The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-04-22
1ORPEDOES.
dublin Nation }

1t ia quite On the cards that there may be
| g'eat reduction in the naval estimates
next year. Some experiments which have
been lately carried out at Cherbourg and in
the Thames. open up to us this agreeable
prospect. Agreeable, that ia, to Ireland !;
tor of course while Ireland pays her fuli
| quota to the cost OF the British navy, she
| has, IA rule, not the slightest interest in
the objects for which that navy is employ
ed. The experiments to which we alIude
are those made with torpedo vesses of
two different patterns, but both of them
possessing in very high degree the merits
OF cheapness and of destructive efficiency.
The Cherbourg experiments were made
with a Vessel called from the name of it's
| inventor, the TnorneycrotI, and which,
though no larger than tie PiDnace of a
man of war, can blow hole eight feet |
long and many wide in the bottom or |
sides of the Devastation. This terrible |
little hornet shows nothi2g above the
water but her bowsprit, aud can trave! at
the rate OF twenty miles an hour. Her
crew consists OF an officer and two or
three men, and she delivers her topedo
charge into her giant adversary without
suffering any Inconvenience herself be
yord giddy spn in the water. SO well
pleased are the French naval administra.
.ors with the Thorncycroft, that they have
ordered Blk vessels of the pattern, but OF a
'hshtly larger size. The second expert
nent-that on the Thames-was made by
! torpedo invented by a Mr. Whitehead l
The torpedo consists of dynamite rammed I
lown INTO The front part of q tube, the whole
u which 's IL feet long, and shaped like a /
lgar. In the hind part of the tube ia an g
hgtne worked by compressed air, of which q
here Ia sufficient quantity to drive the CT /
ar, distance of more shan a half mile in C
straight course, aud with great velocity t
etween the dynamite and engines there is t.
space which can be- filed with water so far a
5 Is necessary to sin k the VIII lie machinetn II
ny required depth belo " the surface OF I"
to sea. The dynamite is exploded by {"
me fuse, and also, We presume, by concus n
on with tho object vessel. The cost OF /
9TH Iii d. of torpedo, and especially of D
% latter, is 80 trltling as to be within the d.
ach OF the most insignificant c0uutries 30
ven MS sable majesty OF D4homey NAV sc
eht himself to two or three of them, and, til
lying on their aid, renew his invitation to
a British admiral TO come and take his SIX
onte OF palm oil and gold dust. Natu pc
10y euouen tne London papers are writing tn
rVously about the revolutions which tn
ese Inventions are likely to bring about Pl
naval warfare. Their tendency will be all
put oil countries pretty much on a level tel
regards their powers, offensive and de o"
siVe' at sea, and thereby to transpose to a Pc
ner Key the time-honored tune of "Rule str
tahnis'" The cheap and handy torpe-
|
did for duellists-put the strong and vii
weak on equal terms In the Crimean pal
r, the Russian fleet was swept from the sec
OK Sea. The allies seized what ports af
ieoarkation suited them, plundered and ton
aged the coast towns as they pleased 10
tusela declared war Tomorrow, Odessa w
ID secure from attack "a Portsmontb me
IT hundred torpedoes line the coast in of
it OF and around. Not an iron clad afh
ID venture within striking distance of ligi
city. To all intruders the peaceful tho
emporium would be like a" hot cor ty 1
IN partridge preserve. The nations go
e thus cQualiZed "a repards their nn,ri
, force, their relative positions wonld Mu
determined by the magnitude and ex. wh'
'nce of their armies. A depopulated poe
Ard would no longer be condition of swe
'anc's security; and populous and foil
3D. ireland could not be dragooned out OF
er rights.