PORT OF HOKITIKA.

West Coast Times, Issue 148, 9 March 1866, Page 2

PORT OF HOKITIKA.

HIGH WATER. Thursday ... 4.30 a.m. ... 5.0 p.m. \. ARRIVED. March B—Claudo Hamilton, s.s, Ponsonby, from Nelson. Passengers : Simoon ;Mr nnd Miss Kelly. Mrs Simoon, nnd 12 in tho forecabin. P. Greer, Agent. • Albion, 8.9., Kidney, from Melbourne. PusBengors! saloon 5 Mm and tho 3 Misses Shap-V pero, Mrs SU-tir, Misses Cuthbcrtson and HaBaivMessrs Reeves, JBluir, Palmer and Dunning, and 102 in tho forecabin. Hnm, Houghton and Co., Agents. Spray, schooner, Buxton, from Lyttelton. Bain, Houjjohton and Co., Agents. Phoenix, Pan-, Ihmedin. Volunteer, cutter, Sullivan, Manakau. BAHEI). Mar«h B—Lizzie Coleson, bvigantino, Tyral, for Sydney } 7 passengers. # Cosmopolite, brig, Qirdwood, fov Napier. William Miskin, Hepburn, for Dunedin. ENTERED IK. Claud Hamilton, t».e. from Nelson Albion, fl.s. from Melbourne ci/bahed out. Lizzio Coleson, for Sydney William Miskin, for Nelson Thane, s.s. for Okarita Albion, for Nolson EXPECTED AMUVATiS. Auckland, s.s., from Sydney, oavly. Isabella, from Dunedin. Pearl, from Dunedin. Alma, from Melbourne. William, brigantine, from.Sydney, daily. ISxcelsior,- from Dunedin eavly Duuedin, from Dunedin early Wallabi, from Nelson 3rd March Eleanor, from Nelson March 4th Elfin, irom Dunedin early Alhainbra, from Melbourne early Keoru, from Dunedin early Barwon, s.s., from Melbourne, early. Beuigitoto, from Sydney, early, liotueubnrg, from Nelson, to-day. PROJECTED DEPARTURES, , Lapwing, for Grey, early. ' Wallabi, for Oknritu, early. Gothenburg, for Melbourne, on the lOtk imt. Barwon, for Nelson, early. Claud Hamilton, for Melbourne, this day Tlmno, for Oknrita, to-dny. VESSELS IN PORT. ' Sohooners—Caroline, Meteor, James Paxton, Spwtf. Cutter- -Lapwing, Volunteer. Steamers—Ynvra, Hallnrat, Thane, Persevere, Phaonix. IMPORTS. Por Claud Hamilton.—Free and duty paid. 82 bales wool, King nud Parsons ; 1 parcel, 1 case, na addressed ; 6 cases fruit, 4- do. eggs, I box cheese, 1 box oysters, 1 do turnips, 1 do sage, Marshall and Co.

The. Claud Hamilton left Nelson at noon on the 6th imt., and anchored off the bai 1 , Hokitika, at 10 p.m. on the 7th inst. She encountered strong head winds accompanied by a very heavy cross sea throughout tho passage. The s.s. Eleanor wns sighted off the Steeples at 1 p.m. on tho 7th inst. The Olaudo Haniilton pi'oceods direct to Melbourne this day nt 11 a.m. Tho superior ncoommodation of this ship for all classes is well known, and this, combined with her high speed, renders her one of tho fastost and most comfortablo vessels afloat. Sho is still under tho,command of Captain Gordon Ponsonby, a gentleman so well and favorably known in tho passenger trado of New Zealand and Melbourne. The Science 01? Attack and Defence. — Instructions have been recoived at tho shipwright department nt Chatham dockyard from tho Admiralty as to the vessels to bo completed, repaired, and fitted, (ogethor with tho programme of works generally to be undertaken at that establishment during tho roinainder of tho financial year. Tho chief of thoso will be tho commencement of the two new vessels to bo built from JMr E. J. Reed's designs, viz., the Hercules nnd tho Blanche, tho former being 1 an entirely now kind of iron-clad, to bo coated with armourplates of groat thickness, nnd the latter an improved frigate (unnrmod) of tho Amazon class, nnd intended to carry n battery of a few guns of the heaviest calibre. The drawings and plans of both vessels nvo now in the hands of the draughtsmen employed in tho designing department of the dockyard, for tho preparation of tho sectional drawings and moulds for each ship. The Hercules will bo constructed with a thickness of iron running along her broadside of 114 inches, of which her armour plates alono will bo of tho enormous thickness of 7 inches, or exactly double tho thickness of the armour-plates of tho Warrior, which is only protected for some 200 feet amidships. The recent experiments mado at Shoeburynoss on the Hercules target, constructed with exactly the same weight of iron and timber per squavo foot as is intended to be employed in tho vessel, proved ineontestably that no gun hitherto invented will be able to propel a shot through the sides. On tho occasion of the experiment's alluded to three of the Armstrong 12 ton 300-pounder shunt guns were fired nt a distance of only 200 yards, with charges varying from 45 lbs. to 60 lbs. of powder. Although a steel shot of 300 lbs. weight and 104 inches in diameter struck tho centra of tho 9-inoh armour-plate with a velocity of rather moro than 1500 feet per second, yet the blow was barely sufficient to break through the|arraour, aud did not injure tho backing. Sir William Armstrong, in his letter to tho Times, subsequently confessed his doubts whether even tho 600-pounder gun would hare succeeded in penetrating tho target unless oven tho 60 lb. charges were greatly increased, whereas no rifle gun yol constructed haß over been tried at Woolwich with charges oxceoding 60 lb. of powder. It still, how,ever, remains to be proved what a large Mackay gun would do. A small 0110 made very small chips of a target whioh Armstrong's gun of double the calibre could not seriously damage. The Blanche is to bo laid down on the slip from which tho Lord Warden is to be launched, and is to bo takon in hand ns soon as the work now in progress will admit. Tho Reindeer, originally laid down as a 17gun screw corvette, but since altered so as to enable her to mount a fow heavy guns, is to be completed and mode ready for launching forthwith. The order also directs tho fine sorow uuarmoured wooden frigate Ariadno, 26, 800 koreo-power (nominal), to be thoroughly repaired at an estiumlod cost of £16,600, which will probably reach £40,000 before she is complete iv her fitments, furnished with now boilers, and ready for commission as the order directs. The programme of work does not include the ordinary ropnirs and refit to the harbor craft, steamers, ships in ordinary, &c." Will our readors be able to realise a vessel whose broadside consists of a solid mass of iron nearly one foot in thickness extending the whole longth of the ship. — New Ztaland Herald.