New-York tribune., 1879-06-04
JROy and WOOD on THE SEA.

TRON AND WODD ON THE SEA.
When tue news came that an ronclad built
on the Thames had gone to the bottom off the
coast of Peru under the fire of two inferior
wooden ships, every ruler OF the Queens
Navee must have opened his eyes and damned
them with a big. big "D." A Vice-Admiral,
however. has received intelligence which en-
ables him to contradict the first report OF tins
naval engagement. The Irdependencla, with
her armored sides, her water-iight cOmpart-
ments and her heavy guns, ran on a
reef and was wrecked. Her cOnsOrt, the
turret-shp Huascar, had better luck. One
of the wooden ships went down under her
guns just as the Congress and the 'Cumber-
land went down before the Mcrrimac in Eamp-
ton Roads. The fate Of the other Chilian yes-
sell of which the Independence was in close
pursuit when she ran aground. Is still unde-
termined. AS the facts now stand. every Eng
lishman who has counted the cost OF ileet
of Irouclads can breathe more easily. The
loss of the Independence can be attributed TO
clumsy seamanship. The British Navy would
be in sorry plight If the vulnerabilIty OF
ironclads had been demonstrated III an open
sea fght with "a wooden corvette and gun
boat.
These two ironcads had previously been
under fire in the same waters. Two years
ago the Huascar was seized by party Of
reyolutionists and carried ont to sea. The
Independenca followed her, and the two yes
sells exchanged brOadsdes. The Huascar sub
sequently encountered two British ships, the
Shah and the Amethyst, and was closely en-
gagged with them for three hours. The speed OF
the wooden ships prevented any use OF the
ram, and after her turret had been shattered
by 800 pound shot the Huascar ran in
shore and surrendered to the Independence.
Ii was Il drawn battle, but while it lasted
wooden walls had held their own against iron
armor The British public were in "a cOntem-
plative mood at that time, for Russian en-
gneers had been exceedingly fortunate in
planting torpedoes under Turkish monitors in
the Danube. 1t seemed scarcely worth
while to expend S2,5OO,0O0 upon a huge
iron-plated monster like the lnileMole,
and TO arm her with such ordnance as the
SO-ton gun, if this new plaything the tor
ped0 could send her ping-pang to the bottom
before the chaplain could read prayers Tor
the crew. The Russian dare-deVIls, moreover,
were using ordinary spar torDedoes But tor
pedo-boats had been invented which moved
under water, self-propclled and guided from
shore at the distance OF two miles. The en-
gineers proposed to surround every ironcad
at night with Gordon of artificial light, so that
torpedo-boats could be deserted and inter
cepted. But these were invisible engines of
destruction. Their course lay beneath the
surface and all thai could be seen was the
little rod which the operator on shore watched
through his telescope. How could fleet of
Thmderers, Devastations, Dreadnaughts and
BellerophOns be defended against torpedo
machinery such as thisf Before this
question could be answered, the Rus
sian armies were across the Danube,
and torpedo warfare was at an end.
The subject ceased TO attract attention,
and when the fleet anchored OFF Constanti-
nople England went back to her irOnplated
idols aud gloried in them anew
This faith will not be impaired by the strand
ing of the Independencia on reef. Yet it
cannot be doubted that the day for building
such huge monsters as the Iufexible has
gone by. A fleet of gJnbOats can be con-
structed for what one war vessel of this class
now costs, and in connection with a system
of torpedo-bOats they will be far more avail
able for coast defence. As the years go on
the artillery of the worlds fleets will have
lighter rather than heavier floating carriages.