The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-14 00:00:00

71-1 E NeIVX.

VALETTA,•Nov. B.—Her Majesty's ship Algiers,
89, Capt. E. B. Rice, and Septune, S 6, Capt. G. T.
B. Hornbys have left Malti for England to be paid
off, the former on the 4th, and the latter on the 6th
inst. The Algiers took as passengers Mr. H. Hen-
wood, R.N., Mr. R. M. Curry, R.N., Lieut. Smyth,
9th Regiment, Lieut. Leigh, 22d Regiment, 22
naval invalids, 2 marines, 47 invalids of several
regiments, 23 women, and 28 children. There will
be several other ships going home shortly, which
will proceed to England in the order they arrive
here, viz., the London, 86, Capt. H. A. Chads ; the
Doris, 32, Capt. Sir F. L. M'Clintock ; Scylla, 22,
Capt. R. Lambert ; and Gannet, Com. the Hon. M.
Nelson. Besides the Trafalgar, 89, St. George, 89,
Defence, 18 (iron), Phcebe, 17, and Chanticleer, 17,
mentioned In a former letter as ordered to the Medi-
terranean to replace those vessels taken off the sta-
tion, we also expect here the Challenger, 22, Capt.
J. J. Kennedy, and the despatch boats Psyche and
Caradoc, the former having been commissioned by
Lieut.-Com. Stern. Her Majesty's corvette Malacca,
17, Capt. J. Napier, arrived here on the sth inst.
from Gibraltar, having been relieved there by the
Liffey, 51, Capt. G. Parker, which has been recently
recommissioned for the Mediterranean. We have
also at Malta just now the Edgar, 90, Capt. the Hon.
F. A. Foley (bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral
Dacres, C. 8.), lately arrived from Gibraltar, and
the Alacrity, 4, Commander J. Baird. These vessels
are awaiting the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief,
Sir W. F. Martin, K.C.8., who is expected here
about Ale end of nest week, should no unexpected
events occur to delay his return. The Marlborough,
bearing his flag, entered the Piraeus on the 29th tilt&
and after remaining there a short .time left for
Smyrna and Malta. The Queen, 76, Captain F. C.
Hillyar, and the Pelican 17, Commander P. Brock,
were at the Piraeus. by-the. last accounts; and the
Shannon, 35, Capt. 0. J. Jones, was at Patras. A
court-martial assemblEd this morning on board her
'Majesty's ship Hibernia, in Malta harbour, consist-
ing of Rear-Admiral Dacres, C. 8., president, Capt.
the Hon. F. A. Foley, Commander J. Baird, ,Com-
mander Dent, and Commander R. B. Harvey, Mr.
G. Love, officiating judge-advocate, to try Assist..
Surg. J. T. R. Torrance, of her Majesty's ship Ma-
lacca, on a charge of drunkenness at Gibraltar,
when accompanying an armed boat's crew, which,
at the request of the captain of the port, was pro-
ceeding to arrest the second officer of the Confe-
derate steamer Sumter, accused of murdering the
first officer of that vessel. The prisoner pleaded in
his defence that he mixed a glass of sherry and gin,
mistaking th latter for water, and did not discover
his mistake till he had drunk off the mixture. The
Court found him guilty, and sentenced him to be
dismissed the.sh43 and placed at the bottom of the
list of assistant-surgeons.

The Himalaya, screw troopship, Capt. E. Lacy,
has been again placed in the large dock at Ports-
mouth to complete her repairs for further service,
the dock having been again rendered vacant by the
removal of the Resistance, 16, iron ram, after mak-
ing good defects of one of her Kingston valves.
The Sharpshooter, iron screw corvette, in No. 2
dock at Portsmouth,is ordered to have the iron plates
of her bottom and other defects thoroughly repaired
for further service, and at the same time to have
her bow fitted with a rudder on the plan patented
by Commander Warren, R.N. and tested a short
time since at Portsmouth under the supervision of
Capt. Broadhead, commanding the reserve at the
port. On that occasion the rudder was temporarily
fitted at the bow of the Princess Royal, a small
steamer (paddlewheel) belonging to the Portsmouth
and Ryde United Steam Packet Company.
An order has also been given by the Admiralty
to flt Mr. Lumley's patent jointed rudder to the
Flying-fish, screw gunvessel, Commander Anderson,
which arrived at Portsmouth on the Gth inst. from
the West Coast of Africa, and which sailed again
yesterday morning for Sheerness, after having had
her boilers temporarily patched to enable her to make
the voyage round from Spithead to the Nore. It is
is expected that the officers and crew will be paid
off from the Flying-fish and the ship receive new
boilers before making her trial with Mr. Lumley's
rudder. The decided and extraordinary success of
the Flora, double screw steamer, in her power of
turning in a small space, as shown during her trial
trip on the Thames on the 7th inst., will, however,
prove to be the first step in the adoption of a new
system of applying steering power to ships under
steam. On that occasion the Flora, with her screw
working opposite ways, made three complete turns
of a circle, the diameter of which was exactly her
own length, both ends of the ship moving alike,
and her midship part being the pivot upon which
she turned round the circle. With a ship of war
possessing this power of turning, revolving towers
and shields in them would be scarcely necessary,

