The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-16 00:00:00

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

PLYMOUTH, June 15.
The Union Company's steamship Roman arrived
here this afternoon from the Cape of Good Hope on
the 14th, St. Helena 99d, and Ascension on the
loth tilt. She brings 103 passengers, 1,000 bales
of wool, 1,400 wet hides, 10 cases of ostrich fea-
thers, 16 cases of aloes and gum, GO ions of sesame
seed, GI tusks, 5 cases of ivory, 1,077 bags of cop-
per ore, 60 casks 14 cases of wine, 25 cases of sun-
dries from the Cape, and two boxes of specie from
St. Helena.
Among the passengers are Justice Bell, on six
months' leave of absence, and the Rev. A. Murray,
of the Dutch Reformed Church, deputed by the
Synodical Commission to visit England to watch
the appeal which has been made to the Privy Coun-
cil in the Berger case.
The weather continued remarkably fine at the
Cape, and a quiet reaction towards the return of
better times progressed. Farming operations were
being carried on very favourably in every direction,
but heavy losses still occurred in isolated districts
from diseases among cattle and sheep.
The commander of the forces had returned from
his official visit to St. Helena. Mr. C. J. Becker,
had absconded, after
forging sub-sheriff
b ibills
sa at Bdl
promissorya lm e uy,
notes to the amount ofr
£1,500.

The settlement of a treaty of peace between the
Basutos and the Free State was progressing satis-
factorily.

The Cape colonists had presented an adiress to
President Brand, congratulating ;him upon the
honourable conclusion of the war.

The gold discoveries iu Transvaal were confirmed.
Several expeditions had left Natal on their way to
the diggings.
The South African Mail says:—" The Colenso
question still raged violently. The court had granted
an order requiring the dean to give thebishop access
to, and the use of, the baptismal registry. In reply,
the dean had positively stated to the court, in writ-
ing, that he declined to obey the order, as he deemed
the matter beside the functions of any civil court.
For this contumacy the Court had, without award-
ing any personal punishment by imprisonment or
fine, decreed the Dean to be in general contempt
and under sentence of legal excommunication.'
lie is unable to go before the court to seek any
redress so long as in contempt. The bench de-
clined to make a martyr of the Dean by more
extreme measures than by placing him in the po-
sition of ' deprivation of law.' Mr. Justice Phillips
remarked, in reference to the judgment, that if it
did not -affect the Dean more than ecclesiastical
excommunication did the other side he did not think
it would affect him much."

The Panama and New Zealand Company's
steamer Rhuahine arrived on the 11th of May. The
mail steamer Briton had not arrived ; she left St.
Helena on the 9th of May. Her Majesty's ship
Rapid left Port Elizabeth on the 12th of May for
Simon's Bay. The Valorous was at Angra. The
Pequima and the Salamis left Algoa Bay on the
14th of May for the Mauritius, and the troopship
Lady Melville arrived on that day in Simon's Bay
from Madras.

The Roman landed her mails here, and pro-
ceeded this evening for Southampton.

