THE NEW SHIELD SHIP.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1789, 8 November 1862, Page 5

THE NEW SHIELD SHIP.

The Roy.il Sovereign, at Poit-jmotith, has only at present some thirty hands, mechanics aod laborei*.-:, employed upon her in her conversion lo a shield ship, and the majority of those are engaged in completing hei new stern. All other work with one exception, is in a state of suspension. Ihis state of things clearly indicates that the authorities have as yet arrived at no decision as to the exact course to be adopted to give the ship the efficiency she will be supposed and ought to possess as a shield ship, and which she doubtless would have had had it been possible for the Admiralty and Captain Coles, from the first to have worked harmoniously together. In tht conversion of one of the largest of our ships, constructed to carry broadside guns, to a vessel on au entirely novel principle, and carrying guns ouly amidships, it certaiuly seems but reasonable to suppose that the position of the guns and their line of fire from the shields of the converted ship should have beeu fully taken into consideration before the drawings for the ship's conversion were issued. This however, is just what has not been done. The Admiralty, in their very pardonable eagerness to give CaptaiD Coles a fitting ship for his first essay, unfortunately kept the details of her conversion in their own hands. They restricted Capt. Coles to preparing the necessary drawings for her towers and shields, and, selecting one of the latest constructed and finest of our three deckers, placed her in the hands ofthe master shipwright's department at Portsmouth, to razee as quickly as possible, according to furnished drawings. The wo«k was done in a wonderfully short time, and tiie progress of conversion was cairied so far that the ship had received her armour-plates on her sides aud the towers on her deck, when the awkward discovery was made that, in lieu of a vessel that should possess extraordinary offensive and defensive powers, we had something in the shape of a huge mooring lighter, the offensive and defensive powers of which, if completed as a shield ship in its present form would be very limited indeed. To remedy the error as far as possible, it is now proposed to raise the deck at the crown of the tower over the engine-room to the height of 2,ft. 0 in. above the present deck, sloping the beams to the ship's side to 18 in. above the ends of the present beams, aud thus, giving the guns about 4 deg. of depression amidships. Drawing a line from the muzzle of the guns, when at their greatest possible depression, to the point at which their shot would strike the hull of a ship's launch or gun-boat on the water, it is evident that there must always he a considerable space round the Royal Sovereign whtre v large nnmber of such craft could lie out of all danger of the guns from the shieldship. At the same time they could pound her sides with a solid 63-pound shot, throw men on her decks, wedge up her towers, and drop shells or other explosive substances into them, and thus force her to a speedy surrender. These serious objections to the Royal Sovereign as a shield-ship arise entirely from hei* inability to depress her guns, owing to the manner in which she had been razeed, together with her width, one of the great requirements of the shield principle heing that the ship to carry plates, must be long, of narrow beam, and yet with sut-rtcient flmiess of floor to enable her to cany the great weight of the towers and their shields in addition to her guns. To say that -uch ships as the Royal Sovereign, low as they will he in the water, require no armour covering for the upper i ! eck (when like the Royal Sove reign, they are to carry only guns of the same calibre as an ordinery frigate having five times her number), is simply absurd. Such a frigate as the Mersey rang'n g up alongside the Sovereign would send a broadside down upon thf hitter's unprotected deck, which would go right through hey and sink her at once. Give the shield "-hip guns of such calibre as no other description of ship could carry, which was the intention of the inventor, and then the Mersey would be careful how she altempted lo range alongside such an antagonist. With respect to the number of shields to be carried by the converted ship, it has beeu decided, we think very unwisely, to give the ship five, rescinding a previous order to fit her for four of larger niumeler. As the five shields will carry only 68-pouude.s or 110

' pounder Armstrongs, the shield ship will, iri fact, have but ten guns of tbe same calibre as the fifty guns of the ordinary frigate, and her offensive powers will thus' be reduced to a minimum. When in sea trim the estimated draught of water of the Royal Sovereign -will be 26 feet. She will carry her upper deck, at the sides, seven feet above the water line, and the muzzles of her guns 9 feet 6 inch cs — Times. Great Twenty-one Miles Walking Match for £100. — On August 11, the Copenhagen Grounds, Wandsworth, were visited by about 1500 admirers of" tall walking,'-' in consequence of the now well-known James Miles, of Brixton, having undertaken, for a bet of £50 a side, to walk 21 miies in three consecutive hours. Every prelimi: nary having been arranged, Master James appeared at the scratch, and, in obedience to the report of a pistol fired by"[ the referee, commenced the task at exactly 5 minute 3to 5. Miles dashed away in his well known style and graceful action. The first half-mile was walked with apparent ease in 3 mm. 53 sec, and the mile in 7 mill. 59 sec, Miles apparently on very good terms with himself, and being loudly cheered by his friends. It was, however, soon evident that he was gradually ■but surely losing time in each half-mile. After walking 14 miles he dropped his hands, and from time to time swayed his body to and fid ; although he had not lost his style of going, yet the steps were very short, and he became pale and very anxious in the expression of his face and mouth. During the 15th mile and a-half, the backer of time, with human consideration, most anxiously persuaded Miles's backers to make him desist, but even now their faith in the recovery of their representative was so strong that they hoped he would, from his youth, once more come round. This distance was accomplished in 2 hours 15 mm. 35 sec. During the completion Of the 16th mile, it was a painfnl sight to witness the futile attempts of Miles to make a pace, as he could not hold his arms in their proper position for above a few strides, and ho was 3 hours 20 mm. 38 sec. getting through that distance, the last mile taking up 10 mm. 5 sec. Nature had by this time entirely deserted him, as he staggered on for about half a lap more, when he fell senseless to the ground, after having walked 16 miles and about 200 yards in 2 hours 22 mm. 15 sec. [This feat has never been accomplished in England except by the renowned* " CHarley Westhall,"' who walked 21 miles in 2 hours 59 mm. 1 sec, on tho turnpike-road, from Newmarket to Cambridge, on February 18, 1857. J Ibid.

Death of Chablton, the Jockey. — John Charlton, the celebrated jockey, died on July 27 j at Malton, of consumption. He was especially famous for having ridden Blink Bonny, in the Derby and Oaks, when that mare achieved her memorable victories at Epsoha in 18*>7 Both the heroine and her rider on that occasion are now gone. Blink Bonny having also died at the commencement of 'the present season. — Home News.