the hull of the ship having the required moving
power.
Tho Eclipse, 4, screw guuvessel, Commander
Mayne, sailed from Portsmouth at 4 p,m, yesterday
for the Australian station.

In accordance with Admiralty instructions re-
ceived at Chatham, the stern and quarter boats of
all new vessels are in future to be fitted with the
necessary hooks and appliances for the use of Ky-
naston's patent boat-lowering apparatus, which is
also to be fitted to the boats of the following vessels
attached to the several divisions of the steam re-
serve in the Medway—viz., the Leander, 50, 500-
horse power ; the Racoon, 22, 400-horse power ; the
Columbine, 4, 150-horse power; the Lily, 4, 200-
horse power; Osprey, 4, 200 horse power; and the
iron and iron-plated screw frigates Caledonia, 50,
800-horse power; the Royal Oak, 50, 1,000-horse
power; and the Tamar, 3, 500-horse power.
The paddlewheel steamer African, employed as a
tender to the steam reserve in the Medway, has
been found to be so^ defective that definite orders

have been received fronTlie i— Admiralty 7
----
---
= miralty or 11 er to
be broken up. The officers and crew are turned
over to the Thistle, gunboat, which will be used as
a tender to the steam reserve until some other vessel
has been selected to take the place of the African.
The line-of-battle screw steamer Hero, 89, 500-
horse power, has been found to leak considerably
since her arrival at the Nore, caused, there is little
doubt, from the vessel having been on shore. She
is to be carefully surveyed by the dockyard officials,
and a report of her condition forwarded to the Ad-
miralty. The crew are busily employed in returning
stores to the dockyard preparatory ....
to the vessel
being put out of commission and placed in the steam
reserve.

The screw corvette Pylades, 21, 350-horsepower,

fitting in dry dock at Chatham, received her sails
on board yesterday, her armament having been
shipped the previous day. She is to be in readiness
to be floated out of dock by the next spring tides.
The following appointments and removals in the
shipwright departments of her Majesty's dockyards
have been made by the Admiralty :—Mr. Moody,
master shipwright, from Deptford to Sheerness;
Mr. Ladd, assist. master shipwright at Portsmouth,
to be master shipwright at Deptford, vice Moody ;
Mr, Woods, assist. master shipwright, from Sheer-
ness to Portsmouth, vice Ladd ; Mr. Brain, acting
assist., from Portsmouth to Sheerness, vice Woods;
Mr. Loney, of Portsmouth yard, to be acting fore-
man of shipwrights, vice Brain.

IMPOR7AN7 EXPERIMEMS AT SHOE-
BURYIVESS.

