§ COLONEL BERESFORDsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether it be the case that the two ships the "Active" and "Volage" have been constructed of iron and have been covered with wood merely to enable copper sheathing to be used, involving an additional cost of about from £6 to £7 per ton?
§ MR. CHILDERSSir, the Volage and Active are corvette frigates built for great speed. They have iron frames and are plated with thin iron, with 1272 wooden casing, and are copper sheathed. If they had had no wooden easing the iron plating must have been thicker, and more expensively fastened, and the difference in cost would have been, not £6 to £7 a ton, as suggested by the hon. Member, but £2 to £3 a ton. On the other hand, they could not have been copper sheathed, and not only would have constantly lost speed by fouling, but would have annually cost more for docking and cleaning.