18 AUGUST 1866, Page 3

There is no end to the ill luck of the

Italians. Their great iron -ram, the Affandatore, after proving itself very nearly useless at Lissa, has sunk during,a gale in the inner harbour of Ancona. She is to be raised, but we trust- the recent disasters will induce the Italian engineers to consider seriously whether a mosquito fleet, iron-clad,-would not be cheaper, more serviceable, and less cum- brous to handle. With a hundred small, turreted iron-clads, Italy would be almost impregnable by sea, and they would. cost less and require fewer men than ten of these monster vessels.