64 



commissioned, though launched on the 22nd of April, 1856, yet has cost 

 no less a sum than £1291 for repairs to the hull. Vide Return to the 

 Honorable House of Commons in reply to Sir James Elphinstone, dated 

 May 5, 1863, No. 237. 



In reference to the cost of these iron-cased frigates, we find that in 

 the return made on the motion of Captain Jervis the total cost of the 

 " Black Prince" was £373,899, of which the engines cost £74,449, the 

 hull and rigging, £272,729, the balance being for alterations; while for 

 adopting Griffith's screw propeller a sum of £156 is acknowledged. The 

 " Resistance" and " Defence" have cost £257,848, and £252,898 ; while 

 the " Warrior" even exceeded these charges, large though they seem, her 

 total cost, according to these dockyard returns, being £377,373 — a sum 

 that in " the days of old" would have been amply sufficient for two three- 

 deckers and a 36 gun frigate.* 4 Yet the question is not one of mere money : 

 if the article contracted for was supplied, then there would be little cause 

 for complaint, but in nine cases out of ten this is not the case. It is a 

 matter of extreme difficulty to produce a ship of 400 feet in length with 

 sufficient strength to stand heavy diagonal and transverse strains. Mr. 

 Fairbairn, indeed, has investigated the relative strength of iron bars and 

 plates ; and he shows that the cohesive power or strength of bar iron may 

 fairly be taken at 25 tons, or 56,000 lbs. per square inch of section ; 

 with bars of \ inch each of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Shropshire, and 

 Staffordshire iron, he obtained a mean breaking weight across the fibre 

 of 21-350 tons per square inch. The Shropshire plates were the best, 

 breaking under a strain of 22-826, while the rest barely averaged 

 19-563. 



The cost of all iron vessels is greatly increased by the corrosion, or 

 rust, of the material ; to counteract this fatal tendency various means have 

 been employed. There are two materials or paints in use in the British 

 navy — one known as Hayes', and the other as M'lrmes', composition — 

 their object being, in company with a number of others, to limit as far as 

 possible the tendency to i ' oxidation." Monsieur Jean Pierre Jouvin, Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry to the French Navy, has patented an invention of a 

 somewhat novel description. It consists of laying sheets of zinc against 

 the ship's sides, and between the hull and frame; and in case of the vessel 

 being already built, coating the frame, and what portion of the hull can be 

 reached, with a strong solution of zinc paint. The zinc sheets vary from 

 T Vinch to inch thick, while the ribs, keelsons, clamps, transversal bulk- 

 heads and all other parts not covered with these zinc . sheets, are coated 

 with a powerful solution of the metallic zinc paint. For the outside of 



* Mr. Bidder, one of our most eminent engineers, has pronounced the " Warrior" in 

 every respect a failure, save one — that she, under certain circumstances, is a fast vessel. 

 Admiral Sir George Sartorius has also borne similar testimony — the vessel steering badly, 

 and when she took a sheer, no action of the helm could stop her. She is also very lee- 

 wardly, and rolled more than any line-of-battle ship. 