The following is from the Cape Town Advertiser
and Mail:—

" The most gratifying intelligence we have to
send home this month is the announcement that the
war between the Orange Free State and the Basutos
has been ended. Though British subjects as such
were neutrals in the strife, yet the interest the colony
felt alike during the continuance and at the result
of the struggle was almost as great as that of the
belligerents themselves. While the war lasted it
had a tendency to excite restlessness among our
own Caffre neighbours on the eastern border; it
closed the civil courts of the Free State, checked
the export of produce, and thereby stop-
ped the flow of remittances, heavily due, to mer-
chants and traders in the colony. Thanks, how-
ever, to the perseverance of the burghers
generally, and to the stedfastness, zeal, and
energy of the President in particular, it is now hap-
pily all over ; and peace has been obtained and de-
clared on terms more advantageous to the State
than could have been anticipated by the most san-
guine only a few months ago. The Basutos have
been thoroughly humiliated, without being hope-
lessly broken. All their leading chiefs, from
Moshesh downward, have paid up with unwonted
punctuality heavy fines of sheep, cattle, and horses.
Two of them—Molappo and Nehemiah, both sons
of Moshesh, have, with their tribes, and at their
own request, been admitted as subjects of the Free
State ; while a tract of valuable land, some
5,000 square miles in extent, has been ' annexed,'
and is now being divided into farms, which will
. shortly be 'given out' on a tenure of military ser-
vice for the defence of the frontier. The effect of
all this on the trade and general prosperity of the
Cape colony will be very marked. Already the
wool produce of the Free State is being transported
to the coast in large quantities, and the usual busi-
ness relations between the merchants and the
i growers are being rapidly resumed. It is very gra-
tifying to be able to report this month an exceed-
ingly favourable change in the condition and prospects
of the country. The drought which prevailed so long
and so disastrously everywhere has now everywhere
broken up, and from all quarters we hear of abundant
rains,with genial sunshine intervening, so that the veld
is clad with luxuriant vegetation, and ploughing and
all other agricultural operations are progressing
apace. It seems as if we had passed through one
of our long and recurrent cycles of drought, and
entered upon what we trust may prove our seven
years of plenty. If, indeed, we should have only
two or three, instead of seven such favourable years
as the one which has now set in, it is the confident
opinion of even the most cautious and experienced
that the colony will quite recover itself again, and
be more abundantly productive and prosperous than
it ever was before."

CHAPEL ROYAL, WHITEHALL—The Hon. and
Very Rev. the Dean of York will preach the anniversary
sermon in aid of 'the Clergy Orphan Schools to-morrow
morning, at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.
THE LAST NEWLY-COINED SCIENTIFIC TERM is
Pidacology (from irtSae, a fountain). It is used to
denote the science of stkbterranean springs. We think. it
almost as bad as the hideous compound Balneology, which
is now so extensively used to express the science of mineral
waters.

--- --
APOTHECARIES' lIALL.—At a Court of Examiners
held on the 14th inst.,
the following gentlemen having
passed the necessary examinations, were admitted licenti-
ates of the Apothecaries, viz.: —Messrs. J. Forbes Sargent,
Bentick-terrace, R.3gent's Park; Thomas Harvey, Water-
loo-road ;F. Julius Schott, of Frankfort-on-the-Maine ;
J. A. Harrison, of Wirksvorth ; G. J. B. Stevens of Strood;
George Spearman, of Plymouth ; W. F. Thiirston, of South
Bank, Notting-hill ; and J. 11. Wathen, of Fishguard. At
the same court, Messrs. W. J. Stothard, of Guy's Hospital •
J. F. Codrington, of Guy's Hospital; and A. Paull Fid
dian, of King's College Hospital, passed the first exami-

nation.
TAKING LEAVE. —Th e Prussian troops quitted
Frankfort silently, and for the most part at night The
Austrians marched out with hands playing and colours
flying, each soldier with an oak leaf in his shako and each
standard crowned with laurels and roses. The citizens
cheered the Austriins very. cordially.

[ADVERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's Ointment and Pills are
unfeignedly the renteOies upon which all may rely who
are suffering front diseases of the skin, scrofula, scurvy,
ulcerations, and bad legs. When the warmth of the
weather determines unduly blood to the skin all thew
complaints assume a worse appearance, and their symp-
toms become more harassing unless Holloway's, ointment
be applied to check increasing inflammation and to soothe
the excited nerves. No knowledge beyond that contained
in the "Directions for use" is required for using this cool-
ings
and healing unguent, which always acts beneficially.
Thousands afflicted with bad legs, who. were slowly
sink-
ingper perilous rptohsei
position
u afsufferings,terail
curativeh ve bee
meansnrescued. t,43 euiferdom their
lea) by persevering with Holloway's medicaments.

AUSTRALIAN, CALCUTTA, AND CHINA,
MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, June 16.
'The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Nyanza has arrived here with the heavy por-
tion of the above mails, 109 passengers, £122,617
in specie, and a large cargo, including 4,000 boxes
of tea and 740 bales of silk, the latter of the value
of £70,000.

She spoke the British brig Adeline on the 10th
inst., on the 11th the barque Champion, and onthe
12th the ship Cycla and the brig European.
GIBRALTAR, June 11.
The French Minister, Baron d'Aptin, and suite,
have arrived at Fez, after a journey of nine days.

