rue that poetry and romance must more and more cease to be
associated with our navy, we must just accept the fact, for nothing is
more certain than that, whatever the warships of the future _may_ be, we
can never again return to the days of the old wooden ships.

Several opposing difficulties have now to be met in the construction of
ironclads. Invulnerability as regards the enemy's guns, protection to
the men on board, speed, and the quality of being easily managed at
sea,--all these points have to be carefully considered; and the
difficulty is that one quality wars against another. A ship might be
built which was proof against any guns that could be devised, and then
might be found utterly unmanageable and unsafe at sea. A balance of
qualities has therefore to be struck, and this perfect equipoise has by
no means been as yet attained. Every year--we might say every month--
witnesses the birth of some new type of armour-plated war-ship, built in
every case at an enormous cost. The new sea-monster looks formidable
enough in all conscience; but the question that arises the instant she
quits the dock is, Is she sea-worthy? And with the fate of the
_Captain_ and the _Vanguard_ in our memories, the question may well
arise. The story of modern war-ships has, up to this, been one of
mingled success and failure. Does not the epigram on our war-ships--our
"sub-marine fleet"--owe its point and sting, in a measure, to its truth?

Of the various types of modern war-vessels, the most formidable yet
devised are undoubtedly the _steam-rams_ and _turret-ships_. The
steam-ram is armed with a strong steel beak, with which it charges an
enemy in much the same way as the war-galleys of ancient times charged a
foe, or as a sword-fish attacks its adversary. The turret-ship carries
one or more shot-proof circular turrets, in which one or more guns are
worked by the crew, the guns being capable of being turned and pointed
in any direction. Both turret-ships and steam-rams are, of course, iron
plated.

Vessels of this description were first employed by the Americans in the
great civil war. The careers of the _Merrimac_ and _Monitor_ may be
said to have become a part of American national history. The _Merrimac_
was the first iron-plated steam-ram. She was originally a wooden
frigate; was cut down, coated with iron, and furnished with a ram. In
her famous encounter with the _Congress_ and the _Cumberland_, two
wooden frigates of