Page:The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century.djvu/263

 realised by the low position of the main shaft, far below the water line, became apparent, as the engines, being horizontal, would be in a great measure protected from the enemy’s fire, instead of being, as in paddle-wheel ships, dangerously and unavoidably exposed to it. It was also soon seen what great benefit would be derived if the engines were coupled directly to the main shaft, without the intervention of cogged wheels, to obtain the required number of revolutions of the screw. To ensure this result much higher speed of crank-shaft was necessary, but the engineering skill of the country proved quite equal to the occasion. Messrs Maudslay & Field, and Messrs Penn & Son, now began to almost monopolise the Government orders, as I find that of twenty-six sets of screw engines completed for the Admiralty between the years 1852 and 1860 twenty-one are credited to these two firms. The workmanship of both was admirable, but at that time Messrs Maudslay erred, if anything, rather on the side of strength, and Messrs Penn on that of lightness. The number 'twenty-six' given above is exclusive of a large fleet of high-pressure steam gunboats that were built and engined with unexampled rapidity at the beginning of the Russian War. High-pressure steam was first tried in the navy in September 1853, on board the corvette 'Malacca.' She was fitted with engines working with steam at 60 lbs. pressure by Messrs Penn, but she was not a success; engineers had not yet been educated up to so vast an innovation.

In 1860 was completed for sea a ship remarkable