The Portland daily press., 1894-04-20
THE FIRST IRoNcLAD.
1t Was Built as Long Ago as 1855.

This ironclad was built in the year
1855 by a shipwright of Antwerp during
the wars with the Spaniards The great
er part of the Netherlands had come into
the possession of the House of Hapsburg
by the marriage of Macmillan of Aus
tria to Mary, daughter of Duke Charles
the Bold, in 1477. but under Charles V.
the sovereignty was extended until it
embraced all the seventeen Belgian and
Batavian provinces. When the Lowlands
passed TO the Spanish Crown, the princi
pies of the. Reformation had spread
among the Lowlands, and OH the estab
lishment of the InquisitioD there in the
middle of the sixteenth century disturb
ances broke out in the provinces, and
great cruelties were committed by the
Spaniards
Antwerp, which in those days was
margraviate, suffered greatly. 1t was
pillaged by the Spanish soldiery In 1874,
and was again besieged in the Regency
OF Alexander of Parma being taken in
1856. In the summer of that year it was
closely invested by land and water, and
the people of Antwerp made many gall
ant efforts to break through the line of
the besiegers, especially on the river.
For this purpose they built a raft of I'M
usual size, with fat bottom, and
armed it's sides with iron plates fastened
into great beams of wood. The idea was
to make not so much ship as floating
castle, impregnable to the artillery and
missiles of those days, which should
crush all opposition.
1t contained a great mum Der of men
some of whom were placed like sharp
shooters in the tops of the masts. and the
rest protected by the bulwarks. The
men of Antwerp were SO confident of the
success of their new invention that they
called it Finis Belli, feeling sure that by
it's means they would be able to raise
the siege and put an end to the war.
Unfortunately for the brave burghers
Of Antwerp this early ironclad proved a
disastrous failure. 1t was launched upon
the Schedt, and taken across the flooded
country by means of canal cut from
the river; but it proved very unhandy
and after a short career got stuck upon
bank.
This untimely end of the great vessel
from which SO much was hoped, was a
source of much delight and derision to
the Spaniards who nicknamed the mon
ster Caranjamaula, which signifies q
DOGGY while the men OF Antwerp altered
its name from Finis Belli to Perditae
Expensae, or "Money Thrown Away. "
The crew then deserted the ship and
the Spaniards, after naval battle, which
tooksplace in the flooded country and
resulted in the defeat of the Netherland-
| ers took possession of the naval monster,
| as they called it though they feared
that, like the Trojan horse, it had been
| left in their hands for some evil purpose.
| However, finding that 1t really was de.
serted they seized it, lightened ii, and
then towed it off and got it back into
the river Seheldt. 1t was then taken in
triumph to the camp of Alexander of
Parma, where it became one of the
sights of the time; and the Spaniards,
accepting the omen OF its original name,
took it as sign that the war was fin
ished. And. indeed, it proved to be the
last effort of the gallant people of Ant
| werp, for the city was taken on August
! II, IS, and SO the first ironclad on record
came to an unfortunate end.-London
| Exchange.