The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-15 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

Shell firing at the Alfred target frigate recoma
menced yesterday at Portsmouth from the Arm.
strong and Whitworth rifled naval 70 pounder guns,
the Special Committee being represented by Major-
General Randal Rumley (President), Capt. Wilson,
R,N., and Capt. Singer, R.N. The Whitworth Ord-
nance Committee were represented by Viscount Tor.
rington,Mr Whitworth being detained in Manches-
ter, at his works, in attendance upon Major-General
Sir John F. Burgoyne and Major• General Todleben,
The Elswick Ordnance Committee were unrepre.
seated. Yesterday's firing was a continuation of the
course commenced on the 4th inst., and reported in
The Sun of the following day :—" To test percussion
fuses with shell from the three guns against a
wooden ship, 25 rounds from each gun to strike di.
rect, and 25 rounds en ricochet." The conditions of
the trial were the same—that is to say, the target
ship and Stork gunboat (the three guns being
mounted on the decks of the latter) were moored is
the upper waters of Portsmouth harbour, 700 yards
apart, the committee, with Captain Astley C. Key,
C. 8., taking up their station on the deck of the Ere-
bus floating battery, which lay about 400 yards die.
tent from and in line with the target ship, to watch
the effects of each shell as it was tried. The Excel-
lent's double screw launch was in attendance along.
side the battery, and at certain intervals in the firing
conveyed the committee, with Capt. Key end staff,
to and from the target ship to inspect the exeet
amount of damage inflicted by the shells, internally
and externally. Ihe firing on the 4th inst. reached
to 12 rounds per -gun out of the allotted 25 per gun
of the direct firing. These were completed, and the
firing en ricochet commenced. The following was the
order of the firing :—Armstrong shunt muzzle
loader ; shell, 421 h. bursting charge; Armstrong ex.
perimental fuse ; charge of powder. 101 b. Cora.
menced en ricochet :-1. Hit direct and burst i❑ the
ship. 2. Grazed 40 yards from the ship, and burst
on ship's side. 3. Grazed five yards from ship,
and burst in her side at the water line. Nos. 2 and
3 shells had been pitched so favourably for doing
their maximum amount of wor's on the ship, and
had so evidently done their work too, that the screw
launch was put into requisition, and a visit to the
ship made to inspect the damage. No. 1 shell,
which hit direct, had entered between two of the
main deck beams, and, bursting a few feet inboard,
had blown up the deck planking, &c. The main
damage had, however, as was anticipated, been in-
flicted by the second and third shells. No. 2 had
entered just over the shelf-piece of the orlop deck,
and exploding in entering had blown the planking
of the lower deck—six planks in breadth by eight
paces in length—to matchwood. No. 3 had burst
in the ship's side at and above the water line, and
opened a hole about 4ft by 3ft, through which a
man could easily crawl into the ship's hold from a
boat alongside the ship. The water was rushing
inboard in a moderate stream, and the ballast bad
therefore to be shifted over on the opposite side of
the ship to give her a heel over to starboard and
thus to stop the leak. Shell ricochet firing being
found dangerous to the ship's powers of flotation, it
was suspended for a time, and the " direct" firing
gone on with, the shunt gun going on with the fir-
ing with the same description of shell, fuse, and the
same amount of shell bursting charge and gun's
powder charge. Ten rounds were fired from the
gun, nine of the shells bursting in the ship, and one
shell bursting prematurely directly after leaving
the gun. The firing was next taken up
by the Whitworth muzzle loader; shell, 22
lb. bursting charge ; Colonel Boxer's fuse ; charge
of powder, 10 lb. Thirteen rounds were fired to
complete its quota of 25. All of them burst in
the ship, and the majority of the shots were " in
line" and the whole number in a small cluster.
The shunt next fired two shells " direct," to come
plate her number of 25, and an inspection of the tar-
get ship was then made,
Striking a wooden ship " direct" with shell causes
but little external damage, the explosion of the
shell taking place after passing through clear of the
side and driving everything then before it on the
vessel's decks. When the ship was },examined, at
this stage of the firing, externally, yesterday, a
small round patch of "bit zed" planking, about the
size of a crown piece, was all that told of the shell's
terrific force on making its entree. Inboard the re-
sults were very different—the main deck of the ship,
selecting it as the one on which the majority of the
shells exploded, was one scene of destruction. Great
gaps yawned under foot and over head in the plank-
ing, beams were riven and crushed out of their nor-
mal positions, and the whole deck space was covered
with splinters of every size and form. Pieces of
the burst shells, and huge bolts and knees from the
ship's sides, the latter being at the same time libe-
rally sprinkled with splinters cf shells and hard
wood from the ship's bitts and stanchions. Only a
general conclusion could be arrived at, and that was
to the effect that the damage caused by each shell
must have been in proportion to its bursting charge.
This, however, did not do quite justice to the Whit-
worth shells, which, allowing for the difference in
their bursting charge as compared with the shunt
gun, appeared to have done the most damage if
measured by the power evoked in the bursting of
the shells.
The wedge gun next was brought into play to
make its 13 rounds of direct firing, as follows :
Wedge breech-loader; shell, 41, bursting charge ;
Armstrong experimental fuse; charge of powder,
91b. All 13 rounds burst in the ship and equally
destructive results with the previous firing ensued.
Firing en ricochet was next opened with the
Whitworth gun, and ten rounds fired, with these
results :-1. Grazed 80 yards distant from ship and
burst over. 2. Grazed 40 yards from ship and burst
on graze, 3. Grazed 30 yards from ship and burst
just after graze. 4. Grazed at 90 and 20 yards from
ship and burst on second graze. 5. Hit direct and
burst in ship. 6. Grazed 30 yards from ship and
burst. 7. Grazed 50 yards " from ship and burst
8. Hit direct and burst in ship. 9. Bard peals.

