THE NEW GUN BOAT.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1964, 1 October 1863, Page 4

THE NEW GUN BOAT.

The Sydney correspondent of the Southern Cross gives an interesting description of this unboat: — ■■ Some five or six months ago, when the military commanders enffaged in the Maori wai had become aware of the necessity or great advantage of penetrating tbe centre of rebel Maoridom by effecting a passage up the rivers, it be. came a question of some difficulty as to how a boat capable of withstanding the assaults of the enemy, and at tbe same time of light draught and easy movement, could be obtained for navigating the tortuous and shallow streams. The New .Zealand Government at once looked to New South Wales for such a vessel, and overtures were made through Mr E. O. Moriarty, the Engineer for Rivers and Harbours, who communicated with the Australasian Steam Navigation Company on the subject, and found them prepared to undertake the construction of a gunboat of the required description. Mr T. Macarthur, the Company's chief engineer, was entrusted with the work, and in something like seventeen weeks the vessel was afloat ; being now ready to hand over to tbe ageut of the New Zealand Government. Leaving out of notice the execution of the workmanship, it must be a source of gratification to New South Wales that she has a firm capable of building a vessel like this to meet such an urgent emergency, when we consider that it would require some sixteen or eighteen months to import one from tbe mother country. The gunboat, No. 3, as she is at present called, pending her formal normnation by the New Zealand authorities, will no doubt figure prominently in future contests with the Maoris. A Merrimac or Monitor she does not much resemble, but the Maori Warriors will probably find that against them she is as formidable an antagonist as either of those celebrated ironclads was to the American combatants. She is an iron-built vessel ; her length 340 feet, her breadth of beam twenty feet, her depth eight feet. She is flat bottomed, and he depth of water, with about 300 hundred men and stores on board, is only about three feet But she has centreboards, by means of which her keel can be deepened to eight feet, when necessary. She has non-condensing engines of 40-horse power, with tubular boilers of improved construction, to carry a pressure of sixty pounds to the inch ; and she is propelled by means of a stern paddle wheel, which has feathering floats. To some slight degree her progress is assisted by this exhausted steam at her stern. On the main deck she is fitted with two iron towers, twelve feet in diameter and eight feet elevation, pierced with slots for rifles, and also with ports for 12-lb Armstrong guns. From the one tower the vessel, if she should be boarded by the enemy, can be raked from the beam forward, and from the other from the beam aft. The engine-room aft is also constructed of iron, affording shelter to the steersman and accommodation for riflemen. The commander will have a turret above this stern tower. The engines are entirely under deck, and ereryportion of the vessel can beshutagainst an enemy boarding her. Between decks there are five water-tight compartments, butadmitting of communication fore arid aft, and accommodation for 300 or 400 men. One noticeable peculiarity in her means of defence is that on the enemy attempting to board she can by means of perforated pipes lying like a moulding along her side, pour upon them jets wf boiling water or volumes of hot steam. She is schoonerrigged, and does not present an ungraceful exterier — the iron, which is three-eighth inch plate, not being so heavy as to make her look cumbrous. Between decks she has a patent noiseless fan, attached to a donkey engine, for the purpose of driving tbe smoke from her towers. She carries about twenty-two tons of coals in her bunkers, and consumes about three tons a day. She was built entirely under the superintendence of Mr E. O. Moriarty, acting for the New Zealand Government, and practical men are of opinion that the engineering work is as finely finished as any imported from the mother country. Yesterday afternoon she left the A.S.N. Company's wharf on a trial trip. There were about sixty gentlemen «n board, including the hon. the Colonial Secretary, the hon. the Secretary for works, the Hon. Capt. Ward, the Hon. J. B. Watt, the Hon. C. Kemp, Mr Dalgleish, M.L.A., Mr Dillon Bell (the agent for New Zealand), Mr Eichard Jones, &c. She proceeded down the harhour as far as Shark Point, thence round Cockatoo Island, and during her course attained a speed of nine knots an hour, whilst she turns, with a favourable wind, within her own length. In the handsome little cabin, for the officers' accommodation, some slight refreshment was provided, and on tbe return a few gentlemen assembled, aud drank success to the gunboat and the British arms (proposed by the Hon. Mr Watt) to which a response was given by Mr D. Bell, on behalf of the New Zealand "Government, and he passed some highly complimentary remarks upon the excellent manner in whick the gunboat had been constructed.