The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-22 00:00:00

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sea on. the starboard side— plain proof that the ship's et.
board b away. The decks, however, were
not blown up, but remained entire when the ship sanit;•-a.-
clear proof that the force, whatever it was, and from what-
ever quarter it proceeded, was external, and not from within:
the cavity of the ship.
We notice this as a fact from which important conclusions
may be drawn; but we will not imitate the example of many,
around us in this scene of excitement, and haiard conjectures
of our own. To this fact we can bear testimony—the swift;
and sudden, and complete destruction of the ship ; and vie are;
authorised by Lord Ingestrie and Captains Dickeson and.
Henderson to give their decided opinion, founded upon an:
examination of the vessel and the facts displayed in the.
course of the experiment, that the cause of destruction vas:
exterior, and not intrinsic. The applicability of this terrific-
power to purposes of actual warfare must be tested by the-
competent and constituted authorities, but of its existence in
the possession of an individual there is now such evidence
that an omission on the part of Government to sift this'
matter thoroughly would be culpable in a high degree. We'
understand that since the accession of Sir Robert Peel to.
power various negotiations have been instituted between
Captain Warner and the Government, all which have gone.
off or been suspended, on the ground that his experimentt]
are too costly. We are always advocates of economy of the,
public money, but parsimony is sometimes the worst cif_
economy, and whatever affects the maritime supremacy of
Great Britain is of such stupendous importance, that no-
pecuniary consideration of an ordinary amount ought to.
stand in the way of a proper investigation of any matters.
affecting that supremacy.
When Captain W:irner a few years ago announced that .be'
could send a line of-battle ship or a whole fleet to perdition
in a moment, annihilate a castle, a fort, or a town, with equal
ease and expedition, the public thought he was drawing the
long bow. " Mira fulminis opera aunt," said they, but really:
this is too great a demand upon our credulity. Thereupon..
Captain Warner was compelled to make a demonstration of;
the destructive power of his " invisible shell," or bottled
lightning, but his experiments being conducted before few
witnesses, and though successful, somewhat involved in.:
mystery, he found the public mind to a great extent inacqs
sible to conviction. Sir R. Peel, indeed, having witnessed tine -
tearing to pieces of a strong boat filled up with timber, at
Wanstead, in the spring of 1842, went so fax as to say that
Captain Warner certainly did possess a fearful power of the
easy and practical applicability of which he requited fur-
ther
proof. It will be recollected, that shortly after the
present Premier came into office, a commission was ap-
pointed
to investigate and report upon the merit:of Captain
Warner's discovery. That commission consisted origin-
ally of Admiral Sir Byam Martin and Admiral iiir
Edward Owen; but the latter being ordered to the Mediter-
ranean, Sir H. Douglas was appointed in his stead. Some
contrariety of opinion led to the retirement of both these
commissioners, and they were succeeded by Colonel Chalmer
and Captain Caffln. Meantime Captain Warner had urged
upon the Government the purchase of his secret, and offered ;
to exhibit its effects on a large scale, if the Government
would defray the expense. He was then requested to send
in an estimate of the expense, which he did, but ; the Go-
vernment offered no more than one-fourth of the required
sum and the intended demonstration was therefore not
made. No more was heard of the matter, and people put
the " invisible shell" as being, beyond a doubt, an exploded
affair, until the fact was reported that a London shipowner
had presented Captain Warner with a large vessel with a
polite request that he would do him the favour to blow her
to atoms if he could.

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John o'Gaunt was the the name of the devoted ship
She was a barque of 300 tons burden, three-masted, tall, full*
bowed, strong, and seaworthy. She had recently returned
from the Levant, whither she had been with Government
stores, and was, it was said, to have gone out again on a
similar errand. By direction of Mr. Somes, the donor, she
was given up to Captain Warner in the early part of the
present month, and on the 10th instant sailed from the
Thames, but on her arrival at Gravesend, the crew having
learned her destination, most of them deserted, under an ap-
prehension that they might share her fate. After some
delay, other men were procured, and she was piloted for
Brighton, where, as will be recollected, it was announced
that she was to be blown up on Saturday, tthe 13th instant,
and several noblemen, officers, and gentlemen proceeded
thither on that day only to be disappointed, an adverse wind
having compelled her to anchor in the Downs. This cir-
cumstance revived public distrust to a certain extent, and
many persons who had come from London returned with a
lurking suspicion that they had been hoaxed, and that ouch
was the only way in which the "invisible shell" would ever
go 0ff....

