Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-02-14


On il disappearance our ewes we're eagerly d.
rected % the rivers level to mark IL fall Il was
wonderful 70 waitso long tie seconds lengthen-
ing cant a. i seenIesi 20 minutes. The suspense
Yss telieved BY the sudden shooting up rom the
sater's line OF a white column of = ray Car down
the Mississippi. aud. as 4 was estimated. two and
q -halt miles away IRON u. The mortar boat
was scarcely moved by the explosion. and the
mortar carriage recoiled but two three inches.
This was very encouraging
The second experiment was made with twenty
poupds OF fovder Capt. Constable again DIS
'ciiatging the gun The concusson sas terrific.
Some distance in the rear of the boat where |
vas -ssrsi'rgs W Tvs rot painful, hut those who
remained alongside and in the boat were consid-
erabis shocked The shell rose beautifully mount
ing much higher ia the air, and at the expiration
OF 2yts seconds, struck the water at an estimated
distance of three miles. This conclusion showed
itself very papably upon the boat. The hatch
way coverings in the front part we're lifted off.
andin some cases broken and split, while the boat
itself recoiled some two or three feet, and pene-
trated the SOFT bank of the river.
Experiment number three was maie with the
iuu charge OF twenty three pounds OF powder.
The time of the flight of the ball was thirty one
seconds, and the distance three and half miles.
The recOil of the gun carriage was about tw o
feet, and the effect of the coBcussion upon the
loose wooden work OF the boat was the same as
in the previous shot 5 aat4
Experiments number four gave results sImilar
to number three. Capt Paulding, of the gunboat
st. Louis, dischareing the gun in the place of
Capt Constable Capt. PauldiHg describes the
eoricussom as very stunning and painful, and
thinks II could not be endured within the bull
warks of the mortar boat by any man for more
than eight or ten consecutive shots
Number FIVE was with but fifteen pounds of
powder. the mortar IN this case being elevated TO
more than for y-hve degrees. The shell was
twenty eight seconds in the air. and seemed to
fall as far away any of the proceeding ones,
which led to the opinion in the rainds OF thecom-
mlttee that fighter charge of powder was quite
az efficient a full twenty three pound charge.
The mortar boats are about sixty feet lol e. and
twenty hve feet wide, surrounded on all ues by
Oh-plate bu'warks, six or seven feet high. The
mortar itself weighs II 2l0 pounds In has a
bore easily admitting l3 inch she'll and from
the edge OF the bore TO the outer rim measures
seventeen inches The mortar bed weighs about
1900 pounds, and from the experiment of to-day
Is pronounced by Capt. Constable to lie the most
admirable mortar carriage vet invented.
The shell filled with wet sand weighed $50
pounds, an enormous missile 10 be hurled through
the air a distance farther than from the levee to
Grand avenue. in your city Filled with powder
these shell will weigh 2l5 pounds, and car be
thrown 1T least half a mile farther than were
those filled with the sand.
Say, twenty of these mortar boats drop down
to within easy reach of Colombus, and at the
same time be out of the reach of the best rfed
cahnon the rebels may bring to bear. SO small
indeed, ut distance.of three and a half or four
miles as scarcely TO be discernable on the surface
OF the water. Say further. that each of these
boats will fire, at very low eStimate, four shells
an hour. Then twenty of them would Discharge
eight shell an hour. with perfect mpunty, and
this rate for night Of ten hours eight hundred
of these terrific missiles may be thrown into the
rebel camp and fortihcatons. Can they endure
tG Pandemonium would be a Paradise to the
place il would make OF Columbus
The trial of to day demonstrated that the re
coil of the boat was altogether lateral, and not
perpendicular. as it was feared it would be. 1t
also shows that the iron bulwarks rerder the con
cusSlon more severe than it would be without
them, and that ii they are permitted to remain.
some plan will have to be devised by which the
gunners at each discharge may get outside of
them Illustrating the effects OF the conclusion
is the circumstance that the cap of the gunner
who discharged the l5-pound charge was carried
away from his head, and he almost taken otf his
feet. III p