THE “ITALIA.”
These unarmored vessels are, however, notable for high speed, three of them being of fifteen knots, and the other five of seventeen knots. One of these 17-knot vessels, the Giovanni Bausan, built by Sir William Armstrong & Co., at Newcastle-on-Tyne, so closely resembles the Chilian vessel Esmeralda that the engraving of the latter vessel on this page may be taken to illustrate the general character of both. The breadth (42 feet) is the same in each, and so is the draught of water (18½ feet), but the Bausan is a few feet longer than the other. The armament is almost precisely the same, being two guns of about twenty-five tons, mounted one forward and one aft, and six of four tons. I have chosen the Esmeralda for the illustration of both vessels because (by the favor of Sir William Armstrong & Co.) I am in possession of an instantaneous photograph of her at full speed, from which the engraving has been made. This is very interesting, because it exhibits what few readers are likely to have seen, but what most will be glad to see, viz., the form which is taken by the permanent waves that accompany such a ship when steaming at the full speed of seventeen knots in comparatively still water. The engraving also well represents the position of the bow and stern guns.
THE “ESMERALDA.”
The 15-knot vessels of Italy are named Giojà, Amerigo Vespucci, Savoia, and Colombo, of which the Amerigo Vespucci is illustrated from a drawing by De Martino on [page 115]. Those of seventeen knots, besides the Bausan, are the Etna, Vesuvio, Stromboli, and Fieramosca. All the last-named vessels carry the same armament as the Bausan; the others an armament of 4-ton guns only. The Italian government also possesses (built or building) eight other vessels exceeding or reaching fifteen knots in speed, of which two are built of wood and the remainder of iron or steel. It has likewise of fast torpedo craft a 2000-ton vessel of nineteen knots, which mounts six 6-inch guns and nine 6-pounders; and four others of twenty knots, to carry machine guns, viz., the Tripoli and Goito, of 741 tons, and the Folgore and Saetta, of 317 tons. It is also proposed to build six others, of 741 tons and twenty knots, two of which, the Monzambano and Montebello, have been laid down at Spezzia. They have sixty-two complete first-class torpedo-boats of over one hundred feet in length, and twenty-one second-class, already built, of less than one hundred feet.
THE “AMERIGO VESPUCCI.”