A sum of $145,000 was appropriated for the construction and equipment of
the Eber, which was begun at Kiel in the latter part of 1885, and was
launched February 15, 1887.--_Illustrirte Zeitung_.

* * * * *




NEW BRITISH TORPEDO EXPERIMENTS.


The torpedo experiments against the Resistance, which have been
suspended since November last, were resumed on June 9 at Portsmouth by
the officers of the Vernon. The injuries received by the ironclad in the
previous experiments having been repaired, so as to make the vessel
watertight, the old ship was towed up the harbor, and moored in Fareham
Creek. Our readers are aware that the Resistance is an obsolete ironclad
which has finished her career as a battle ship, and that nothing could
have converted her into a modern armorclad.

Although it was intended to render the experiments final and conclusive
as a practical demonstration under service conditions of the destructive
effects of the Whitehead torpedo when directed against a modern vessel
of war, the results still leave behind them much uncertainty. The
Resistance was built of iron, whereas battle ships are now exclusively
constructed of steel, and it would be perhaps hazardous to state that
the behavior of the two metals under a sudden and violent shock would be
exactly the same. The construction of the double bottom of the old ship