The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-16 00:00:00

Armstrong and Whitworth Trial's,

Day by day the now close competition between
the field guns of Sir William Armstrong and Mr.
Whitworth goes on at Shoebury, in the presence of
most of the members of the special committee who
are appointed to superintend the practice. Judging
what has yet to be done by the progress already
made, there is at the lowest estimate two months'
constant work still to be got through before all the
various trials laid down in the programme can be
completed, and a still longer time must elapse before
the final award of the committee can be made public.
Many seem of opinion that the trials could be made
with greater rapidity if it were recessary, and it is
certain that both Sir William and Mr. Whitworth
would consent to such a reduction of the programm-
es would enable them to fire a larger number of
shots at fewer ranges instead of, as now, firing a
small number at a great many gradually increasing
distances. Such an alteration would no doubt reduce
the time of trial by many days, but the propriety of
making any change in the elaborate and exhaustive
programme that has been resolved on is more than
questionable, and certainly, while it is adhered to, it
seems difficult with anything like a careful verifica-
tion of each practice shat to do more than is done.
Even what is now accomplished entails almost inces-
sant work night and day on Capt. Dyer, It.A., the
secretary to the committee, and with a greater
number of rounds the return which is now made
out at the close of each day's firing would become.
impossible. The competition might, undoubtedly,
have been shortened to a certain extent if it had
been begun with the 70-pounders instead of the field
pieces. The mode of rifling and strength of tube
which will do for a large gun, it is known, will
most certainly do for a small one, but the converse
of this proposition by no means hold. Thus, Mr.
Whitworth, with his small-bore rifle, has made a
weapon which as yet distances all other rifles beyond
the chance of competition ; but it is evident now
that the same principle extended in its applica-
tion from a rifle to a 12 pounder does not, or at lead,
has not yet effected the same results. Sir William's
shunt principle, if applied to a volunteer rifle,would
no doubt be easily beaten by Mr. Whitworth's
weapon of the same kind, but it becomes a totally
different question when the two principle are ap-
plied to field guns, and more different still when the
manufacture is extended from field guns to 70 and
100 pounders. For these reasons and as setting the
question more quickly at rest, it would no doubt
have been better if the competition had begun with
the heavy guns instead of with light, or rather if it
had been confined to the heavy guns altogether.
As it is now, the results obtained with the field guns
of either competitors are regarded as far from being
conclusive, and as only affording data which cannot
properly be judged of till the heavy ordnance has
gone through the same ordeal.
During the past week the trials have varied very
little from tests of range and accuracy at various
degrees of elevation, from two degrees to seven,
which was attained yesterday, when the guns were
throwing shot 3,050 and 3,100 yards. All these trials
are of course made with solid shot—a test which Sir
William thinks is against bringing out the true
merits of his ordnance. His two guns are made for
shells only, which is in fact the only ammunition
issued to them in service. !Ir. Whitworth's gun is,
on the contrary, specially a gun for solid shot, and
its performances with shell, if not actually bad, arc

unquestionably bad when compared with the de-
structive effect of Sir William's guns. Thus during
the past week's trial each gun had to fire five rounds
of shell against the abattis of trees in front of the
earthwork we have already described in our previous
notice. Both Sir William's guns, the shunt and the
breech-loader, in five rounds of segment shell so
completely cut an opening in the trees that a cart
could have been driven through; whereas the effect
of Mr. Whitworth's shells was absolutely nil. In
the same way, against the earthwork of the battery
the immense superiority of Sir William's shell was
almost equally manifest. In fact, Mr. Whitworth's
gun, as a shell gun, has done nothing yet. Mr,
Whitworth frankly admits that his shrapnell shell
cannot cope with abattis or earthworks, but is, on
the other hand, confident that, when tested against
targets of the height and width of a company of
soldiers, it will be found to be more destructive in
the number of wounds it inflicts than the Arm.
strong. Throughout the contest the breech-loader
has shot the worst of the three guns, except when
tried with shell--the only projectile it is intended
to fire—when it has instantly vindicated its old
reputation for efficiency. In other respects it has
been short in range and deficient in accuracy corn-
pared with either Sir William's shunt gun or Mr.
Whitworth's. Its falling short by some 200 yards
of the range of the other two guns is unimportant,
and is solely duo to the fact that the charge for
this gun is 1:411b., while the two others have 111 b.
Its failing to attaia•,tha same marvellous accuracy.
as the others is a fact for which no one can
account. The practice made by the average
breech-loaders of the same kind in the service
is, we are informed, above the average of the
shooting of this gun, made with so much care ape.
dally for these trials and with a special steel tube
for the barrel. It may be that too much care has
spoilt it, for, as we have said, its shooting is not
equal, not alone to the shunt and Whitworth guns,
but to all the other Armstrongs of the same kind
which are in plenty at Shoeburyness. Our readers
however must not adopt the idea that it shoots
badly as a gun; it is only relatively to the two
other competing ordnance that this can be said.
But the accuracy of the last two is something so
wonderful that even the rifle shooting for the
Queen's Prize at Wimbledon bears no comparison
to it. To give an idea of what this accuracy is, we
may state that at the 300 yards range Mr. Whit-
worth sent many shots in succession through the
bull's-eye, which was only one foot in diameter.
This was a short range, certainly, but still the prac-
tice was wonderful, and again at 1,600 yards Mr.
Whitworth had 10 shots, the greatest lateral devia-
tion of which from the true line was only 5 inches,
and there were in the same range as many of Sir
William's from the shunt gun which were as true.
In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that if a crow
or a hen could be seen at such a distance it would
have been hit over and over again by either of these
guns.

