200 EXPERIMENTAI. CRUISE OF THE 



carried on deck was reduced from 50 tons to 15; but what happened? The 

 frigate, far from having gained anything, showed herself during her voyage to 

 Mexico, and the first part of this experimental cruise, more sensitive than ever 

 the Gloire had been to the motion of the sea, and only became more quiet when 

 they reversed the previous operation. In the Funchal roads they brought out 

 from her magazine and gun deck, and put up»n declf, a quantity of guns and balls 

 to the weight of about 200 tons, and from that time to her return to Cherbourg, 

 her centre of gravity having been raised by this operation, she had a shorter and 

 easier roll, and thus recovered part of the mean difference which in this respect 

 ^distinguished her from the other ships of the squadron. If this experiment is 

 not conclusive it is at least very instructive, and has besides bee» confirmed by 

 what was observed in the Magenta. This ship, constructed on the very same plan 

 as the Solferino, gave, as regards rolling, re?ul:s differing from hers, and less 

 advantageous. They were attributed to two causes, namely, that the Magenta 

 carried in her lower bunkers 50 tons more coal than the Solferino, and her upper 

 works had been constructed wilh timber of less section than that which had been 

 used on her consort, thus producing another difference in weight of about 50 tons 

 more. She was not, therefore, loaded in as satisfactory a manner, having more 

 below and less above. 



Be this as it may, the following is the order in which the ships of the squadron 

 are classed in respect of rolling. It is the mean result of very numerous obser- 

 vations made with extreme care, under conditions the same for all, and carried 

 on from hour to hour, the figure set down for each hour being that of the greatest 

 roll observed during that period. Beginning with that of the least roll, they are, 

 Solferino, Magenta, Napoleon, Tourville, Gouronne, Invincible, Normandie. This 

 classification has some exceptions ; for example, I may quote the 26th October, 

 when the squadron, steering W.S.W., with four furnaces in blast, and a speed vary- 

 ing from seven to eight knots, was subject to a very heavy swell on the beam 

 coming from the N.W., and had to make head against a tolerably fresh breeze 

 from the southern quarter. The observations from hour to hour during this day 

 from 6 A.M. to 6 p.m., give the order of the ships as regards increasing magnitude 

 of roll, which was naturally under the circumstances veay heavy. 



Inclination to 



Starboard, Port. Total. 



Solferino.. , IV^.OS 1T°.25 S5.08 



Magenta 18.12 17.58 36. 



Napoleon 19.83 17.29 37.12 



Couronne 17.95 19.73 37.68 



Tourville 20.85 19.72 40.57 



Invincible 19.91 21.54 41.45 



Normandie 21.33 22.50 43,83 



Besides the change in the order of classification, what is further remarkable in 

 this table is the amount of the difference between the least roll, that of the Sol- 

 ferivo, and the greatest, that of the Normandie. This difference is 8.°75, or only 



