234 REPORT— 1861. 



drawings and otherparticulars of 'La Gloire' before us we could tell with the greatest 

 precision what fuel she can stow, how fast she can steam, and at what height her 

 ports are above the water. We have not, it is true, all the details of the ship be- 

 fore us yet ; but we have enough to demonstrate her real qualities with sufficient 

 accuracy for my present purpose ; and I confidently assert that she is seriously de- 

 fective as a war-ship in many respects. 



Now, from the very iirst our Admiralty has been averse to the construction of 

 such vessels as ' La Gloire,' and to the rough and ready solution of the iron-cased- 

 ship problem which she embodies. Whether their aversion was wise or not, under 

 the pecidiar circumstances of the case, I shall not presume to say ; but that they 

 could speedily have produced a fleet of ships in every way equal to 'La Gloire,' had 

 they pleased, there is not the slightest doubt. Instead of doing this, however, they 

 have asked, "How do we know whether a plated wooden ship, or a plated iron ship is 

 •the better? How do we know whether the ])lating should extend from stem to stern, 

 or not ? How do we know whether the side shoidd be upright or inclined ? or 

 whether the plating should be backed witli wood or not ? or whether it should form 

 part of the hidl or not F or whether it should be made of rolled iron or of hammered? 

 or what its thickness should be ? or how it should be fastened ?" and so forth. And 

 while all these questions have been asked, we have pretty nearly stood still. 



It is only ftiir to Sir John Pakington's Board of Admiralty to say, however, 

 that, without waiting for answers to them, he ordered, as we have seen, the ' Warrior,' 

 which is now afloat on the Thames. Those of you who, like myself, proceeded 

 to Greenhithe in this vessel on the 8th of August, or who have visited her there 

 since, will doubtless concm- in the praise almost universally accorded to her. In 

 all the yacht squadrons of the coimti-y there is not a handsomer vessel than the 

 ' Warrior ;' yet there are few iron-cased ships in the French Navy that will bear 

 comparison with her as a vessel of war. Slie has been so often described in the 

 public journals, and particidaily in the 'CornhiU Magazine' for February last, 

 that I need not stay to describe her here. 



It is also to the credit of the present Board of Admiralty, that on their accession 

 to office, they hastened to order the ' Wan-ior's' sister ship, the 'Black Prince,' which 



1 doubt not is in every respect her equal. But why they soon afterwards built the 

 'Defence' and 'Resistance,' ships of 280 feet in length, 54 feet broad, and 3700 tons 

 burthen, of only 600 horse-power, and plated over less than half their length, I 

 cannot conceive. I am aware that these -^-essels are primarily designed for coast 

 defence, and that their draught of water is more favourable than 'La Gloire's' for 

 this purpose — theirs being 25 feet, and hers 27 feet 6 inches. But with engines 

 of only 000 horse-power their speed must necessarily be low, and with so small a 

 portion of their sides coated with thick plates they will be unfitted to stand that 

 continued " pounding " to which a low-speed coast-defence vessel woidd be more 

 exposed than a fast sea-going ship. The same objections hold to a certain extent 

 against the 'Hector' and 'Valiant' class, wliich are of the same length and verv 

 nearly the same draught of water as the 'Defence' and 'Kesistance;' but their 

 increased engine-power of 800 horses (which has led to an increased breadth of 



2 feet 3 inches, and an increased tonnage of 360 tons) wiU secuie for them a 

 higher speed, and their thick plating has been continued entirely round the main 

 deck, so as to protect the gmmers throughout the length of the ship ; and these, 

 therefore, though defective, are certainly better vessels than the others. 



It is important to obseiTe that, notwithstanding the long delay of the 

 Admiralty, and despite all we have heard respecting experimental targets, the 

 in-esistible determination of Parliament to have a large iron-cased fleet has over- 

 taken the Admiralty before they have obtained answers to any one even of the 

 questions which we have before mentioned, and upon which they have been so 

 long deliberating. The cause of this is undoubtedly to be found in the indisposi- 

 tion of the Admiralty to perfonn experiments upon a sufficiently large scale. 

 Small targets, a few feet square, have been constnicted and tested in abundance ; 

 but the results thus obtained coiTespond to nothing that woidd take place in 

 practice against a full-size ship afloat. Not a single target of sufficient size, and 

 of good manufacture, has yet been tested. The Admiralty are at length, however, 

 having suitable structures prepared : and before long some of om- principal doubts 

 upon this subject wUl be resolved. Perhaps the slackness of the Boai-d in imder- 



