course, leading to its own set of engines,
placed on each side of the vessel. The ship, like the
Warrior, has no external keel, but the inner keel is
a box girder two feet high and two broad, on which
is laid a railway for sending the trucks of coals from
stem to stern. The engines are so arranged that
there is a free passage for this tramway throughout,
furnished with water-tight iron doors at all of the
many cross bulkheads. The lines of the ship are
remarkably fine, and the bottom flat, like that of
the Warrior. The corner of the vessel at the water
line is formed by the angular coat of armour falling
down over it, but above this, like the bulwarks of
an ordinary ship, a common timber siding outside
the angular armour-plated deck is continued to a
height of seven feet, in order to get as much steadi-
ness and buoyancy as possible. The mean angle of
bows and stern is about 14 degrees, and the pro•
portion of length to beam is as nearly as possible
that of the Great Eastern, or about eight to one.
The eight engines (four to each screw shaft) are
placed in the centre of the ship. The two screw
shafts, lying side by side, are eight feet apart at
the centre, from which they start, but diverge as
they run towards the siern to a distance of 22 feet
asunder. They also point down a little to get a better
hold in the water, being a foot lower at the screw

R. BRIGHT'S APHRODISION.-
x, The GREAT CHEMICAL COMBINATION of Phos-
phorus, Quinine, Iron, and other invigorating ingredients—
the never-tailingllemedy for Spermatorrlicea, and all Diseases
of the Reproductive System. A single course of this invalu-
able preparation insures health, strength, and manly vigour
in every stage of lite. Prices, 11s. per bottle, or four 11 s. bottles
in one, 335. This medicine has been confided to a Regis-
tered Physician, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons,
(England), who has devoted his exclusive attention to the
above diseases, and who will give advice without a fee to
those purchasing the medicines, either personally or by letter.
Hours of Consultation, from 11 till 8; Sundays, till 1 o'clock.
All communications and Post-Office Orders-to be addressed
to Ralph Bright, 44A, Maddox-street, Regent-street, W. (op-
posite the side of St. George's Church), London.

TRULY EFFICACIOUS AND AIILD.-
-1- Dr. SCOTT'S BILIOUS and LIVER PILLS, pre-
pared without-any mercurial ingredient, from the recipe of Dr.
,zeott, of Bromley, Kent, will be found invaluable to all who
suffer from bilious and iver complaints, indigestion, wind
spaems, giddiness, dizziness of the eyes, &c. For habitual
costiveness, as a family aperient medicine, and as a purifier
of the blood, they are truly excellent; mild in their opera-
tion and grateful to 'he stomach, they create appe-ite, pro-
Soldi an -trengthen the whole nervous system.
by W. Lambert, ?O. Jermyn-street. Haymarket, London,
nd by most druggists, in boxes, is. lid., and three times
the quantity in one, 2s. 9d. Be sure to ask for Dr. Scott's
Bilious and Liver Pills. The genuine are a square green
package, with " William Lambert." engraved on the stamp.

rrHE VIGOUR OF YOUTH RESTORED IN
I FOUR WEEKS by Dr. CORD'S ESSENCE OF

LIFE.
This wonderful agent will restore manhood to the most
shattered constitution, whether arising from self-pollution,
excesses, nocturnal emissions, the effects of climate, or natu-
ral causes. The time required to cure the most inveterate
case is four weeks ; and, if used according to the printed in-
structions (which are very simple). failure is impossible.
This life-restoring remedy should be taken by all about to
marry, as its effects are permanent. It is acknowledged by
the medical press to be the greatest discovery ever made.
Success in every case is as certain as that water quenches
thirst.
Dr. Rilord's Essence of Life is sold in cases, with full in-
structions for use, at 118., or four quantities in one for
and Will be sent to any part of the world, carefully packed,
on receipt of remittance or order payable to Front
and Co., Patent MedleineWarehonse, 229, Strand, London.

(Entered at Stationers' MIL)

8, GROSVENOR-STREET, GROSVENOTt-SQUARE,
ALL CONSULTATIONS FREE.

SMITHFIELD CLUB CATTLE SHO TV.

k RTIFICIAL TEETH on a NEW and DI-
PROVED PRINCIPLE, at TEN SHILLINGS EACH
TOOTH (including all charges.)
Mr. ESKELL'S PATE VIED INVENTION (protected by
her Majesty's Royal Seal, July, IRO), for adapting Arti-
ficial Teeth, from one to a complete set, by Self-Adhesion,
are fixed without springs or fastening, without pain or ex-
traction, restore perfect articulation and mastication, ren-
dering detection impossible, and last a lifetime.
"Unrivalled for its utilityand economy."—Morning Post.
"An admirable contrivance for remedying the defects of
nature, without requiring new sets of teeth."—Sun.
Decayed Teeth Stopped, Loose Teeth Fastened, Discoloured
Teeth Restored, &c. Constant Daily Attance at 8, Grosvenor-
street, Grosvernor-square, London; Old Steine, Brighton;
Bennett's-hill, Birmingham

DR. CULVERWELL S LAST NEW WORK,
OUR SE I'VE S.
Price Is., by post la. td.; of Mann, 29, Cornhill.
On Spermatorrhcca, Syphilis, Stricture, Haemorrhoids,
Gluts. kc.
Marriage Impediments removed, and Healthy Offspring
secured.

