Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-10-12

From the St. James, Gazette.
The Standards correspondent at
BerehaVen gives an account of the
voyage from Portland to Berehaven
of the torpedo gunboat Sandhy.
This vessel and her sister boats, it
may be stated, are supposed to com
bine seaworthiness and great speed
with vast power of destruction. She
is only s feet deep, % feet beam, 200
feet long, and $50 tons burden. She
is rated as a 19-knOt boat, and cap
able Of steaming 5000 miles and
more at ten knots without cOaling.
The correspondent says:
Let me record something about
the capacity. of this species OF craft to
lnf1ict torture upon the servants of
the Queen. From the statements of
her officers, it seems that In the light
weather we had all the way from
Portland, while the Hercules moved
with the least possible motion, the
bandhy pitched and rolled so viOlent-
" that the pendulum intended to
register the heeling of the vessel
proved useless. 1t registers only
thirty degrees on either side, and
the sandfly rolled nearly fOrty-five,
the pendulum striking from side to
side. The ships company to a man
were sick as men never were before.
One man finally VOmited blood, and
the best of them had barely the heart
left to stand at their posts, seamen
and officers alternating at the lee rail
IN misery.
con the bridge, which is as high as
the tunnels, the seas dashed up as
they do against a cliff, flashing the
salt wash into the eyes of those on
watch until cayenne pepper could not
have made them smart more. In fact.
one man has his eyes bandaped.
Forward of this bridge no man can
go, for it is as freely under water as
the bows Of cayak, and the finch
breechlOader that stands their might
as well be a champagne bottle for any
harm 1T could do an enemy while the
vessel is under way. This was most
cOnclusiVely shown on the Journey
hither, for the Warspite was chased
and OVerhauled by the Amphion of
the other fleet, and would surely have
been sent to the bottom had actual
war existed, for the AmphiOn steamed
easily her fifteen knots high out of
water, while the Sandfy could make
out six knots on the waves, and then
rOOled and pitched so that fighting
OF any kind was totally out of the
question.
''Ihat she can neither make speed
nor fight at sea is evident, and, what
is worse, it is, in the mind of her Off
GERS, an even chance whether on any
open sea distance she would reach
her destination. This short run has
SO battered her that ever since we
have been here she has been undergo
ing repairs. Her machinery has all
the intricacy Of clock work, with
much of its fragility. The slightest
imperfectiOn anywhere disables her,
and not one on board was sanguine
enough to think she could float long
unless she could keep her head to the
sea. Her deck Is so close to the water
that you can sit and dip your toes
IN the water over the side, as was the
case in the original monitors of the
American navy; but, unlike those
vessels, she has bulwaFcks that hold
the water when it rushes over the side,
and so destroy the ships chance of
freeing herself rapidly. So low is the
vessel, so quick her rolling, and so
high her bulWarks, that it would re-
quire but a few green seas in success
sion on board to swamp her effective
". What the boat can do in smooth
water is no doubt great; but as a war
vessel Tor general use she has proved
a complete failure"