The screw frigate Chesapeake, 39, 400 horse power, was
undocked at Chatham yesterday, after having had her hull
below the water line coated over with a mixture for pre-
serving her bottom, During the time she was in dock she
underwent a survey at the hands of the master shipwright's
staff, but in consequence!of the hopelessly rotten and defec-

tive state in which she wets found to be, any intention to re-
pair her for future serviee was abandoned. The Chesapeake
was one of the last of the old class of b 0 gun steam frigates

—according to the former ratings of steamers—built at
Chatham, and although only launched a comparatively
short time since, she is now altogether unfitted for anything
but the shipbreaker's yard, he: repairs, even supposing she
could be made available for service, involving too great an
outlay to justify the Admiralty in ordering them. Like the
other similarly useless ships whichnow encumber the chan-
nel of the Medway. the Chesapeake will take up her station
in what is termed Rotten• row," until the Admiralty direct
a clean sweep to be made of the entire number of vessels,
the retension of the names of which in the official Navy
List is not likely to be attcaded in the most remote degree
with any future benefit.
The Scout, 21, 400 horse power, screw corvette, is ordered
to be ready for the pennant by the end of the present month
when she will be commissioned in the Medway, her desti-
nation being, it is understood, the West Coast of Africa.
The official inspection of the Marlborough, 121, Capt. C.
Fellowes, took place this morning at Spithead. At high
water the ship will go into Portsmouth harbour to dis-
mantle and prepare for paying out of commission. Twenty
two military invalids, in charge of Lieutenant Winter, 2d
Battalion 7th Foot, were disembarked from the ship yester-
day and forwarded to the great military hospital at Netley.
A company of Royal Artillery, under the command of
Lieut. Denny, R.A., were also disembarked from the ship,
and will be sent on this morning to Sheerness to join the
coast brigade there. Thirty-eight naval invalids were sent
from the ship to the Victory flagship in Portsmouth har-
bour, and 13 others were seat to the Royal Naval Hospital
at Hasler.
One of the Turkish corvettes, under conversion for steam
power, in dock at Blackwell, is now nearly complete, and
preparations are being made for her speedy return to Con-
stantinople, The whole of the dockyard stores, ship's boats,
&0., kept in charge at Woolwich, were yesterday reclaimed
and transferred to the ship.
The whole of the continuous service seamen, 17 in num-
ber, berthed in reserve on board the flagship Fisgard, at
Woolwich, were yesterday cleared out and despatched to
Portsmouth to aid in manning her Majesty's ship Victoria
sometime in commission. The Niger, Oberon, and Land-
rail are now ready for the pennant at Woolwich, but the
difficulty of procuring seamen under the existing regulations
will prolong the period of their commission and departure
indefinitely, The number of second-class lads ordered to
be entered on the books of the Fisgard and limited to 50 per
week, seldom exceeds half that number ; and frequently, on
account of the severe medical attestation, out of 20 or
who present themselves some six or eight only are selected ;
the aggregate number is consequently extraordinarily small.
An epidemic has been raging for some time past at Wool-
wich. The most distressing cases have been emong families
connected with the Government departments of the Royal
Arsenal and Dockyards. Mr Parkyn, Deputy Superinten-
dent of Military Stores, has lost four of his five children.
Mr Stone, a civil officer in the dockyard, has lost the whole
of his children, three in number. The cause is supposed to
be malaria, occasioned by the northern outfall of the sewage
at Barking-creek. At two-thirds flow the surface of the tide
is covered with a dark pestiferous matter, proved to be a
remnant of the outfall cast back before the ebb is sufficiently
swept away. After each receding tide, and when the flood
begins to make its appearance, the atmosphere along the
river becomes insupportable.
During the absence, on leave; of Brevet-Major W. B.
Gossett, Adjutant at the Royal Engineer establishment,
Chatham, the adjutancy of the corps is temporarily filled
by Captain R, G. Thorold.
The following appointments were made yesterday at the
Admiralty :—Lieut. W. S. Bailey to the Victoria ; John
Lambert, assist.-surg., to the Espoir ; Arthur B. Johnson,
assist.- surge, to the Implacable; Charles A, Lees, assist.-
surg., to Malta Hospital ; John Allen, acting assist,-surg.,
to the Magicienne ; Augustus A. Lyne, assist.-paymaster
to the Victoria ; T. Stead and C. A. Wahnisley, assistant-
engineers, to the Victoria, as supernumeraries ; Robert
Spiers and G, H. Wicks, assistant-engineers to the Vic-
toria, as additional.

