line placed half a league on the side farthest from the enemy,
made them more and more unfitted to fulfil their office. The
official plan of the battle of Malaga (1704), drawn up
immediately after the battle, shows the fire-ship in this
position as laid down by Paul Hoste. Finally the use of shells,
enabling ships to be set on fire more surely and quickly, and
introduced on board at the period of which we are now treating,
though the general use did not obtain until much later, was the
last blow to the fire-ship."[20]

Those who are familiar with the theories and discussions of our own
day on the subject of fleet tactics and weapons, will recognize in
this short notice of a long obsolete type certain ideas which are not
obsolete. The fire-ship disappeared from fleets "whose speed it
delayed." In heavy weather small bulk must always mean comparatively
small speed. In a moderate sea, we are now told, the speed of the
torpedo-boat falls from twenty knots to fifteen or less, and the
seventeen to nineteen knot cruiser can either run away from the
pursuing boats, or else hold them at a distance under fire of machine
and heavy guns. These boats are sea-going, "and it is thought can keep
the sea in all weathers; but to be on board a 110-foot torpedo-boat,
when the sea is lively, is said to be far from agreeable. The heat,
noise, and rapid vibrations of the engines are intense. Cooking seems
to be out of the question, and it is said that if food were well
cooked few would be able to appreciate it. To obtain necessary rest
under these conditions, added to the rapid motions of the boat, is
most difficult." Larger boats are to be built; but the factor of loss
of speed in rough weather will remain, unless the size of the
torpedo-cruiser is increased to a point that will certainly lead to
fitting them with something more than torpedoes. Like fire-ships,
_small_ torpedo-cruisers will delay the speed and complicate the
evolutions of the fleet with which they are associated.[21] The
disappearance of the fire-ship was also hastened, we are told, by the
introduction of shell firing, or incendiary projectiles; and it is not
improbable that for deep-sea fighting the transfer of the torpedo to a
class of larger ships will put an end to the mere torpedo-cruiser. The
fire-ship continued to be used against fleets at anchor down to the
days of the American Civil War; and the torpedo-boat will always be
useful