THE LOSS OF THE AMAZON.

Southland Times, Issue 575, 8 October 1866, Page 3

THE LOSS OF THE AMAZON.

(From the Times, July 13.) The Amazon was not only a perfectly new ship, but was the first of so novel and interesting a class of vessels thai the following particulars of her construction and armament will be read with interest. She was designed about two years ago, by Mr E. J. JBeed, chief constructor of the navy, in obedience to the directions of the Board of Admiralty and controller of the navy, for the purpose of replacing the slow and weakly-armed sloops of the Itoyal Navy with vessels of higher speed and more powerful guns, and in a yqtj early stage of her progress she ob.

tamed considerable notice from the circumstance of Lord Clarence Paget, who was then the organ of the Admiralty in the House of Commons, stating in Parliament that she was the first of what he was pleased to call the " Alabama class " of our men-of-war, the fact being, however, that the Amazon really differed in all essential respects from the Alabama much more than the latter vessel differed from the existing types of Admiralty sloops. The first thing aimed at in the design of the Amazon, which was an unarmoured ship, was a speed superior to that of the Rinaldo and Roebuck classes, whose maximum speed was io'2s and ll'l knots respectively. The speed of the Amazon proved to be 12*4, or very nearly twelve and a half knots, and in a valuable parliamentary paper, by order of the House of Commons on the 23rd of March last, on the motion of Mr Graves, the controller of the navy shows that a speed of even thirteen knots, in this vessel of only 10S0 tons, would have been obtained but for an increase in the weight of her arament and complement, and the submergence of the "counter" of the ship, intended to screen the rudder-head. With these drawbacks, however, the .speed of the Amazon greatly exceeded that of all previous men-of-war of her size at load draught, and placed her in this respect among the fastest of our unarmoured frigates. The new peculiarity in the Amazon's design was the adoption of what is known as the economical class of propelling engine, which had been adopfpcl with great success as regards the economy of fuel in the Enterprise, Pallas, Bellerophon, and other plated ships, and in the experimental wooden frigates, but which was not in use in any wooden sloop of war belonging to the Royal Navy. The adoption of this class of engine, in association with the Trench form of screw propeller, led to some very singular and unexpected results in the early trials of the Amazon, all of which are set forth in the detail that professional persons require in the Parliamentary paper before referred to. The characteristic feature of these engines is the employment of very sm ill boilers, and consequently the consumption of very little fuel in proportion, to the power developed by the engines, the large development of power bein^ secured by the- great expansion of the steam, the use of surface condensers and the system of superheating the steam on its way to the boilers to the engines. The machinery of the Amazon was m ide by Messrs Ravenhill, Salkeld and Co., and although in this case, as in that of the Pallas and of the Bellerophon, the usual excess of power over and above the contract power was not developed, the result of the experiment was highly satisfactory, and the consumption of fuel for the speed ot" the ship proved exceedingly small. Perhaps the m^st interesting changes made in the hull of the Amazon depended in some decree upon the great indicated power which it was proposed to develop in her engines. The bow was formed with greater length below than above the water, somewhat in the form of a swan's breast, not as some of our contemporaries are presuming, to adapt the vessel for use as a " ram," but with a view to superior speed and behavior , It\ a sea-way, exactly in tho same manner, and for the same reason as the Helicon paddle- steamer was formed at the bow, with an obvious advantage in point of speed There was no iron casting or forging upon the stem, as some accounts have represented, but merely a light brass cutwater, to cleave the water smoothly and easily, as in the case of the Helicon, when the vessel was driven at the high speed contemplated. It may be added that the bow of the Amazon received none of these interior bracings and strengthenings which were fitted to the Pallas and other wood-built '"rams," the use for ramming purposes of so light a vessel, built without armor, forming no part of the intentions either of the Admiralty or of Mr Reed, her constructor. At the stern of the vessel, on the contrary, where it was known that the great strain of her engines must come, an entirely new system of iron bracing was expressly introduced under the personal directions of Mr Reed, the power to withstand the strain of her engines and screw at that part being the crucial test of a wood built ship of great engine power, and this difficulty being enchanced in the case of the Amazon by the submersion of the " counter " before referred to. As other vessels of the Amazon class are coming forward, it is satisfactory to know that the stern of the Amazon, with the new system of strengthening, proved fully able to withstand all the strain brought upon it even when the engines and screw were running for many hours together at their greatest speed.

The armament of the Amazon consisted of four guns, two of them being of six and a half tons weight, and tiring 1001 b. round shot, with 251 b. charges of powder. These formidable guas were carried in the centre of the ship, and, by a new arrangement of the gun-slides and pivots, were •so contrived that both of them could quickly be brought to bear aud fought on either side of the ship — a system which has also been carried out in most of our sloops of war that have undergone a refit since the Amazon was designed. In addition to these two heavy guas amidships, the Amazon carries a 64-pounder rifled gun at the bow, and another at the stern, each capable, like the central pivot guns, of being fought on either side. By these devices the Amazon was enabled not only to steam after an enemy at an unusually high speed, but also to engage her with an armament far more formidable than any sloop of like size had previously borne into action.

The " Western Morning News " gives the following particulars respecting the recent most calamitous collision in the English Channel : — " The steam sloop of war Amazon left Spithead on Monday for Halifax, Nova Scotia, having been appointed to the North American station. She was commissioned at Deyonport ia

April last by Commander James E. Hunter, an active officer of long standing in the service, and left Plymouth Sound on the 4fch of June, for a cruise to the N"orth Sea. She had on board a crew of 130 of all ranks, and about twenty supernumaries. The Amazon was a four-gun screw sloop, of 1080 tons, and 300 horse-power was contract bull I, and constructed of wood, having beai designed by Mr E. J. *eed, the chief eonstrnctor of the navy. The ship on Thursday morn'nj;, about one o'clock, was on her voyage down. Channel ; it was the watch of one of the lieutenants ; the night was clear and the weather fine, with a light breeze. The Amazon had her regulation lights burn'n j brightly and at the hour named a steamer was reported about two points on the starboard bow. She proved to be the screw steamer Osprey, 450 tons register, Captain Bertridge, belonging to the Cork Steam Navigation Company. As they reached each other, the Am izon put her helm hard a-starboard and exhibited the green light, but the Osprev put her helm hard a-port and exhibited the red light. The result of these measures was that, as the Amazon fell off, the Osprey came across the Amazon's fore-foot, and the Amazon ran into the Osprey on her port-quarter, striking her at about one-third of her length from her stern. Mitchell's Maritime Register states that at the time the vessels struck each other it was very calm and clear, and as both parties allege they had their proper signals hoisted, it is at jcesent a mystery as to who is at fault. Within three or four minutes after the collision the •Osprey parted. The Amazon did not sustain such serious damage as the Osprey, and the crew instantly lowered their boats and used every effort to s ive as many of the Osprey's crew and passengers as possible. The whole of the crew of the Osprey were saved, but the stewardess, M try Ann Keating, and nine others, including four ladies, were drowned. Captain Partridge's wife was saved, but he lost his two daughters and son. It was soou discovered that the Amazon was making water, and, though all the pumps were set to work, she filled so fast that Captain Hunter ordered the b^ats to be lowered, and all hands speedily transferred themselves into them. The Amazon was observed to be sinking fast. A heavy fog came on, and she was soon lost sight of. Tae boats steered for the coast, and arrived at Torquay in the afternoon.