Another of those great artillery experiments
which, up to the present at least, seem to be fruit-
ful only in astonishing results, and in upsetiieg Pre-
vious theories and even experience, was mane
yesterday at Shoeburyness, in the presence of an I
unusually large and distinguished assemblage of
public officials, artillerists, and scientific man. The
experiments were to ascertain the results of the
ultimate trials of Mr. Whitworth's guns against
iron targets. We say " the ultimate trials" not at
all in the belief that they will be by any means the I
last or only trials of the kind,but as expressing the
general opinion felt yesterday upon the ground that
it all in the programme was satisfactorily performed,
then Mr. Whitworth's guns would have done the
very utmost which is at present deemed possible to
effect with any kriown ordnance and much more
than it was ever before believed possible to accom-
plish only a few weeks ago.
In order that the result of this day's proceedings
may be clearly understood, it is necessary to explain
that the targets, which are built to the same strength
as the broadsides of the armour frigates, have
hitherto never been pierced, except on the recent
trials with Mr. Whitworth's guns and flat-headed
projectiles. A long-continued concentrated fire of
Armstrong guns or the more damaging solid shot
thrown by the old smooth-bore 68-pounders have
bent and broken plates, but have never gone through
them, or even done such mischief as would in any
way seriously affect the strength or safety of a sea-
going frigate. On his first recent trial Mr. Whit-
worth, to the astonishment of every one, succeeded
in sending his flat-fronted shot completely through
one of these targets at 200 yards' range. His second
trial,which must be in the recollection of our readers,
about six weeks ago was made with a 120-pounder,
which had been manutactured at Woolwich, after
the plan used by Sir Wm. Armstrong—a series of
iron coils welded together and shrunk on, one over
the other. With this piece rifled on the Whitworth
principle, but loading at the muzzle, not only was
a solid shot sent through a Warrior target at 400
yards, but a shell also, which burst inside the
armour plate, and lit the solid timber framework
of the backing. This penetration of the shell was
considered, and justly considered, to be the most
wonderful success of all. The great primary ob-
ject of all armour-plating is to keep out shells. A
solid shot coming in between decks is bad enough,
it is almost harmless when compared with the effect
which large shell, as now made, ought to produce
among men crowded in groups round their heavy
guns. So universally is this fact acknowledged
that many foreign Powers, among others the Federal
Government, have a very considerable number of
their gunboats plated with only sufficient armour
(2 inches) to keep out shell, leaving solid shot to
do their worst. Our own Government, however,
wisely attempted the utmost limit of defensive
power, and coated their frigates with 41 inches of
`solid iron—enough, as it was thought, and as for a
long time it certainly proved to be, to keep out not
only shell, but every form and weight of solid shot
that artillery, whether rifled or smcoth-bore, could
hurl against it. It was this fancied security which
the Whitworth trials so completely overturned,
and shot and shell alike were sent through armour-
plates and teak backing, and. this too at 400 yards.
This was, of course, an immense success, though
not an unqualified one. To make the shell as solid
as possible Mr. Whitworth did not leave enough
room for his bursting charge, so that the additional
mischief caused by the explosion of the missile was
not of much account. Artillerists also wished, be-
fore admitting the enormous powers of the gun, to
try its penetration against the iron targets at 1,000
yards—a range of such length as would set this
merit of the ordnance beyond all possibility of doubt
or question if it was able at that distance to pene-
trate its mark. The trials of yesterday then were
to set at rest these two important questions—first
to show if without diminishing the penetrating forte
of the shell it could be made to contain so much
powder as to make its explosion terrible; secondly,
if at a much longer range the gun with solid shot
could do as much mischief as it had done at 400
yards. The 70-pounder was also to be tried at 600
yards against the target.

The target used on the last occasion was, it was
stated at the time, not of the same strength in
point of quality of material as the old Warrior tar-
get which stood so ;much battering. The iron was
comparatively inferior, and remarkably hard and
brittle. These defects, however, the supporters of
Mr. Whitworth's gun claim as so many additional
difficulties overcome, inasmuch as the hardened flat
projectiles which cut their path easily through
soft iron are liable to be broken on their way
through a material somewhat similar in
hardness to their own. The target fired at yester-
day was an entirely new one, about 10 feet high by
some 14 or 15 feet broad. It was composed of three
solid iron armour-plates, without break or porthole
in any of them, and fastened to the timber backing
with two-inch bolts let in at the edges, so as not to
have the same source of weakness as has been here-
tofore occasioned by taking them through the centre
of the plates. The two lower plates were five inches
thick (within half an inch of the thickness of the
plates with which the new iron frigates now building
are to be coated) and the upper plate was 41 inches,
the thickness of the Warrior's armour. There was
a very general impression, however, that if the
upper plate was 41in., the Government had given
very good measure in their thickness of the lower
plates, which were nearer 51-in. than 5. The plates
were made at the Government dockyard, and were
perfect as regards material. These plates were lined
with a teak backing of transverse timbers of 12in.
and 6in. thick respectively and an inner skin of
wrought-iron plate fiths of an inch thick. The
sides and top were also enclosed, so as to make
what is termed a box target, like the between decks
of a ship, in order that the explosive effects of the
shell if it got inside, might be fully seen.
The 70-pounder was placed at a distance of 600
yards ; the 120-pounder at 800, The latter it was
wished to fix at 1,000 yards, but this would have
required the gun to he placed in proximity sup-
posed to be dangerous to the clergyman's Iciloii); Ad
we we have stated, great interest was exclint
members of the
trials, and soon after 10 o'clock the
nuke
of Somerset,
Iron-plate Committee, with the D
I and
Lord de Grey, Admiral Frederiek:eArdelT
Admiral Drummond, a large
whole of the Institute
military officers, nearly the wi
chief iron ship.
of Civil Engineers, and althe
they are called, were
as
builders and "iron men," ivraalvaG. rey,
ith the 120-poun-
upon the ground.
were begun w
• The experiments
hour - properly for
der, and nearly an
to lay the gun
at a wooden targeht v,..as expended in trial shots
e day was one of unclouded
range. This, as :t
0 equal in warmth and more
• beauty and almost
htness, to our finest samples of
brgeme
unaccountable ill luck, and
Scn'ectures' as to what the Ak artier
doing with her guns
spring
ph
ge equal
weather, in
led to curious co j
while such a battery
steaming
was trying' to hit her. At last
14 knots would ha'
before one o'clock the
all WAS ready, and a little ,

