932 REPORT—1890. 
and under these circumstances the low velocity given by the carronades became 
of comparatively small moment, while the ease of working and the large diameter 
of the shot were factors of the first importance. 
The carriages on which the rude weapons I have described were placed were 
themselves, if possible, even more rude. They were of wood, and consisted of two 
cheeks with recesses for the trunnions which were secured by cap squares, the 
cheeks being connected by transoms and the whole carried by trucks. The gun 
was attached to the vessel’s side, and the recoil controlled by breeching. The 
elevation was fixed by quoins which rested on a quoin bed, and handspikes were 
used. either for elevating or for training. 
It is obvious that to work smartly so rude a machine a very strong gun’s crew 
was required. Indeed, the gun and its carriage were literally surrounded by its 
crew, and I may refer those who desire to acquaint themselves with the general 
arrangements of what was once the most perfect fighting-machine of the first navy 
in the world, to the frontispiece of a hook now nearly forgotter—I mean Sir Howard 
Douglas’s ‘ Naval Gunnery.’ 
The mechanical appliances on board these famed war-vessels of the past were 
of the simplest possible form, and such as admitted of rapid renewal or repair. 
There was no source of power except manual labour; but, when handled with the 
unrivalled skill of British seamen, the handiness of these vessels and the precision 
with which they were manceuvred was a source of never-ending admiration. 
Those who have seen, as I have done, a fleet like the Mediterranean squadron 
enter a harbour such as Malta under full sail, and have noted the precision with 
which each floating castle moved to her appointed place, the rapidity with which 
her canvas was stowed, have seen a sight which I consider as the most striking I 
have witnessed, and infinitely more imposing than that presented under like 
circumstances by modern vessels, any one of which could in a few minutes blow 
out of the water half-a-~dozen such men-of-war as I have been just describing. 
I must not, however, omit to mention two advantages possessed by the old type 
of war-vessels, which, if we could reproduce them, would greatly please modern 
economists. I meen, their comparatively small cost, and the length of time the 
vessels remained fit for service. 
When the Victory fought the battle of Trafalgar she had been afloat for forty 
years, and her total cost, complete with her armament and all stores, was probably 
considerably under 100,000/. The cost of a first-rate of the present day, similarly 
complete, would be nearly ten times as great. 
The most improved battle-ships of the period just anterior to the Crimean war 
differed from the type I have just described, mainly by the addition of steam 
power, and for the construction of these engines the country was indebted to the 
great pioneers of Marine Engineering, such as J. Penn & Sons, Maudslay, Sons, 
Field, Ravenhill, Miller, & Co., Rennie Bros., &c., not forgetting Messrs. 
Humphreys & Tennant, whose reputation and achievements now are even more 
brilliant than in these earlier days. 
Taking the Duke of Wellington, completed in 1853, as the type of a first-rate 
just before the Crimean war, her length was 240 feet, her breadth 60 feet, her dis- 
placement 5,880 tons, her indicated horse-power 1,999, and her speed on the 
measured mile 9:89 knots. Her armament consisted of 131 guns, of which thirty- 
six 8-inch and 32-pounders were mounted on the lower deck, a similar number on 
the middle deck, thirty-eight 32-pounders on the main deck, and twenty short 
32-pounders and one 68-pounder pivot gun on the upper deck. 
Taking the Cesar and the Hogue as types of second- and third-rate line-of- 
battle-ships, the former, which had nearly the displacement of the Victory, had a 
length of 207 feet, a breadth of 56 feet, and a mean draught of 21. She had 1,420 
indicated horse-power, and her speed on the measured mile was 10°3 knots. Her 
armament consisted of twenty-eight 8-inch guns and sixty-two 32-pounders, car- 
ried on her lower, main, and upper decks. The Hogue had a length of 184 feet, a 
breadth of 48 feet 4 inches, a mean draught of 22 feet 6 inches ; she had 797 indicated 
horse-power, and a speed of 83 knots. Her armament consisted of two 68-pounders 
of 95 ewt., four 10-inch guns, twenty-six 8-inch guns, and twenty-eight 32-pounders 
of 56 cwt.—sixty guns in all, 
