The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-13 00:00:00

ARTILLERY EXPERIMENTS AT

BEXHILL.

The experiments at Bexhill with smooth bore
guns against stone walls, which had been post-
poned from the beginning of the week, in conse-
quence of the inability to attend of his Royal
Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief, com-
menced on Saturday last, and were resumed yester-
day is the presence of his:Royal Highness, who was
attended and accompanied by Sir R. Airey, Sir H.
Jones, Gen. Maunsell, Col. Bingham, Gen. Bloom-
field, Col. Wilford, Col. Cuppage, Col. St. George,
Col. Lefroy, Col. Robinson, R.E., Col. Tulloh, Major
Young, and a large number of artillery and engi-
neer officers. Bexhill, where the experiments took
place, is a point of the coast about four miles on the
London side of St. Leonards. At a distance of about
two miles seawards from e little railway station
stands a martello tower, which it appears was in
such a state of decay as to justify it being summa-
rily sacrificed as a martyr in the cause of projectile
science ; the encroachments of the sea have gra-
dually surrounded this loam fortalice, until at last
the foundatiods have hr come completely under-
mined, and its destructicma had sometime since been
decreed as a measure on absolute necessity. We
mention this fact in o r der to allay the alarm of
certain of the economists, who have censured these
artillery experiments a 3 a wilful waste of public
property. The Bexhill Martello had also another
recommendation, in b cling situated at a lonely part
of the coast, but its Loneliness did not yesterday
preserve it from the intrusion of the curious. The
battery of four guns;, two sixty-eights and two
thirty-twos, had bees a mounted on a rough earth-
work, which had bees j thrown up for the occasion in
a field that commanded the tower, at a range of
1,036 yards, and giving a very considerable eleva-
tion. Every shot 13J ad shell flew right across the
line, so that the :most vigilant precautions were
necessary to prevent accident. His Royal High-
ness came down by the ordinary 11 o'clock express
from town, having courteously declined the offer
of Mr. Slight, the 'secretary of the Brighton Com-
pany, to place a spQ.cial train at his disposal. He
was aceompaniect by Colonel Clifton, his Royal
Highness's aide-de-camp, and the other officers
mentioned were :in adjoining carriages. As the
train neared the ce est, and the martello towers came
in sight, the train was saluted by single guns from
each tower, and Ole royal standard was run up, and
a final salvo firedl .om the battery on his Royal High-
ness's arrival on -the ground. In the field were ex-
hibited all the elecitement and bustle of a fair or
holiday encampment. Gay pennons fluttered on
every side, and 'numerous tents and refreshment
booths offered rest and refreshment to the visitors.
It was believed that all the fashionable denizens of
Brighton, St. L.!onards, and Hastings had turned
but, and it is curl ain that all the conveyances that
could be obtained within a radius of some miles
had been put into requisition. The whole of the
neighbouring roads and farmyards were covered
with them, and the drivers exhibited their usual
sympathy with -occasions of public interest by de-
manding double, and in some cases treble, their
ordinary fares. The crush of fashionable private
equipages was also enormous, and the field itself
was so crowded with well-dressed pedestrians of
both sexes that, it was with some difficulty a space
was kept clear flor the operations of the bombardiers.
The battery,, which was under the command of
Col. Mitchell, was worked partly by that officer's
own men and partly by the first and second com-
panies of the Cinque Port Volunteers, commanded
by Captains Harcourt and Scriven, a fact which
may be taken as marking a most gratifying stage
iu the progress of the great national movement.
It was understood that Captain Harcourt had re-
ceived an intimation on Saturday that the atten-
dance of his company would be required on the
ground, but there was no anticipation that they
'would be called on to take any part in the firing.
When, however, his Royal Highness arrived on the
ground he was so struck with the fine military
bearing and appearance of the corps, who marched
to the ground headed by their brass band, that he
ordered them to the guns at once, and they worked
in equal numbers with the Royal Artillery during
the day. There were five Royal Artillerymen and
five volunteers to each gun, and it would be almost
impossible to ';e11 which made the best practice.
His Royal highness complimented the Cinque
Ports corps before leaving the ground, and also
expressed himself much pleased with tho appearance
of the Cinque Ports Rifles who, under the command
of Ensign Crake, kept the ground.
The object of the day's firing being to ascertain
the power u& the smooth bores as compared with
Armstrong guns, a great deal of interest was felt
in the results, particularly by some Russian officers
who were. present, and who watched and asked
questions about everything. The batteries had
-been operled on Saturday, but the shots then fired
were merely preliminary, their main object being to
get the proper elevation. Yesterday morning the
• cannonadeeommenced in earnest and continued with
vigour up till about three o'clock, when his Royal
.Highness went to luncheon. At that time, includ-
ing the preliminary firing of Saturday, sixty-five
charges of shot and shell had been fired at the
•towers, of which fifty-two were hits and thirteen
misses, the latter being attributed by the gunners
to a breeze which sprangup in the latter part of
the moraing. The firing was watched with the
most intense interest, both shot and shell being
distinctly visible during their passage through the
-air, and announcing the moment when they struck
the wall. of the tower by a supplementary report,
which ',vas almost as loud as that which they had
made when leaving the gun. The amount of work
done bry them was, however, by no means so re-
markable as the noise, and the result of all the
bombardment was only to show the decided infe-
riority of the smooth bore, at long ranges, to the
Armstrong gun. At Eastbourne the tower was
destroyed with less than fifty discharges from the
100 lb Armstrong, and presented at the termination
of the firing only a mass of ruins, whereas, yester-
day, th injury done to the tower at Bexhill was
mainly superficial, and at the end of the day the
•buildin g stood nearly as impregnable as ever.
In one, spot, close under the parapet, a consi-
derable mass of brick work was detached, and
in other places some rather ugly holes were
made in the exterior wall, but in no instance was
the interior of the tower pierced by either shot or
shell. The most singular result of the day's prac-
tice was that the shells penetrated farther than the
round shot, marking 24 inches penetration, whilst
the shot marked only 18 inches, a circumstance
which greatly puzzled the artillery officers,
'who could only account for it by supposing that
when the shell struck the tower, the powder within
itself supplemented the propulsive force of the ori-
ginal tharge • in the cannon.
At abult
3 o'clock, the order to cease firing was
given, arid the duke:ccompanied by his staff all the (officers
prßesenat, descended from the battery
er
hill;iiiten
al Highness astonished the
spectators by the oy y
ploughed fields, leaped
tches, and clambered over
tered tower
g.
gates.
The ask , on
t_
.13 way to inspect the bat-
Highness seemed to tell of following his Royal
of several of the disting der
oafably on the -wind
ance. His Royal Highness tainuteicers in attend-
external injuries of the wall---wa examined the
trifling, having little or no debri,l_afwt:re afterall
entered, and ascended to the top, Wheir,Whhich he
examined the mischief, especially Whit 6 again
hod been
done to the parapet; The result of his Royal
Highness's inspection was his decided coavicti:o,
to use his own worth, that " the Armstrong guns
had the best of it, and that he would not hesitate
to trust himself in the towers whilst a smooth-bore
battery played on it as it had done that day." Be-
yond this high authority, we may add that the
verdict of all the artillery and engineers, both
officers and men, was unanimous in favour o;
the new weapon, the men adding a recommen-
dation which they could best appreciate, namely,
that the Armstrong gun was by far the easiest
and safest firing. After lunch time the firing
by sktgle gun was discontinued, and the practice
was confined solely to salvos. The tower was
very correctly covered in this part of the pracm
tice, but no perceptible increase of
perceived as the result of the concentration of fire.