Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1866-12-15
A STARTLING NOVELTY IN NAVAL
ARCHTTECTURE-THE MANTO-
NUMAH OUTDONE.

Though we have not been so enterpris.
ing as the Americans in devising new
models for men, ofwar, yet a report which
we published in our last impression, con
tains enough to show that our expert
ments are not deficient in audacity, and
that our authorities cannot be considered
absolutely the slaves of routine. When
the Waterwitch glides into a foreign port,
under full water, she will astonish the
spectators as completely as the Chinese
were astonished at first seeing ships IN
der steam. This last new plan of making
a ship seaworthy, consist in scuttling her.
To get a swift, efficient gunboat, of the
very latest pattern, we take a well-bnilt
craft, bore a number of small holes IN
her bottom, then fit her with a wafer
wheel and send her out to sea. * x =
\ r The Waterwitch, with all her nov
city, is still literally q steamer. She has
engines Of 160 horsepower, which turn a
huge water-wheel, fourteen-and-a-half feet
in diameter, and weighing eight tons.
The water required for Der work is ad
mitted through holes in the bottom of a
vessel to a long iron box, somewhat anal
ogous to the :" well Of a Thames punt
in which gudgeons are kept alive. Then
the wheel, put in motion by the engine.
sucks 10 the water in discharges it with
immense force through what We call the
water-guns, outside the ship. The form
and shape given to those pipes for the
generation Of the required force will be
seen 10 the report, but what remains TO
be ascertaimed is the comparative cheap
ness and general advantages Of the force
itself. The advocates of the new system
say that it yields a greater power in
proportion to the coal consumed than the
old screw or paddle system !; that less
power is wasted that the vessel, which
is what the American call a "double-eud
err" can either be driven backward or
forward at pleasure, without stopping or
reversing of the engines; and that, 10
fact, the officer in command on deck Can
change the ships's course. as well as
modify her speed, instantaneous!y, with,
out communicating with the engine room
at all. A still more singular advantage
is claimed for this extraordinary design.
S~upposing that the Waterwitch, or any
similar vessel, when in action should be
struck by a shot and have her side torn
open, the incident, instead of producing
any harm, would Immediately be turned
to good account, for the Captain wonld
simply shut off the water from the regu.
lar reservoir and work his ship with the
supply Of water conveniently admitted
through the shot hole. Indeed, one of
the great objections urged against the
plan is, that the holes admitting the water
to the proper water box might get chok,
ed or stopped in shallow water, in which
case an enemy's shot or a torpedo would
be q God-send, and enable the vessel IL
get under water again at once.
We think this idea will bring US well
abreast of the Americans in marine novel
ty. Certainly neither the Miantonomoh
nor the cigar ship can beat the Water
witch, with her prodigious w~ater-wheel,
her heavy guns, her iron-clad sides, and
her propelliDg "jets." AS to her sea
%worthiness, the guarantee now obtained
seems unexceptionable. She actually
wants three hundred tons of water every
minute for the mere purpose of locomo-
ton. How many leaks or shot holes
would it take to let in more ? Seriously,
however, though the success of Fridays
experiment appears to have taken most
people by surprise, there is no reason, on
the face of the story, why the design
should not answer, and it is fortunate,
at any rate, that the trial will not be
very costly. The Waterwitch is only a
small gunboat, and even if hydraulic pro-
pulsion should be found, upon the whole,
TO be more ingenious than useful, we sup
pose it would take bnt very little trouble
to convert our "~jet.propeller" into a
Observation-Disclosures Times.
A SERApHIc SoUINT.-"T There is a story
-dop,t on and cay vnuehod for -,