The sun., 1895-04-22
NATAL NEWS IND NOTES.
The Ericsson and tho Katahdin-The Am.
phLtrLtc- small a rms ard Powder.

WASHINGTON. April 21.-There Is good hope
that month hence the Ericsson can make an
other attempt ut trial trip. as the Dubuque
Iron Works are now forwarding for her a
cylinder, with piston and piston rod substi-
tutcs for those that were damaged on her for
mcr trial. Meanwhile work will probably have
been begun on the new trio of torpedo boats to
| be built at Baltimore, the contract for them
having been drawn.
| Preceding the Ericssons speed trial will prob
ably come. earlier next month, that of the ram
katahdin. Her contract calls for II knots
and on an unofficial run some months ago
she made an average of three minutes and
twenty-five seconds over the measured mile
with steam pressure Of los pounds and 142
revolutions. That represents speed Of
17.S2 knots, with q development OF 3,935
horsepower under natural draught She
is expected TO have 4.S0O horsepowe
under forced dTausht 30 that, although her Of
fetal trial is 10 he for two consecutive hours,
there is little doubt of her making tho stipu-
lated average OF u knots. II she should fail Of
that speed the contract provides that she shall
be rejected" II she exceeds it. she is TO have
bonus Of $4,000 per quarter knot, provided such
an award shall receive the approval of Congress-
which did not legislate for the payment of pre-
mums for extra speed. Beyond any doubt the
premium would be approved as high speed is
feature OF such Importance to the efficiency Of
rams. The remarkable speed shown by the
Katahdin last Thursday on the mile course in
Booth Bay Harbor. is a further Indication Of
what may be expected of her at the trial, and
her handiness in manRuvre is also gratifying
since so much depends upon that for the sue
cess OF such craft.
The monitor Amphitrite will doubtless be
commissioned at Norfolk during the next few
days. as considerable draft of men has already
been assigned to her from the Chicago which is
expected to go out of commission before the end
Of the week. AS the MiantonOlno,l Is not now
in commission this sister ship will represent for
the present in active service that class Of moni-
tors. Her keel was laid over twenty years ago
by Harlan d Hollingsworth Of Wilmington, Del,
She has exactly the same dimensions as the
Mian,onomoh. but little different system Of
arnor. her sides carrying inches to the others
inches. while she has lllY inches on her bar
bettcs. anu ~ on her turrets. the Mantonomoh
having simply ll1s inch turre,s. she is also to
have little more horsepower than the Mian-
knot and half more speed. In few
weeks the Terror, still another sister ship. will
Follow her into commission. while the Monad-
mock at san Francisco will be completed little
later In the season.
val member OF the Nicaragua Canal Board of
Ekngineers. thorousLly believes in the practca-
the cost will be. the canal should be built" lie
answered: y agree with your views in regard
to the vast Importance of an is;hmus canal to
the wo-ld, and TO our own country particularly
and am sure it will come" Presumably this
be glad to see the canal built. II practicable or
course. the attitude ordhe Commission Will be
that OF experts reporting the practicability
and tho cost OF the particular plan adopted and
suggesting any changes therein which NAV seem
to them advisable. The engineers il is said
may return before the end OF summer.
The Navy Board. consisting OF Commander
Converse, Prof. Alger. Ensign Twiuing, and
Lieut.. karmany. which is testing at Newport
In the navy is passing through some OF the ex-
per fences of delay which the similar Army Board
had. The changes desired in the mos: promis.
ing Of the rifles formerly tried the Luger can.
not be made before next August. and possibly
In the mean time some satisfactory American
invention may be secured instead. The Lee
st:a!ght-pnll rife is said to be looked upon
rather favorably. and there is certainly u va
riety OF inventions TO choose from.
After several years of experiment the navy
has good hope OF securing for its guns on ship
board 4 satisfactory smokciess powder manu-
factured at its own works. Tried In four-inCh
rifle. II recently gave q velocity OF 2,3l6 feet
per second, which much exceeds that of the or
dinary powder. and with IA pressure of only
thirteen tons. which is well within the margin
or safety. OF course there OF her qualities
besides the bal!istic that are required. among
them being the keeping properties, which deter
mine whether the powder will retain Its uni
forinity OF character under changes of tempera-
ture. In fact, most of the smokeless powders
are satisfactory as to velocity ard pressure hut
sCme Of them deteriorate by keeping, so US TO
vary in the violence OF their action and thus
cannot be wholly relied upon.