SPORTING INTELLIGENC.E—This Day.

VICTORIA CLUB BETTING—Tins D.n.,

LIVERPOOL CUP.
3to 1 agst Terror (taken)
sto 1 agst Vespasian (taken)
6to 1 agst Pintail (taken)
NORTH UMBER LAND PLATE.
4to 1 agst The Primate (taken)
9to 1 agst IVindham (taken)

Her Majesty's Ship Royal Sovereign.

The great duel between the 121 ton 9-inch rifled
naval service gun, with its enormous steel bolt and
powder charge, and the after (single gun) turret of
the Royal Sovereign came off yesterday.
To demonstrate clearly to the mind of the general
and non-professional reader the object and the real
value of the results of this important experiment it
is requisite here to premise any notipe of yesterday's
proceedings by a description of the method of con-
struction pursued with the turrets of the Royal
Sovereign, together with their mounting and means
of rotation, and also to refer briefly to the broad
differences existing between Capt.Coles's system, as
carried out in the Royal Sovereign and other Eng-
lish turret ships, an 1 the system of Mr. Ericsson, as
applied to the turret ships of the American navy.
The three single and the one double gun turret of
the Royal Sovereign are all constructed on the same
plan, but we will here speak only of the one fired at
yesterday. It is simply a hollow composite cylinder
standing on a circular wooden turntable of great
strength over a double ring of conical metal wheels
which travel over metal roadways, the cylinder with
its table being pivoted on a centrally-fixed hollow
iron cylinder, and the whole resting on a bed of oak
balks, and further supported by iron stanchions
springing up from the keelson of the ship. Com-
mencing with our description of the whole from the
very bottom of the ship, for the sake of clearness,
eight iron stanchions are fixed on the keelson of the
ship and support the deck overhead : on this deck
are fixed the oak balks which form the foundation,
next to the iron stanchions, for the bed of the turret.
It is formed of logs of teak 20in. square, laid over a
space of 80ft. in circumference, and on this masa of
teak is laid the bed of the turret, with its turntable
and machinery. This bed is in appearance a gigantic
wheel laid down on its nave, 26ft. in diameter. The
periphery of the wheel is formed of banded strips of
American oak, the spokes and nave being of Eng-
lish oak. The periphery measures 24in. by 12in.,
and the spokes each 18in. by 12in. An axle to this
monster wheel, which is held down in its dismounted
position by bolts of great size, is provided in a hollow
iron cylinder, which gives access to the magazine in
the hold below from the turntable of the turret.
This axle or pivot is formed of two armour-plates,
of 4lin. thickness, bent and welded together at their
sides. It is 26in. in diameter, 7ft. 6in. in length,
and weighs nearly 3 tons. It is fixed upright through
the nave of the great wheel, its under teak logs,
and also the turntable of the turret,) and is held in
position on each side of the lower deck by two im-
mense cast-iron collars. The upper part of this
cylinder projects upwards of 2ft. above the nave of
the prostrate wheel, and thus becomes the central
pivot round which the turntable and turret revolves.
From a brass collar which encircles this cylindrical
pivot radiate outwards from 24 brass conical wheels
the sama number of iron circular bars, on the outer
ends of which are fixed conical iron wheels 18in. in
diameter and 19in. broad, set in a circular wrought
iron framing, and travelling over a metal roadway
as the turret revolves. The turret thus rotates on
a far more immovable axis than can possibly the
paddlewheel of a steamship or the fly-wheel of a
beam engine, while it has the great additional
advantage derived from the outer bearings given
by its circular frame of large conical wheels.
The turret itself is built up on its turntable

on a circle of iron frames, the lower portion

of the frames being left open as forming the
submerged portion of the turret, and the upper
filled in with iron and wood, and coated with
armour plating as the exposed portion of the turret
projecting through and above the ship's upper
deck. This upper portion of the turret is filled in
and covered in the following manner :•—lnner lining
of the turret, of two half-inch boiler plates, from
which project outwards H-shaped iron ribs 10in.
in depth and ,20in. apart, placed vertically, the
spaces between these ribs being filled in solid with
teak. Over these combinations of iron and teak is
worked a crossed diagonal banding, or trellis work,
of flinch iron by about 3in. broad. Next to this
trellis work comes Sin. of teak, and over that the
outer coating of 51-in. rolled armour plates, the area
of surface exposed to shot round the gunport being

