The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-12 00:00:00

EXPERIMENTS AT SHOEBITRYNESS.

The smashin
g Powers 7.lSir Wm. Armstrong's
600-pounder shunt gun
w tested yesterday at
Shoeburyness against thelaetrPrrior floating target.
es Bft
The target is an exact counterpart
art of a section of
1. long by loft.
the Warrior's side, and measure
in height. It is constructed of .
best homogeneous metal 41,- inchesron thick, boated to
plates
of the
a backing of teak 18 inches in depth. Behind this
come two sets of 31-inch plates, rivetted
to na
ribs of T iron, the whole being shored up by 8 l
n,,,,ive
beams of fir of immense thickness. The targeta ting.
moored at 1,000 yards distance from thefi anus
firing
points of the 600 and 300-pounder Armstrongs, and
wooden targets for ascertaining the correct eleva—
tion far this range floated close by, a little clear of
the iron one.
._

The first shot from " Big Will" was a dummy cast-
iron shell weighing 6001 b, and was levelled with such
unerring aim at the wooden target as to smash it
literally to powder. The elevatiou of the piece in this
instance was 2 deg. 5 min., and the charge 701 b. The
next shot was a steel shell with a cast-iron head
weighing 6101 b, and containing no less than 241 b of
powder,
which is only four-fifths of its normal
charge. Before firing this shot a consultation tcok
place among the artillerists present as to the ele-
vation to be given, it having been discovered that
the wooden target demolished by the first shot had
been moored at 1,020 yards instead of at 1,000 as had
been originally intended. After some discussion the .
gun was fired at 2 deg. 10 min, elevation, the shell
passing just over the top of the target a little to the
right of the central lines. The next two shcta—
live steel shells similar in all respects to No. 2—Lica
monstrated in a most surprising way the wonderful
accuracy of the gun in obeying the slightest change
in elevation. For shot No. 3 the piece was depressed
to 2 deg. 3 rain., the shell passing through the exact
centre of the top of the target, and carrying away
a piece of the wood framing of a semicircular shape.
The fourth shot was fired at only 3 minutes less ele-
vation and struck the target as near the centre as
possible, making daylight through it, and exploding
at the very moment of impact. Those who did not
mind getting a wet jacket from the spray made a
rush for the boats, the more prudent making use of
the steamtug Bustler. On boarding the target the
havoc made by the ponderous missiles was found to
to have surpassed all expectation. A bole 2 feet by 20
inches yawned in the 41-inch plate, level with and a
few inches left of the bull's-eye. The teak backing
was splintered into fragments from the size of a
cocoa nut to the merest fibre, and the 1-inch plates
and one of the ribs were completely torn away like
so much paper. In front, below the hole, there lay
a huge mass of iron plate, weighing three or four
hundredweight, and looking like a piece of crumpled
black rag. The plate above the one which Was
pierced was started from its place and bulged
out-
ward, nearly the whole of the bolts holding it to the
target being broken away. In fact, all present
allowed that since the great battle of
gun versus
plate had begun to be waged there had never been
such a complete triumph for the former
combatant.
ar
At first it had been intendedl "artist target at 2,000
rto r
try the effects of
the 600 pounder upon the v
yards, but the first blow at 1,000
yards so disabled
it as to render a new target necessary.
Ou returning to the firing
Point the 300 pounder
was next tried, font shots being
several causes only one
of fired, but owing to
charges for this f
them took effect. The
gun Were
ound to be a few inches
short, the COUSETIOnce
instances the target of which was that in three
the charge for vit. Was missed. At the fourth shot
shell struck the ri latch was of the proper size, the
g t top corner of the plate, smash-
ing but not Penetthis shot was rating it. Theslight effect taken by
nodoubt greatly owing to the target
having been
stewed round to an angle of nearly 40
degrees with the line of fire by the fourth shell from
" Big This concluded the firing for the day.
"hen the tide had ebbed sufficiently many of
those smashed target. All
present revisited the
around
it, to the extent of 200 or 300 feet, lay
masses of iron and steel of different sizes, which
gave one a perfect idea of the damage that
Would have been caused to the "between decks"h
and opposite aide of any vessel unluck men.g to
receive such a shot. On closely exai.ng the
breach made, it seems clear that the projectilemtuhst
have exploded whenabenthw througheyvident by thee
target..
This was made
peculiarly
radaally enlarged after
way in which the hole g
passing through the outer iron plate, and by the
of the splinters in the teak backing.
appearance
b
ulks of timber was split in
One of the massive
two, another was blown upwards apparently by the
mere force of the explosion. In the mischief done
everything betokened a great excess of power
there is consequently every certainty of the effect
being almost equally great at 2,000 yards, as the
velocity of the shot at that distance is only
dimi-
nished by about 120 feet per minute.
A large number of gentlemen, including
members of the Ordnance Select Committee,mg several
the Special Committee on Iron, were
and
throughout the experiments. n) Were present
Capt. Noble ascarteincd the •
the projectiles fired from initial velocities of
found them to differ only the 600-pounder, cod
already given in 71 Sint.
During the whole of the day gusts of rain and
wind were driving acleft, but seemed to ross the range from right to
curacy of the firing have little influence on the ac-
,

M'
USTICE WIGUTMAN'S DEATIL—In allusiOO tof this melancholy occurrence, the Law jgri;egng to
to-
day (just published) remarks :--" On the
press we have received a telegram announ 6
Call' York. This
death of Mr. Justice Wightman thise!e_ the sudden
day,aaiongst the intelligence will cause profound
pro-
fession, by whom his Lordship
which he universally dis-
played regretuniversally esteemed
for the urbanity and
kind
feeling
g ofw knowing him.
played to all who had the honour
Smales—out of
The " pardon " of paymasterCrawley court-martial has arisen
whose trial at Mhow
—has been followed by that at officer's being placed upon half
pay from the date at whichth he was -struck off the strength
of the Inniskiilings.