I have no other object to serve now; but after the clear proof that I was correct in the opinion I shared with so many other persons of the entire inability of any of the present floating ships, boats, or war engines to cope with any moderately constructed and well-armed land battery, I think it right once more, and this time more formally, to urge upon Government the consideration of the construction of armaments mechanically constructed and properly fitted for the special object. I beg to say that I do not mean a consideration in the ordinary mode, by the able and practical, but still executive officers of departments, whether engineers or ship-builders, because I believe that I must be myself, from my practical experience in this particular branch, at least as competent, if not more so, to judge in questions of mechanical construction, whether it be the forging or casting of a gun of large dimensions, or the construction of a vessel fit for navigation and capable of resisting shot, or the best mode of propelling such a vessel—on all which branches I have had much and tolerably successful practice; but I ask on public grounds for the deliberate consideration by men of judgment and experience in the military branch of the subject, such as the attack upon a fortified place, of which I cannot pretend to be a competent judge, and by men in a position to be able to express freely their independent opinions of the advantages that might be attained by the principle I propose, if capable of being successfully carried out.

Although the want of efficient gun-boats was then severely felt, this letter appears to have produced no effect upon the Board of Admiralty. But the friend who had originally brought the matter under the notice of the Board took the bold step of writing to Lord Palmerston, and acquainting him with what had passed.

Lord Palmerston at once saw the importance of investigating the subject, and sent for Mr. Brunel, who explained the plans to him. Lord Palmerston then asked him to see the officials at the Admiralty. Mr. Brunel did so; but great delay followed. It was, however, unimportant, as hostilities soon afterwards terminated, and there was no further need of gun-boats, good or bad.

This project did not exist only in the outline in which it is described in the memorandum given above. Mr. Brunel had worked out all the calculations of displacement, &c., and had made designs and models for the boat and its various appliances, and had been for some months in constant communication with Mr. W. G. Armstrong upon the form and construction of the gun.

This will be a fitting place to mention that in 1855 Captain Cowper Coles, C.B., showed Mr. Brunel the designs for his shot-proof raft, the principle of which was afterwards developed in the turret ship. Mr. Brunel gave Captain Coles the benefit of his advice on the various questions involved, and allowed him to use the services of his principal draughtsman, and to have the drawings got out in his office without expense.

Captain Coles, in a lecture which he delivered at the United Service Institution on June 29, 1860, warmly acknowledged the obligations he was under to Mr. Brunel for this act of kindness and generosity, and said that it had greatly encouraged him to persevere in bringing his plans into public notice.

Renkioi Hospital.

In February 1855, after the first winter of the allied armies in the Crimea, Mr. Brunel was asked by the War Department to undertake the design and construction of hospital buildings for the East.

He replied (on the same day that he received this application, February 16) that his ‘time and best exertions would be, without any limitations, entirely at the service of Government.’

He was accordingly appointed as engineer, and proceeded to design and superintend the manufacture of the required buildings and all their internal arrangements. They were sent out under his supervision, and erected at Renkioi, on the Dardanelles. All use for the buildings was ended with the conclusion of peace; but, for the seven months during which they were occupied, they added much to the comfort of more than thirteen hundred sick and wounded soldiers.