"COLLISION DRILL" IN THE BRITISH NAVY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 290, 14 December 1878, Page 5

"COLLISION DRILL" IN THE BRITISH NAVY.

Our Navy, snys the Times correspondent from the the Sea of Marmora, ip, as it ought to be, far in advance of any other, and our ships are far better provided to meet emergencies than thoae of any other nation, even to the effdcta of collision. " Collision " drill is now as much a te^ogniaed part of the exercise of the men, us "general" or *-fire" quarters, aod the thrum matting is hauled over the side to cover imaginary holes, and the pumps riggeJ, juat as if the ship had been really run iato. The " collision " mits supplied to our vessels are about 17ft. square, male of number one canvas, the stoutest manufactured, and well thrummed with rope-yarns. It is spread between two yards, the lower one beiDg weighed, and the upper fitted wi'h a epan for hooking on the tackle by which it is lowered imo its place. The gereral reader is probably not aware that so much foresight has been exercised in respect to the safety of our ironclads, and it may interest him therefore, to hear a little about how these "collision-mats" are supposed to acf. The mats which form a tolerably thick roll, are kept one on each side of the ship in a convenient position for being run along the deck to any part of the ship's, side which may have suffered from collision. The nearest yard at the same moment is braced up, bo ns to plumb the damaged spot, aad with a tackle the mat is hoisted over the side. While this is going on, other men are getting a rope under (he ship's bottom, by pissing the end weightnd with a round shot over the bows The weight carries the end of the rope below the keel, when, by means of a light hauling line attached, it is hauled up again on the other side The one end of this rope is quickly secured to the 'lower part of the mat, "and then, by hauling upon it and lowering away the tackle, the hole is covered, the pressure of the water, once the mat is in position, keeping it in its place. "With the present arrangement, too much time, however, is required to get the mat over the side for it to be considered aa anything like perfect ; from vseyen to eight minutes with the best trained men being considered a fair average of the interval between giving the orber and receiving the report, and this only when carrying it out for exercise. To facilitate the hauling of the mat under the bottom, the bilge-pieces of our ironclads, which extend nearly the whole length, fore and aft, have now a numbe° (f holes in them fitted with rollers, through which the chains are rove,' their ends being brought up on opposite sides of the ship. The direction in which improvement should be made in the present system is towards reducing the time required for getting the mats into a position for being hauled over the holes. Running the mats along the deck, and bracing up the yards, however smartly done, allows the "enemy" too much headway, and many tons of water would betaken in. before the leak could be reduced to dimensions which would place it under tbe control of the pumps.

Some information has been received relative to the dflsarfcion of Kitnball Bant from Mr M'Coramb, formerly bandmaster ia the 57th regimsnt, which is corroborated by Mr S »ort, wlio alio served !a that band. Both these men went well acquainted with Kimball Biut, who disertod to the Maoris ami fought with them against, the Euglish

dear." There was a potato field distant come two miles from the camp, and thither a corporal and three or four men were wont to repair each day to supplement their rations. One day a pirty of three men of the 57th regiment went out for this purpose, when they were suddenly pounced upon by a party cf natives, amongst wnorn was the deserter, Kimball Bant. Two soldiers escaped, but the third man, named Hennesay, was taken, and kept prisoner for two or three months, when he subsequently effected bis escape. He informed his comrades that Kirn^aU Bent hsd frequently endeavored to induce the Mauris to kill him, which would have been done but for the intervention ot another desarter named O'Connor. Kimball Bant lived in Miori style, having taken a solemn oath to abandon every remaaafc of European habits. M'Cdrmish doubfs the truth of the report that Beat killed Colonel Hazard, but believes that officer was shot by a Maori whom he was in the act of pursuing. Bent was the beat shot in the regiment, having learned the trade of gunsmith. This will account for such exoellent shooting at long ranges which the Maoris aometimea made with Eofield rifles taken from parties by surprises and ambuscades. The offence for which Bent was undergoing punishment at the time of his desertion was that of steeling from a grocer's shop kept by a person named Menzies, — Post.