The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1862-11-07


was so foul, that Notwithstanding the most
favorable weather and a smooth sea, she on
ly realized a mean trial speed of - 2O9 knots,
fully 2.145 knots less than the speed of the
Warrior. The ship was brought now again
into the dry dock, got her bottom cleaned,
and in her last trial trip she attained speed
of 1887 knots. Though fully one knot less
than the Warrior, yet showing that the ship
had lost in herprevious trial fully OOS knots
on account of fouling of her bottom in the
short time of weeks.
The trial speed of the Resistance, with
clean bottom, all stores on board, has been
proved to be 1856 knots; what it probably
will be now, after the ship has been laying
only weeks in the Medway, you may Judge
from the following official account:
"The Resistance, Is guns screw iron frig-
ate, was placed in dock at Portsmouth on the
9th Sept inst, and her bottom found to be in
an extraordinary state for ship on the home
station, bearing more the appearance of hav-
ing gone through long commission on the
coast Of Africa. The entire bottom of the
ship was covered with weeds and long grass
of every kind and color, with huge patches
and nussels here and there on the port side,
together with good sprinkling of barnacles.
On the starboard side, however, the barnacles
extended from stem to stern, with an immense
quantity of weeds and long grass; the latter
in some places, as under the counter, full 3
feet in length. Large mussels, too, extended
fore and aft in clusters, hanging in places as
large as conks. From the stem to abreast
the forechains on this side, about feet be-
low the waterline, belt of musses adhered
to the ships bow of from two TO five inches
IN thickness, and from to = feet broad
, The whole ofthe composition which had been
laid on to protect the iron on this side ap-
pears to have been destroyed, and patches of
rust, more particularly under the quarter,
have eaten their way through"
Let our government look well at these
facts before they increase their fleet of iron
Monitors, which for service at sea consider
as failures.
snail give You now an account of the Eng
lish iron-cased ships now building
lSf Sh;ns hnilt of iron
The Achilles, building at Chatham. sister
ship to the Warrior. with some slight atera-
tons in the shape of her bottom. which is a
little fuller in the bilge. In the plating of
the ships some new features. indeed great
improvements, will be introduced She will
be cased from stem to stern in the vicinity of
the loadline; but her battery vii! be IRON
cased only to the same extent as that of the
Warrior: and, like her, the cased part will be
guarded by two strong iron-cased bulkheads
running across the main deck Her power
and armament will be like that of the War
lior, on which ship she will be great i'm
provement. Her speed is estimated at I.lO
knots. 1t will take fully two years 20 finish
her, because the government finds the great
est difficulty in procuring iron which will
stand the test ofstrength applied to it. Hun
dreds of tons of anSle-ron and platc-iron
have been condemned there already on this
account. Another great reason against the
adoption of iron ships. The government
test for iron is 90 tons with the grain, and l9
tons across the grain. In The private yards
where no control of that kind is exercised OF
course good and bad plates are worked in
and we see in that one of the reasons why SO
many ships break up in such fearful man
ner whenever they strike bottom
: The Hector and Valiant, of 30 guns, 4 ,06]
tons and 500 horsepower, are building. The
first at Glasgow, the second at Newcastle
Their estimated speed is 1l.7j knots. Moth
ing has been decided yet how these ships ar.
to be plated.
The Egincourt, ,Minotaur and Northumber
land, of 80 guns, 6,62l tons and $40 horse
power, are building respectively at Birken
head, Blackwall and Millwall. They will bs
cased from stem to stern with .! inch iror
, plates on a wooden backing of 10 inches, a
least that was the original plan; if It will b,
carried out thus is yet doubtful, for the lates
experiments have already proved that 4! incl
. iron on % inch timber backing (like the War
f rior) offer much better security against tn
: effects of shot, than 81 inch iron backed b
f 10 inches of timber.
} The armament of these ships will consis
e all in 6S-pounder solid shot-guns. and 10
e and llO-pounder Armstrong guns. Thei
|, trial speed has been estimated and calculate
l. at 14.30 knots, and without any doubt the
T. will be formidable vessels.
S The Prince Albert, of l2 guns, 2,529 tor
], and 500 horsepower, is building at Millwal
e She is to be provided with six cupolas or tu
h rets on Capt Coles plan. She is to be plate
y with D! inch iron, but even that has not bee
d. decided yet. The opinion of nearly all pra
al tical men is decidedly against these shiel'
a. ships.
IS come now to the wooden iron-cased shi,
ly in process of construction, of which SO Fl
re four classes have been adopted.
ly The first and by far the most formidab
ID class are the frigates of "a guns, conyer,s
IS, from the 81 screw line-of-battle ships, la
down in 1859. These ships were cut dow