H.M.S. NELSON.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2489, 29 March 1882, Page 4

H.M.S. NELSON.

As the commodore's ship on the Australian station, H.M.S. Nelson, will probably be in port, if not at the cp3ning cf the Exhibition, during its existence, intimation of which was yesterday received from Commodore Erskine by his Worship the Mayor, the following particulars and list of her officers will be of interest, Tho Kelson was built on the Clyde by Messrs John Elder and Co., and was launched in 1876. She was fitted for sea service in 1878. She is an improved Shannon, dedipned to cruise under steam or sail, or both combined. She was first placed in commission on June 29th, 1881, under Captain Erakine, the present Commodore of the station, with a ship's company of 553 officers and men. Her length is 230 ft between perpendiculars and 280 feet overall; breadth, 6Ufc ; load draught forward, 24ft Gin, and aft, 27ft Sin. Her depth of hold is 23ft Bin. The area, of her midship section comprises 1319 square feet, and her engineroom is 80 feet loner. Her kor.-e power is 6000. and she carries 1200 tons of coal. The cost to the British Government of the Nelson was ,£4.03,744, of which sum .£3i6,772 was for hull and .£86,972 for machinery. The vessel may be described as an " armourbdted cruiser" of the latest and most formidable type. She is a Bister ship to the Northampton. She ha 9 a belt of armour amidships 180 ft long and 9in thick, extending from 4ft above the water line to sft below. This armour, it will be observed, does not extend the whole length of the vessel. The extremities of the vessel are entirely unprotected by armour, but this is considered rather an advantage than otherwise, as it permits a shell to pass right through the sh'p and burst outside rather than inboard, as it would do if its velocity were impeded by passing through armoured plate in the first in .tance. The Nelson has an armoured deck below the water line, and the hatches are protected for some distance above the water lino by iron combings. The armoured deck covers the engine-room, and the steering gear is also protected. Crossing the vessel at the termination of the belt of armour, at each end of the vessel, is an armoured bulkhead, extending from the bottom of tho belt sft below the water line to the upper deck. From the bottom of these bulkheads the armoured deck extends to the point of the ram forward, and over the rudder aft, and the vital parts of the ship are thus completely encased. The vessel has a double bottom, and is divided into 120 watertight compartments. is ho is fitted with steel wire torpedo uots encircling the ship for defensive purposes. Between decks shell screens are fitted up at various intervals, in order to protect the men working guns in action from pieces of shell bursting so-ne feat from them. 'The armament of the Nelson consists of four 18-ton guns, and eight 12-ton guns on tho main deck. On tho upper deck she has six2o-pounder Armstrongs, six Nordenfoldt machine Run-, and two Gatlintr gnns. There are also two 9 pounder howitzers for field service. Numerous stands of Martini-Henry rifles and cutlasses are arranged in suitable positions about the decks, her equipment appearing to be of a first-class order. The Nelson has two second-class torpedo boats, 63ft long, having a speed of 16£ knots per hour; she has also a guirdboat, 48ft long, with a speed cf 13 knots per hour; and a sieam pinnace and steam cutter for general purposes. Sha is provided with Whitehead or fish torpedoes, propelled by means of compressed air, and the machinery for supplying these formidable engines of warfare with compressed air ia bj no means the least curious of the many objects of interest on board. Tho Nelson is fitted with electric light apparatus on the upper deck, and also with improved fog signalling appliances. The officers of the Nelson are as follows.Commodore, Erskino; comma* der,W. H. Henderson ; lieutenants, Francis Powell, Evorard B. Maxwell, Thomas C. Fonton (torpedo lieutenant) P. F. Tillard (gannery lieutenant), Hon. Gerald F. Digby, Maurice] W. Portman ;!staffcommandar, J. E. Osborno; brevet major, Townley W. Dowding ; Henry D. Drake, Lieutenant Murine Artillery; chaplain and naval instructor, Bev, W. Law; staff surgeon, Thomas H. Knott ; paymaster, William H. Bowen ; chief engineer, William Giles ; sub-lieutenants, Thomas H. Tbynne, B. li. Sankey; Surgeons, James C. Dow, M. 8., Thomas It. Pick thorno; assistant - paymasters, George hi. Miall, Herbert L. Warren (Commodore's secretary), Alexander E. Cubitt (clerk to the secretary elect) ; engineers, James E. B. Warrington, John Glaysher. B. J. Baxter ; gunner, P. Cox ; boatswains, C. Pellow, Thomas Chiswoll, William Burns ; carpenter, James Wilson; midshipmen, C. J. Jones, Hugh L. D. Stap!eton, Augustus B. O. Warren, Heathcoat 8, Grant, Bertie A. Cator, W. C. Preston. Herbert J. Smith, W. G. C. Walter, Cuthbert E. Hunter, Thomas W. Stirling. Alexander S. Cleeve, B. Sullivan, C. G. Sclater, A. J. Eenniker, Thomas D. S. Sheppard, A H. FanBhawe. W. W. Ayre, P. B. Garrett, Randolph f. Tollemache; assistant engineers, James C. Edmonds, H. Meadus, Allan H. Hade; clerk, N. H. Greenwood; assistant clerk, Herbert A. Barron.