...•
On Wednesday last, however, the John o'Gaunt was
towed by a steamer to Shoreham-roads, off Brighton, and
moored there, the knowledge of which fact, and the renewed
assurances of Captain Warner that he would fulfil his pro-
mise, excited the public curiosity afresh, and on Saturday,
the day appointed for the explosion, all the world seemed to
be at Brighton. The beach, the cliffs, the houses facing the
sea, the chain pier, the steine, in fact the whole range of the
coast from Shoreham to the upper extremity of Brighton,
soon after noon presented a truly gay and animated appear-
ance, being lined with crowds of persons, who were flanked
by a row of carriages and other vehicles. There was an at-
tractive attendance of ladies, whose - generally fashionable
attire, as they were seated at the windows and in the coaches,
coupled with the elegant equipages interspersed, greatly en-
livened the scene; and the weather was extremely fine.
Among other distinguished persons present were, Earl Man-
vers, Lord Brougham Lord Combermere, 'Viscount Ingestre,
M.P.; Lord Ranelagh, Marquis of Douro, Lord J. Beresford,
Lord W. Cowper, Lord Southampton, Marquis of Exeley,
the Marquis of Lorne, Lord Alford, M.P. ; Lord Hungerford,
Lord Loyaine, Lord Aylmer, Lord Templetown, the Bishop
of Oxford, Lord Tadcaster, Mr. M. Gore, M.P., Mr. Mac-
kinnon, M.l'., Mr. Tomline, M.P., Mr. Lindsay, M.P., Mr.
Neville' M.P., Mr. R. Yorke, M.P., Hon. Mr. Fitzroy,
M.P., Mr. Lyall, M.P., Mr. Cole, M.P., Mr. Eaton, M.r.,
Captain Boldero, M.P., Mr. E. Tennent, M.P., Hon. Captain
Murray, 'R.N., Colonel Dundas, Captain 11. Burton, R.N.,
Hon. Sydney Pierrepoint, Chevalier Benkhausen ( the Rus. ian
Consul), Captain E. Lloyd, R.N., Sir M. Cholmondeley, Sir
T. Whicheote, Captain Henderson, R.N., Captain Dicke-
son, R.N., Captain Stevens (Marine Artillery), Hcn. General
Upton, Captain Britten, Colonel Sykes, -Mr. W. Peel, /gr.
Somes, &c., including several Directors of the East India
COmpany.
. The battery, which is' about the centre of the steine, was
the grand position ; there most of the elite of the nobles, pro-
fessionals, and fashiouables took up their position ; and it was
curious to observe them leaning across the long guns, with their
telescopes pointed towards Shoreham roads, where the devoted
barque was lying, and whither two steamers, the Sir William
Wallace (on hoard of which was Captain Warner) and the
Tees had gone. It was expected that the explosion' would
take place at three o'clock, but it did not until three hours after
that time, and the delay produced considerable dissatisfae-
tick), and doubts were audibly expressed that, after all, there
would be no explosion but of popular fury. More than an
hour was passed in the removing from the ship cordage and
other stores which were not necessary tin- the experiment,
and in raising and detaching the anchor and cables. This
w4s a slow process, and unintelligible to the majority of the
spOetators, who resolutely held up their glasses, which
gl4amed in the sunshine dike files of musketry, until they
bename fatigued, and impatiently wondered what iu the world
C4tain Warner and Isis people could be about. Lord
Brougham undisguisedly expressed his suspicion that the
afibir would end in nothing but smoke, and there would be
n&explosion. " You never intended to do it," said he to one
T
of (Captain Warner's friends. "Is it not extraordinav," he
as ed, " that with a fair wind and two steam-boats, they
ca not bring the ship up that short distance?" But every
one is not so rapid in his movements as the Noble and Learned
Lokd ; who, it must be admitted, was only giving utterance
to the general feeling. But the fact was that there were not
hands' enough employed to do the work quickly. Lord
Brbughtun said he should go, and he would have gone, but
just then Lord Ingestre called out that the ship was in mo-
tion. This was about five o'clock ; but the tow-line had not
yet been attached, and the vessel swung round and was
drifting away with the tide towards Shoreham. Shortly
afterwards, however, her retrograde movement was observed
to receive a check, and the immediate appearance of a rope
reaching from her bow to the Sir William Wallace, which
was ahead, indicated that at last her tardineee in going to
the place of execution would be overcome. Meanwhile some
of the few men who had been left in charge of her descended
into a boat and rowed off, as if for their lives, to the Tees,
which followed astern for the purpose of keeping off any
persons who might be influenced by their curiosity to come
within range of danger. The tide, as is obvious from what
was said before of her drifting, was against her, and the
distance she was to be brought between four and five miles,
so that it was nearly six o'clock before she was fairly towed
to the position she was to occupy, about a mile and a
quarter from the battery. Now two men who had remained
on board to manage her helm, or do anything else that might
be necessary, hurried out of her, and went off in a boat with
greater expedition, if possible, than their shipmates had
previously.

