THE MINOTAUR IRON FRIGATE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 357, 20 August 1863, Page 4

THE MINOTAUR IRON FRIGATE.

[From the Time*, April ft,]

The hasty vaunts at the success of his iron cM®; and «ttracteiistic sneers at English efforts of ' the same kind, had hardly passed; the lips of the Federal Secretary Welles, when the Monitor, getting into a seaway went down with all hands on board. The result might have shocked hut it could not have surprised the Fedeyals, who are excellent judges of what fine sea-going models should be, and who knew even better than ourselves that the Monitor had not a single point to> recommend her either for emulation abroad or reproduction at home. The secret of hey popularity lay entirely in the fact that out of a very large most costly fleet she was the only vessel that had distinguished herself against the enemy ; hence her notorious defects were never canvassed, and she was taken by universal consent to be the type and model of an iron-clad, though she neither steamed near steered well, carried only two guns, and, above all was believed to be as unseaworthy as she has since proved. Ye t it is not too much to say that when this vessel gained her first and only success, the American journals lauded their own surpassing ingenuity and threatened helpless England as if iron ships were peculiar to the Americans alone, and as if England had not already sent to sea, in the Warrior, the finest, fastest, and strongest vessel of this class the world has yet seen, before a rivet was driven in the Monitor’s hull. Already this rage for vessels of the Moni tor class has acted most prejudicially on the infant iron navy of the Federal States. Of the three types which they then hastily adopted, the representative of one, the Galena, has proved an utter failure, the Monitor has gone down in the first broken water she met with, and the Ironsides, the type of the third class, has not yet been tested, and, after the experience gained by the Monitor, is never likely to be tested, in deep water. In the meantime, we have gone on slowly rectifying wliat was wrong, and extending and enlarging upoii plans which we had ourselves proved to be right, until we are g.itheriuground us an iron fl.'ct admitted now, even in America, to be perfect models of what such ships should be. We have crept cautiously from vessels like the Resistance and Defence to vessels like the Valiant, from the Valiant to such frigates as the Warrior and Black Prince, and now again from these to the improved Warriors, 7,000-ton ships of the Minotaur, Northumberland, and Agincourt class. Our readers, who are curious to judge for themselves of these noble frigates, should pay a visit to the works of the Thames Iron Shipbuilding Co., Blackwall, where they will find one of the most for-' ward of them, the Minotaur, far advanced towards completion, and where they will have the additional advantage of comparing her size, strength, and symmetry with the iron frigates which are being built for the Russian, Turkish, and Spanish Government, by the same company. A single comparative glance at the different hulls will show how : immeasurably the English Government keeps ahead of its imitators in the construction of these ships. The rapidity with which the young science of armour-ship building has advanced, is, perhaps, best shown by the statement that even the Warrior model, only a year ago considered perfect, is now found to be capable of important improvements, both as regards her hull, her rig, and her armour. The Warrior and Black Prince, are only armour-coated over 220 feet of their broadsides. The stem and stern are n ot protected, they have uo means of using water ballast to keep’ them dowu iu the water as the coals are consumed, their rig is the old fashioned three, wooden, masts, they have not sufficient* displacement to enable them to carry armour throughout, and what they have got is only inches thick. In the new vessels ol which the Minotaur 3 is a splendid specimen, every one of these defects is remedied. The length of the Warrior is 380 ft. ; that of the Monitaur and her sisters 400 ft. The breadth of the Warrior is 58ft. ; that of the Monitaur is 59ft. 3|in., and her tonnage is 6,900 against 6,000 of the Warrior. It is exactly this extra 900 tons which the Warrior wanted to enable her to cany armour from stem to stern. The floor of the Monitaur also is considerably flatter, which gives her an in-: creased displacement of 1,043 tons, an.d this improvement, which gives a slight additional stowage for coals, also, of course, increases the bulk that has to be. driven through the waves and necessitatea an increase of horse power, from 1,250, the power of the Warrior, to 1,350 in the ne%v ships. Another most important improvement is in the arrangements for adding water ballast. For a certain space on each side of the inner keelson, both in the Warrior and Monitaur, the bottoms of the ships

