THE EXPLOSION ON BOARD THE THUNDERER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5612, 25 March 1879, Page 3

THE EXPLOSION ON BOARD THE THUNDERER.

(From the Standard, January. 4.) ;; .The energy of one,of our special correspondents enabled us to communicate yesterday to our readers the painful news that, for a second time, a disastrous explosion :has taken place on board the Thunderer.. On the present occasion it is not a boiler that bursts, ,)mt a gum \yhen the telegram, announcing this startling fact appeared in oiir columns yesterday, we can well imagine that to those who are best, acquainted with British artillery the ’ announcement appeared almost incredible., Fraser guns have been made to the,extent; of thousands of-tons in aggregate weight, and not one of them has hurst explosively on service, except in the unfortunate instance now before us., Only-one has buret ! explosively even at proof, and- that was due to a defect in manufacture which has not ocoured since,, neither,is it considered at all likely to ,‘recqr. The extent to which the manufacture ,of these guns , has been carried is .shown by the fact that in the, fotn? years ending in. 1877'.'the < total weight of the heavy guns niado at Woolwich, independently of the leaser descriptions of ordnance, amounted to more' than 5300 tons,, Recent experience has only confirmed, the confidence felt in wiought-iron coil guns, whether, built up according to the plan .of Mr. Fraser with thick coil, or according to the plan of Sir William Armstrong, with coils of lighter weight, ; but‘greater in number. Even the cracking of the interior steel tube, which happened on two occasions, only served to show the inherent strength of the coil system. , The first 80-ton'gUn exhibited, a crack in'its'steel lining exactly two years ago, but has been fired repeatedly since, and with augmented charges. Hence it,seemed almost .incredible that one"'of the Fraser guns—of. 33. tons weight, and therefore of a>ize whi£h, no longer appears excessive—should , have , given ; way explosively under the strain, of n a,,,ponder charge far below its estimated power of endurance. Had the gun simply shattered its, steel tube, and opened ttyo seams of its' welded "coils, the failure Woiild haye.been sufficiently astonishing. , JJut, in fact,, the trusted ordnance exhibited the strange phenomenonol. an explosive burst’ just'in:’front of' the trunnions, and the .forepart, of the.gun was .hurldd into the sea.' - 'The saddest thing is, that of the ‘officers and men in and about the turret to which the gun belonged asintuiy aß ; 'tei,srP Te^Qrted! to have been killed, while Wore thb.n thirty' wore wounded,'twelW of thein seriously.’' Let us explain to our readers what the armament of the Thunderer is.'‘Four heavy guns, constitute 1 iti!rfln ; .the.after turret 'are two’ thirty-five ton guns of'the pattern first known asdhe “ WoolwicWlnfahti-' InE the fore turret the arrangements'.are' of a special nature. The.two guns weighed thirty-eight- tons each, and they were worked and loaded by means of the ihydraulic > gear .invented by Ml George Rendel, of the firm of Sir W. Armstrong and Co., of Bfswiok. : ; The : simple and powerful mechanism thus employed has excited much admiration, and saves a large amount of manual toil, while at the same time providing peculiar facilities for the working of long and heavy guns in. turrets of moderate size. But despite all that science has achieved in respect ,to the construction and working, of artillery, the fearful.disaaiisr which,we .announced yesterday has occurred. The immediate'.: consequences, serious as- they unfortunately, are, in respect :to the sacrifice of life and the infliction of personal, injury, .by. no >meana Represent the full bearing of the calamity. .A,.grave question remains to,be discussed,. namely,’, how fat .this serious'and,unexpected, accident is, to influence our .estimate of the,effioiency of-the Woolwich guns, especially those of the heavier, description. Let us conceive -a disaster of this' kind occurring'with » gun, of: eighty tons, such!as - will be placed ia- the; turrets of the Inflexible ! At the same .time, we, must not exaggerate the accident, nor fail to look at what may be deepied to. mitigate the horrors of it. ' It is a terrible thing for'ten men to be suddenly out off while engaged in a mere holiday, service, with the,weapons which are; to destroy the foe. But it is something to find that, a. huge gun nineteen feet in length, carrying a projectile weighing- more than, a-.-quarter of a ton,-can burst inside a turret with a sacrifice;of life which, although pain fully large, is yet remarkably limited, considering the destructive force set in operation. When tbe-Thnnderer burst one of her boilers, as many as forty-five persons were killed and, nearly.' as many, injured. Steam, therefore,'can be more fatal. than gunpowder. But the critical i element -in the affair, as,.we, have, 'already inUmated,.is that ‘due disaster , , of;: this' kind; may’ 1 be so interpreted as- to 1 throw doubt upon the integrity of all om guns, It is -in this aspect that the accident ‘in the Bay of Isnaid appears most distressing, and it is upoU ’this point that the disousstonwhiob mustinevitablyEariso will’ centre itself. Of late, through ; the researches of the Committee on - Explosives, -under • -the presidency: of ’General Younghuaband, 'some very remarkable and practical discoveries have been made .with’ respect tos the use of gunpowder. V Experts were beginning to boast that this violent agent had been brought under completeHoontroV'Sd/ithat .steam‘itself’ was' scarcely more obedient- to . command. The skilled! usd; of igunpowder, coupled with the enorpnoua* strength ,of the coil system iu the structured ordnanoo;.has,.,indeed, become so much-an artidle-of faith,'that ithe bursting of another tboiler on board ithe.Thnnderer .would have excited, far ileaa . surprise and much less anxiety,.' .than. E ithisf 'xatastfophe I with: a guir,) There; ia also' the .fact that whale; in foreign countries theiburstingiof a gun isbynoineans a novelty, - with; us it is -an extremely rare event, and hence excites a more profound'sensatiofi-'---; J o.i -io