TERRIBLE VOYAGE IN A TORPEDO GUNBOAT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2531, 29 September 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

TERRIBLE VOYAGE IN A TORPEDO GUNBOAT.

The Standard's correspondent at Borehavon gives an account of tho voyage from .Portland to Beroliaven of tho torpedo gunboat Sandfly. This vossol mid her t-ister-boats, it may bo stated, lira supposed to combine seaworthiness and (Trent spend with vast power of destruction. She is only Sft. deep, '23fr. beam, 209ff.. long, and 450 tons burden. Shu is rated us n l!)-knot boat, aud capable of steaming 3,000 miles nnd more nt ten knots without coaling , . Her fk-ht-injf capacity lies iu n 4in. breech-loading gun, six machine-guns, and four torpedotubes. The correspondent says :—Ham", .torpedoes, nnd machine-guns have lost '"their terror for the officers of the Sandfly, all heeauso Khe has steamed from England to Ireland in a light breeze and o-i'sy seas without going to the bottom with all on board. Three sister-boats are taking part in these manoeuvres, whoso crews may yet be alive to tell of what they have pissed through ; but, lest they have nil shared tho fato of tho Sandfly —by no means an extraordinary hypothesis—let me record something about tho capacity of this BpeoieH of craft to inflict torture upon the servants of the Queen, too plucky to shirk the work and too well-trained to complain. Whatever may be the qualities of the Sandfly in smooth waters, tho experience of her officers on the run over illustrates her value for such purposes as she is now put to. Prom their statements it seems that in the light weather wo had all the way from Portland, while the Hercules moved with the least possiblo motion, the Sandfly pitched and rolled so violently that the pendulum intended to register tho heeling of the vessel proved useless. It registers only 30 degrees on either side, and the Sandfly rolled nearly 43, the pendulum striking from side to side. This violence of motion succeeded in knocking the poor surgeon from his chair, and pitching him about in the saloon, until he gave tip the struggle with several injuries to the ribs. The ship's company to a man wero as sick as men never were before, One man finally vomited blood, and the best of them had barely the heart left to stand at their posts, seamen and officers alternating at the leo rail in misery. On the bridgo, which is as high ns the funnels, the seas dashed up as they do against u cliff, lushing- the salt wash into the eyes of thoso on watch, until cayenne pepper could not have made them smart more. In fact, one man has his eyes bandaged. Forward of this bridge no man can go, for it is as freely under water as the bows of a cayak, and the 4-in breechloader that stands there might as well be a champagne bottle, for any harm it could do to an enemy while the vessel is nnderweigh. This was most conclusively shown on the journey hither, for the Warspite was ohnsed and overhauled by the Amphion, of the other fleet, and would surely have been sent to the bottom had actual war existed, for the Amphion steamed easily her 15 knots high out of water, while the Sandfly could make but six knots on tho waves, and then rolled and pitched, so that fighting of any kind was totally out of the question. That she can neither malte speed nor fight at sea is evident, and, wbat is worse, it is, in the minds of her officers, an even chanco whether, on any open sea distance, she would reach her destination. This short run has so battered her that over since we have been here she has been undergoing repairs. Her machinery has all the intricacy of clockwork, with much of its fragility. Tho slightest imperfection anywhere disables her, and not one on board was sanguine enough to think she could float long unless she could keep her head to the sea. Her deck is so close to the water that you can sit and dip your toes in the water over the side, as was the case in the original monitors of the American navy; but, unlike those vessels, she has bulwarks that hold the water when it rushes over the side, and so destroy the ship's chance of freeing herself rapidly. So low is the vessel, so quick her rolling, and so high her bulwarks, that it would require but a few green seas in succession on board to swamp her effectively. What the boat can do in smooth water is no doubt great; but as a war vessel fur general use she has proved a complete failure,