. Reminiscences of the Baltic fleet of 1855 . as not only the larg-est andfinest three decker afloat, or as yet had sailedthe seas, but was so complete and up to date at thetime, that, had any one hinted she would be reallyobsolete in less than a decade, he would have beenlaughed to scorn ! Yet, such proved the fact: inless than ten years the poetic and glorious woodenwalls of old England were being supplantedby prosaic ugly iron monsters like the k Warrior and Black Prince ! The Duke originally was laid down as thesailing Windsor Castle, but her constructionwas delayed by the introduction of
. Reminiscences of the Baltic fleet of 1855 . as not only the larg-est andfinest three decker afloat, or as yet had sailedthe seas, but was so complete and up to date at thetime, that, had any one hinted she would be reallyobsolete in less than a decade, he would have beenlaughed to scorn ! Yet, such proved the fact: inless than ten years the poetic and glorious woodenwalls of old England were being supplantedby prosaic ugly iron monsters like the k Warrior and Black Prince ! The Duke originally was laid down as thesailing Windsor Castle, but her constructionwas delayed by the introduction of the screw pro-peller, which caused her to be lengthened andfitted for steam. The change in her name was con-sequent on the death of the great Duke ofWellington in 1852. Thus transformed, in sub-stance and in name, she was commissioned with anarmament of 131 g*uns,and a crew of 1200 officersand men of all grades. Her dimensions were a&follows :—length 270, beam 60, depth 60, draught27—increased in the semi-fresh waters of the- n Lill#. BALTIC FLEET OF 1855. 33 Baltic to 29 feet; tonnage 3,700 ; engine power780 horse. She had three fighting- decks from six to sevenfeet in height; the lower and middle decks werearmed with hollow 56 and solid 32 pounders ; theupper deck with 32 pounders; and the quarter-deckwith brass guns. The odd gun was a great swivelsolid 68 pounder, mounted on traversing rails on theforecastle. The cockpit deck was partly under thewater line ; the magazines and engines wholly the rows of cannon on the fighting decksiron ranees supported six rounds of black shining-shot for each gun; the overhead beam racksheld the rammers and sponges of the guns, andalso the short muskets and cutlasses of the intervals on the decks were stands for the longrifles of the marines. The magnificently kept decks and armamentwere always a sight to see ; but particularly in-teresting when the mess tables were down, andspread with a substantial repast, at whic
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnavalmedicine, bookye
