DESTRUCTION OF IRONCLADS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 219, 6 November 1880, Page 2

DESTRUCTION OF IRONCLADS.

To the Editor ov thb "Evsicnr© Mail." Sir— ln your last night's paper there was an article under the above heading/ Could you find room for one on the^aame subject written twenty ytari ago by David TJrquhart, and republlsh§d ..in ff little work' just (published iv Nelson, namely, ,'* Quotations," under the heading "Delusion" of Ironplated Ships"-— ... -„ -v! ■-■: '•.:♦ "'■■:■. ; "' •• The inutility of flaoting hemp and timber i? demonstrated aprop ll^e (Civil

war in America!) Tho Tints now seizes the occasion to din j into the ears of the nation' that their maritimo supremacy is gone from another cause than the giving up the right of search by the Government (not by the Queen), namely, non-sheathing. I have for years been uttering these two propositions:— 1. In no serious war vrill line-of-battlo ships be again employed. S. Seaflghts will be determined by hansom cabs sfioat, This is not yet understood— it will be understood in tims. It is red-hot shot sent from invisible points that will drive the line-of-battle ships from the ocean. This change in maritime warfare is all in our favor} while the discovery of the iuutility of timber, pitch, and canvas would, for a rational being, blow away the solitary pretext for giving up the right of.soarch.and privateering— namely, that 'in iine-of-battle ships resides our maritime slrengtb.' "— Urquhart, 1862. On the dexterity and special training of her maritime sons must England still depend. Nelson Buid that " frigate " would be found written on hi* heart., .He. was. always calliug aloud for frigates, not hugs ships. The "hansom cabs at sea" would puzzle the smartest torpedoes.— l ara, &c, A, B. November 5, 1880,