13 knots would be found to have been generally too dearly bought.'
Tendency to exaggerate the value of speed.This wise caution reflects the greater credit on the judgment of Mr. Barnaby; because there is a natural tendency, from a naval architects point of view, to exaggerate the importance attaching to speed. Of the many qualities which a man-of-war ought to possess, speed under steam is the first in order of time, which can be distinctly ascertained. Seaworthiness, on the other hand, can only be tested in a long cruise. Hundreds of thousands of pounds may have been sunk in some Colossus of the deep; but the waste of the public money on ships not capable of rendering services to the country proportionate to their cost, is forgotten or ignored, while the widest publicity will certainly be given to any successful trial of speed at the measured mile.
'Rover' and Bacchante,' cost.The 'Rover,' having a displacement of 3,494 tons and 700 nominal horse-power, and the 'Bacchante,' of 3,910 tons and the same horse-power, were designed in 1872 to have a measured mile speed of 15 knots. In passing from the 'Magicienne' to the 'Rover,' the cost, as stated in Mr. Barnaby's paper, was increased from 21½ to 40, and to 44 in the case of the 'Bacchante.' The cost of the 'Raleigh' was as 50, and that of the 'Shah' as 60. I do not desire to condemn or criticise the 'Bacchante' class, but I venture to hope that we shall not, except under the most urgent necessity, go beyond the 'Rover' in the unarmoured classes. We can build