At two degrees of elevation the breech-loader was
short by 50 yards of the other two guns, but was
very accurate. The Armstrong shunt gun and the
Whitworth shot equal as to range and accuracy,
and if a choice could be made between the two it
was in favour of *Whitworth. At three degrees Mr.
Whitworth claims a distinct victory—a claim, how-
ever, which is not borne out by the official records
of the committee, from which only, as generally
given in the rough, do we derive our data for this
report. According to the general results of this
official return, it is stated that at three degrees
the shunt and Whitworth were with shot equal
to a yard--the shunt gun having a decided ad-
vantage with shell. At four degrees also the
shunt and Whitworth are reported nearly equal,
the breec`h•loader being short by 200 yards, but
otherwise throwing for this range very accurafe;y
indeed. When we use the term " nearly equal" as
between the shunt and Whitworth, we mean that
the average of the rounds gave Mr. Whitworth'a
gun a gre tter range by le i yards thin the Arm-
strong—an amount of difference which at 2,000
yards is scarcely wcr:h recording on either side.
After these came the trials with shell at the abattis
end earthworks, where, as we have said, Sir Wil-
liam's victory was complete, his shells sweeping
away everything before Ilium, while Mr. Whit-
worth's were in destructive effect perfectly herm.
less, as far as could be judged by the appearance of
the obstacles against which they were directed.
Daring Thursday and yesterday the trials were
again for range and accuracy, at elevations rising
from five to seven degrees. At five andsia degrees
each party claims to have won, end the Committee
returns were not sufficiently made out to enable as
to Pay which had really been the victor, though
again it was generally believed by those who were
impartial thet there really was no choice between
the performances of the two. The same may be said
of the firing yesterday, at seven degrees, when the
two guns were throwing 3,000 yards and upwards,
dropping their shot, round after round, in almost
precisely the same holes in which the first fell, till
they bored and the mounds of sand they threw up
formed three little targets, which were distinctly
visible. No official return was made of the firing
yesterday, and if an opinion can be formed from
what was seen of the fall of the shot through a te-
lescope it would almost appear as if Mr. Whit-
worth had a trifling advantage in the regularity of
his line of file.

As far as the trials have hitherto extended, it
seems to be the feeling of all officers on the ground
that, regard being had only to range and accuracy,
there is literally no choice between the Armstrong
shunt gun and the Whitworth. Each of the in-
ventors is, however, confident that his final victory
has only been deferred till the long ranges com-
mence, when each expects to prove a marked
superiority over his opponent. But the niceties of
these fancy ranges at 8,000 and 10,000 yards, when
the difference is only a foot or two one way or the
other, are quite beside the question of the real
merits of field guns. Artillerists say that each
gun is far beyond the standard required ; that is
to say, that each gun possesses such powers of
scientific accuracy as are certain never to be deve-
loped in the hurry and hot blood of actual service.
The real question between them now is which gun
is most destructive, and which endures longest.
These trials will begin next week, when the de-
structive power of the guns will be tried against
stockades and walls, and the endurance will be
tested by continuous and rapid firing. In destruc-
tive powers, unless Mr. Whitworth's shell behaves
better than it has hitherto done, his chances are
likely to be small. For endurance both competitors
are equally confident of success, Sir William relying
on the fact that his guns of the same pattern have
stood nearly 4,000 rounds without an evidence of
change, and Mr. Whitworth depending on the pro-
digious strength of the metal of his ordnance, which
are of the finest soft-tempered steel. It would very
much hasten the important result that is to be
arrived at in this trial of endurance if at the end of
each day's firing for accuracy, when two and three
and four hours are somtimes wasted doing nothing,
the guns were ordered to fire 100 rounds into the
water as fast as they could be discharged and
loaded. Such a finale to the next day's prac-
tice would tell most seriously on the next day's
accuracy of range, if there is any truth in the
report that some of the guns are being hurt by
their own projectiles. TLis would be the fairest
way of testing the endurance of the pieces.
together with their subsequent accuracy, and would
sh)rten the competition by at least a fortnight;
while it at the same time made the trials more
searching, and therefore more satisfactory.
During the course of these trials the vent, or
touch-hole, of Mr. Whitworth's gun gave signs of
choking, and he had to apply to the committee for
permission to re-vent it, which he did the same
evening. This failure of the vent-tube is a matter
of no great importance, if it does not occur again,
and if the present accident can be shown to be