firat shell was fired, with a charge in the gun of
271 b. of powder. This projectile weighed 1511 b.
and eontained a bursting charge of 51b. of powder.
The initial velocity or rate of speed at which it left
the muzzle of the gun was nearly 1,500 ft. per se-
cond, and it struck with an awful crash full upon
the centre of a five•inch plate, at the rate of 1,220 ft.
per' second. After the usual prudent delay to allow
splinters and fragments to fall, there was a genral
to bee on
rush to the target, which at first seeme
fire, from the volumes of smoke pouring foft.h, and
which showed at a glance that the shell had pene-
trated the plating and burst inside, and that to that
extent at least the problem had been solved. As
soon as the stifling smoke allowed an examination
of the interior of the target it was seen that the
shell had passed completely through the plate, the
18 inches of teak backing' and inner skin of iron,
bursting inside. The bursting, however, seemed
to have taken place too soon and while the shell
was still in the armour plate, as the base or heel of
the shell was fired out backwards and fell in front
of the target, while the fragments that penetrated
through appeared to have been deprived of their
force, and fell almost harmless in what may be
called the between decks. The surrounding tim-
bers inside certainly bore no signs of damage worth
speaking of. Of course, the splinters must have
flown about with violence, and the concussion of
the explosion must have been tremendous; but
evidence of the shattering effect of the shed between
decks there was little or nothing to be seen. No-
thing, in short, to show that the plates had not been
penetrated with a solid projectile. The hole also
in plate and timber was remarkably neat and clean
cut, taking the form of the octagenal rifling, and
having only an extreme width of 8 inches diameter
—a kind of hole that could be plugged from the
outside in a few minutes with very little trouble.,
The second shot was also of 1511 b. weight, loaded
withb the same bursting charge, and fired with the
same charge of powder from the gun. This struck
the middle plate of five inches thick on its upper
edge, and like the former passed through all opposed
to it and again burst inside. This time it exploded
apparently when quite through the plate, shattering
the teak backing to a slight extent, but doing a
little more mischief with the fragments which had
in one or two cases evidently struck the timber com-
posing the box roof and sides of the target with
more force. Still, however, there was the same
comparative absence of shattering effect, and still
there was the same clean hole as easily plugged as
the first. The third trial was with a cast iron hol-
low flat headed shot weighing 1301 b., and without
any bursting charge. This was fired to show the
immense superiority of Mr. Whitworth's steel pro-
jectiles over the cast shots and bolts hitherto used
in trials with Armstrong and other guns against
armour plates. The result of this experiment was
conclusive. The shot, instead of penetrating the
plate, broke in fragments against it, only inflicting a
dint of some two inches deep ; no more mischief, in
fact, than is done with the Armstrong 100-pounder,
and for very much the same reason, that the cast
iron shot once broken up instantly loses in its pieces
the force it possessed when striking as a whole mass_
The fourth trial was made with a 130-pounder steel
shell loaded with only 3ilb. of powder, and fired
from the same gun at the usual range and ,271 b.
Charge. This did no less than the former shells had
done, going through all and bursting inside, but it
also did no more, either in its explosive force or in
the nature of the hole it pierced. The fifth and last
experiment made with the 120-pounder was with a
solid steel shot of 1601 b. weight, which also went
through the target and fell inside the box, if we
may so term it.
The trial was then continued with the 70-poun-
der at 600 yards. This experiment was looked to
with much interest, as the 70-pounder, weighing
less than 4 tons, is eminently adapted for use on
shipboard if its penetrative power can be made
equal to piercing iron frigates without effect.
The first trial proved that in this respect, even at
