As Bruce Hornsby said

[Magic_Sailor]

"Some things will never change"

I'm reading Capt Joshua Slocum's "Sailing alone around the world". Circa 1895.

I quote (during a visit to Brazil)

"Here I encountered one ofthe unforgiving Mello faction (nee Marina Berthing Master) in the person of a collector of customs, who charged Spray tonnage dues when she cleared, notwithstanding that she sailed with a yacht licence and should have been exempt from charges".

I also have a question:

He mentions a vessel called the Destroyer which "carried a submarine cannon of enormous length".

Anybody know what a submarine cannon is?

Magic

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[charles_reed]

In 1919 the RN introduced a class of submersible which mounted a fixed 16" gun on the foredeck.
I believe only 3 were built and only 2 commissioned, for they had a habit of disobeying their hydroplanes and trying to emulate a whale.

Perhaps our Josh was having a moment of prescience...

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[Magic_Sailor]

I don\'t think so

This appears to be something mounted on a commercial surface vessel named "Destroyer".

Magic

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[StugeronSteve]

Was there not also some problem with the gun recoil fracturing the decking and sinking the boat?

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[Jacket]

Weren't they french, and taken over by the RN at the start of WWII? Or are we thinking of different boats?

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[beancounter]

I think they're different - from memory the French boats were Surcouf and Soufriere (?), each mounting two guns in a turret forrard of the conning tower.

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[whisper]

Could it have been a reference to the torpedo, mounted on a submarine Destroyer, or was the piece written before these came into being ?

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