The Fastest Boat in the World.

Feilding Star, Volume XIX, Issue 30, 4 August 1897, Page 2

The Fastest Boat in the World.

I The English Government is engaged I in building wbat will be when completed i the fastest boat in world. This mar- . vellous craft will be able to steam 33 , knots an bonr, a trifle less than 88 miles. t Tho Express — for that is the name of , tho record breaker — is now in process of j construction at the ship yards of Laird Brothers, Birkenhead, England. Her engines will be capable of attaining j 10,000 indicated horse power. Tha tarey mendons power of this little boat— for she is only 350 tons burden— can best be appreciated by considering the fact that she will be able to develop fully as great an engine power as the Renown, a battleship of 12.350 tons. The Express ' will haveasanarmamentonel2 pounder quick firing gun, five 6 and 3 pounder 1 quick firing guns, and two Whitehead > torpedoes. The construction of the boat with regard to safety, if the plans are carried ! out, will be as remarkable as her plans for speed. She will have all the compartment her size will permit, and although : the ordinary torpedo boat can be smashed like an egg shell, this destroyer will be armed with a ram that could pierce the side of a battleship. As far as danger to herself is concerned, if a battleship or any other craft should strike her a blow she would be more likely to turn turtle than to sink. Her steering apparatus is of suah a nature that it will act much more quickly than that of the ordinary craft. Tho accommodation for officers and crew will be superior to those in any torpedo boat destroyer afloat. The problem of air to the people who live between decks has always been very unsatisfactory in point of solution, The Express, however, will vents for the fonl air and modes of ingress for fresh air that will result in supplying all hands with a full measure of that which the lnngs need so much. It is further apparent, too, that while on most vessels of this sort, the crew is compelled to remain below when the sea is at all heavy, on the Express the deck will be of use in very rough water. The executive officer, or the captain, as the case may be, stands on a little square bridge just above the wiuch and cons the scene from that point. From tho conning tower und turret combined, on which the bridge rests, projects tho 12 pound rapid lire gun. Most of the guns, however, are between decks, and the iinng is done through portholes. A shot from a 12 pounder, however, would send the majority of torpedo boats with all on hoard to Davy Jouo's locker, for when a torpedo boat sinks there is, as a rule, small hope for those who man her.