The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-24
COM UNICATIONS.
INyINclBLE FIRE SHIPS.
E.I,a.. a Al. Iii.

ernment ifCongress should give notice OF the dis
continuance of the joint occuPany in Oregon, and
when the unequivocal opinion Of our people is ex-
pressed not to yield inch Of clear and we'll
established claims in that territory, il becomes W.
to provide every possible means 10 repel agrees
sion not only in that territory, but in sea-pors,
and on the whole length ofour widely.cxtended coast
So long as il rems ms question, what the best
modes Of defence are, ! think the government
should make such experiments as seem best csieu-
lated to promote the desired object
Among the various schemes which have been
presented TO the government for hsrbor defence, no
one Ia more worthy of a careful consideration than
thar OF Browns lrs-ships. His memorial, and the
papers In the case, were presented 10 the House on
the 18th instant, by the Hon Robert Smith, of lIi-
nois; and upon his motion, were referred to the
Committee on Naval Affairs These papers are
not for the first time brought before the House.
Az early as 1914, this invention tested in Bal
timore. and the experiments produced some extreme
ly satisfactory results; and in the same year the
House, after passing upon it, referred the subject to
the Secretary of the Navy, who made favorable
report
The experiments made at Baltimore in 1874
would have been more thorough, had not the deca-
ration Of peace been promulgated at that particular
uncture In the mds, OF the universal rejoicing which
that happy event elected, all war measures were
forgotten. The strife and din Of battle had ceased,
every heart welcomed the happy days OF peace,
and everything calculated to awaken ideas Of the
hardships and horrors Of war was made to give
place to the bonfrss and festivities Of the occasion
The invention has been Investigated by men OF
science and military skill, who have highly recon-
mended its adoption, and appropriations have been
repeatedly reported to test it, but, unfortunately,
have never passed both branches Of Congress. Ex-
periments have been made, however, sufficient to
test the power and destruetveness Of the FIRE ITSELF
but not in connexion with such vessel as would
be required to convey it to the deck Of an enemys
ship.
Mr.. Brown, the inventor, has the utmost conf
dence that his invention is capable of accomplishing
all the purposes for which il is intended and in
versing with numerous individuals in relation to it
within the last years, the writer has met
with an exception to the opinion entertained by the
inventor himself, among those who have have given
the subject anything like fair investigation.
The ancient Greek FIRE, which was introduced by
Cal,inicus Of Heliopolis, in the Tth century, and
continued in use down through the 18Th, prob
ably a Illuminating powder, as it was "sometmcs
wrapped in flax attached to arrows and jayelines,
and so thrown into the Notifications and other build
ings of the enemy TO set them fire. 1t also used
in throwing stone balls from iron metallic tubes
against the enemy" No accurate account of its
composition exists, nor il il known with any degree
Of certainty what were its principal ingredients.
Ii could not have been liquid. But whatever may
have been its component parts, ii is certain that
wherever it made Judgment, it spread terror and
devastation around and forced the enemy to take to
flight ,r.,....
unable to the onglos secret of their ances-
tors resorted to ships the next best cxped ent
to dscomht their enemies. These were old vessels
filed with combustble materials, covered with tar,
the ribs hold and sides lined with dried furze and
then sprinkled with sulphur. Gunpowder was then
deposited in different places, and at the moment of
using train laid which passed through every part
of the ship. After all this preparation, it became
necessary TO wait the approach of the enemy, and
then bear down upon his vessel come in contact and
grapple it, in order TO communicate the fire. In the
present improved mode of warfare such an attempt
would be perlous in the extreme, and in nine cases
out of ten few well directed broadsides would not
only annihilate the freshp ITSELF but with all its
daring ASSISTANTS.
Browns fre-ships are entirely of different char
acter His compositon-the mode of using it., at
ancient Greeks. His plan, briefly, is to constructs
vessel about two hundred feet long, sixty-6ve or
seventy feet wide, and sharp at both ends. The sides
be two feet thick of solid oak and ironhe deck to
rise in the centre, engthwise, forming inclined
plane at angle Of about eight degrees, and cover
ed with plates of iron The vessel to to I've propel
led by steam, by wheel in the centre, and the
wheel to be entirely protected by the sides of the
vessel. The manner Of propelng it would, of
course be subject to improvement by the great ad-
yances which have been made in vessels Of war and
in the propelling powers. In the hold, n metallic
tank or reservoir is constructed Of sufficient capacity
TO contain the liquid which it is designed to pour
upon the enemy. The fluid is to be projected by a
forcing piston, and guarded by safety valves as is
common in other cases of projecting fluids and
worked by the same engine which proPels the YES
sci itself The vessel is made to set low in the wa
ter--has no rigging, and nothing above deck save a
short smoke pipe. The crew that work her all
below, as well as her steersman and officers. She
is sleeping vocanoe. She hugs the shore, or lies
quietly behind some obtruding point, "long, low,
of the fishermen who ply their daily craft in the sur
rounding waters Night approaches, as one of those
magnificent and costly steamers from the "fast an
chored isle" feels her way stealthily into the bay!
She approaches. She has passed the foYt whose
batteries have failed to arrest her progress. Her
ho,-shot are kissing through the air and falling with
fatal precision upon the devoted city. But To- a
new actor appears upon the scene The volcano,
from her hiding place, has watched all her move
mcnts--folowed in her wake, and now pours upon
that living mass torrent pr fame, so tenacious that
it scorches and curs evsfy substance as scroll--it
flashes upon the deck az the "6re and hail ran along
upon the ground"-moun,s the tall spires, darts
from rope to rope, and scars into the upper sky.
Men scream in agony-stout hearts that knew no
fear before the lannon's month bow before 1t,
and rush to and fro maddened with the pain
which il nAiets Others plunge into the sea
to ouench the living flame that surrounds them.
Sill destruction progresses. Every combustbe
substance is alive with the devouring element.
The sturdy masts fashioned in elegance and beauty,
reel and totter for q moment, then come topping
down, crushing everything in their progress The
skv il lurid with the glare Of the burning mass,
and the adjacent hills re-echo the dreful sounds
from the terrific scene. At length the FIRE reaches
the magazine A tremendous explosion sewers every
seam Of the magnificent ship, which rode the waters
so gracefully but an hour before! For moment
the heavens are illumined and show with awful dis
,nctness the fragment Of that noble fabric, ana the
crushed masses Of Inflated human beings Morning
breaks The volcano may be seen in her snug niche
nm The shore, apparently deserted and as harm
less AZ The places where lie the dead whom she has
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