FRENCH IRON-CLAD SQUADRON. 18!) 



they said that this experiment was not to them so conclusive as it appeared to 

 others, inasmuch as all the vessels which were going to be tried, being all the sons 

 of one father, would necessarily, while they had the good qualities of the family, 

 share also in its defects; it was by comparison with other models of different fam- 

 ilies that the virtues or the vices of the new constructions would be decisively 

 brought to light ; that the Napoleon was a very great sailer nobody disputed, but 

 they did accuse her of having a very considerable roll; it was asserted, and this 

 opinion was widely enough spread among our officers, that in the twofold respect 

 of rolling and readiness of handling, the Napoleon was inferior to our old ships, 

 those of the illustrious Sane, and particularly to his Jena, the favorite vessel of 

 Admiral Lalande. There was no way of getting the Jena to compare, for she 

 has been erased from the list of the fleet; but by happy chance, when these ques- 

 tions were being agitated with all the warmth of professional men, there happened 

 to be at Cherbourg in the first class of the reserve, that is to say, capable of being 

 fitted out in 24 hours, a ship which is a scrupulously exact reproduction of the 

 Jena. This was the Tourmlle ; she differs from her predecessor only in the engine 

 of 650 horse-power which had been put into her, but such is the respect that was 

 paid to this celebrated model, that when it was necessary to transform the Tour- 

 ville to a steamer, she was spared the operation of lengthening, which nearly all 

 her mates then underwent. It was with the identical form of the Jena and the 

 same position of the centre of gravity, that after being ra/.eed (for originally she 

 was a three-decker of 110 guns) she achieved such a great reputation in the naval 

 world. The Tourville has deserved the esteem in A\hich she was held. la the 

 Baltic expedition, she carried the fla;g of Admiral Penaud, and her performances 

 there shewed her not to have degenerated from her glorious original. In effect 

 she is a wooden two-decker carrying 82 guns and 850 men, gne month's water 

 three months stores and provisions, and 520 tons of coal. Iler length is 61 metres, 

 breadth 16 metres 88-100, mean draught of water 7 inches 80-100, and 4550 ton* 

 nage. She carries the masts of our old ninety -gun ships — the third class — as for 

 instance the Suffren, with surface of sails 2650 square metres, and height of bat- 

 tery 1 metre 81-100. 



Having llius within reach a vessel which afforded the means of solving once for 

 all the questions eo warmly dispiUed even by the most distinguished officers, a re- 

 presentation was made to the Admiralty who judiciously gave orders to fit out 

 the Tourville under command of Capt. Lacombe. It was not however with the 

 design of studying the military capability of the Tonrviile, nor her speed, nor the- 

 extent of her sphere of action ; it was known before hand thnt she was certainly 

 in these respects inferior to the ships of the new model, but she was reputed to 

 roll relatively much less and to be handled with infinitely more readiness. la 

 these two points, almost exclusively, she was employed as a means of comparison 

 with the others, and to furnish data on them for our instruction. 



So much for the wooden vessels and tiie reasons \\hy tboy were added to the 

 experimental squadron. To go on now to the irou-elads. Tliey were five in num- 

 ber, and presented in their firm and lines very perceptible marks of their pa- 

 rentage, formed however on three different models. 



There was 1st the Invi?icible, under the command of Capt. Tabuteau. She is an 



