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TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 935 
broadside of the Victory was 1,150 Ibs., from that of the Victoria it is 4,750 lbs, 
But having regard to the energy of the broadside, the power of each ship is better 
indicated by the quantity of powder expended than by the weight of metal 
discharged, and while the broadside fire from the Victory consumed only 3565 lbs. 
of powder, that from the Vzctorza consumes 3,120 lbs. 
These figures show in the most marked manner the enormous advances that 
have in every direction been made in the construction and armament of these 
marine monsters; but it is when we come to the machinery involved in our first- 
rates that the contrast between the past and the present is brought most strongly 
into prominence. 
I have alluded to the simplicity of the arrangements on board the old battle- 
ships, but no charge of this nature can be made against the present. The Victoric 
has no less than twenty-four auxiliary steam-engines in connection with her main 
engines, viz., two starting, two running, eight feed, eight fan, for forced draught, 
and four circulating water engines. She has in addition thirty steam-engines un- 
connected with her propelling engines, viz., six fire and bilge engines, two 
auxiliary circulating engines, four fan engines for ventilating purposes, two fresh- 
water pumping engines, two evaporative fuel engines, one workshop, one capstan, 
and five electric-light engines, four air-compressing and three pumping engines for 
hydraulic purposes. 
She has further thirty-two hydraulic engines, including two steering engines, 
four ash-hoisting engines, two boat engines, four ammunition lifts, two turret- 
turning engines, one topping winch, two transporting and lifting engines, two 
hydraulic bollards, and fourteen other engines for performing the various 
operations necessary for the working of her heavy guns, making a grand total of 
eighty-eight engines. This number is exclusive of the machinery in the hier 
and other steam-boats, and of the locomotive engines in the torpedoes carried, 
which are themselves engines of a most refined and delicate character. 
At an earlier point in my address I alluded to the incomparable seamanship of ° 
our bygone naval officers. Seamanship will, I fear, in future naval battles ne 
longer play the conspicuous part it has done in times past. The weather gage 
will belong not to the ablest sailor, but to the best engineer and fastest vessel, but 
the qualities of pluck, energy, and devotion to their profession which distinguished 
the seamen of the past have, I am well assured, been transmitted to their 
descendants, and I am glad to have the opportunity of expressing my admiration 
of the ability and zeal with which the naval officers of the present day have 
mastered, and the skill with which they use, the various complicated, and in 
some cases delicate machinery which mechanical engineers have placed in their 
hands. 
I pass now to a class of vessel—the fast protected cruisers—intended to take 
the place and perform the duties of the old frigates. Of these I will take as 
types H.M.S. Medusa and the Italian cruiser Piemonte. The Medusa has a 
length of 265 feet, a breadth of 41 feet, a displacement of 2,800 tons, and her 
engines have 10,010 indicated horse-power. Her armament consists of six 6-inck 
breech-loading guns, ten 3-pounders, four machine-guns, and two fixed and four 
turning torpedo tubes. The Piemonte has a length of 300 feet, a breadth of 38 feet, 
a displacement of 2,500 tons, and her engines of 12,981 indicated horse-power de- 
veloped on the measured mile a speed of 22:3 knots or about 26 miles, Her 
armament, remarkable as being the first instance of an equipment composed alto- 
gether of quick-firing guns, consists of six 6-inch 100-pounders, and six 4:7-inch 
45-pounders, all with large arcs of training, ten 6-pounder Hotchkiss, four Maxim- 
Nordenfelt machine-guns, and three torpedo guns. 
These vesseis have a steel protective deck, with sloping sides from stem to 
stern, protecting the vitals of the ship; above and below the armour deck the 
vessels are subdivided into a large number of water-tight compartments, and a 
portion of the vessel's supply of coal is employed to give additional protection. 
With respect to the Piemonte the engines (vertical triple expansion) were 
designed and constructed by Messrs. Humphreys, Tennant, & Co. They are, in 
order that they may be wholly below the water line, of exceedingly short stroke 
