EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIMENT.

New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, Volume I, Issue 18, 20 October 1841, Page 3

EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIMENT.

An experiment was tried on Saturday afternoon, which a friend on whom we have reliance had an opportunity of witnessing. The trial took plaee in the grounds of Mr. Boyd, in the county of Essex, a few miles from town, In the presence of Sir Robert Peel, Sir George Murray, Sir Henry Hardinge, Sir Francis Burdett, Lord Ingestre, Colpnel Gerwood, Captain Britten, Captain Webster, and some other gentlemen, who all appeared very much astonished at what they saw. By the kindness o'f the inventor, onr informant occupied a position that enabled him to command a view of all that took place. A bout 23 feet long and seven broad was placed in a large sheet of water; the boat had been, the day before, filled in with solid timber, four and a half feet in depth, crossed in every direction, and clamped together with eight-inch spike nails. This filling-in was made under the inspection of Captain Britten, who stated the fact to the distinguished gentlemen we have mentioned, and also that the inventor never went near the workmen employed, that no suspicion might be entertained of any combustible materials being lodged in the hold of the vessel. Several of the gentlemen were, on Saturday, rowed in a punt to the vessel, and examined for themselves, so that every doubt might be removed as to the cause of destruction being external, and not from the springing of any mine. When the different parties had taken up their positions, on a signal from the inventor, the boat was set in motion, and struck just abaft the starboard bow, and.instantaneously scattered into a thousand fragments. At the moment of collision the water parted, and presented to the eye of our informant the appearance of a huge bowl, while upon its troubled surface he noticed a coruscation precisely resembling forked lightning. A column of water was lifted up in the air like a huge fountain, from which were projected upwards, for many hundred feet, the shattered fragments of the vessel, which fell many of them several hundred yards distant in the adjacent fields. Our informant examined many pieces, and found the huge nails snapped like carrots; the mast looked like a tree riven by * lightning, and never before, as he assures us, has he witnessed so sudden and complete a destruction, though he has seen shell and rocket practice on the largest scale. Such seemed to be the unanimous opinion of all present. How this mighty effect was produced, was, of course, no v disclosed to so numerous a party, but two naval officers present were perfectly aware of the mode of operation, and the inventor offered to go into details confidentially with one or two of the distinguished officers present. In answer to a question from Sir Henry Hardinge, the inventor stated that, without a battering train, he could transport, on on a mule's back, the means of destroying the strongest fort in Europe. -N o doubt this is very startling ; but, hearing what we have, we cannot pronounce it impossible; and as, in every particular, the inventor has done what he has undertaken to accomplish, it is only fair to give him credit for the performance of more than has yet been disclosed. The existence of these tremendous powers is placed beyond all doubt, and the inventor asserts them to be completely under his control, which, from what our informant has had the opportunity of observing, he believes to be really the case. The instrument that wrought so terrible an effect on Saturday, lifting into the air a boat weighing two and a half tons, and filled-in with five and a half tons of solid timber, and displacing, at least, fourteen or fifteen tons of water, was only eighteen pounds in weight. Our informant has handled it, and kicked it round a room, while it was charged with its deadly contents, so portable, and at the same time so safe is it—a point of vast importance, when we remember the daily accidents that are occurring from the detonating shells now used in our service. At Acre most of those employed burst; before they reached their object, and they are liable to explode when rolling about a ship's deck, as was proved by the fatal accidents on board her Majesty's ship Medea, off Alexandria, and.the Excellent, at Portsmouth, and are dangerous to carry in a common ammunition cart, on a rough road. Whether Lord Melbourne will condescend to examine into this matter, and secure these mighty powers for this country, or permit them to pass into the hands of our enemies, is more than we can venture to predict, but about which we cannot think England will remain indifferent.— -Times. New War Steamers —Of the five new war steamers of a large class which have been built in her Majesty's dockyards and are to be immediately fitted for active service, the first has arrived in the river, and is now lying at the Isle of Dogs, where on Wednesday her boilers were put on board. She is a most majestic vessel, of the same class as the Cyclops and Gorgon, lately found so effective in active service, fehe is to be fitted with two engines, of 140 horse powe each, and her tonnage is about 1400. She is rnamed the Driver, and is already commissioned, a great part of the crew being now on board assisting towards her completion. It is said that she will be furnished with two long 98-pound guns on her upper deck, working on swivels, besides other guns of a large calibre on her lower deck. The steam power of iheDriver is 20-horse power each less than the Cyclops and the Gorgon- but the peculiar build of the vessel and the improvements in the « ngines will, it is stated ? place her on a per feet equality with those war steamers. The Driver will be completed in three months, and . the four others, two of which are named the Slyx and the Vixen, will also be fitted with boilers and engines in the course of the year, the machinery for that purpose bsing already in a very advanced state,— 'lbid.