further strengthened there by 4iin. armour plating
at the back of the 51in., thus giving 10in. of iron
in two plates immediately round the port. In ad-
dition to the plates being secured in the usual
manner by through bolts driven through the sides
of the turret, they are further secured by being
bolted, or " married," according to the technical
term, to an immense wrought-iron ring let into the
teak at the back of the upper edge of the armour
plates. This ring is 14in. in depth, by 2iin. in
thickness. The top of the turret is covered in with
heavy angle iron and boiler plating. The total
weight of the single gun turret is 116 tons 7cwt.,
its area of surface exposed to shot being 84 square
feet, and its area of gunport 6 square feet. We
have now the turret, its turntable, the conical wheels
by which they rotate, the oak and teak bed, and,
lastly, the iron columns extending upwards from
the ship's keelson to the under part of the oak and
teak bed, all in a complete form, and with the
armoured portion of the turret (as the reader must
have gathered from our attempted description)
standing above the central line of the ship's upper
deck, being, in fact, a half sunken circular iron-
clothed fort, having the sides and the deck of the
ship at its glacis, and this glacis therefore protect-
ing the sunken base of the turret, its turntable, and
the frames_of conical wheels by which it revolves.
The sides of the ship are about 6ft. out of the
water, and carry siin. rolled armour plating to 3ft.
below the water line. This plating is laid on a
crossed diagonal wooden planking, which was added
to the original sides of the ship on her conversion.
This arrangement gives the side armour a backing'
of 3ft. of solid timber, strengthened internally with
diagonal crossed iron tie bandings and the ends of
the numerous iron and wooden beams which span
the deck, and which are secured to the inner sides
of the ship by heavy forged iron knees and angle
irons, the beams being alternately of wood and iron
in all spaces clear of the turrets, and placed closely
together throughout. From the sides of the ship
the upper deck has a slight rise to its centre, or in
the line of turrets, the general plan of the deck for-
mation being a 6in. and Bin. wooden plankinglaid
on a lin. iron deck, supported on closely placed iron
and wooden beams, and pierced longitudinally with
four apertures, or wells, in which stand the turrets
with their base resting on the deck below. Simply
described thus the deck has an excessively weak and
soft appearance when considered as part of the
glacis protecting the turret's base and its revolving
machinery, and it is only by an examination of it
in detail that its real strength is ascertained, more
especially in the parts immediately surrounding each
turret. Thus examining the deck in detail it is
found that each circular aperture in which the tur-
rets stand is fitted round its edge with a wrought-
iron well-ring of great strength, weighing six and a
quarter tons, and from this well-ring there radiate
rolled-iron beams, which are connected, where
running transversely, with the ship's sides, and
where running at any angle longitudinallty, with the
longer iron beams which s pa n the ship's deck from
side to side between the turret apertures. Over
these beams next comes
c iron deck one inch in
thickness, laid down in plates about 12ft. long by
30in. in width,
sides of th, the ends and •
all these
plates being fastened together with hot 41 3.n
• rivets,
through over straps of iron 4in. wide and lin in
thickness. Around all the turret apertures 'the
hatchways, funnel gratings, and all other
the thickness of this iron open-
ings fn the deck, (leek
plating is doubled, and a double line of
‘, stringer" plates— i.e., two lengths of plates
doubled, rim forward and aft at 'equi-distance be.
tween the line of turrets and the rides of the ship.
The iron well-ring, framing the turret aperture, is
next supplemented in its strengthening of the deck
round the aperture by a collar of tapered armour-
plating, termed the " glacis plate," of Sin. in thick-
ness next the well-ring, and tapering to an edge at
about 30 in. outwards. Over this glacis plate is
hid teak planking Bin. in thickness, which is car-
ried fore and aft as a central band of deck wooden
planking, and exceeds in width the diameter of the
turret aperture by several planks on each side. A
collar of a-41-in. rolled iron plate, by about 30in. wide,
is finally added over th icplanking round the turret,