A New Orleans Planter's Experiences.

The New Orleans Times contains an interesting letter
from a planter, from which we make the following extracts :
" I will begin by stating that I have been planting cane and
cotton on the estate where I now reside for 37 years on the
Ist of January next. Before the war began my plantation
and its working material were worth and would readily have
sold (for cash) for, at least, 350,000 dols. Its products were
of superior quality of sugar, from 600 to 1,000 hogsheads,
and from 1,200 to 2,200 barrels of molasses per year, with
sufficient corn for the use of the plantation. The improve-
ments necessary for keeping the plantation in first-rate
working order were made, such as buildings, machinery,
fences, ditches, opening new land, &e , and all this was per-
formed by the labour that made the crop and was attached
to the plantation, with the exception of some outside
labourers—as engineers, carpenters, and bricklayers, occa-
sionally. The number of labourers, old and young, were
something over 100—making, say, 75 or 80 good field hands
of men and women. Another item was indispensable in
keeping a sugar plantation in a condition to be profitable—
viz,, the securing seed cane in matlasses for the following
year's crop. On my place it was necessary to save enough
seed cane to plant 250 to 300 acres each year, and this was
always done, Such was the result of working my place on
c ew will
e have try
the labour system existing before war changed its condi-
tion. N °swin' I give you a fair statement of my ex-
periencebeen working our plantations under
military orders and regulations, .. On the 26th of
October, 1862, the army under General Weitzel passed
down the Lafourche. It produced great disturbance among
the labourers on plantations, but General Butler soon issued
his order for the regulation of labour, and the planters went
to work to try and save the crops, I started to save mine
with all but six of the usual hands that cultivated it, and
with a voluntary agreement on any part to pay to each
labouring man one dollar per day (and found them in food
and clothing as usual, of course), and to the women hands
in proportion—two items that ought to have operated
greatly in my favour. I had wood enough already, with
good fair labour, to have boiled at least 800 hogsheads of
sugar. The result was that with the incentives in the way
of money and moral suasion in every Way, together with the
assistance of the military to keep order, I at last, after burn-
ing up nearly all the wood above mentioned, finished the
crop with something less than 100 hogsheads of sugar. The
crop was made, or rather cultivated under the old system of
labour, and the above is the result of saving it under the
new system. The crop of 1863 was begun under the most
promising agencies in everything but the quality of the
labour by which it was to be worked, to wit—The rattoon
or stubble cane kept through the winter very well indeed,
and although there wasbut little caneseed saved and planted,
yet with good cultivation a very fair crop of sugar could
have been made. The result is known—less than 40,000
hogsheads in the State. With the loss of but few hands at
that time, and with fresh land and a large breadth in cane,
I gave it the best cultivation I could under the circum-
stances, and at the commencement of sugar-making tho
standing crop of cane was considered good for 860 hogsheads
of sugar. Well, with all the energy and perseverance I air.
capable of, and hiring nearly 4) white men, and buying
nearly 2,000 dols worth of wood (for it was ont of my power
to get wood enough cut by the hand attached to the planta-
tion), I was at last fortunate in saving about 400 hogsheads
of sugar. This crop was the product of cane, except about
50 acres, planted before the change in the labour system.
The above result was the first year's working under General
Banks's regulations, and under which I was greatly encou-
raged by the assurance to myself that in three years time
the free labour system would yield three times the amount
of products that was produced under the former system.
This year of 1864 we began working our crops under new
regulations, by order of General Banks, which were calcu-
lated to stimulate the labourers to increased exertion, but I
am sorry to say not with a particle of effect in bringing
forth more faithful labour. I had faithfully tried to get
fair labour by money reward, as I mentioned above in 1862,
and failed, and I have found General Danko's plan equally