solution; hence the _raison d'etre_ of the present demonstration. The
double bottom, which is about 2½ ft. deep, was consequently kept empty,
and the torpedo placed in immediate contact with it in such a manner
that, being overhung by the contour of the hull, the ship would feel the
full force of the upward as well as the lateral energy of the charge. On
other accounts the importance of the experiment was obvious, for,
although it had been ascertained that torpedo nets were capable of
protecting a battle ship from the bursts of the heaviest locomotive and
outrigger charges, it might happen, of course, that the nets would be
rent or displaced by shell fire or swept away by a grazing ram or even
attacked by a double torpedo, the second passing through the gashes made
by the explosion of the first in any case. It was, therefore, of urgent
necessity that the effect of a torpedo bursting in immediate contact
with a ship's bottom should be practically and clearly determined. The
charge on June 13 was fired just before 5 p.m. in the wake of the
boilers, and it was soon perceived that something of a fatal character
had taken place from the appearance of coal dust sweeping up through the
hold. The report had not the dull boom to which the spectators had
become accustomed. Instead of this, the gun cotton exploded with a
sharp, angry, whistling noise, while the manner in which the mud was
churned up showed that the force of the rebound was terrific. The ship
lifted bodily near the stern, after which it was seen to leisurely heel
over to starboard some eight or ten degrees, and finally repose, though
not until the tide fell, upon the mud. The old hulk had been mortally
wounded at last.

A complete knowledge of the disaster which has overtaken her (says the
correspondent of the London _Times_, to which we are indebted for the
above particulars) will not be obtained until a careful investigation
has been made of the hull in dock. But, from a hasty exploration which