The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-20 00:00:00

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i EXPERIMENIJS AT ,SHOEBURrIigg,F-gt-;:-Vii.,--A
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A pre. .nary tti\
monster gun, - ,--r..5:;,,,,. ,
was made yesterday at Shoe- .IWP-
the War Department, .
satisfactory results. The a S
out at sea lifted just befo.
buryness, with the most
de; sired. A slight mist
(lily was all that could b ',"
sufficient to watt away
later". . manufectured at Elswick foi
_,11#,,,c,
into a gentle breeze setting acres\
as clear and as warm
com-
menced, and the sun shone ou t
as on a spring day. The win 1:1:• too, which in the
morning was somewhat cold and biting, moderated
'the range, just
im the mouth
of the gun. the
t"semcktheeferx,perimnts

—..ld.
STAMPED ....sd.

his exposure of England's cant and inconsistent
re-
monstrance on the matter of the aforesaid "stons fleet. I
do
Your readers will do me the justice to suppose that
not cite this sample of the "quasi-envoy" action and
career, vouching for any or all of the truth of the sta, te-
ments made by any or all of these quasi-envoys, but, as 311
the case in question, the description came from "one of
themselves," it has bean mentioned by me to show the
animus of the thing. And the sort of diplomat who,
Archbishop Hughes and Bishop M'llvaine one year, and
Rev. W. 11. Beecher this year, are sent to preach and
speechify about " the friendly feeling" of the Northern
States to " the dear old country."—l am sir, your obedient
servant, A BRITISH TRAVELLER.

Sir William Armstrong's gun weir;,,
tons, and is mounted on an ordinary g4,a carriage
of great size and strength. L s length o ver all is
ng 121 t. Its ~, ,
15tt., that of the bore bei hs over 22
aternal
Au: rineter is 1311. 3in., and is rifled on the " 5. hunt-
alt.!" principle. The grooves
are 10 in number, and
turn •
%ice in 63 calibres. In its
construction it
differs '01;1 little from the other large muzzle-loaa, -
jug
guns ,manufactured under Sir William Ara
strong's dia.ltien, consisting of a number of coiled'.
tubes of enorn;ous strength shrunk one upon the
other. The thie!rness of the walls of the gun at
the breech is 20.85 inches, the total diameter at the
trunnions being 55 inches. It carries a conical cast
iron hollow-headed shot,weig.hiog 5101 b., or a shell
of ordinary construction weigh.ng 6001, and ca-
pable of containing a bursting charge of no less
than 401 b. of powder. The charge used yesterday
with shot was 70,b., with shell 601 b.
Although the experiments were to haZve com-
menced at half-past 10, the first shot was riot fired
until after 12. By the time everything wag ready
the interest of the spectators had reached the
highsEt pitch, and it was amid exclamations of
surpaive and wonder from even veteran artillerists
than tic men serving the gun put into it and
rammed home first the powder, looking like
a tolerable bolster, and next the conical
cast-iron honow-headed shot, measuring nearly
30 inches in length by 13.3 inches in diameter, and
weighing as mucit as a small family. The shot is
first placed in a cradle and lifted to the mouth of
the gun by means of movable shetzr legs provided
with blocks and pulleys. The cra;lie hinges on to
a couple of hooks on the mouth of tile piece, and
holds
the ponderous
shot in the proper
.position for
being rammed home. Though the g,un looked
strong enough to have borne loading to this' muzzle,
the spectators naturally ensconced themse/ yes be-
hind the traverses and breastworksthe place,
taking about
taking care to choose
running
out to sea across the
The gun was given one
degree of elevation, and the wordcall
passed that all.
was ready. The last bugle wasfi sounded, and.
the great gun was fired for the
ponderous shot burst from the mouth
st time, The
of the piece
with a terrific rush and - -
roar, striking the sand at
about 700 yards from the shore, I • eaping and dash-
ing onward, ricochetting five or six times, and
finally burying itself near the 4,000 yards' target.
A rush was of course immediately .made to the gun
to see its condition, An attentive. examination,
however, soon proved that not the slightest injary
bad been sustained by it in any part; in fact, that
it was what every one knew it would turn out to
be—a perfect piece of workmanship. Two more
shots were then to be fired at the same elevation,
the second and third reportsbeing apparently rather
less loud than the first. It was a matter of free; aent
observation during the day that the report of ;his
gigantic piece of artillery was much less than :ts
size would have led one to predict. The next threes
rounds were fired at an elevation of 2 deg., after
which followed three at 5 deg., and three at 10 deg.
Three dead shells weighing 6001 b, each were then
fired with charges of 601 b., a 30011). round shot with
a charge of 701 b. completing the day's experiments.
The acuracy of the firing is also a very remark-
able feature. The deviation, as will be seen from
the following results of firing each round, was un-
usually small :
Round Charge. Elevation.
Shot. lb. Degrees.
1 70 1
2 70 1
3 70 1
4 70 2
.5 70 2
6 70 2
7 70 5
8 70 5
9 70 5
10 70 10
11 70 10
12 70 10
Shell.
13

Deviation.