A great deal of nonsense has been written about
low trajectories and all the other scientific slang, if
we may so term it, of gunnery. However, as the
question of trajectories—or, in plain terms the
flight of the shot—is likely to become an important
matter of dispute, we mny venture on explaining to
our readers what the whole thing means, Which can
be done in a very few words and without the use
of technical terms. All shot when they leave the
gun incline steadily down by their own gravitation
towards the earth, so that when objects are aimed
at at a considerable distance the guns have to be
given a corresponding elevation to overcome this
tendency. The line, therefore, which all shot take
in their passage through the air may be described
as a segment of a circle, rising from the gap's mouth
till it descends with the shot on the object aimed at.
In proportion as this segment of a circle rises high
in the middle, or is a flat ellipsis, so is it called a
high or low trajectory, and in theory the gun which
has the lowest trajectory—that is, which sends its
shot in the straightest line to its object—may be
-aid to shoot the best. Bat, in actual fact, a low
trajectory is valueless. except at short ranges, when
it can be got from any and every rifled gun. A low
trajectory at 1,000 or 1,500 yards makes the greater
part of the shot's flight about the height of a man
from the ground, and is therefore certain in war-
fare to take off the heads or legs of any troops in-
tervening between the gun and the object aimed at.
This, as we have said, any rifled gun will do. At
long ranges this is useless, for then such elevation
has to be given to the gun that the flight of the shot
is always considerably above the ground, and whe-
ther it be 15ft,, as in a low trajectory, or 20ft., as
in a high trajectory, is of not the slightest con-
sequence, as in either case the shot injures no one,
Such, in plain language, is the real meaning and
value of these high-sounding terms, to which we
should not have thought it necessary to allude, but
that it is stated that there is a permanent error
in the sighting of Mr. Whitworth's gun, which
is in its favour to the extent of 41 minutes ele-
vation above what appears to be its level. We
give this, however, as a mere on dit, for though.
the attention of the Committee has been drawn
to it, no decision has been come to. If the re-
port should turn out, on examination of the gun,
to be unfounded, Mr. Whitworth may justly claim
all the merit that attaches to a low trajectory at
short ranges. If, however, 41 minutes have to be
added to his elevation, it will leave the question of
superiority in the same state in which the whole
contest still remains—namely, that in accurary and
range there is really nothing to choose, and for
destructiveness and endurance we must wait the
issue of next week's competition.

Vacancies, Promotions, and Appointments
in the Civil Service.
(From the Civil Service Gazette.)

IVAn-orrier—Mr P. Gaskell and Mr D. Overton
MtD,:armid have been appointed temporary clerks in tho
Adjutant-General's Department.

EDUCATION-OFFICE-Mr P. De Page Renouf has been
appointed an inspector of schools.

POST-OFFICE—The postmastership of Wolverhampton
is vacant—income, £34S, with an office, &.3., provided by
the Crown. Mr X. E. Blake has been appointed a tempo-
rary clerk, and Mr H. Massey a clerk, at Chester—Mr W.
H. Carr has been promoted from the 11 to the Ist class
Account Branch, Dublin.

CUSTOMS—Mr NV • Caird, clerk, Ist class, has been pro-
moted to be a principal clerk—Mr B. Howson from the 2d
to the Ist class, Mr A. Easton from the 3d to the 2d class,
Mr G. Ellice, from the 4th to the 3d class, Mr J. M. New-
man from the sth to the 4th claps of clerks, and Mr W.
Smith from the Gth to the sth cliss of clerks in the ware-
housing and general duty department, London—Mr W.
M'Callum from the 2d to the Ist, Mr G. Middleton from
the 3d to the 2d, and Mr J. Rodgerson from the sth to the
4th class of out-door officers, Shields.

INL.4ND REVENUE—Stamps and Tax Branch—Messrs
F. R. Meynell and C. Riskman have been promoted from
the 3d to the 2d division, 2d class, Messrs. F. H. Freer, and
R. A. Long from the 4th to the 3d class, and Messrs. T.
Lordan and R. W. Thornby from the 4th to the 3d class in
the Accountant-General's Department—Mr W. Smith,sur.
veyor of taxes, has been transferred from Stafford to Yeovil
Mr J. B. Watson, surveyor of taxes, from Knaresborough.
to Beverley--and Mr W. Maher, surveyor of taxes, from
Richmond to Haverfordwest—Mr S. Smith, assistant sur-
veyor of taxes, has been promoted to be a surveyor, and ap-
pointed to Knaresborough—and Mr F. Smith, assistant
surveyor, to be a surveyor, and appointed to Richmond,
Yorkshire.