600 yards, it could do almost as much as the 120-
pounder as far as penetration is concerned. The gun
was fired with a 131 b. charge, the shell weighing
811 b., having a bursting charge of 31b.120a. of pow-
der. This struck the uppermost or Warrior plate
of 4sin., but having of course the same backing as
the other parts of the target, through all of which
but the inner skin it passed, bursting in the wood,
which it splintered upward in a part near the edge
of the target. This latter circumstance prevented
the full explosion of the powder being shown. An-
other was therefore fired with better results, pass-
ing through the plate and doing very much more
damage to the teak, but making no worse hole than
those which had preceded it throughout the day,
and the same with the third and last shot. To esti-
mate the importance of this part of the experiment
it must be remembered that other guns, smooth-bore
and rifled, have fired in salvoes nearly as much as
9001b.weight of shot in single discharges at 200 yds
against similar plates without doing more than
bending, or at most cracking them, but never pene-
trating them. Yet here was a 70-pounder, at 600
yards, sending its shell clean through. When we
state this, however, we must also in justice state
that when Sir W. Armstrong fired his 150-pound
spherical shot against the Warrior target some
months ago, though he did not penetrate the plates,
he inflicted a much more damaging effect by shat-
tering than Mr. Whitworth did with his 150-pound
shells of yesterday. Sir William, however, used
501 b. of powder at 300 yards range, Mr. Whitworth
only 271 b. of powder at 800.
On the whole, the result of the day's experiments
was a great triumph both for the form and mate de
of Mr. Whitworth's projectiles. He has now mad_e
it a positive certainty that he can send shells through
iron plates of sor even 51-in., and not only
i through
the plates but through the backing and inner skin
too. This is really a marvellous result • and an all im-
portant step gained, but it must not be the last by
very many. To fully utilise the enormous penetra-
ting powers of his gun a still greater explosive force,
ns m. ust
whether by gunpowder or other
tea
notbe
a
given to the contents 'of the shells'
It is
wanted in the side
clean easily-plugged hole, that is -
of a iron frigate, but a crushing smash makes
.h
g plug or
a hundred rivulets of leaks that n°thin
t much thecan worse, as
repair. A pane of glass is nyn
against wind and
protection
regards its means ofit is the fractures '
water, for a neatly drilled hole;
parable.
of a dull blow that snakes throe
ein.itshcheieficsiztTaend most
Mr. Whitworth has overeo
formidable of all the difficulties in making the hole.
to give his shell bursting
now
It only remains
power sufficient to convert the round hole into a
labyrinth of tears, and he has persevered too
agged
likely now to stop short at this obstacle.
long to be
.ents with more formidable shells will,
Other exPerimse of time be made, for nothing can
no doubt, in course
be more erroneous than to suppose that these trials
at Shoeburyness will ever yield results that cannot
be improved upon. One day the victory remains
with the guns, and the next the targets carry off
all the honours of successful resistance. The
modern science of adding to the powers of artillery
is developing itself every day with astonishing
rapidity, and no better proof of this fact can be
given than the experiments of yesterday, when re-
sults were easily accomplished which a month ago
were thought to be physically impossible. Sir
William Armstrong, in the meantime, is not idle,
and is bringing forward a weapon which his friends
say will throw all that Whitworth has accom-
plished into the shade. If such a gun come out, it
is quite possible that before it has been six months
in existence a target may be brought forward which,
in its turn, will have a shortlived period of invinci-
bility like that of the Warrior, whose reputation,
once so high, Mr. Whitworth has now so effectually
destroyed. Sir William and Mr. Whitworth have
each a large party of supporters, and a small knot
of partisans, each of whom cries " Victory" after
every day's experiment, and persists in claiming
temporary advantages as conclusive and irro-