MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 79 



Guarded by loop-holed and bullet-proof towers, to afford refuge to 

 her people when boarded, and boiling water made to be ejected from 

 them, it would be impossible to take the steam-ram. 



No steam-frigate could do all this. A steam-ram, when prepared for 

 action (she has, of course, no bowsprit), with her masts lowered, the 

 rio-o-ing, the little she has, frapped in amidships, and without any 

 kind of outside projection, can clear instantly any vessel she may 

 fall alongside of, or that she has run into. If boarded, the boarders 

 must be killed or scalded. As no wreck can hang overboard, her 

 screw cannot be fouled. The steam-frigate, falling alongside of her 

 enemy, and either vessel losing masts and yards, they must get en- 

 tangled, and their screws fouled by their wrecks ; there would then 

 be nothing to prevent a fresh ship from running alongside and effect- 

 ing an easy conquest of the steam-frigate. 



If the steam-ram is constructed with both ends as sterns, she will 

 never require turning in action ; she can, therefore, run up or back 

 in passages or rivers as narrow as the breadth of her own beam, and 

 engage batteries at the closest distances. She has two screws to rely 

 upon (she may, in addition, have paddle-wheels), and her screws can- 

 not be fouled from her own wreck. If a steam-frigate, of the rig 

 and dimensions of the Warrior, were to run up a narrow channel or 

 river, to engage a battery at close quarters, any wreck from her own 

 guns would infallibly foul her screw. So circumstanced, her great 

 length would prevent her having sufficient space to wear in, as she 

 would require at least half a mile for the purpose, and the embar- 

 rassed screw would prevent her from tacking. The velocity of a 

 steam-ram can only be slightly affected by the wind, her schooner 

 rig and lowering masts presenting no comparative resistance when 

 bringing the wind ahead. This position to a steam-frigate, with her 

 heavy masts and yards, might make a difference of several knots an 

 hour, besides much impeding the quickness of her movements. 



I have hitherto spoken of the '^iron-protected, shot-proof steam- 

 ram." Now, it must be evident to every man acquainted with mari- 

 time matters, that when a steam-ram has the superiority in speed and 

 quickness of movement over her enemy, she can make herself equally 

 formidable without shot-proof protection. She can then choose the 

 time and mode of attack most advantageous to her. Such a steam- 

 ram could carry six weeks' or two months' fuel (the screw ships of 

 the day do not carry more than from seven to ten days') ; besides, 

 as the aggressive party, she can more easily economize her fuel. She 

 would probably keep out of gunshot during the day, and, making 

 frequent feints, obliging the ships to keep up full steam, the time 

 would soon arrive when their fuel would be expended, and they 

 would become mere sailing vessels. In a dark night, when the steam- 

 ram has all her masts lowered, she uses fuel that emits little or no 

 smoke, and, turning her beak towards her enemy, she becomes in- 

 visible to them at two hundred yards ; but every movement of the 

 ships, with their high, broad hulls, tall masts, and square sails, is 

 easily visible to the steam-ram. She selects her victim; sixty or 

 seventy seconds after the first cry of the lookout-man, that " the en- 

 emy is running down upon us," the five or six bow guns are pouring 

 in their molten iron shells and liquid fire either into the ship at- 