ate double, and the space between the skins which is not used in the Warrior has in the Minotaur been utilized for the purpose of water-ballasting. By this means and by the subdivisions caused by the numerous vertical webs which pass between the main longitudinal and cross girders' between the 1 skins,'any part of the, Monitaur can be ballasted with water independently of the other. Thus she ean at will be “ trimmed” with a “.list” to port or starboard, trimmed down by the head or stern, or, in -case of being lightened by the expenditure of all her fuel, he brought down in an hour to her proper load water line, so as to keep her armour always at the required depth of sft. below the surface. The height of the portsills from the sea is the same as in the Warrior, 9ft. 6in., or 3ft. Bin., higher than the portsills of the French vessels of the La Gloire class. In the Minotaur the stern will be strengthened by dispensing with the screw well and not having the screws to lift, while the bows will be altered from the taper lines and concealed beak of tjio Warrior, to a receding and rather round shaped bow above water, with a slight sw'anbreast projection beneath, to strike her adversary below the water line, if ever she should be used as a ram, which is far from likely. She is to be pierced for 23 guns on each side on the main deck, with two immense pieces of ordnance.pointing forward through a shield we shall presently explain. The broadside ports are to be as narrow as those of the Warrior and there are to be 12 guns on deck, 60 in all, instead of the Warrior’s 42, and lastly each vessel of the new class is to have five iron masts instead three wooden ones.

Thus, then, as far as our comparison of the Warrior with the Minotaur has gone we find that in the latter new class of iron-sides we get larger ships of improved rig and proportions, with greater power and not less speed, with a heavier armament, and above all, a stronger and more complete covering of armour. It is especially in this latter all-important point that the greatest changes are made in the Minotaur class.. The .armour' of the Warrior is 4| inches thick, with a teakbacking of double beams laid transversely to a thickness of 18 inches over the inner .skin. This tremendous covering} though as'we know, only over part of the broadside, weighs 95.0 tons of iron and 360 tons of teak—l,36*) tons in all. The thickness of the Minotaur’s armour is to be 51 inches, and she is to be coated with it from end to etui, and, in consideration of the extra inch of iron, her teak backing is to be reduced to 9 inches instead.of 18* Yet even with this reduction she will require 300 tons of teak and 1,800 tons of solid iron armour—a tremendous mass of dead weight, when we remember that this is exclusive of rigging, stores, coals, guns, or engines It is not toe imich to

say that the propriety of reducing the teak and increasing the iron Ims- yet to be tested. The first celebrated Warrior target, as made by the Thames Company withstood at Slioeburyness everything that either round shot or Armstrongs, 68’s or 200-pouuders could do against it, and the opinion was strong at the time that much of this euormous power of resistance was due to the thickness of the teak backing, which so deadened the concussion as to save the rivet heads and" plate bolts at the back. It cannot be urged that the thickness of the iron has been increased because Whitworth sent his shot and shell through the 4| inch plates as he has since through plates of 51 iuclies, and is, it is said, quite prepared to do so through O.j or even 7 of solid metal. At any rate, whether right or wrong, it has been decided that the new frigates are to have the increased thickness of iron and the decreased thickness of teak, a nd, judging from the care with which'every' step iu the construction of these vessels has been considered, it is only fair to sup pose that this change, too, is an improvement, till the contrary lias been clearly proved. For a length of about 30 feet back from the bows no armour is used, hut in its stead a missive 5g inch semicircular iron, shield extends across this end of the vessel and is continued down to the level of the main deck. It is at portholes in this, shield, both main and upj>er decks, that two of the.heaviest guns used in the service are to be placed, the men working which,wi]l be completely protected. There is to bp a rifle tower- on, the upper deck, as in, the Warrior, in case of any attempt at boarding. The alteration in the rig of the npw ships, which the Admirality would;have acted wisely in consenting to in the.etbei; iion frigates, is a great improvement, and one expected long ago from its obvious utility. Ic wa*s nothing short of ridiculous that because a, liue-of-battle ship 200 ft. long only required three masts, therefore a vessel of 400 should, have no more. The Admirality, however clung foiid.lv and obstinately to the traditional three spars, and it was not till the Warrior went to sea and the difficulties of managing a ship with each of her masts 158 feet apart, became so serious they could not be overlooked, that routine, gave way and a new description of rig was allowed for quite a new description of vessels. There are, as we said, to be five masts in the Minotaur and her sisters —three square rigged, and two, the- first and last, carrying fore and aft canvas only. Each of these spars, both mast and yards-, is to be made of wrought iron, like theGreat Eastern’s, which, weight for weight is stronger than wood, is less liable to be shot away, tears itselffree and goes down alongside.like a deep sea lead, instead of floating intern and fouling the screw with the wreck of shrouds and cordage. Ar regavds the actual method of construction oj' the hull, no alteration is attempted upon the plan upon which the Warrior is built, than which no frame of

