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THE CERBERUS.
The Melbourne Argus of the 10th instant de-
votes four columns to an elaborate and very
interesting account of the Cerberus monitor,
which arrived in Hobson's Bay on the
previous day. It includes the history
of the negotiations with the Home Go-
vernment which led to her construc-
tion, a narrative of all the difficulties that had
to be encountered from red-tape and other
entanglements between the issue of the order
and the putting to sea, the tale of the voyage
out, and a full description of the vessel. We
have not room for the republication of the
article, but give instead the following extract
from the S M. Herald's Melbourne cor-
respondence of the 11th, apparently founded
upon it :
The arrival of the Cerberus could not fail to
create a sensation. A telegram received from the
western coast on Friday, to the effect that a
turreted steamship was passing, had somewhat
prepared the public for her advent, and it became
very generally known by mid-day on Sunday,
that she was coming up the Bay, when she
dropped her anchor at about 1 o'clock, after an
adventurous voyage of nearly six months. The
rush to Sandridge during the afternoon of
Sunday was so great that extra trains had to be
put on, and every boat at the place found full
employment in taking people alongside. Captain
Panter was unwilling to refuse the eager public
admission to the ship, and she was, accord-
ingly, swarming with curious visitors within an
hour or two after casting anchor. After the
misgivings occasioned by the loss of the unfor-
tunate Captain, and the perils so obviously at-
tendant upon an experiment such as that of
bringing an ironclad Monitor half round the
world, the announcement of the Cerberus being
safe in Hobson's Bay has been an immense re-
lief to the public anxiety. In her present con
dition she is not a beautiful ship, as may readily
be imagined. The temporary top sides which
have been fitted on to her are by no means so
symmetrical as the sides of an ordinary modern
war steamer. Her stunted masts and the top
of her turrets and funnel showing above her
bulwarks, have an odd appearance; but when
all the temporary surplusage of tophamper is
removed, she will present the appearance of a
huge barge, with only about three feet above
water. In the middle, however, the breastwork
deck rises to a height of seven feet, extending
almost from side to side, and connected with
which are the turrets, which can make a revolu-
tion every mínute, being worked by a steam engine,
and moving upon iron rollers. Above the turrets
is the pilot-house, from which a system of pipes,
telegraphs, &c., connect with the different parts
of the ship, and by means of which the captain,
during action, can give his orders. The protec-
tion afforded to the officers and crew against an
enemy's guns appears to be complete, amounting
to perfect invulnerability. Below the water
line the vessel's sides have about ten inches of
oak planking, inside a case of iron plate eight
inches thick. The engines, boilers, and maga-
zines are of coarse within this impervious fortress.
The sort of hurricane house, called the breast
work, has a wall all round of eighteen inches in
thickness, half being of iron, and the other half
of oak planking ; within this breastwork are the
steering apparatus, and the engines which work
the turrets. The latter are protected by 10
inch iron plates. Each turret has two guns,
rifled muzzle loaders of 10-inch bore, which will
carry a 400 lb. shot or shell from three to four
miles. The pilot-house for the captain is also
protected by armour-plate nine inches thick,
which is pierced by longitudinal sight-holes,- to
enable him to control the movements of the ship.
The apparatus for working the guns is very
elaborate and complicated; but the men are
entirely protected while loading and dis-
charging, and the mechanism will enable them
either to attack a distant object, or with
equal facility to depress the guns, and
sweep the ship's sides of any parties attempting
to board her, or any boats approaching for the
purpose. The ventilation of such a vessel is
naturally an important consideration, especially
as the men are all berthed below the waterline,
and have no means of obtaining light or air ex-
cept from the deck The contrivance for get-
ting air into the vessel consists of -fans worked
by four distinct steam-engines, by means of
which currents are driven into every, part of the
ship. The length of the Cerberus is, between
the perpendiculars, 225 feet, her extreme breadth
45 feet, depth in hold 16 feet 6- inches, and her
burthen is 2107 tons. Her machinery weighs
225 tons. Of course, the under part of the
vessel is built of much ligther materials. She
has two bottoms and the space between them is
divided into twenty watertight compartments,
so that an accident to one part would but
slightly affect her floating capability, and there
is a contrivance for filling a portion of the centre
