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W\ty I tuust leave you to imagine, for here [he legend onds.A COAL-UIL FIKE SHIP*Me-vrf:. Editors.—Let me suggest an iron vessel of war of a novel' but ellectire kind. Let a small but swift iron steamer he fhttd .up with ft few close iron tanks containing petroleum in the hold «« that its vapor could not take /ire in the vessel. This oil could be pumped froin the tanks through iron pipes, and bj meins of an engine like a fire engine worked by steam, the liquid could be [hrown to a considerable distance. By setting fire to the stream at; it issued from the pipe, tho whole autor surface of tho stream would burst into a ilarac, and the vessel attacked would be deluged with a liquid Brc equally .deadly and inextinguishable with the famed Greek fira. By.having a little phosphorus dissolved in the first f*w gallons of light naptha thrown, it would in* /brae of itself, or a little could b* thrown dissolved in the bisulphate of carbon, when the petroleum afterward thrown would in* llaiue as a matter of course.The petroleum might huvi sulphur dissol ved in it to produce noxious vapors, if desir-able. As* this substance iu now worth only about ten cents a gallon it would bo cheap as well as cflectunL Wooden ships would be speedily consumed, and iron ones could bo speedily dtdugad with the liquid fire, and an open .purl hole would insure destruction to tlio inmates. .A vessel could be_ easily made to discharge tlie liquid with safety 10 the operators. In c.iag of foreign war, why may not tho vast depositories uf petroleum in Pennsylvania and Kanawha, be lurried to account in this way. The heat given off by ihesubsUnee would he intense while the explosions of the light vapor on tho edge of tho .stream, as it raised with the atmosphere, nnd the dense black smoke surrounding the vessel attacked, would realize tho most vivid descriptions of conflicts between the Crescent and Urofi*, when infidel fleets worn burned And tho tide of con-quusl staj'cd ona hundred ycara by tho lucky discovery and application of an inflammable fluid princ‘jmlly otnsuting of this very petroleum.—v'wiittfif-Outtu Tasti:.—The editor of the Pai’abao
Newspaper Details
Sterling Republican Gazette
Sterling, Illinois, US
Sat, Dec 14, 1861
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Charles W.
FL, USA 26 Sep 2023
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