THE EAST INDIES.-Mr E. Jackson has been appointed
to officiate as Puisne Judge of the High Court of Judica-
ture at Fort William, in Bengal, during the Hon. H. V.
Bayley's absence—Mt C. F. Vaughan has been confirmed
in his appointment to the Public Works Department as an
accountant, third class, and posted to Oudh—Mr F. A B.
Glover has been appointed to officiate as Civil and Sessions
Judge of East Burdwan—Mr H. G. Paynter to be assistant
to the magistrate and collector of Patna, and to exercise the
power' of a magistrate and deputy collector in that
district—Mr H. B. Lawford to be a magistrate and col-
lector of the second grade in Furreednore--Mr H. W.
Alexander to be a magistrate and collector of Midgapore—•
Mr T. E. Ravenshaw to be a magistrate and collector of
Patna—Mr T. Twedie, deputy magistrate and deputy col-
lector of Narail, to Dinagepore, in which district he will
exercise the full powers of a magistrate—Mr. V. Irwin to
be assistant to the magistrate and collector of Jessore, and
to have charge of the sub-division of Narail, exercising the
powers of a sub•magistrate of the Ist class; Mr R. Porch
to be assistant to the magistrate and collector of Nuddea,
and to have charge of the sub-division of Meherpore, exer-
cising the powers of a sub-magistrate of the Ist class— the
Hon. R. S. Ellis, C. 8., sanitary commissioner at Madras
—Mr J. G. Thompson to act as judge of the Court of
Small Causes in the Zillah of Telicherry—Mr J. W. Reid
to be head assistant to the collector and magistrate of
Tinnevelly—Mr J. H. Garstin to be head assistant to the
collector and magistrate of Malabar—Mr A. C. Trevor to
act as second assistant to the collector and magistrate at
Kaira—and Mr H. E. Jacomb to officiate as under-secre-
tary to the Madras Government in the revenue, financial,
and general departments.

Fearful Collision and Loss of Life at the
Mouth of the Thames,
- -.G.- -
GRAVE SEND , Fuinmr, April 15.
Early yesterday morning a very alarming collision took
place near the Mouse Light, a few miles below the Nore,
which resulted in the immediate foundering of a barque
called the Enterprise, Captain Hitch, and the loss of three
of her crew. The unfortunate vessel was bound for St.
Vincent with a valuable cargo. She went down the river
on Wednesday, in charge of Mr. Speeding, a Trinity House
pilot, and anchored near the Mouse Light, about half-past
8 o'clock, for the night, the weather being clear, with a
sharp breeze from E. S. The ship rode safely enough until
a quarter-past 3 o'clock on the following morning, when a
vessel, since ascertained to be the schooner John, Captain
Lister, from Newcastle, stated to have been under full can-
vas, came into collision with the Enterprise, striking her
on the port bow, just before the cat-head. So severe was
the shock that some of the crew were thrown out of their
berths. All hands were soon on deck, and it was discovered
that the barque was rapidly sinking. Ono man succeeded
in getting out of the hole in the bow, and scrambling on
board the schooner. Within three or four minutes of the
Enterprise being run into sho sunk, in several fathoms,felolw
four of the crew going down with her. One poor fellow
help
was observed struggling in the water ; his cries f
were most piercing, but at the moment no assistance could
vessel sunk. hart, took to the foretop gallant mastheadoafs
an hour he was
be rendered. Another of the four, a youth, named Lock-
His cries were heard,
the fishing
taken off and rescued from a watery, g
12e
smack then remained
smack Express, Grover, master. ri
ted and in a sinking state,
and on board which the pilot and
by the schooner, which
was dismasthe remainder of the crew
and in tbe course of
of the Enterprise had got-
dthe pilot went out in the
near the Black 'rail Buoy,. on
They succeeded in anchoring her
e• hands, but nothing could
of
fThe
the
greatestea difficulty was experienced
in clearing the vessels fromch other, and for a time, it
mis2m
shale arcekeninofstehaermch.
tug having been fallen in with, she
The Victory
barque.
was feared, that the schooner would go down with the
took the schooner in tow and brought her up the river to this
in pumping.
Barrow, a lad.
Theoh n names
Grant,seamen,
these
and
perished
vr
' place, alongside the coal hulk, the crew of the smack assisting
aged 49, and Slater,