compartments with water, which would depress
the vessel so as to show not more than about two
feet above the water's edge. If the four guns
were fired simultaneously a weight of 1600 lbs.
could be poured into any object attacked, and
the shot, shell, and ammunition on board would
supply 100 rounds for each gun, with a few to
spare.
The contemplated cost of the vessel was
£125,000, of which £100,000 was to be paid by
the Home Government; but the actual expendi-
ture upon her has not been less than £150,000.
It is upwards of four years since the arrange-
ment was made by Mr. Verdon with the Ad-
miralty to have this monitor built. Shortly
after that date her lines were laid down by Mr.
E. J. Reed, then Chief Constructor for the
Navy. Our Government sent home the late
Captain Norman, who had for some years pre-
viously commanded our first little armed
steamer-the Victoria,-but that lamented
officer died in England, and Lieutenant Panter,
of the Nelson, was then dispatched on the same
errand. It is nearly a year since he left here ;
but the delays occasioned in his arrangements
the blunders and red tapeism of the Ad
miralty kept him until October before he could
make a fair start from Chatham Dockyard,
After encountering some rough weather in the Downs
where the Cerberus does not appear to have behaved well,
her commander put into
Spithead where some alterations were effected, and he then
proceeded down the Channel. On the 7th November his
voyage from Plymouth commenced.
He was not left long in doubt as to the
capabilities of the vessel, for
on the 9th commenced a gale which lasted until the 12th.
Being now in the Bay of Biscay, and the ship having a flat bottom,
with bilge pieces similar to an ordinary river sailing barge
she rolled to such an extent of 40 degrees it is stated---that
her indicators became absolutely useless, and everything  
fore and aft the ship, not secured, was smashed to
pieces. Nothing less than a capsize was looked for, as
the storm was worse than that which the Captain foundered.
Certainly such terrific rolling took all on board by
surprise, though it was known that her weight above the
water line was 1900 tons, and but    
1800 below it.      
Steam was kept up on her the whole time, but
only sufficient to bring her head to the sea. No
test was applied previous to her sailing - though
it was talked about; but her commander had had enough
of Admiralty celerity, and he put to sea without the usual
trial of stability taking place. Some idea of the peril may be
obtained from the fact of the commander and crew being
utterly powerless to assist the ship during the time of her
heavy rolling. On the morning of November 17th the Cerberus
made Gibraltar, having only five tons coals left in
her bunkers, her consumption being forty tons per diem.
Here she remained three days coaling, setting sail on the
evening of the 20th, and reaching Malta on the 27th,
where she coaled again, and had her bottom cleaned. A
fortnight's detention, caused partly by the unruly cond
uct of a portion of her crew, who appeared to have been
anything but AB's, and partly from one of the worst
gales ever known, took place here, and it was not
until 11th December that she started again for Port Said,
which she reached on the 19th, It may be as well to
say that in consequence of hoisting her national colours
(The Australian flag) as a man-o-war, she obtained the pr
vilege of a reduction in her tonnage dues through the Suez
Canal of 300 tons, Having coaled again at Port Said
which bought her draught of water 18 inches below her
stipulated displacement, she entered the canal and accompl
ished 30 miles of her passage through it the first day, 20
the second and 32 the third and last. This very anxious pass
age was thus safely made- anxious inasmuch as she had but
three clear feet on each side of her;
and being 43 feet broad at the stern, and drawing the water
the whole of that breadth, unusual watchful was nece
ssary to prevent her sticking on either bank. Moreover she had all
her guns and stores board which neither Maydale and Abyssinia (sister ships)
had on their passage through the canal. Near the south end of the Red
Sea bad weather was encountered, and the compasses got adrift.
Suez was left on Christmas morning, and Aden reached on
6th January, after a most trying time of hot weather the
thermometer standing at 130. At Aden the Cerberus took in as
as much coal as she could stow away, and left on the 14th
steaming along the coast of Arabia, carrying fine weather with
her into the N.E. Monsoons up to Galle, which she reached
31st January. Here she coaled again, cleaning her engines boiler
and bottom, and started again on the 4th February
for Batavia, running a S.S.E. course for 400 miles in
to the westerly monsoon, which took her through
the Straits of Sunda to
Batavia. On this occasion the Cerberus averaged from 5½ to
6 knots - the best run of the voyage. At Batavia she
received every attention from the from the Dutch author
