The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-17 00:00:00

EXPERIMENTS AT SHOEBURYNESS.

Yesterday some important and very interesting
experiments were made at Shoeburynees, is the
presence of the Duke of Somerset, the Lords of the
Admiralty, and the members of the Plate and Ord-
nance Skeect Committees. The first trial made was
with the celebrated " Horsfall," or " Mersey gun,"
as it is termed indifferently, and which, after one
or two trials a long time back, has lain neglected at
Portsmouth until now. This monster gun is capa-
ble of throwing a 3001 b. spherical shot, and is there-
fore nearly double the size of the Armstrong 150-
pounder which wrought such havoc on the old
Warrior target this spring. Since that experiment
attention has been re-directed to this gun, and the
Admiralty gave it a final trial yesterday against a
target constructed to represent a section of the
Warrior's broadside—namely, a mass of .4-inch
armour-plates, bolted to 18 inches of solid teak in
beams ot 9 inches thick, Lid transversely. The first
shot was conclusive as to the enormous power of
this formidable wrought-iron gun. It was laid at
the usual distance of 200 yards from the target, and
loaded with a charge of 751 b. of powder and a 2701 b.
solid shot. The result of its first discharge was
sufficient to render all further experiments unne-
cessary. The shot smashed a clear hole through
armour-plate and timber backing, piercing the tar-
get through and through—a result which every one
on the ground fully expected. No matter what
may be the thickness of the plates which iron•cased
frigates can carry consistently with their safety as
seagoing vessels, artillery can always be made to
pierce them. Heavy shot and high velocity—in other
words, heavy shot and heavy charges of powder—.
will smash through even 6-inch plates like glass;
and we have yet to learn, with our new ironsides of
the Minotaur class, whether even 5 inch plates can
be used in ships with safety to their seaworthi-
ness. This much the many experiments at Shoe-
buryness have elicited with certainty with regard
to the iron plates; and as regards the ordnance to
be used against them, all trial point to one conclu-
sion, which is that the old smooth-bore gun has
a more destructive effect on armour-plates than
any rifled cannon, and that of all conspicuous rifled
canjion Sir William Armstrong's is one of the least
effective against these targets. The difference in the
destructive effect of smooth-bore over rifled projec-
tiles is exactly the difference between their initial
velocity—or, in plain terms, the speed at which
they travel after leaving the gun. With smooth-
bores it is at the rate of some 1,700 feet per second
with rifled shot about 1,150 feet; and, as each
of these projectiles has to be stopped dead in the
fraction of a second by an iron target, it naturally
follows that the one which travels fastest does the
most mischief. If the trial, however, were made at
ranges of 2,000 or 2,500 yards, the result would be
precisely reversed, as the target at that distance
would still find the rifled shot travelling its 1,150
feet per second, while that from the smooth-bora
would have fallen off to 400 feet per second or even
less. The trial of the Horsfall gun, therefore, at
the short range yesterday excited but a small
amount of interest comparatively speaking, as from
the results of all previous experiments it was known
to a certainty that the target must be pierced. The
second and by far the most interesting trials were
made with the Whitworth 12-pounder field gun and
the 70-pounder naval gun, with the view of testing
the penetration of Whitworth's flat fronted
hardened shells against armour-plates. All shells
of whatever kind hitherto used against armour
plates have failed to produce the least effect upon
them. They have always broken like so many
glass bottles, merely injuring the target with the
flame of their explosion. So constant and invari-
able were these results that it was taken as an esta-
blished fact that vessels coated with 21- inch, or
even 2-inch armour-plates, would suffice to keep
out any shell. As it is only shell which is dreaded
in naval warfare, the Danish, Prussian, and Rus-
sian Governments have each built gunboats covered
with 21-inch armour, confident that this is ample
to protect their crews against ail but solid shot. For
the first time, Mr. Whitworth yesterday proved
the complete fallacy of this theory. The first trial
was made with the 12-pounder, which sent its
flat-fronted solid shot completely through an iron
plate 21 inches thick—no slight result, when we
consider the lightness of the projectile. The next
trial was made with shell, fired from the same rifled
12-pounder against a target of 2-inch armour-plate,
with a backing of oak beams nearly a foot in thick-
ness. The shell, with a bursting charge of llb. 14oz.
of powder, passed through both plate and backing
and buried itself in the earth beyond. The next,
with a charge of llb. lloz. of powder, also passed
through the plate, but burst in and chattered the
timber backing behind. This showed conclusively
that the foreign gunboats which have been built
with a 21-inch iron casing are vulnerable to Whit-
worth hardened projectiles, even when fired from
as light a gun as a 12-pounder. This result, un-
expected as it was, was surpassed by that obtained
with the 70 pounder naval gun when fired with shell
against a stronger target. This target was con-
structed of armour-plates bolted upon an oak frame
9 inches thick, attached by a side framing to a back
of oak 4 inches thick, coated over with 2-inch
wrought iron, The interval between the front and
back frames was between two and three feet, the
target being intended to represent the side of a
eshonip.
ta il'h shell w
nede
2ib.6ozei,gohed, when
f
powder.
charged,
frhis, fired 7O I bwaitad
with
102f1b.2000f powder
passat the ue usualcompletely
le
te pene-
trationlyethhraer uge•ehorftahollengl4ey-inch armour-plate and oak backing,
and burst inside the frame, shattering it to pieces.
This startling result, it should be remembered, was
obtained, not by a gun of unusual weight or calibre,
but with one weighing some 15cwt. less than the
naval smooth-bore 95eeet. gun, and with a charge
of powder of only one-sixth the weight of the pro-
jectile. Since Mr. Whitworth pierced the sides of
the floating battery Trusty with the same kind
of gun, no such satisfactory trials have been made
at Sheeburyness. If the two great inventors, Sir
William Armstrong and Mr. Whitworth, would
only consent to a compromise, and Sir William use
Mr. Whitworth's hexagonal mode of rifling, and
Mr. Whitworth allow it to be used with guns made
on Sir William's coil principle and with Sir Wil-
liam's breech, England would possess ordnance
which might defy the iron fleets and iron forts of all
the world. As it is, both guns are now admitted to
possess attributes of perfection which the other
lacks, the balance of merits for general purposes
being, on the whole, decidedly with that of Sir
-William Armstrong.

