IEON VERSUS WOOD. 



85 



and strength are greater. The authority of such a man as Mr. J. Scott Russell, the eminent 

 shipbuilder, will be conclusive. In a pamphlet;* published in 1862, he noted the following 

 ten points : 1, That iron steam ships-of-war may be built as strong as wooden ships of 

 greater weight, and stronger than wooden ships of equal weight. 2, That iron ships of 

 equal strength can go on less draught of water than wooden ships. 3, That iron ships 

 can carry much heavier weights than wooden ships [hence they can carry heavier armour]. 



THE ' WARRIOR." 



4, That they are more durable. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, That they are safer against the sea, against 

 fire, explosive shots, red-hot shots, molten metal; and 10, That they can be made impregnable 

 even against solid shot. 



The last point, alas ! is one which Mr. Scott Russell himself would hardly insist upon 

 to-day. When he wrote his pamphlet, five or six inches of armour, with a wood backing, 

 withstood anything that could be fired against it. When the armour of the Warrior, our 



and drawing only two feet and a quarter of water, was constructed, in 1861, for use on the Lower Indus. She was 

 taken out in pieces and put together in India, the total weight of the steel employed being only 270 tons, although 

 she was 375 feet long, with a beam of 46 feet. 



" The Fleet of the Future : Iron or Wood," by J. Scott Russell, F.R.S., &c. 



