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

No. 16,203. LONDON, MONDAY EVENING SU NI JULY 22, 1844.

PRICE sd.

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_ .
sea on the starboard side—a plain proof that the slikis., star-
board bilge was carried away. The decks, however, were
not bloWn up, but remained entire when the ship 'sank—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 hazard conjectures
of our own. To this fact we can bear testimony—the_swift;
and sudden,
and complete destruction of the ship ; and wee 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 Dow 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 experiments
are too costly. We are always advocates of economy of the
public money, but parsimony is sometimes the worst of
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 Warner a few years ago announced that he
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 fulniinis opera sent," 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 inacces-
sible to conviction. Sir R. Peel,indeed, having witnessed the
tearing to pieces of a strong boat filled up with tinter, at.
Wanstead, in the spring of 1842, went so far. as to say that
Captain Warner certainly did possess a fearful power of the
easy etnd practical applicability of which he required far-
ther proof. It will be recollected, that shortly after the
present Premier came into office, a cotninis4on 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 Sir
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 Caffin. 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 into-wed 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.
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 MT. Somee, 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, *e 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 such
was the only way in which the "invisible shell" would ever
go off.
_ -

- 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 thexenewed
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 *lug the
sea, the chain pier, the steipe, 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
at-
tractive attendance of ladies, whose generally fashionableattire, as they were seated at the windows and in. the coaches,
by a row of carriages and other vehicles. There was an
coupled with the elegant equipages interspersed, greatly en-
livened the steno; 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 Num, Lord J. Beresford,
Lord `V.
.Cowper, Lord Southampton, Marquis of. Exe*r,
the Marquis of Lorne, Lord Alfoid, M.P. ; Lord HUngerford,
Lord Lovaine, Lord Aylmer, Lord Templetown, the Bishop
of Oxford, Lord Tadcaster, Mr. M. Gore, M.P., Mr. Mac-
kinnon, M.P. 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.P.,
Captain Boldero, M.P., Mr. E. Tennent, M.P., Hon. Captain
Murray, R.N., Colonel Dundas, Captain R. Burton, R.N.,
Hon. Sydney Pierrepoint, Chevalier Benkhausen (the Ruszian
Consul), Captain E. Lloyd, R.N., Sir M. Cholmondeley, Sir
T. Whichcote, Captain Henderson, R:N., Captain Dicke-
son, R.N., Captain Stevens (Marine- Artillery), Hum. General
Upton, Captain Britten, Colonel Sykes, Mr. W. Peel,
Somes, Sec.,' including several Directors of the East India
Company.
The hittery....which is' about the centre of, the steins was
'was
the grand positlinrrahnm most of the elite of the nobles, pro-
±.l..ir_position • and it was
across the long guns,sa
to observe
oabnsde
rfNa
ehtihoenbma
leaningles toul'
telescopes pointed towards Shoreham roads, where the devoted
barque was lying, and whither two steamers, the Sir William
curious
Wallace (on board 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 dissatisfac-
tion, 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 for the experiment,
and in raising and detaching the anchor and cables. This
was a slow process, and unintelligible to the majority of the
spectators, who resolutely held up their glasses, which
gleamed in the sunshine like files of musketry, until they
became fatigued, and impatiently wondered what imhe
world
' Captain Warner and his people could be al-,out. Lord
Brougham undisguisedly expressed his suspicion that the
affair would end in nothing but smoke, and there would be
no explosion. " You never intended to do 'At," said he to one
of Captain Warner's friends. "Is it not extraordinary," he
asked, " that with a fair wind and two steam-boats, they
cannot bring the ship up that short distance?" But every
one is not so rapid in his movements as the Noble and Learned
Lord ; 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
Brougham 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 war
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 tardiness in ;oing 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 Ter e,
which followed astern for the purpose of keeping off any
persons who might be influenced by their curiosity to, tome
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 ani'A'five
so that it was nearly six o'clock before she we fairly towed
to the position she was to occupy, about a mile and •a
quarter from the battery. Now two men ''',(ho had remained
on board.to manage her helm, or do anytt
Jing else that might
be necessary, hurried out of her, and w
'Ju"-
t It 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 Would
hoist a Union Jack from the flagstaff on:the battery at any
time they chose to select, which would be replied to by Cap-
thin 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 Tees 'tent rather fi;,r-
ther astern. Captain Warner's signal had been flying some
time before it was answered from the battery, :did then arose
another delay in consequence of some advent arous persons
in a small cutter, in spite of the presences,,of the Tees, and of
to keep off intruders,
two armed revenue cutters besides,
going close alongside the ship. C,aptain Warner hauled the
Union Jack half-way down only until the cutter and its fool-
hardy occupants were out ‘.-4i• danger. The Union Jack was
then hauled down enti:ely. Every one now felt that the
grand crisis had P.:4•rived. Every eye was" directed +Lowards
the scene of on :rations, and in less than five
after-
wards the '.4xplosion took place. The instrument of destruc-
tion,rainAtes
,*;hatever it was, seemed to strike the vessel midships,
;fr that point a huge column of water. in which was
intermingled some of the shingle of which
composed, shot up perpendicularly into thr
her highest topmast; her mizen went by s air higher than
'4'ier ballast was
mast, a new otre, was shot clean out of
heeled over to port to an angle of
...tie board, her main-
tier like a rocket; she
hatchway being open, daylight war visibledegrees,
bot-
tom timbers on her starboard side, and
Ithrough her and her man
also, having been blown awe probably her loarboard.
3rl PAnd. she seemed to part asun-
top of her foremast. The timer
der as she went down, leavin D:othing perceptible but the
which passed from her being
struck and her sinking corad not have exceeded two mi-
nutes and a half. Some 'few of tile more enthusiastic spec-
tators, chiefly profesa;!;mal men, raised a cheer, but with the
mass all was mute 'astonishment. The eyes were rivetted on
the last olnervable fragment of the large object that but the
monlerftiefore floated gallantly on the waters "'like a thing of life."
The expression on the countenances of the multitude
generally seemed to say—What was it? illusion? A
ream ? 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 thouv.nds 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 of 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 ~xplosion on a peopled ship, thus silently
and suddenly Krishing. To convey the .efiect in words is
difficult—eVaemely difficult. Language is inadequate' for
the description ; it cannot flow fast enough, and a single sen-
tence .'s too long to tell the tale. It was like a dissolving.
vioW.- At one instant you see the tall ship riding proudly one
the waves ; at the next she is enveloped in tha.elemenis of
her perdition ; another moment only, and her shattered limbs
are engulfed in the deep !
Many a one loitered on j/ie shore pondering °vela sight
more wonderful than .an3s they had beheld before, however
strange. It was the only *topic', of conversation with high and
low, gentle and rude. Several persons went off it boats, to.
have a closer inspection of the grate of the ItyCkless ve;AP.
The boatmen picked up fragments of the de/n..43, which they
hawked about the town, and sold as relics to the curious.
During the night the greater portion of the wreck was eftr-
ried away, and on the following morning nothing could be
seen but the foremast standing a little above the water, a