82 APPENDIX. 



dependent entirely upon the engines. It is scarcely necessary to add the conclusions to 

 which this argument leads, or to state that these important essentials must considerably 

 diminish the steaming speed of a war steamer. 



We should not have thought it requisite here to refer to these peculiarities of construction, 

 were it not for the many aspersions which have been cast upon what we may presume to call 

 the architectural qualities of the Government steam marine, by those who apparently have 

 never taken into account the matter to which we have alluded, and who have generally been in 

 the habit of estimating the qualities of steamers entirely from the rate at which they would, in 

 an upright position, be propelled by the engines, omitting in a great degree the consideration, 

 that the sharp narrow vessels in which the greatest steaming speed is obtained, are not well 

 adapted for general ocean navigation, and that although they may succeed for a long time 

 in making favourable passages, they must, in the event of any failure of the engine, or the 

 supply of coals in a gale of wind, become unmanageable logs on the water. We need not 

 advert to facts in verification of this opinion, which must be allowed by all seamen ; though 

 we are quite prepared to prove that the case to which we have just adverted, has occurred to 

 some of the best and fastest commercial steam vessels, and yet to admit that they have been 

 and are likely to be of rare occurrence, as in such vessels the engines are examined, and, if 

 necessary, refitted at the termination of every passage they make ; and thus incipient defects 

 are checked or remedied, and their frequent access to a depot for coal renders the failure of 

 fuel improbable. Thus their plan of construction may be proper for the service to be performed, 

 however unfit it is for steam ships of war. 



In pursuance of the Admiralty arrangement to which we have referred, the Dee, Phoenix, 

 Salamander, Rhadamanthus, and Medea, were constructed. The first-named four vessels 

 appear to have answered well ; but there is no doubt that the Medea, designed and built 

 by Mr. Lang of Woolwich dockyard, is the most perfect of this flotilla, not only having 

 evinced admirable qualities when impelled by steam, (under which circumstances she is 

 equal to the best sea-going steamers,) but shown her capability under sail, to keep com- 

 pany with any squadron of Her Majesty's ships, either in blockading an enemy's port or 

 making a passage across the ocean, being thus enabled to convey her energies unimpaired 

 to the most distant part of the world, and always ready to put forth that giant force, which 

 the agency of steam affords, when occasion may require it. 



Few seamen would believe, when looking at a steamer, with her lumbering paddle-boxes, 

 wheels, and apparently jury-rigging, that this can be the case. We have, however, ample 

 proof, that the Medea has, under sail alone, with the wheels revolving loosely in the 

 water, beat several of our best ships of war. 



The Medea fell under the control of an officer (commander, H. Austen) whose talent 

 and perseverance have rendered evident all those good qualities of the ship, which under 

 less able management might not have been so obvious; and has proved, that the naval 

 superiority this country so justly boasts, is not likely to suffer either in the construction or 

 tactics of our steam marine. 



This ship was launched at Woolwich in September, 1833, and immediately fitted with two 

 engines of 110 horse power each, by Messrs. Maudslay and Field, who had supplied those 