to protect the effect from the gun's discharge, the
muzzle of the gun being necessarily but a few inches
above the deck when fired at is greatest angle of de-
pression. The remainder of the deck is covered
with 6in. oak planking laid down on each side of
the central teak line.
When it was first known that the Admiralty had
decided upon making this experiment it was evident
that two, if not four, serious contingencies were
likely to occur with the Royal Sovereign as a con-
verted ship, and a ship coated with bent armour
plates on her turret that were manufactured and
placed there at a time when we knew much less
about such matters than we do at this present time.
The turret might possibly be penetrated, and the
ship's deck would most likely be so, as two of the
contingencies, while there still remained the chances
of a shot on the face of the turret, disabling the
machinery below, or of a shot on the deck close to
the turret, driving in the well-ring against the
turret's sides, in both instances stopping the rotary
motion of the turret, and virtually disabling it if in
action. On the other hand, it was just as evident
that the shock from any blow struck on the outer
face of the turret would be the first taken up by the
central hollow pivot on which the turret revolves,
and any damage to the frame of conical wheels
possibly prevented by the rigidity of this pivot, and
by the area over which the wheels are spread ex-
ceeding the circumferences of the turret itself.
Any blow struck on the deck and close to the well
aperture, in an endeavour to break in the well-ring
and jam it against the side of the turret, would first
have to pierce the eight inches of teak planking,
then the glacis plate encircling the ring, next the
2-inch iron deck surrounding the turret aperture,
and lastly bulge downwards or break away the sup-
porting beams. As the turret system was cer-
tainly to a great extent placed on. its trial by this
firing at the Royal Sovereign's turret and deck, it
was imperative that note should be taken of any
unfair advantages which appeared to be impressed
upon it. From this point of view-1, The turret
built in a converted ship to resist the ordnance of
1862 was about to be tested by the ordnance of
1866, the armour on the turrets of the Monarch now
commenced building at Chatham being twice the
thickness of that of the Royal Sovereign ; 2, the
original clear space existing between the sides of the
Royal Sovereign's turret and the iron well-ring has
been very considerably reduced lately by iron fit-
tings carrying pauls to facilitate the working of the
guns, and, therefore, increased the chances of
jamming" the turret against the well-ring when
struck by shot; 3, the gun being removed from the

turret left the port open for a shot to enter from
glancing, or other causes, when the shot would in-
evitably pass through the inner skin of the turret on

the opposite side and bulge the armour plating out-
wards against the well-ring ; and 4, the large
conical rollers on which the Royal Sovereign's tur-
rets rotate are of cast-iron, and therefore likely to
break from concussion ; whereas on the Monarch
they will be of malleable iron. The experiment on
the Royal Sovereign has been made in consequence
of the recommendation of the Turret-ship Com-
mittee, in their report to the Admiralty, dated the
28th of June, 1865, combined with the desire of the
Admiralty to obtain reliable data for their guid-
ance in the construction of the Monarch and other
turret-ships in the future. There was no other
field from which they could obtain such data. We
know all that the Americans have done, but it
would be folly to accept their experience as our
guide when the conditions are so opposite. The
turrets of the American ships are exposed to an
enemy's shot from base to summit above the level
of the upper deck, working on a long central spindle
on a limited bearing, something akin to the spike of
a schoolboy's pegtop when spun. We expose but a
portion of the turret to the enemy's shot, and pro-
tect the base by the vessel's side armour, deck, and
glacis plate, and also pivot them over a larger area
than is contained in the circumference of their base.
To this essential difference in the system of mount-
ing the turrets in the vessels of the two countries
may possibly be ascribed the disabling of the turrets
of the American vessels Paissac, Nantucket, 'Wee-
hawken, and Nahant before Charleston, their tur-
rets having become jammed—unable to rotate
either by blows from shot on the face of the turret
bending the central spindle, by the breaking of the
deck or composition ring at their base, or by broken
pieces of iron or nut and bolt ends falling between
their base and the deck.

These remarks were written previously to a shot
being fired at the Royal Sovereign yesterday, and
it is now time to record the facts of the trial as they

occurred.

