Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-12-04
THE AWFUL IRONCLAn.
Marvellous for Its Power OF Destrusfen,
Yet Under Perfect Control


such power concentrated in such
space. and the judgment to direct it,
The will to apply it, the hands Of one
man, and only one. Talk Of JOyc
with his tunderbolts, Of Nasmyth
with his hammer, the fables OF
mythology and the facts Of latter-day
science. where has there ever been
anything to compare to it? Here in
the counting tower stands the captainl
of the ship, and beneath his feet liel
hidden powers which the mind can
hardly grasp, but which are made sub
seryient to his will, and his alone.
Picture him as he stands at his post
before the battle begins; all is quiet
enough; there is scarcely sound:
save the tapping Of the water against
the smooth white sides Of the IRON
clad. and no outward sign Of force
save the ripple Of the parted waters
falling off on either side Of the ram
as it sheers through the water. But
mark the white thread escaping from
the steam pipe astern, feecy yapor
rising into the air! What does 1t
mean? 1t means that far down be-
low are thirty glowing furnaces roar
ing under the blast Of steam; that in
great boilers the water Is surging,
struggling, as the fierce gases pass
through the 1ues; and that the
prisoned steam, tearing and thrust
ing at the tough sides Of the boilers,
is already raising the valves and blow
ing off at a pressure Of 100 pounds
II means that the captain In his con-
ming tower has but to press the but
ton by his side, and in moment the
four great engines will lie driving the
twin screws through the water with
the force Of IA, 900 h. p, and that the
great ship, with the dead weight OF
10, 900 tons, will be rushing onward
at a speed of over twenty shore miles
an hour. In her turTet and In her
broad-side batteries there is deep
hush of expectation, but there, too,
lies forces of destruction which appal
the imagination. Below in the cham
bcrs of the great guns lie the powder
charges. A touch, and in sheet OF
flame and with the crash OF thunder
the steel shot will rush from the
muzzles, speeding on their way 1000
feet IN second, and dealing their
blow with an impact Of 10000 foot
TOMS, 900 pounds weight Of metal,
hurried by one touch Of the captains
hand.
Nor is this all; another touch and
another signal will liberate the little
clips which detain the four White
head torpedoes in their tubes. A
puff of powder, click, as the ma
chinery is started, and the two screws
are set off whirling, and with a
straight, silent plunge the long steel
tOrpedoes will dive into the water,
and at their appointed depth will
speed on their way thirty miles an
hour on their awful errand Of destruc-
ton. Move that switch, and through
the dark wall Of the night a long
straight beam will shoot forth with
the radiance Of 40, 900 candles, turn
the night into day. A word spoken
through that tube will let loose the
hail storm of steel and lead from the
quick firing and machine guns on the
upper deck and in the tops. A dis
charge Of shot and shell, not to be
counted 10y tens or scores, but by hun
dreds and thousands, storm before
which no living thing can stand, and
under which all but the strongest de-
fences will wither and melt away like
a snow bank under an April shower.
And last and most terrible OF all,
there is one other force ready to the
captains hand; force, the sum0f all
the Others, and which, if rightly util-
lied. is as irresistible as the swelling
of the ocean tide, or the hand Of
death. BY your side and under your
hand are the spOkes of the steam
steering wheel; far forward under the
swirling wave which rises round the
ships cutwater, lies the ram. 1t is
the task OF the hand which turns that
, wheel TO guide the fearful impact OIL
the ram. Think what the power con-
hded to one mans hand must be; TO-
300 tons Of dead weight driven forward
by the frantic energy Of $4,000 horse
power, plunging and surging along
through the yielding waves at speed
of ten feet in every second, and with
a momentum so huge that the mathe-
NAUTICAL expression which purports to
represent it conveys no adequate idea
TO the mind. To receive blow from
the ram is death-the irretrieyable
catastrophe Of q ships career. To
deliver such blow is certain victory.
1t is with the captain, and with the
captain alone, as he stands here in the
coming tower, that the responsibility
of INJECTING or encountering this aw-
full fate lies Murray's Magazine