A MARKER SHOT AT A. PRIVATE RIFLE RANGE.
—On Thursday night, while Mr. Archibald Todd, of Clench-
foot, was practising with his rifle at his private range on the
farm, he accidentally shot the marker, who was killed on
the spot. Smith is the name of the unfortunate lad who
has thus met his death. He was about 20 years of age,
and was for some time past employed as ostler at the Tower
Hotel, Hawick.—Hawick Advertiser.

A VETERAN.—At Ruishton, near Taunton, on
Sept, 4, James Jenkins, aged 104, died. In early life he
was a seaman in a slaver, afterwards in the Marines, was
in Captain Strangeway's company on board the Glatton
frigate, Captain Trollope, when she fought a t rench squad-
ron of eight ships off Helvoetsluys, nu July 16, 1796, and
helped his captain, when mortally wounded, to go below,
by order of Captain Trollope, who observed Capt. Strange-
way was faint from loss of blood, but persisted in remaining
on deck encouraging his men. He was afterwards in the
Amethyst, Capt. Seymour, when the French frigate Thetis
was taken after a desperate battle, in which he was wounded
and disabled for life, for which he received a medal in 1848.
His pension was 114 10s. per annum. He has left a widow
93 years of age, a hale woman, who attended on him to the
last, and who now must apply for parochial relief.--
Western Daily Press.

RUMOURED SALE OF CLYDE STEAMERS TO TOE
CONFEDERATES.—The favourite and crack steamer lona,
was withdrawn from her station between Glasgow and
Ardrishaig on Monday last, the beautiful saloon steamer
Fairy taking her place. %Ve are told that this withdrawal
is caused by the lona having been sold to the Confederates
in America. It is also rumoured that the fine Belfast
paddle steamer Giraffe, and the West Highland steamer
Clydesdale have also been disposed of to the same parties.
If this be true, then the very flower of our Clyde
passenger
steamers have been withdrawn, to make room, it is hoped,
for others, equal at least, if not superior to those we shall
have lost. The lona is a steamer of world-wide fame. She
has carried thousands upon thousands of passengers over
the famed royal route for years, many of them from the
most remote parts of the globe; and go where she will, she
will maintain the character of our Clyde builders and
engineers.—Arwth