ch_, or broadside-ships
like the _Hercules_ and _Sultan_, draw about twenty-five feet of water;
the smaller ships only sixteen, while at the same time they are more
heavily armoured. Thus the latter, if close pressed by an enemy's
sea-going ironclads--the only class from which they have much to fear--
could take shelter up a river out of their reach. In action near the
land these monitors, moreover, could be handled with greater ease.

Secondly, from their much smaller size, the coast-defence ships are
built at a much less cost--an important consideration in days when a
first-class ironclad costs about as much as a small fleet of bygone
days. The vessels we have been describing are of rather more than two
thousand tons burden, as compared with the five thousand tons of the
larger sea-going ships; and, speaking roughly, the expense of
construction is proportionate to the tonnage.

The _Glatton_ turret-ship has several characteristics in which it
differs from the above class of monitors. It has but a single turret,
and its guns throw six hundred pound shot, carrying three miles and a
half. Her water-draught is about six feet more than that of the
_Cyclops_ and _Hecate_, and her armour-plates three inches thicker.
Though she carries fewer guns, the _Glatton_ is a much more powerful
vessel than the other monitors. (Note: The above description of English
monitors is adapted and abridged from an article in Chambers's Journal.)

We shall now briefly describe the _Devastation_, one of the largest and
most powerful of all our ironclads. The _Devastation_ in her after-part
rises but four feet and a half above the water; but to meet bad weather
she is furnished with an armour-plated half-raised forecastle, so that
forward she is nine feet out of the water. The free-board amidships is
still higher, being at this point level with the platform on which the
two turrets are placed. In the centre of the ship rises a circular iron
erection, on the top of which is the hurricane-deck. Through this
structure runs a passage, in which are situated the entrances to the
hatchways and to the hurricane-deck overhead.

From the hurricane-deck rise the ship's two funnels; and here also are
the captain's fighting box, already alluded to in describing the
coast-defence ships, the fire-proof shield for protecting the steering
gear, and the boats. In a gale the hurricane-deck is the only safe
place in ships of this kind--the only place wh