THE FARCY GUNBOAT ON THE SEINE.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 786, 9 March 1871, Page 3

THE FARCY GUNBOAT ON THE SEINE.

The "Engineer," of the ISth of November, contains an engraving of the above-named formidable little vessel, the following description of which was supplied by its Paris correspondent, and received by balloon post:— "This mischievous little craft is an object of the greatest interest with us, and a puzzle to the enemy ; always on the look-out for an opportunity of playing one of its ugly shells, and almost always invisible, hiding itself behind an island, or a clumpy tuft of trees on the bank of the Seine, its visits are equally unexpected and disagreeable; now it sends a messenger into the enemy's works on the heights of Meudon or St. Cloud, and the next day, running up beyond Charenton, it pitches its projectiles into Choisey leßoi, the enemy's chief station on the road which leads from the Fastern Railway to Versailles, scattering fire and destruction wherever it can reach. "It carries a 15-ton gun on a boat that looks ridiculously small—so small, that the common name of the boat is the ' floating gun carriage.' The problem which Lieutenant Earcy set himself to solve was the carrying of the largest possible gun on the smallest possible craft, and this he has succeeded it: accomplishing ; and here, it may be observed, is one of the good acts of the ex-Emperor, under whose patronage, and with whose money, I believe, the little gunboat was constructed at St. Denis. The Farcy gunboat exhibits a curious contrast to the other gunboats on the Seine. It is very small, lies low on the water, and is very brond in the beam for its length, as ugly a little craft as ever was afloat. Beauty was not however, one of the objects of its in ventor. " Lieutenant Farcy has mannged to place a 15-ton gun, with a carriage weighing seven tons, 32 inches above the centre of gravity, with only 4 8-1 Oth tons of engine, boiler, screw, and shaft as a counterpoise, and at the same time to give the boat sufficient stability, and the counterpoise itself is also above the centre of gravity. This 'floating carriage,' with its 15-ton gun, only draws 40 in. of water, while the little ' videttes' of the Seine, with a single brass gun of less than 12 cwt., draw 52 inches, and the regulation gunboats, which carry guns of 3 tons 12 cwt., draw from 65 to 76 inches. In spite of its great breadth, the Farcy gimboat has a speed of six knots per hour, although its engine is only in the proportion of 10-horse power for 50 tons of displacement; while the other gunboats, those which are about 40 ft. long, have 8-horse steam power for every ten tons of displacement; and yet have only a speed of seven knots. " The Farcy gunboat was not constructed to batter down palaces ?nd villages on the banks of the Seine, but to attack plated ships and fortresses at about 3,000 yards distance, and with this view the present gun-carriage was arranged. It is now required to shell hostile encampments find armies at 8,000 yards, and a new carriage is being made for it, calculated to allow it to throw its 2 cwt. shells a distance of 8,200-metres, or, in other words to send a projectile from the island of Billancourt, in the bend of the Seine, south of the Bois de Boulogne, into the enemy's camp at or near Versailles. The present doings of the Farcy gunboat hold out fair promise that this object will be attained, and thus Paris will be furnished with another long range fort which will possess the great advantage of shifting its position according to the necessities of the case. We hope that the siege of Paiis is virtually finished ; but there is many a slip, &c, especially in diplomacy, and the fact of throwing a 2 cwt. shell more than five miles from such a dot on the water as the Farcy gunboat looks, is an achievement of which our friends here may be proud."