Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-10-23
AMERICAN SHIP-GUNNERY.

The L. 8. corvette Plymouth. (says n late
London paper1 which has been lying in South
ampton water for the last few weeks, will, it is
expected, take her departure thence in a few
days Her commander, Captain Dahlgren. the
inventor of the monster gun that bears his name.
has been visiting the gunnery establishments of
this country, where he has received the most
courteous attention from the various authOri-
ties Capt Hewlett, the head Of the gunnery
establishment on board her Majesty's ship Ex-
eellent. at Portsmouth, has paid a visit to the
Plymouth, and minutely inspected everything
on board of her. He appeared particularly
pleased with the new and improved small fire.
arms. The officers Of her Majesty's ship Me-
lampus, lying in Southampton water, have also
visited the Plymouth. On Tuesday last, some
experiments were made with the small fire.
arms on board the corvette, before a party of
visitors from southampton The rapidity and
accuracy with which these arms can be fred
extraordinary. The most prominent i'm
proVements in these instruments Of warfare are
known as Maynard's, 8, Perry's, and Sharp's pa
tents, these being the names Of three American
inventors. In one of the carbines the fore-fin-
ger moves n spring, and the chamber for the
cartridge is exposed. which having been filled.
spring is moved again, and the chamber is
covered primer, which corresponds with the
percussion cap, is forced out, and the gun is
ready for firing. This primer which is ingeni-
ously concealed, i, rolled round like the main
spring Of watch, and lasts long time. In
another carbine, the chamber for the cartridge
Is lifted out of its psoition upwards; il is then
loaded, and on being forced again into proper
position, spiral spring, in connection with
concealed row of caps, is touched, and the gun
Is primed. The ramrOd is, of course, done away
with by these inventions. There are several
improved naval and military muskets on board
the Plymouth In one of the bayonets when
taken from the musket, is a very handy and
formidable short sword
The King of Portugal was So pleased with
the bOat-hOwitzers on board the Plymouth when
that ship visited Lisbon that ne ordered some
like shem, with slight modification. to be
manufactured. Such is the rapidity with which
these hOwitzers can be fired, that three balls
fired successiyely from one gun have been in
motion at the same time The boat carriages
Of these howitzers exhibit some improvements
OF Capt. Dahlgren. Some interesting expert
ments have made on board the Plymouth on
ropes, cables and cordage. Some of the ropes
are made of American cotton, others of ManiI-
la, Of Swedish and of American hemp. The
cotton ropes are remarkable for their softness
and hexibility, and. what is very singular.
they are found not to imbibe more moisture
than ropes made of a much harder material,
and II Is believed they are equal {" the latter
In strength and durability. Metallic blocks
Tor the cordage to run upon are used for va
rlOus purposes on board. The monster gun of
the Plymouth weighs Is, 900 pounds avoirdu-
POis. 1t is covered with coating of vermil-
lion and beeswax, and therefore has a red in
stead Of the usual black appearance OF ships
guns. The heavy Dahlgren guns have two
vents, which facilitate their rapid and safe
firing. The weight Of each she'll they discharge
Is about l3G pounds, and that Of each solid shot
Is lT0 pounds. The sound of the shell and shot
traversins a distance of three miles, is lost in
the enormous space which it traverses One
popularity of the Dahlgren gun is its enor-
nous strength and thickness where the great
est force Of the powder is expended In ex-
psriments made to test the strength Of these
guns one Of them had been fired off nearly
1000 times, with large proportion of solid
shot. without bursting Capt Dahlgren is of
Swedish origin. =.