The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-04 00:00:00

PALLISER'S SHOT.

Some very interesting firing at armour-platesfrom
a 7-inch muzzle loading wrought-iron rifled gun,
with Palliser chilled elongated shot, fired with powder
charges of 121 b, 141 b, and 221 b, took place ou board
the Thunderer, experimental target ship, yesterday,
in Porchester Creek, near Portsmouth, under the
superintendence of Capt. A. Hood, of her Majesty's
ship Excellent. The armour plates fired at were
specially selected for the experiment from having
exhibited unusual excellence of material and of ma-
nufacture in aformer trial, to which one end of each
of them had been subjected with iron and steel bolts
from the same description of gun as was used for
the trial yesterday. The two plates were bolted in
the usual manner on the testing bulkhead of the
Thunderer, a wall of solid timber 45 in. thick, sup-
ported at the back by massive iron knees and timber
struts and tail pieces of immense stoutness. The gun
was mounted in the iron-faced battery built across
the ship's deck, opposite the testing bulkhead, and
the distance from the muzzle of the gun to the face
of the plates fired at was 25ft. One of the plates
was manufactured by C. Cammell and Co., of Shef-
field, measuring 16ft. in length by aft. 2in. in width
and 6in. in thickness ; the other was manufactured
by John Brown and Co., of Sheffield, and measured
16ft. 3in. in length by 3ft. 4iin. in breadth, and was
7in. in thickness.

The first course of firing took place against
Camtnell's 6-inch plate, as follows : _

No. 1 Shot—Palliser chilled, or " hard pointed ;"
weight, 1151 b ; powder charge, 121 b. This shot
broke up in the hole, after penetrating to half its
length. Front of shot left in the hole, and the after
end of the shot thrown back into fragments.
No. 2 Shot—Same description of shot as before ;
powder charge, 141 b. The result of this shot in no-
wise differed from the previous one. Neither of the
shots had done the work due to the gun.
There were no cracks in the plate from either shot,
and in each instance the metal was only squeezed
out in a lip round the indent of the shot.

No. 3 Shot—Same description of shot , powder
charge, 221 b. This shot was the most remarkable
one ofl thea teand
series
alsofired.
through Itthe 4
passeds
inchesthrough
of t
timberh e 6-
inch plate
backing behind the plate, and broke up against an
iron bulkhead built up in the rear of the timber
bulkhead to check the further progress
missiles. T
his was the first of such stray
instance of any shot
from any gun having performed such a feat on board
the Thunderer. There was, however, no crack in
the plate, and the hole was cut through sufficiently
clean to allow of its being easily plugged from the
outer face of the plate. No bolts were started by
any of the three shots.
firing at Camm 11' This last shot concluded the
e S plate,, and the remainder of the
firing
was devoted to John Brown's 7-inch plate,
which was carried •in the following order :
ht Shot.--Pallise ' •
r s chilled, or " hard pointed;
weight, 1151 b ; powder charge, 121 b. This shot
penetrated the plate 5.63 inches, and fell back on
the deck broken up.
2d Shot—Same descriptionofshot • powder
,
charge, 141 b. The penetration • of the shot in this
case was just so much greater than the last as was
due to the extra powder burnt, the depth of the in-
dent being 6.9 in., or within one-tenth of the plate's
entire thickness. As was the case with the first
two shots fired at Cammell's plate, neither of the
first two shots at Brown's plate had done the work
due to the gun—a penetration of 7in., in equality
'
with the diameter of the guns bore.
3d Shot —Same description of shot; powder
charge, 221 b.
This shot struck the plate at an angle owing to
the position of the part of the plate aimed at, and
it was, therefore, considered that the effect of the
blow was somewhat mitigated. The penetration was
7•45 in., or nearly half an inch beyond the back of
the plate, and also nearly half an inch beyond what
was simply due from the gun in its ordinary work.
The shot broke up. The blow took effect at one end
of the plate, and a crack opened through a bolt-hole
to the plate's edge. As it was considered this shot
had not possibly delivered its blow as fully as it
might have done, it was determined to fire another
shot of similar character and weight,with ' •
a similar
powder charge, at another and uninjured part of
the plate. _ _ _

This, the last shot fired, only partly made its way
into the plate, the rear part breaking up, and the
fore part remaining stuck in the face of the plate,
and preventing any exact measuretnent being taken
of the indent.

The general results of yesterday's firing at Ports-
mouth may be thus summarized :—Of the seven
shots fired, one only sustained the Palliser character
as given by Shoeburyness results. The remaining
six shots produced no results beyond those of the
ordinary character.

The Admiralty have ordered Messrs. J. Brown
and the Messrs. C. Cammell each to manufacture
one large iron plate, of a special and harder nature