1 left
1-5 left
on lino
1 2-5 left

on line
on lira
4 left

on line
On line
2 loft
on line
4 Left

6(1 5 1,880
60 5 1,898
60 5 not found

2 leti
3 3.5 left

Itound Shot
3041 b.
16 GO 1 96) 3 3-5 left
Up to the sixth round the initial velocity was:
taken by Captain Noble with the very ingenious
electric-balisLic apparatus invented by Major Nave;
of the Belgian army. The mean initial velocity as
determined by this delicate instrument was found
to be as possible 1,200 ft in a second.
The last round was not fired until nearly dark.
Thus ended one of the most important and inte-
resting series of experiments ever performed at
Shoeburyness.
Before the party left the ground the gun was again
most attentively examined, but not the slightest flaw
could be detected by the most critical artillerist
present.
A target of larger size is being built to test the.
smashing capabilities of the great gun, and will be
completed in about three weeks.
There were present during the day Gen. Tulloh,
Davies, Gen. Dacres, Colonels Letrov,
Majors -Bingham ,
and Anderson,Hay and Millman, Captain
Heath, Sir Wm. Armstrong, Mr. IV m. Fairbairn,
and many other notabilities in the military and en-
gineering world.
The gun was easily served by a party of 20 men.
At first, not being;accustomed to such a monster, the
men worked rather slowly, but as they became used
to their work they at last succeeded in abridging
thq space of time
between the rounds to 10 minutes.
monster powers of ~Big Will " (as the
might well be christened) will be enormous.
A shell with
,o.
b..erie d froma
readily
a shell n
the
1 day a s •
wick bursting charge of 401 b may be
it, the largest charge yet need in
g, we believe, no more than Slb.
series of experiments will be made
powers of the gun lately manufactured at to test
w'oo
on the principles advocated by Mr. 14111111
Thomas.
__............,

Li,co, ble, and
No HOME complete without
aW
efficient, dura
c.,
9.
SEWING-MACHINE. Simple, compact,
he re,uireraellt! of v Atm Gums'
on
noiseless. Warranted to fulfil ails
free 4 application C
perfect family machine. Prospect:! free
No. 135, Regent-street, W;--1/I°NA.I gth model of
HUNT, THE POISONER.
this notorious criminal,
latelywilahohilelf took poison, is now.
fpu.
ill!
o-nleend his wife and
two children in a cab,
and
Chamber of Physiognomy, iil
added to Madame Tussau
Baker-street.
_A new tenor, M. da
THEATRICAL PARIS THEATE,
Theatre Lyrique, in.
at the
to appear
Madame
Ugalde (1) for Reiza.—A nevo
Quercy, is
" Oberon,"
with
derboek, has appeared at the Italian
Adalgisa, bld-110.
Norma Van of Madame de La Grange. "Lee
Opera, to th° ..ags,,, by M. Berlioz, a grand Homeriu
Troyons a
acts,Cartn
with a prologue (two other acts, includ-
opera, in g"
• the prophecy
ing c
having been retrenched), has been pro-
wooden Horse . . p .
at the Theatre Lyriquo, in ans. Montjoye," 4
duced
five acts, by AL Octave Feuillet, the principal part
play in
of which is acted by M. Lafont, has just been produced
with the greatest success at the Theatre Gymnase, Paris.
_if L'Aieule," by M. Dennery—a ghastly story, in its in-
cidents apparently resembling Sir Bulwer Lytton's
.. Luerezia"—is drawing all " the town" to the Ambigu.
_But "the news of news" is that the Emperor has an•
nounced free-trade in theatricals.
COLONEL CRAWLEY'S MODE OF CURSING, accord-
ing to his own exquisitely naive explanations:—
" In no single case can the most virulent of those brought
forward as evidence assert that I ever 'cursed,' or swore at.
or otherwise denounced or consigned to perdition, or uttered
imprecations against, any one, be he officer or soldier,
under my command. The utmost they have been able to
say is that I have said—' By God, gentlemen,' &c.; `D_=
my heart,' &c.; ' D—n me,' &c.; but in no one instance
can any one of them assert that I have ever utteredans _
phrase, as that for which Captain Weir required
in
Wedir,.
ob-
tained an apology, viz., ' D—n your eyes,
There is something very quaint in seeing a real
take credit for following the advice over
own
Miller—" Don't damn my eyes, damnvse; CaPalalive colonel
the old Joe
eyes." It
• i Colonel Crawley
is also amusing to sea how instinctively 8
own
command.
- recognises the fact that he is not under hi