The Washington critic., 1888-08-10
ANOTnER NAVAL BLrNnER.
The Terrible Voyage of a New English
Torpedo Boat.


The London Stdnddrd's correspondent
at Berehaven gives an account of the
voyage from Portland to Bcrehaven Of
the torpedo gunboat Sandny This YES
sci and her sister boats, it may be stated
are supposed to combine seaworthiness
and great speed with vast power of de-
struction. She is only s feet deep, 30
feet beam, 200 feet long and $50 tons
burden. She is rated as n 19-knot boat,
and capable of steaming 5000 miles and
more at ten knots without coaling. Her
fighting capacity lies in 4-inch breech-
loading gun, six machine-guns and four
torpedo tubes. The correspondent says:
Rams, torpedoes and machine guns
have lost their terror for the officers Of
the Sandny, all because she has steamed
from England to Ireland in light
breeze and easy seas without going to
the bottom with all on board. What
ever may be the qualities of the Sandfy
in smooth waters, the experience of her
officers on the run over illustrates her
value for such purposes as she is now
put to.
From their statements it seems that
the Sandtly pitched and rolled so
violently that the pendulum intended to
register the heeing of the vessel proved
useless. 1t registered only so degrees on
either side, and the Sandhy rolled nearly
40, the pendulum striking from side to
side. This violence of motion succeeded
in knocking the poor surgeon from his
chair and pitching him about in the
saloon, until he gave up the struggle
with several injuries to the ribs. The
ships company to a man were sick as
men never were before. One man
finally vomited blood, and the best of
them had hardly the heart left to stand
at their posts, seamen and officers alter
mating at the lee rail in misery. On the
bridge, which is as high as the tunnels,
the seas dashed up as they do against q
cliff, lashing 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 band
aged. Forward of this bridge no man can
go, for il is as freely under water as the
bows of q cayak; and the 4-inch breech
loader that stands there might as well bt
a champagne bottle, for any harm it could
do an enemy while the vessel is undel
way. That she can neither make speed
nor fight at sea is evident, and what il
worst, it is, in the mind of her officers
an even chance whether on any open SCI
distance she would reach her destina
ton. This short run has so battered hel
that ever since we have been her,
she has been undergoing repairs
Her machinery has all the in
tricacy of clock-work, with mucl
of its fragility. The slightest impcrfec
ton anywhere disables her and not on
on board was sanguine enough to thinl
she could float long unless she coulc
keep her head to the sea. Her deck i
so close to the water that you can sit ant
dip your toes in the water over the side
as was the case in the original monitor
of the American navy, but, unlike thos
vessels, she has bulwarks that hold th
water when 1t rushes over the side, ant
so destroy the ships chance of freein
herself rapidly. So low is the vessel, S
quick her rolling and so high her bul
warks, that it would require but fey
green seas in succession on board t
swamp her effectively. What the boa
can do in smooth water is no dout
great, but, as war vessel for genera
use, she has proved complete failure.