It had been agreed between Lord Ingestre and other offi-
cers and Captain Warner, that he should hoist a Union Jack
at the mast-head of the steamer when he was ready to ope-
rate, and keep that signal flying until those on shore should
hoist a Union Jack from the flagstaff on:the battery, at any
time they chose to select, which would be replied to by Cap-
tain Warner hauling down his signal, and then immediately
the operation would take place. The Sir William Wallace
having let go the tow line returned abreast of the John
o' Gaunt for a few moments, but for what purpose we could
not discover; she then took up her position about a quarter
of a mile ahead of the ship, while the Thes went rather fur-
ther astern. Captain Warner's signal had been flying some
time before it was answered from the battery, and then arose
another delay in consequence of sonic adventurous persons
in a small cutter, in spite of the presence of the Tees, and of
two armed revenue cutters besides, to keep off intruders,
going close alongside the ship. Captain Warner hauled the
Union Jack half-way down only until the cutter and its fool-
hardy occupants were out of danger. The Union Jack was
then hauled down entirely. Every one now felt that the
grand crisis had arrived. Every eye was directed towards
the scene of operations, and in less than five minutes after-
wards the explosion took place. The instrument of destruc-
tion, whatever it was, seemed to strike the vessel midships,
for, from that point a huge column of water, in which was
intermingled some of the shingle of which her ballast was
composed, shot up perpendicularly into the air higher than
her highest topmast ; her mizen went by the board, her main-
mast, a new care, was shot clean out of her like a rocket ; she
heeled over to port to an angle of 45 degrees, and ker main
hatchway being open, daylight was visible through her bot-
tom timbers on her starboard side, and probably her loarboard
also, having been blown away, and she seemed to part asun-
der as she went down, leaving nothing perceptible but the
top of her foremast. The time which passed from her being
struck and her sinking could not have exceeded two mi-
nutes and a half. Some few of the more enthusiastic spec-
tators, chiefly professional men, raised a cheer, but with the
mass all was mute astonishment. The eyes were rivetted can
the last observable fragment of the large object that but the
moment before floated gallant ly on the waters "'like a thing of
life." The expression on the countenances of the multitude
generally seemed to say—What was it? An illusion? A
dream ? A magical trick ? A work of destruction so sudden,
so frightful, so stupendous, appeared impossible for a moment
even to the thousand and tens of thousands that witnessed it.
It was like an awful mystery. There were none of the ordi-
nary circumstances which accompany similar catastrophes.
There was no smoke, there was no fire, there was no noise,
save the low groan f the rending timbers, and the succeed-
ing hush of the waters as they rolled over the instantaneous
wreck, and then arose a melancholy feeling, for it was im-
possible to prevent the imagination depicting the terrific
effects of such an explosion on a peopled ship, thus silently
and suddenly perishing. To convey the effect in words is
difficult—extremely difficult. Language is inadequate for
the description ; it cannot flow fast enough, and a single sen-
tence is too long to tell the tale. It was like a dissolving
view. At one instant you see the tall ship riding proudly on
the waves; at the next she is enveloped in the elements of
her perdition ; another moment only, and her shattered limbs
are engulfed in the deep !
Many a one loitered on the shore pondering overl a sight
more wonderful than any they had beheld before, however
strange. It was the only topic of conversation with high and
low, gentle and rude. Several persons went off in boats, to
haverrhe
•agments of the debris, which they
scpkeecdtiuopn ofif the grav'o of the luckless vessel.
boatmen act! ions ee nr inspection of the grav'O of the luckless vessel,
The boatmen pi
hawked about the town, and sold as relics to the miaow.
During the night the greater portion of the wreck was car-
ried away, and on the following morning nothing could
seen but the foremast standing a little above the water, VIN,