THEN AND NOW.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 760, 24 September 1886, Page 20

THEN AND NOW.

In its account of the great naval demonstration held at Portsmouth in honor of the colonists, The Times has the following interesting remarks regarding a visit paid to Nelson’s vessel and the Victory and the iron monsters by which the “ wooden walls of Old England have been supplanted Others, partly influenced by the rain and partly by historic associations, had meantime taken the opportunity of boarding the famous flagship of Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar, the weather and warscarred Victory, which had been brought from its moorings in the stream alongside the railway jetty for the general convenience. Battle ships and the munitions of modern naval warfare can only be adequately appreciated by the few, but as the colonies, in forming an integral portion of the Empire, became also the heirs to its tradition and glory, they share with England the honor which the hero bequeathed to the Mother Country. In the words of Southey, “ The most triumphant death is that of the martyr ; the most awful that of the martyred patriot ; the most splendid that of the hero in the hour of victory. And if the chariot and horses of fire had been vouchsafed for Nelson’s translation, he could scarcely have departed in a brighter blaze of glory.” The Victory remains a venerable, venerated, but perishable monument, alike of Nelson’s triumph and his death. On going on board, the visitors were shown the very spot on which the hero fell and the cockpit whither he was carried upon receiving the fatal wound. Here he lay fanued by the chaplain and purser, while the doctor, at his own request, was attending to the nameless wounded. Here he cried out in agony aggravated by the continued concussion of the guns, “Oh Victory ! Victory ! how you distract my poor brain !” and where he expired with the last words upon his lips—“ Now I am satisfied. Thank God, I have done my duty,” after having learnt that fourteen ships of the enemy had surrendered. They were also shown one of the old topsails which carried the ship into action, a sample of the guns which contributed to the victory, and the immortal signal blazoned in front ot the poop. The inspection of the Victory, combined with what they had seen of arinorclads and the scientific accessories of modern naval warfare, enabled them to draw a suggestive contrast between the navy of to-day and that of the time of Nelson, and to understand how a change in a single factor involves changes all round Between the noble ships of the line, the wooden walls by means of which the Admiral was enabled to vanquish the combined naval strength of France and Spain, and the Colossus, for example, no useful comparison can be instituted. The conditions and characteristics of the two vessels are utterly at variance. The Victory measures 226ift in extreme length, the gun deck 186 ft, the beam 52tt, and the depth of hold 214 ft, and yet, in spite of these ample proportions, being entirely built of wood, her tonnage, when fully equipped for action, did not exceed 2200 tons, or a trifle less than the tonnage of the Hotspur. But while the turret-ship mounts only a brace of 25-ton guns and as many 64pounders, the Victory carried into action at Trafalgar 104 guns, composed of 33, 24, and 12-pounders. The entire weight of her broadside amounted to only 11001 b, whereas the two guns of the Rupert discharge an aggregate weight of 12001 b, while one of the 80-ton guns of the Inflexible fires a projectile weighing 17001 b. In other words, one of the Inflexible’s guns throws a mass of metal exceeding in weight the entire broadside of the Victory by over 5001 b, with an augmentation of energy utterly inconceivable. The Victory is built of wood and the Hotspur of iron ; the former was driven by sails, the latter is mastless and relies entirely upon steam for her propulsion.