The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-19 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

On the " Affairs of the Navy," our able weekly contem-
porary, the Plymouth Times, of Saturday last, contains an-
other forcible article. Speaking of the late experiments on
board the Scourge steam-sloop at Portsmouth, it observes, in
corroboration of our own statements :
" This important step in naval warfare certainly origi-
nated with Sir George Cockburn, always actively engaged
in forwarding the interests of the country in various ways,
but more especially in the department of its navy, with the
whole routine of which he is most thoroughly acquainted.
His view of the propriety of giving steam ships a mortar arma-
ment cannot but be considered a wonderful advance in steam
warfare. And here we may remark upon the great import-
ance to the Government of having about them well-educated
men to carry into certain operation any comprehensive view
which the heads of its naval department may entertain from
great personal experience in the navy, of the construction,
armament, &c., of its ships."
It is a poor satisfaction that the country is indebted to the
blunders of the Navy-office for those experiments. But for
the failure of the Scourge, a steamer of 1,124 tons burden, to
carry an armament commensurate with her great tonnage,
these important results would not have been ascertained, at
least for some time. The Scourge was designed by the
surveyor as a powerful steam-frigate; but the Cyclops,
Gorgon, and others, proving inefficient, in consequence of
the mistakes committed in calculating their displacement,
weights, kc., the somewhat more indefinite term of " steam-
vessel" was given to her—postponing the classification until
they ascertained her real draught of water when launched,
when they could call her a " frigate" or a "sloop," as their
inaccuracies would allow them. Unfortunately, she did not
prove an exception to the general rule, and even as a
" sloop," she was deemed inefficient, and was thus selected
to ascertain the capability of steamers to fire shells from
mortars. The Plymouth Times gives the credit of furnish 7
ing all the plans and calculations for this experiment, to-
gether with the working out of the details, to Mr. Watts,
the master•builder's assistant, at Portsmouth (a member of
the proscribed School of Naval Architecture), " who stands
highly distinguished for sound judgment and mathematical
and mechanical ability."

The vilifiers of the School of Naval Architecture, who say
that "it is an insult to common sense to talk of these school-
men as qualified ship-builders, versed in the routine of the
dockyards, as we have daily proofs of their total inefficiency,"
in almost the same breath, speaks thus of Mr. Watts, in no-
tieing the exercise of his professional skill on one of the sur-
veyor's other blunders :--

