THE FISH TORPEDO.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 762, 12 January 1871, Page 2

THE FISH TORPEDO.

The following account of this new engine of destruction, and its effect upon a hulk at Sheerness, is taken from the " Daily News " : "fish torpedo," which has been for some time subjected to various experimental trials by a committee of naval officers, under Captain Arthur, 8.N., was put to a practical proof'-oh the Bth October, at Sheerness. The Oberon, paddle-wheel steamer, had been specially supplied with a twelve horse-power engine and air-pumps for filling the torpedo with compressed air, and fitted with a large discharging tube at the bow for launching it under water. The peculiarity of the torpedo is that it will maintain its passage at any particular depth between five and fifteen feet from the surface ; the propulsion being entirely submarine, and eifected at the rate of six or seveu miles an hour by the action of the compressed air on a screw propeller. Two torpedoes were run against the Aigle, a large hulk lying in the harbor, both from a distance of 110 yards. The first contained a charge of 6711)3 gun cotton, and hit the hulk, exploding on impact, and making a clean hole 20ft. by 10ft. in the area, and sinking her at once. Nets were placed at fifteen feet from the side of the hulk, and the second torpedo run at them being launched from a framework attached beneath a boat. This torpedo, containing a charge of lSlbs of glycerine, was caught in the nets and exploded there, doing no damage whatever to the side of the hulk. The machine is the invention of Mr Whitehead, an English engineer, having works at Fiume, in Hungary.