36 TEAR-BOOK OF FACTS. 



canvas as the linc-of-battle ship. To resist invasion orprotect seaports and 

 harbours t lie steam ram is tenfold more serviceable than the steam frigate or 

 any other description of vessel or shore battery. 



In the Saturday Review, Oct. 13, 18G0, it is observed, upon the 

 danger to the steam ram from her screw becoming entangled with 

 wreck, that Admiral Sartorius, of course writing with exactly the 

 opposite purpose to that for which we use his words, is arguing that 

 the ram would be all-powerful upon the seas, even against an iron- 

 plated ship not built to act in the same way ; and he supposes a 

 combat between the two. " Shot and shell against each other's hulls 

 must be harmless, but the shot and shell from the comparative 

 mastless steam ram could soon knock away the masts or bowsprit of 

 the ship, or disable the rudder, so that, the screw fouled by the 

 wreck of masts and rigging, or the ship helpless from her damaged 

 rudder, a blow from the steam ram sends her to the bottom." Let 

 us observe here the words "comparative mastless steam ram," and 

 consider whether they are not a lame attempt to escape an obvious 

 difficulty. The Admiral does not venture to say that the ram would 

 be mastless, but he calls it, not very elegantly, " comparative mast- 

 less ;" and yet he must know that an iron-plated ship will equally re- 

 quire masts whether she is fitted to act as a ram or not. But if the ram 

 has masts, they may be shot away by any vessel whose guns can reach 

 them; and then, with "the screw fouled by the wreck of mast and 

 rigging," the ram becomes unmanageable, and falls an easy victim 

 to its enemies. 



THE FRENCH STEAM-FRIGATE "GLOIRE." 



A correspondent of the Scotsman, gives the following account of 

 the sea-going qualities of this terrible frigate — the iron-plated, in- 

 vulnerable Gloire : — "Whatever notions may exist in England regard- 

 ing the strength or sea-going qualities of this vessel, people in this 

 quarter of the globe have no misgivings on the subject. The Gloire 

 was admirably te-ted in the recent Algerian trip of Xapoleon III. 

 I have spoken with men who assisted in the working of that ship to 

 the African coast, and they declared that not even the Imperial 

 yacht herself, light and trim cut as she is, behaved so well during 

 the heavy gales which the squadron encountered as soon as it had 

 left the French coast. I know that dming those gales the steamers 

 from Cette were unable to leave port in consequence of the frightful 

 state of the sea, and that no fishing squadron in any of the .Medi- 

 terranean ports durst attempt to leave its moorings. The Oh 

 heavily charged with her full amount 01 ammunition, with all her 

 guns, with provisions for some months, with her tremendous en- 

 gines, and her 4 j -inch coat of mail — the Gloire cut through these 

 giant billows with a steadiness little less than the Great Eattern her- 

 self when she breasted the gale in the English Channel during her 

 first . In appearance the Gloire, which is far larger than 



.-my ofthe other Rvefrfgates blineLSet, does not convey to you the idea 

 of either a veryheavyor a very powerful ship. Her lines are sodelicate 

 and symmetrical, her three taper masts so slim and yacht-like, that 

 were it not for her short wide funnel, which tells of vast machines below, 