ities, and the ship was largely visited, but the excessive
heat preculded any enjoyment, and some of the crew were
laid up. Batavia was left on the 25th February and on the
27th a terrible cyclone commenced which lasted three days, though
the ship was, fortunately for herself and all on board, on
the outer edge only. Some idea of the force of the wind
may be conceived from the fact of this huge bulk being
driven by her canvas alone in running at the rate of eight
knots under a close reefed foretopsail. Having come out of
this in safety, she steamed against head winds down the
Western coast of Australia to Freemantle, which she reached
on the 16th March. On the 19th she sailed again making King
George's Sound on the 22nd, where she spent some time
in coaling and cleaning. In a gale at this place she drag
ged her anchors, and nearly went on shore, before she was
brought up. On the 30th March she left the Sound and having 50
tons of coal on deck she treated her commander (who seems
to have been a Mark Tapley in the most desperate circ
umstances) to another fit of rolling, recalling
her experiences in the Bay of Biscay. She
passed the Great Australian Bight with calm weather
though to the southward it looked very threatening, the glass
being as low as 29-80. The ship made Cape Northumberland on
5th April and ran along the coast until sighting Cape Otway
at 2.30 on Saturday 6th, rounding the Cape at 5.30 p.m.
after making receiving signals. Her steering apparatus had
got very much out of order, as much as sixteen points, but she
came through the Heads, with Pilot M'Queen aboard, without
accident, though the strong tide caused a little trouble, and
quietly steamed up Hobson's Bay at full boiler power of 9
knots; casting anchor at 1 p.m. on Sunday, after one of
the most adventurous voyages of modern times, taking her
construction and unwieldy lines into consideration.
The Universal opinion seems to be that we now have an arm of
defence which is capable of giving a good account of any host
ile force that might attempt to invade Port Phillip Bay
It is scarcely to be conceived that any but broadside
vessels would attempt to navigate any immediate
seas between us and any nation at war with England, and
they could stand no sort of chance against a monitor of her of her
build and armament; but one thing is palpable - that we
must have no more of the parsimony which has laid up
the magnificent old ship, the Nelson, and turned her
into a training school for street arabs. If the Cerberus is
not to be a source of danger rather than of sec
urity, she must be properly manned by a
well trained and efficient crew, under competent
officers. Whatever the cost we must pay it and look pleasant.
The Russian Government will be duly advised of the sort
of defence with which we are now provided, as the capt
ain and officers of the Hydamack were amongst the earliest visit
ors; and after offering their congratulations to Captain
Panter (he has lately been promoted to that rank), they bus
ied themselves with a most minute inspection of the vess
el and her appliances expressing no little astonishment at
finding the turrets up and the guns actually in position
After recieving the congratulations of a few friends on
board, Captain Panter went ashore at once and drove to
Toorak, where he
reported himself to his Excellency the Govenor.
THE CANADIAN RAT
A Canadian Lady  having caught a  troublesome rat
in a trap determined to have some sport with       
it.  She took the trap into the sitting room,
called in a terrier, opened the trap,
jumped upon a chair and the fun commenced.
The rat first whipped the dog then made away with
a tame raccoon, which the lady called to her
assistance, then fought another dog and a broom,
for 1 hour and fifteen minutes.     
and finally escaping through the open window.   
LIBELLING A LITERARY MAN IN THE COURT OF QUEEN'S
BENCH.     
On 17th February, Mr. George Augustus Sala, brought an
action for            
libel against Mr. Hodder and Mr.  
Straughton publishers,   The libelous matter
refered to, was embodied in a work      
written by Mr. Hain Friswell          
entitled "Modern Men of          
Letters Honestly Criticised"  and    
of which the Defendants were    
publishers. The article compl             
ained of, abounded with insinuations of an
offensive character against
Mr. Sala, and amongst
them it stated that            
he was untrustworthy,            
often drunk and always in            
debt, sometimes in prison          
and totally disreputable.
An apology had been          
offered and an assurance given that no
second  edition of the work would
appear.
With this however, Mr. Sala declined
to be satisfied and the jury
returned a verdict in his favour. 
Damages £500
       
         
           
       
         
 
         
         
     
       
         
     
             
             
         
         
         
       
       
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