No exact programme was laid down for the firing
beyond the provision of four steel shot and six cast
iron shells, the disposition of which rested with the
Admiralty Lords ; but it was understood to be

their intention to have a steel shot fired on each
side of the gunport of the turret, and also at the
deck, close to its junction with the well ring, the
object in both cases being to jam the turret, and
prevent its rotating if possible. The firing was
conducted solely under the superintendence of
Captain A. C. Key, C. 8., of her 11Iajest3's ship
Excellent.

Between 1 and 2p.m. the Stork gunboat left Ports-
mouth harbour, with Capt. Key and his staff on
board, and other naval officers, including Rear-
Admiral Scott, C. 8., Capt. Chamberlain, her Ma-
jesty's steamship Asia and Steam Reserve ; Capt.
Luard, her Majesty's ship Hector, &c. The Royal
Sovereign was seen iying well off from Spithead on
the south-east edge of the Dean Shoal, with the
Bellerophon in close company, the weather being
squally with a south-west breeze, and the water
moderately smooth. Both vessels were anchored at

200 yards' distance, the Bellerophon, with her 121-
ton gun peeping out of the central port on her port
broadside, and the Royal Sovereign lying hi a
parallel line with her, with bulwarks down and her
after-turret marked in three parts of its face as
target marks for the shot. Inside the turret crossed
wooden battens were fixed to mark any compression
or movement of its sides when struck by the shot,
and vessels filled with water were placed on the
floor for a similar purpose.
It was past 3 p.m. before the Royal yacht Osborne,
with the Lords of the Admiralty on board, joined
company with the Bellerophon and Royal Sove-
reign, and by that time a large fleet of yachts of
every rig, with Government and private steamers,
were cruising on the windward side of the turret-
ship and the Bellerophon, the Black Eagle, and
.Fire Queen, with large parties on board following
in the wake of the Osborne. On the Osborne join-
ing company
with the turret-ship and the Bellero-
phon off the Dean Shoal, the Lords of the Admi-
ralty boarded the Royal Sovereign and minutely
inspected her turret prepared for the experimental
firing.

This preliminary investigation concluded, the
firing programme was arranged and carried into
effect as follows :
Gan-14-ton wrought iron, coil built,
No. 1 shot, conoidal headed, steelshot,
powder charge, 431 b. ; distance from gun to target,
200 yards ; target mark, a black ball on a white
thee righte f tii e
of
platingthc gunport.
next the
ground
The s chloots estruck nd on
gtheed l
gunport, broke away a jagged piece, 12in. diameter,
from the outer or siin. armour- pate , bent back and
fractured the inner, or 71in. plate, bulged in the
wooden backing and inner skin, and passed into the
turret, smashing the wooden skeleton gun (mounted
in lieu of the turret's gun which had been removed)
into a thousand splinters, but falling on the floor of
the turret two-thirds broken up, and without doing
any interior damage to the turret. Three nuts and
bolt ends were broken off the massive " marriage"
ring which runs round the turret's top, and to which
the plates are bolted, by the shock of the shot's im-
pact. Noue of the cross battens were disturbed, nor
any of
place
on h
e Nv water
r spilt
turretf, outo
floor—thus
thethis proving tseamen'srvii;t the
basins,
turret was immovable under the tremendous shock
to which it had been subjected. After the turret had
been thoroughly examined the winch handles were
of the
manned to ascertain if any
i en
machinery
disarranged, when it was found that three ncowulads
rotate the turret as freely in every respect as before
it was fired at.
No. 2 shot, conoidal headed ste;l shot, 2501 b. ;
. powder charge, 431 b. ; distance from gun to target,

200 yards; target mark on the quarter circle face of
the turret away from the gunport, where the armour-
plating was confined to the si-in. plate alone, in a