The sliding step of the Vanguard's mainmast was
moved forward three inches, without lifting the mast, which
Mr. Watts, a most active and talented officer, proposed to
execute, for the purpose of saving time and trouble in
shifting the mast. To all the uninitiated, aye, and to some
of the supposed initiated, this appeared an extremely bold
proposal, on account of the very confined space in which
the operation was to be performed ; but Mr. Watts's ar-
rangements and calculations were so complete, that to the
surprise and delight of all those who witnessed it, the mast,
top, and cap, rigging, and stays, the whole weighing up-
wards of thirty tons, were moved by only eight or ten me-
chanics, with screw and wedges—displaying a beautiful ex-
position of the facility of moving the greatest weight by
these modifications of the inclined plane."
From so polluted a source even this testimony to the truth
is deprived of half its force. The same parties, after having
heaped the utmost opprobrium on the members of the
School of Naval Architecture, have not hesitated, on occa-
sions on which such pretensions could not be disputed, to
claim credit for a connexion with it, and to seek advice and
assistance from its distinguished members.
The men who have by extraordinary assiduity and great
practical experience in naval architecture attained high
positions in the building department of the Government
service, and those who have, to a regular course of
scientific instruction, superadded a thorough practical ac-
quaintance with the details of ship-building, are alike the
objects of the vituperation of the Navy-office—all are pro-
scribed and denounced as inefficient men who do not admire
the " happy intuitive" principles of the surveyor and his man
Friday; their virulence increasing in proportion to their suc-
cessive failures. But such a state of things cannot last. The
Admiralty must see the advantage of altering the constitu-
tion of the present Navy-office, and of rendering full and
ample justice to the distinguished members of the late School
of Naval Architecture. Talus says our contemporary:—
"We are firm in our conviction of the absolute necessity
which exists, more especially in the present state of the
Government ship-building, for resorting to some gcod and
well-ordered national establishment, by which the great
master minds of the country may be enlisted and brought
forward by a proper course of education in the science of
naval architecture, as applied to the Government service,
and in the meantime, to put into responsible official situa-
tions, men such as Mr. Watts, Mr. Peak, Mr. Chatfield'
and others, who have been educated upon the faith
of an absolute contract with former Governments, signed by
the King in Council, pledging the Government to that effect,
and who have evinced capabilities and talents elicited by that
education worthy of encouragement. Is it not really painful
to see the son of a gentleman seventeen years a surveyor
of the navy, and who entered the service upon
the faith of a solemn compact with the Govern-
ment, kept down in a subordiate situation, after thirty
years' service, upon no fait pretence whatever, but
merely to suit the purposes of party political views, and
gratify the prejudices of certain interested persons; whilst
men of little or no claim to consideration as men of educa-
tion and professional attainment, have been promoted over
his head? Verily, the Reform Admiralty of 1831 have much
to answer for. 'This was reforming abuses with a vengeance.
It was, however, understood, from a statement made in the
Devonport Yard by a certain leading man at Somerset
House, that not one of those gentlemen would be promoted
whilst a joint of the surveyor's tail remained in power ;'
but nous verrons We consider such an abuse as this a blot
on the escutcheon of the Admiralty, which we scarcely think
the present Board will like to see remain.
. .

"We need only refer to the report of the Commissioners
of Naval Revision, to show in what a wretched low state
the education and attainments of the old class of ship-
wrights, who fancy themselves qualified for the highest de-
partments of the service, generally rests; and hence, as
stated by those same Commissioners, it is imperative to
put an end to that want of foresight which may lead to so
much danger to the country.' Will any one believe if such
men as Creuze, Bonnycastle, Parsons, and others, who have
been fairly driven out of the service by disappointment,ha d
been allowed to have taken their fair place in the ship-
building department of the Government, as guaranteed to
them, the Admiralty would have experienced tthieeveeexnsatitroaues
in
expense and failures they have encounteredl
.merast? a
ruinous Should
cost to the country, without a good scientific Nt
vi Oe
have and
had armament
tion of the merits of one of their class, and a sound and
c determina-
variou so f i
shipsits
s ssitetipusp batches,stea
know-
ledge of what was requisite to ensure perfection in all the
others? We had only a short time since no less than six
iron steamers built in private yards, from drawings furnished
by the surveyor's department of the Admiralty, not one
of which has realised the intended design. No sooner
were the first of them in the water and tried, than they
were found to be complete failures, and they underwent all
sorts of changes—one was paid off in despair. Never was
suck tinkering—all sorts of people were consulted. We
believe the cutting down the masts of the Jackall and Blood-
hound, and substituting short pole gear with four and aft
sails, was recommended by the Queen's Harbour-Master,
Mr. Walker. When this state of affairs became public, the
surveyor's department threw the blame on the Admiralty,
and on Messrs. Ditehburn and Mare, the contractors, and
pleaded as an excuse that they were only asked for hand-
some lady-like drawings, without reference to particular
weights ; this, however, was evidently an excuse. Certain,
however, it is, that no less than six steam-vessels were built
by the Government, of little or no use to the country, whose
Treasury paid the piper, to the tune of at least 50,0001. For
this expenditure no one appears responsible, the surveyor's
department having, like the scuttle-fish, when disturbed,
thrown out a cloud of dark inky matter, and run off in the
midst of its own confounded confusion. Now, if we had a
good Board of Naval Construction and Revision, composed of
properly educated and qualified men, such monstrous absur-