The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-14 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.
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THE NAVY.
Yesterday al Portsmouth some firing took place
at armour-plates with cast iron, wrought iron, case-
hardened, and steel shot, from the 05cwt.68 pounder
and Armstrong 100 pounder, muzzle loading, smooth
bore guns, which was exceedingly interesting, al-
though the experiments were considerably shortened
by the state of the weather, which, settling down
into a thick drizzling rain soon after 2 p.m.. so
limited the range of vision, that any further firing
was postponed until this morning, when it will be
resumed and concluded, weather permitting. The
target ship Monarch has been placed at the practice
moorings in Porchester creek in order to test a 5,4
inch plate sent in by the Mersey Steel Ironworks
for the iron frigate Agincourt, and advantage was
therefore taken of the opportunity to test some steel
and wrought iron shot at the same time. The plate
sent in by the Mersey Company had three cast iron
shots fired at it from the 68 pounder with 16lbs. of
powder, which produced the usual indents of nearly
two inches in the centre of the place struck, and
then broke up into a thousand fragments. The
plate was found to crack in the immediate vicinity
of the blows, owing to its evident hardness, but the
general results of these three shots were such as are
seen on most ordinary testing trials of wrought iron
armour plates fired at with cast iron balls. The
fourth and filth shots at the same plate were fired
from the Armstrong smoothbore with a charge of
25ibs. of powder, the shots being composed of Bes-
semer steel, manufactured by the Bolton Steel
Works Company, and weighing respectively 113,1).
and 1141 b. Both these struck on the lower edge
of the plate, one 4in. the other Sin. on, and cutting
through the plate's outer surface broke away its
back in large irregular pieces, driving the
whole of the fragments into the ship. On
inspecting the inside of the ship a large
gap was found through the planking, timbers,
and deck, and the gun deck covered with a
mass of wooden splinters. Oa examining the hold
below fragments of the two shots were found to
have gone through the ship's lining and lodged in
the timbers on the opposite side. The next shot, of
the same description as the last two, was fired from
the same gun with a similar charge of powder. This
shot struck the plate fairly in the centre, and cut
its way through the plate's outer face with a hole
10in. in diameter, carried away large portions of
metal from the plate's back, and drove them into
the ship's side, the shot remaining embedded in the
mass of broken iron and ship's planking and tim-
bers, with its outer surface nearly two inches below
the plate's outer surface. Inside the ship the tim-
bers and planking were found to be broken and
driven inwards at the deepest part 12in. beyond the
plane of the ship's side in a space 4ft. long by 2ft.
3in. wide. The ship's side altogether in this space
was nearly destroyed, The succeeding shot was di-
rected at the same plate from the same gun, and
with a similar charge of powder, but the shot was
somewhat differently manufactured. It had been
supplied by Messrs. Frith and Co., of Sheffield, and
weighed about 11b. more than the Bolton company's
shot. It was of steel, but not of the Bessemer manu-
facture. This shot struck the plate fairly, and buried
itself below the plate's outer surface in a hole with
a diameter of 10in., opening a semi-circular fissure
round the hole which extended right through the
plate to its upper edge, and evidently tore away
large slabs from the back of the plate. This was
the most mischievous looking shot of the whole, and
it was a matter of wonder on being first examined
from the outside of the ship that it had not gone
right through the ship's side. On examining the in-
side of the ship, the shot was found to have struck
in front of a massive wooden knee, and this had evi-
dently held up the planking and timbers in their
position and prevented the shot entering the interior
of the ship. In performing this duty, however, the
knee was split up and shattered from top to bottom.