iron could well.be stronger and yet float. The (massive longitudinal girdei-sand cross bgams intersect in every direction, and the enormous side Tibs, nearly two. feet deep, lie as close as they can well be ri vetted together, only 11 inches interval between each. The forgings for some parts of this frigate are the most stupendous ever attempted. The sternpost is a single forging which it has taken nearly a year to make. When completely turned down and fitted it will weigh no less than 70 tons, and now in the rough it weighs neatly 150; -The forging for,the stem or beak also will be almost as large. An immense staff of men are employed upon the hull to get her ready for launching by the end of June next. ,

A Lament foe Ould Ireland. —And why did I come here, to this out of the way, behind.and.before,-upside down, far awsiy country, where the beautiful Christmas comes right in the middle of summer, and the sun and the moon rise in the wrong places ? Sure liaru’t Ito live in nothing bat a lit of a dirty slab hut, with four rooms, and a roof made of leaves called ne cow, (I suppose they are good food for cattle, by their name); when sure, my mud cabin with one room and a thatch, was all that a da cent guttle man required in ouhl Ireland ; and what’s the use of earning five shillings a day, when I could live-upon one shilling ? Why, honey, its wasting time to be working all day, when a few hours work would grow praties enough for six months living ; and the people are all pushing, and fretting, and struggling to get their own land and cattle, and horses* ami all sort's of other agricultural when a wheel barrow and a .spatie, and the borrow of a neighbenr’s pick-axe was all that I wanted from January to December iu ould Ireland. And sure, that beautiful constellation in the wonderful heavens, the Great Bea#* can never be seen here, ami no winter with good honest frost, and show, ami iec, and proper shivering weather, like the. ould country. .Here you see, Pat, there’s such mighty lots of timber, and close by you, that folks have always a blazing fire, and ho cost; but what of that ? and the grass grows ;in a few months when you have cut the trees down and burned them ;• but. what’s the good of grass if I have no cow ? and sure a neighbour gives me plenty, of butter-milk, the only good thing I have tasted since I left dear ould Ireland; don’t I wish " I was Sack. But why,, Paddy darling, did I ever come; can you write and tell me, for I dont know 1 I suppose it was that Embrication Fever which set in amongst a lot of we young chaps. '"Why, I’m properly bothered with this forty acres of land ; when I could not dig my two acres at 40s a year at home, but hath to get-the neigbours to give me a help—The. folks .are (lucent enough- here ; but we have no fairs,, no wakes, no work for shillelaghs, ami shall soon forget how to use-theim. I have never so muph as seen a broken head since I have been here. Don’t come out Pat, without you wish to be .working, and working,, and learning, like those great folks- at- home, with your land and your cattle, and your carts;, aud horses, and pigs. Didn’t we- look down itpGii, tlu-se people in bidd Ireland f Oniy fancy, Pat, the south wind blowing so keenly, that it ’ cuts your beard off as dune as a, razor, and the north wind is- blazing hot.. Oh ! I never seed such a country as this 1; but why did I come to it, and- lave my own darling mother and sister ami the pigs ?: Anyhow, Pat, the first chance you have to exchange my forty acres in. New Zealand for one acre in the dear ould place, you. may do it, and I’ll apply to Government for-a free passage back again. Bad luck to the place you’re no good here without you’re always working and always sober. Oh, why did I leave ould Ireland ?-—Auckland Gazette.

If olio tray's Ointment and Pills. —Cheer up.— Sufferers from rheumatism need not despond till a trial lias been given to these restorative remedies. Fomentation with warm water, and friction with this invaluable Ointment, are thesnrest antagonists to Rheumatism awl Gout. The inflammation of the joints soon yields to. this treatment. After rubbing in Holloway’s Ointment and taking his Fills for a few days,, the .throbbing pain, heat, and swelling begin to subside, the fever decreases, and the patient, feels lie can move without agony, and, sleep calmly without dislocating starts. BteHoway’s Pills contribute to dispel the rheumatic principle from the system, facilitate the present, recovery, successfully ward off any return of the attack, and confer flexibility and strength upon, the injured joint.