The Post-officeDr. C.Tmuarykisbiej
and from 1 till 9 p.m. at 3, Great Marlborough-street, W.
cßonasthulst,ela9d at
, 'aily till 12,
s- le-Gran d ;
DR. CULVERWELL'S NEW POST-OFFICE
TURKISH BATHS, 19, St. Martin's-le-Grand.
28. till 5, and is. ed. from 5 till 9 ; Sundays, ls. till 1.
An ESSAY on TURKISH BATHING, gratis.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
" The Use and the Abuse of the Turkish Bath.—A very
useful pamphlet has been published by Dr. Culverwell, the
proprietor of the Turkish Baths in the neighbourhood of the
Post-office, which presents to the uninitiated a mass of inte-
resting information, while those who have advantageoag
this new system will derive additional if they
observe some of the p:actical regulations which the writer
endeavours to enforce."—Herald and Standard, N0v.12, 1861.
" The Post-office Turkish Baths, 19, St. Martin's-le-Grand.
—Dr. Culverwell has already established the reputation of
an able physician; he has nowproved himself to be a worthy
philanthropist, in as far as he has established, in the heart
of the City, an institution that more nearly than any disco-
very, of modern days, goes nearer the abolition of the practice
of physic, than any proposition or invention yet established,
the Turkish Bath. . . Our object being merely to direct
the attention of our City readers to the fact that they possess
one of the best set of baths, at 19, St. Martin's-le-Grand,
which the country can produce; perfect in all Its appliances,
and most admirable in effect. Dr. Culverwell has fitted up
his baths with a degree of elegance, luxury, and refinement,
which, considering the space at his disposal, is truly sur-
prising, while everything' that taste or delicacy could desire.
has been obtained to add to the comfort and luxury of the
visitor. . . We may justly say that if a man ever feels
himself regenerated and new made, it is On COMI.IIg out of a
pct, ;301861.

• - , '''.•:-.... ~..' • .. •
4' . ..
• _ . . ~.., .
i \ ~,isiit , . •
~ .
l„„, :___ („..,... ;1:'746..49176‘...e-'11,,1k-H'l!),,e,' ;• . --.
~, ' -,,,i. i)1„.„..' _.. ..:
........„..79.
V. 4-.,•.: :.; . ~ _
. -
~...„ , ,7, ~ g• , •:. ...,- ..,#
.._.. •
i- • .
..
. ~...1, ~.. .
i:'.-\l4‘W':::,,,
...„:Il'_
~„::A,,,,,,,.: ,;),,,',6.,,..:,,..L:_.....::;,x,,,.---.---I''", :E.;2 ';.4,.1,77,,;;:, ~,;1..•:%:-.- ,: ;("Tr4' :'''...3
~ ...;014.--- v‘,., ~, .5',.,/,4 t `...., ~ ... , •,,, , ‘ , ii, 4.4, • , • '-: ' '''.,
.., ,
~, :
..
is
*1 .4 • , _
i., - fz--.
, ,ols ..• * no ---. . "-'"..'Si.';‘;-'. s. ~•
, P,,_ ••,,
sly ~-.....„...., .., ~..,..',-.7"1"-_-.4k.
, - . It
.„...
\ ' i"' ,
j..\.... ),
.„,-.
„.....
- --2,1 ott "
-..., • . .. ,
..'1,.:....;-'

-li

PRICE -...4d.

STAMPED ....sd.

brass howitzer, to be substituted for a 24-pounder
brass howitzer. Special orders have been given for
the revised armaments for the above steamers to be
prepared with the greatest possible speed.
The Defence, 22, 600 horse power, Capt. Powell,
C. 8., just commissioned at Chatham, is to have a
complement of 455 men, including marines. Not
the least difficulty will be experienced in obtaining
that number of men, the whole of whom will be
sent to her within a very few days.
Her Majesty's vessel Dotcrel arrived at Madeira
on Saturday, the 23d ult., after making a first-rate
passage in ten days from Plymouth, it blowing a
hard gale the whole way from the north-east. She
made in one day's run 230 miles. The Medea arrived
at the same time. She steamed the whole way,
while the Doterel sailed eight days out of ten. She
was to leave on the following day for Rio. The
Medea was to sail on the 24th ult. for Bermuda. The
Donegal had put in for coal.
The screw steam frigate Emerald, 51, Capt. A.
Cumming, got up steam yesterday morning in
Hamoaze, and proceeded outside Plymouth Break-
water for a trial of her machinery. She subse-
quently anchored in the Sound, and commenced
taking in her powder. At Plymouth it is reported
that she will accompany the troopship Melbourne,
Capt. Benson, to Halifax.
Consequent on the death of Capt. Morrish, her
Majesty's ship Imaum, Commander I. F. C. Mac-
kenzie has been appointed captain ; Lieut. Basil
. Hall, comma aud_ Sab. Lieut. S. S. Smith,
lieutenant.
The following appointments were made at the AdMiralty
last evening : • -
Lieutenant G. C. Masters to the Hero.
Master William H. Sharp, to the Asia, for- the Zutlej.
Chief Engineers—JohnM, OMs, to the Defence, William
Collier to ditto.
Assistant Engineers—Thomas Hartley, Samuel Wallis,
and Thomas Green, Ist class, to the Defence ; William
Williams, and Thos. Stew art, acting second-class, to ditto ;
Arch. Forrest, ditto, to the Cumberland, for the Julia ;
John R. Harvey, second class, to the Cumberland, for the
Cochin; James Wilson, second•class, to the Asia, for the
Echo.