The last shot fired was from the 95 cwt. smooth
bore, the shot being of wrought iron and case har-
dened, and fired with the usual service charge of
powder of 161 b. This shot was sent against a 44in.
plate, which it struck:on its lower edge. It broke
away about 4in., the piece so broken being semicir-
cular, and measuring along the arc 33in. This ex-
tent of mischief done, the shot rebounded from the
plate into the water. A short time since and the
amount of damage inflicted by this wrought-iron
shot would have been thought very serious. Now,
however, that the destroying powers of steel shot
have been ascertained, case-hardened wrought-iron
shot can rank but little higher than ordinary cast-
iron shot. The firing yesterday, and also on a pre-
vious occasion at Portsmouth, have demonstrated
clearly the peculiar feature of the steel shot in cut-
ting its way in through the outer surface of the
plate, and then utterly destroying and ripping off
its back layers of metal, and driving into and
through the ship's side the broken fragments of iron.
The introduction of spherical steel shot for the de-
struction of ironclad ships, has, doubtless, given the
gun a vast advantage in the long-fought battle of
guns and armour plates. Of such advantage is it,
indeed, that nothing remains for it but to doub o
the thickness of our future ship armour, and even
then the contest would not long be in favour of the
armour-plate. There is no doubt that even with our
present knowledge the Warrior's 4in. armour
plates could be pierced at 1,000 yards by spherical
steel shot fired from our 100-pounder smooth-bore
guns with their full allowance of powder
charge-331bs. yesterday this gun was only
fired (at 200 yards certainly) with 251 b.
charges. The last plate fired at from this
same gun with steel shot was a 51-inch of Mill-
wall manufacture, and this was pierced through,
as was the plate yesterday, by single shots. This
plate has been removed from the target ship's side,
and yesterday the boat's crew, which went to and
fro between the gunboat and the target ship, passed
into the target ship from their boat through the
hole caused by a single shot which had passed first
through a sound 5,4--inch armour'plate. The Japanese
might possibly teach us how to build a ship of paper
which-should be non-inflammable, and at the same
time allow shot or shell to pass in at one side and
out again at the other without throwing off splinters
or doing other serious damage.
The Lyra, 9 guns, screw sloop, Commander Parr,
left Spithead at 7 a.m. yesterday for Madeira and
the Cape of Good Hope.
The Hector, iron frigate, was commissioned at
Portsmouth yesterday by Cept. G. W. Preedy, C.B.
The Victoria, three-decker, 1,000 horse power,
has been brought down Portsmouth harbour, and
taken into the old basin to prepare for commission.
The Orontes, screw troop ship, Capt. H. W. Hire,
at Portsmouth, it has been discovered, possesses a
defective fore crank in her new machinery. She is
ordered to be supplied with a new one. If detained
in port for this, her services will not be available to
the Admiralty for some time. It. is, however, pro-
bable that she will be temporarily fitted with a
crank from one of the ships lying in the reserve.
The Channel squadron, consisting of the Edgar,
71, Capt. Hornby, and bearing the flag of Rear-
Admiral J. C. Decree; the Warrior, 41, Capt.
Cochrane; the Black Prince, 41, Capt. Wainwright;
and the Defence, 16, Capt. Phillimore, arrived at
Madeira on the 26th ult., after an excellent passage
of seven days from England, principally under sail.
The iron ships surprised every one. They rolled only
three degrees more than the Edgar, and were not in-
ferior to that vessel in their sailing qualities with
their screws lifted—the Edgar, Black Prince, and
Warrior keeping time under equal sail, and going
frequently at the rate of nine and ten knots an hour.
Lord Browulow, Mr. Baytnan, and Mr. Erskine
gave a grand ball to the officers of the squadron on
the day after Christmas, and the Portuguese inha-
bitants gave a similar entertainment on the follow-
ing night. The squadron arrived at Ten neriffe on
the 2d, after a passage of three days, and sailed for
Gibraltar on the sth.

THE NEWSVENDERS' BENEVOLENT AND PROVI•
DENT INSTITUTION.—With pleasure we observe
that J. B. Buckatone, Esq., the generous lessee of the
Theatre Royal, Haymarket, has granted the above insti-
tution three benefit evenings at that theatre, and we trust
that the trade and the public will, without delay, secure
their tickets (which arc available for either the 19th,
20th, or 21st inst.), and thereby add to the funds of this
deserving institution, which is established for pensioning
or relieving decayed newsvenders, their widows, or ser-
vants.