ABOARD THE THUNDERER.

West Coast Times, Issue 2848, 20 May 1878, Page 2

ABOARD THE THUNDERER.

On March 2nd, says an exchange, the Speaker of the House of Commons, accompanied by about 180 of the members, travelled by special train from Victoria Terminus to Portsmouth, and proceeded on board the Thunderer, as the guests of Lord Charles Beresford. After inspecting the ship the party paid a visit to the Vernon, torpedo-school ship, moored in the harbor, but sufficiently suggestive experiments were carried out in the tidal baain, alongside the Thuaderer, from the Vesuvius, the old torpedo-ship. One of the " Whiteheads," a cigar-shaped metal cylinder, pointed in froat and with a screw in the rear, was started from the guiding frame fixed on a stout steam launch. It was directed to pass a little ahead of a boat stationed at a distance of about 200 yards. Plunging without any splash into the water and sinking to a depth which can be regulated to great nicety, the torpedo sped straight as an arrow, at a speed of twelve or fourteen knots, out of sight, but indicatiug its track by the bubbles of air which rose iv its wake ; it passed a few feet from the bows of the boat, and might just as easily have struck fairly amidships. To show that the " Wbitehead" is not dependent on the directing framework for effective use, a second torpedo was discharged by hand from a common dingy, making as true a course for the point de mire as the first. These experiments, which were more nearly public than anything which has yet taken place in regard to torpedoes, conveyed an idea of what may be anticipated from the use of these formidable weapons in attack. The next demonstration went to show what can be done ia the way of defence against the hidden dangers of fixed torpedoes, strikingly illustrating at the same time the dependence of modern warfare upon, science. It has been found that the explosion of a mine will burst or destroy all fixed submarine torpedoes within a radius of 100 feet. Those however who attempted to clear a channel by laying and firing mines would probably soon be blown up themselves, and the next experiment went to show how, by means of electricity, these mines may be laid and fired from a steamer without a soul on board. A stout steam launch, having on each side a barrel with a tin box on the bilge, was started from the side of the Vesuvius, towing after her as she went a telegraphic cable fast to the mast head. Through this cable currents of electricity were passed, acting on the tiller as rapidly and effectively as if a steersman had been in the stern sheets. The boat went to port or to starboard at the will of the operator, finally turning off to port at right angles, and then dropping the two barrels which were supposed to represent countermines for destroying torpedoes in a channel where it would be dangerous for a boat's crew to venture. The barrels were disengaged and dropped overboard by the electric current, causing an explosion in the tin boxes. This in turn, ignited a time-fuse, burning long enough to enable the launch to be steered out of danger, and then the two barrels blew up in succession, each being supposed to have cleared the channel of all hidden mines within a radius of lOOrt. After this the bugles on board the Thunderer sounded to quarters, and in seven minutes from the last note of the call everything on the upper deck was clear of the guns, turrets were manned, and the ship was ready for action. Hon. gentlemen whose conception of the naval power of their country was certainly not diminishe by anything they had seen during a very pleasant day's outing, warmly congratulated Captain Wilson, and his colleague, Commander Lord Charles Beresford, before returning to London.