PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2055, 13 July 1893, Page 42

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

The Loss of the Victoria.

Much has been now telegraphed and written on this terrible loss, which seems clearly to have been caused by a fearful error of judgment on the patt of Admiral Tryon. Did he prefer death to the disgrace of a court-martial ? That I shall not moralise on ; but a few particulars from " Brassey!s Naval Annual" may be interesting. This powerful turret ship was named tbe Victoria in honour of' her Majesty's jubilee, and was constructed by Lord Armstrong, at Elswick, above Newcastle. In speed, protection, and armament she was without a competitor in the navies of Europe. The only war vessel approaching her was tbe French armourclad Admiral Baudin, which is protected on the water line by a complete armourbelt of a uniform thickness of 21 Jin, and has her three heaviest guns mounted sirgly in barbettes. In these respects she is superior to the Victoria, which was protected on the water line for only half her length, and then the belt did not exceed 18in, while her two 110 ton guns were boxed up in a single turret. Bat the Victoria was superior in speed by two knot?, was more powerfully armed, and bad a wider range of action, with 1000 tons less displacement. In addition to her two breach-loading 110-ton guns, firing ahead a shot of 18001b, with a charge of 9001b of powder, and revolving with an arc of 150deg, there was one 30-ton gun, firing astern and on either quarter, 12 Gin 5 ton guns, 12 6-poundirr3, and 9 3-poanders, quick firing, besides machine guns for smaller ammunition.* A broadside would fire 4750.b of metal, consuming 30001b of powder, and the force developed by firing oneof the 110-ton guns is sufficient to lift the largest Fiench man-of-war 4£ft. Further, she had eight torpedo ditchargerp. This stupendous fighting machine required 550 officers and men, of whom 110 were engineers, stokers, and noncombatants. Oa her trial trip the engines indioated over 14,000-horse power, and the steam is generated bj eJght steel boilers, \ h.avirg a total of 32 furnages, consumirg

over 300 tons of coal a N day, to develop a speed of 17£ knots — a speed, however, which could not' be kept up loDg. Such is the vessel built at a cost of over £800,000, which with such a lamentable loss of life has just; gone to the bottom ia peaceful times, on a clear day, in a calm sea. '

I had the curiosity to turn up " Hazell's Annual " to see the strength of the British Navy, The armour-clads of the first class is given in the 1893 edition to be 23, of which in another pag3 it is stated 12 are to be completed in 1894 and after, leaving only 11 ready for action. But since the publication of the book two of these 11 have been disabled — the Howe, and the Oamperdown — and another, the Victoria,' has been sunk. Then if we remember that with the exception of the Royal Sovereign these three are not excelled in speed or power by any British ship afloat, tbe seriousness of their loss can well be imagined, especially when we remember that France is doubling its fleer, and that it is Britain's aim to keep .on the seas an armament equal to the combined armaments of any two nations that may be pitted against her, especially France and Ru3sia, the former of which will have by the end of this year about 250 torpedo boats alone. Since tbe sinking of the Victoria the question has been asked in the British" House of Commons whether it is intended to build any more such large, unwieldy war vessels. In the list of vessels building or ordered seven of the firbt line-of-battleships are given as having a tonnage of over 14,000— a1l exceeding the^Victoria. I mentioned the " Citizens' Reader " last week as a good book for lads. It has a fullpage tinted plate of- the Victoria.

Atlantic Liners.

While on the subject of sbip3 l might j ust as well give a few lines, condensed from an article in the Leisure Hour, entitled "Power at Sea," and from other sources. While naval authorities are seriously considering whether ironclads are not too large to be handled with precision, the mercantile liners are gradually increasing in size, power, and speed. It is said that the liaes are now being 'aid for two vessels the Campania and Lucaiiia for the White Star line, which will be about 800 ft long, will cost over half a million each, and -have engines developing perh3p3 30,000-horse power and a speed of 22 knots. The Teutonic and Majestic cost £100,000 each, and cost £1 a minute to run. These must each earn £18,000 a trip or bo worked at a loss. The engines of each evaporate equal to 1625 tacks of water of 400 gal each every day, asd in a trip across the pond pumphilf a million tons of water through the condensing; tubes. Each vessel laden weighs about 15,000 tons, and to drive this jmass through the water 35f s a second something like 300 tons of coal are used every day. These figures will give a slight idea of running an Atlantic greyhound.

To economise steam, a few years %o tho triple expansion engine, by which seam was used three times over before^being condensed, was invented ; bub now quadruple and even .quintuple expansion engines are made to save fuel. The engines of the Tekoa— l don't know whether they are triple or quadruple— brought her from Teneriffe to Auckland— over 12,000 knots— without stopping, at the rate of 10 knots an hour, and used only £oz of coal to cany a ton of cargo a rails. ' Go-operation.

As I have not time this week to ran off a few co-operative notcß for a separate column I'll just put in a word or, two here. 'Mr Forsytb, a Dunedin co-operatr>r, asks for the number of co-operators a,t Homo. I. havea't my statistics handy, so will give Miss Potter's figures for 1889, taken from " Toe Cooperative Movement in Great Britain." Store?, 1389; members, 961,000; sale?, £26,051,000; money invested, £10,710,000; profit*, ,£3,418,000. These figures siraply refer to Great Britain, Ireland being omitted, nor do they include the figures of the English and Scottish co-operative wholesales, the sales, of which for the same year amounted to £9,303,000. ' These have been, of course, considerably increased in the last three years, the wholesales, for instate?, ' doing now about a million a montb. , I hope in* a week or two to get the Cooperative News containing a full account of. the congress held in Bristol some weeks ego. I shall then be able to give the latest statistics and information. In a few weeks the Coop3rative Annual for 1894 will be published, and those who have co-operation at heart would do, well to get it and the News numbers for May and June. I was very much pleased to "A Farmer's" letter a fortnight ago*, not on account o! the kindly reference to myself, but because the writer is cue who has worked out the subject thoughtfully. Ptrfcaps the leaven will woik. Who knows? A few " Farmerp," and the movement would soon made headway. '