line with the winches which revolved the turret, and
decidedly on the turret's weakest part.
This shot struck at the junction of two plates and
drove in the broken pieces 12 inches into the back-
ing, about 12 inches from the upper edge of the plate
and turret. Here the shot turned upward and re-
mained lodged in the wooden backing, the head of
the shot showing itself at the upper edge of the tur-
ret in the wood backing behind the armour-plate.
Seven more bolt ends and nuts were broken off the
marriage rings by the impact of this shot, and seve-
ral smaller nuts in other parts of the inner skin of
the turret were also broken off. The plate next to
the one struck was started outwards Bin. ; in fact, all
the plates the upper fastenings of which were
loosened by the flying off of their bolt tails and nuts
were started more or less. The winches were again
manned, and the turret again found to move as
freely as ever.
No 3 shot.—Conoidal headed steel shot, 2501 b.,
powder charge 431 b. ; distance 160 yards ; target
mark on the ship's deck, Bft. from the side of the
turret, the angle of fire being nearly horizontal.
A magnificent shot, striking on the chalk mark.
This shot merely scored the deck and upper collar
plating up to the face of the turret where it
“gouged" out a piece of the armour-plating, 17in.
long by 9in. wide, and 3iin. in depth. No other
damage was done, and the turret still revolved as
freely as on the first day it was fitted. This con-
cluded the experiments.
The important fact, therefore, now remains as the
result of this somewhat costly trial that, drawing an
inference from yesterday's trial, no amount of
pounding from shot could possibly disturb the equi-
librium of the Royal Sovereign's turret's base, and
that if the whole exposed portion had been shot
away the base with its turntable and revolving ma-
chinery would still remain absolutely perfect. There
are errors of construction in the Royal Sovereign
which may be remedied in future with other turret-
ships, such, for instance, as the want of a tie collar,
or ring of metal, round the outer face of the turret
at the upper edge, to prevent the plates falling out-
wards when their fastenings are loosened, as also
leaving the bolt-tails and nuts without any over-
lining, and thus turning them into grape shot when
the turret is struck by heavy missiles.
The success of the turret of the Royal Sovereign
over the 12k-ton gun is immense in its importance
for many reasons, and it also proves conclusively by
the deck shot the value of curved or deflective sur-
faces in warding off shot blows from wood or from
iron. All honour, therefore, to Captain Coles for
his persistent advocacy of a system of mounting
ordnance on board a ship that will, at any rate, add
a power to our fleet of ironclads equivalent in nature
and force to the siege artillery of an army before
the famous Venetian Quadrilateral !

Several members of the Board of Admiralty ex-
pressed their admiration at the excellent practice
made on the turret with the gun from the Belle-
rophon. The captain of the gun was Gunner's Mate
Bowing, of her Majesty's ship excellent.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

S T OCKBRID GE RACES-FRIDAY.

HANDICAP SWEEPSTAKES of 10 sous each, h ft, with 50
added, for 3-yr-olds and upwards. Gentlemen riders.
New mile.
Duke of Beaufort's Lord Ronald, by Stockwell—Edith, 4
yrs, list 21b (Mr. Edwards) 1
Mr. Chaplain's Breadalbane, 4 yrs, l2st__7lb

(Mr. W. Bovill) 2
Mr. E. J. Sayers's Olivia, 5 yrs, lOst 61b (Mr. Yates 3
Duke of Hamilton's Hurunui, 3 yrs, 9st —.pin Stirling) 4
Mr. Wilkinson Miss Grimstone, 5 yrs, lOst 71b (Owner 5
Betting-2 to lon Lord Ronald, 7to 2 agst Breadalbane,
and 10 to 1 agst any other. Miss Grimstone made the
running, Breadalbane being second and the favourite next
for a quarter of a mile, when Lord Ronald rushed by his
horses,and drawing away won, pulling hard, by 10 lengths
—a length and a half separated the second and third; Miss
Grimstone beaten off. •

The UXBRIDGE PLATE (Handicap), of 50 sovs, added to
a Sweepstakes of 10 sovs each, 5 ft, for all ages; win-

ners extra. Bush in. 13 subs.
Mr. Starky's Kingsley, by King Tom—Surf, 3 yrs, 7st
91b (including 71b extra) (C. Page) 1
Marquis of Hastings's Mrs. Day, 3 yrs, 7st 31b (ff. Day) 2
Mr. W. Day's Miss Middleton, 2 yrs, Gst 31b ('I. Sadler) 3
- -

Betting—Even on Miss Middleton, 6 to 5 agst Kingsley.
The latter waited on the pair until reaching the Stand,
when he quitted them, and won easily by a length. Mrs.
Day defeated the favourite by four lengths for second
place.