The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-07 00:00:00

_HEAVY ILIORTARS AT SEA.

The following is a letter dated United States
schooner Norfolk Packet, at sea, March 1;—
Yesterday afternoon we fired our 13-inch mortar
for the first time at sea. The wind was very light,

the sea quiet, and the day pleasant and sunny. In
order to make the trial sufficiently thorough, the

piece was loaded as if for actual bombardment, with
the full charge of 20 pounds of powder and a shell
weighing over 200 pounds.
The mortar was trained directly a-beam, and re-
ceived an elevation of about forty-five degrees.

The machinery for training the piece is remark-
ably compact, and, although difficult to under-
stand, with its eccentric and other novel pieces
of ironmongery, seems to work with ease and
precision. The foresail, foretopsail, and the head
sails of the schooner were lowered away and
hauled over to windward. All the ship's com-
pany, except the powder division, who were be-
low attending to their peculiar duties, stood on
deck, mostly in the rear of the piece. The word to
fire was given, and almost immediately 'the stunning
report followed. The mortar recoiled eighteen
inches, and us the shell went humming away all
eyes were turned to see it explode.
The shell was half a minute in its flight, and when
it burst was apparently several hundred feet in the
air, and distant by computation more than two
miles. All we saw of the explosion was the sudden
appearance in the sky of a little cloud of smoke
resembling a balloon. Ten seconds after first seeing
the cloud we heard the report. It sounded like an
answering gun from one of the ships in the offing.
The little cloud slowly increased in size, and faded

away till its outlines were lost.
Several curious incidents attended the firing,. The
facings of the bulwarks between the ports or' the
larboard side, that from which the shell was thrown,
were blown off and fell into the water. Several
glass windows were broken in the ward room, and
sashes were violently thrown open. The partition
between the cabin and ward room was started, and
tables were jostled out of place. But these little
mishaps obviously resulted from the concussion of
the air caused by the explosion of so heavy a charge,
and were not produced by the recoil of the mortar.
Persons who were on duty below say that the shock
which the vessel felt was less severe than that
attending the discharge of one of our 32-pounders.

THE HARTLEY WIDOWS AND

ORPHANS.

At a general meeting of the Hartley Relief Com-
mittee, held at Newcastle-on-Tyne on Friday, the
Mayor of that town in the chair, it was reported
that the amount now received was over £75,000,
and that the gentlemen nominated at the last meet-
ing as trustees had all consented to act, and in con-
sequence of the instructions also given at the last
meeting the committee had proceeded to invest
£60,000 in proper securities. The committee pro-
ceeded to fix the scale of allowances, and the follow-
ing was adopted:—To each widow 7s. a-week;
widow and one child, 10s. 6d.; widow and two chil-
dren, 13s. 6d.; widow and three children, 15s. 6d.;
widow and four children, 17s. 6d. ; widow and five
children, 19s. 6d. ; widow and six children, 21s. 61.
a-week, the allowance to continue, except in cases
of gross misconduct, to widows so long as they re-
main unmarried; to girls until they reach the age
of 15 years ; to boys until they reach the age of 12
years ; the allowance for infirm adults to remain,
as a general rule, at ss. per week ; special cases to
be considered. The committee will educate the chil-
dren, and furnish medical attendance to the fami-
lies in addition. At present the families enjoy their
cottages rent free and pay nothing for coals. But
if they have to remove from their cottages a general
opinion was expressed by several of the committee
that they should have their rents paid them. These
are the largest allowances ever made from a fund of
this character, and to maintain them for 15 years it
is estimated £40,000 will require to be sunk, and a:
further sum of £lO,OOO will be required for those
widows who may be alive at the end of 15 years.
Mr. T. E. Forster informed the committee that the
amount of the sinkers' testimonial fund was about
£1,500. Nothing was positively determined with.
regard to the surplus. The subject of a permanent
fund is being taken up by the coal trade'
But, us many of the committee are most
anxious that the large number of orphan chil-
dren placed under their care by the melancholy
catastrophe shall have a good honest English
education, and that they shall have a fair chance of
making their al ay in the world, the surplus, after
everything is honestly met, will not be so great as
was expected.