Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-05-02
MY SWIM TO THE TARGET.
a story OF shoeburyness.
by AN ARTILLERY OFFICER.

Few perhaps, among the civilian popula-
ton of England have any very certain idea as
to the whereabouts of Shoeburyness; fewer
still, perhaps have been there. To travel
down from Fenchurch street to the extreme
end of the London, Tilbury, and Southend
railway is of itself II journey not to be under
taken without some definite object in view
and when to this is added IL tramp of some
two miles along yielding sand and shingle, or.
as an alternative about four miles of unin-
terestng road, it is easy to understand that
few tourists are to be found energetic enough
to travel so far merely to see the place and
return for stay there they cannot, there be
ing no hotel of any description in the little
place.
Shoeburyness then, for the benefit of
the uninitated, may be defined as "a
little noisy place near Southend.' As to its
physical characteristics, it is heterogeneous
collection Of barracks, batteries and sand
banks. To the stranger approaching il, it
presents a most uninyiting aspect, especially
should the tide happen to be out. For then
become apparent the interminable reaches of
sand that stretch away out to sea for miles in
their unyarying flatuess broken only here
and there 10y the black form of target or 10y
the pegs driven into the yielding soil to mark
the ranges. Nevertheless it is this very dis
nal eXpanse that gives Shoeburyness its i'm
portance in military eyes and that makes it
what it is-the great experimental and prac-
tice station for the British artillery.
Everything is quiet enough till eight O'Clock
or thereabouts. Then the observer sees here
and there flag run up on the summit of a
battery or easement, and the roar of the guns
begins and lasts for two or three hours, al-
most without nterluission. Looking out to
sea one may perceive clouds of smoke rolling
away, far up in the blue sky, like white balls,
as the shells burst in the distance, and may
hear the noise of the report floating lazily
back after an apparently interminable lapse
of time. When it is remembered that of the
thousands of fuses of all kinds turned out of
the Woolwich Arsenal some three per cent.
have to be proved by actual experiment, one
may form some conception of the appearance
of Shoeburyness Oh busy day.
Enough, however, of description for the
present. Even to this remote corner of Eng
land has enterprise penetrated, and when last
| was there the foundation of n great hotel
was being laid. Soon, no doubt it will be rs
great resource for the ubiquitous AIRY rs
other portions of her Majesty's dominions. l
| should not have ventured to intrude il upon
my readers but for an adventure which hap
pened to me there OH one occasion, and which
went very near todepriving the British public
| of this interesting recital and the Royal
Regiment of Artillery Of the services of a
'most promising young officer" as no doubt
the Times would have recorded.
In the year lS7-- l was going through what
| is technically known rs the "lOng course, a
curriculum of instruction in gunuery theoret-
ical and practical the former at Woolwich
| and the latter Mt Shoeburyness-eac part
| lasting six months. We had been enjoying
| ourselves at our seaside residence for three
| out of six months exceedingly; for we had
| been fortunate enough to have gone there i'll
| the summer months; and between boating
and bathing and playing lawn-tennis in a
| modified form known as sticky" in courts
| constructed out of the boards of old targets
| past work, the time had passed very pleasant
| ly. 1t was now August, and very hot one ;
| the sun burned in the heavens like a red coal
| and scorched up the scanty water that the
/ sand-beds contained, till We had to send miles
i away to fetch what was required for the use
| of the barracks. Work of any kind was au
effort One felt inclined to spend the day
swimming lazily about or sitting on warm
rock after the fashion of Tennyson's norman.
It was one of these aquatic excursions which
| got me into the greatest scrape | have ever
| been in, or that ever shall be in, hope, as
the sensation was anything but pleasant.
l must premise that | was a very fair
swimmer, having learned that art, amongst
many other useful things, at the Academy,
and progressed favorably in it during a course
of seaside fort residences. My greatest am
| biton had always been to swim round the
2OOO target some day when the tide was in,
| and at length ! determined to make the at
tempt. The feat seems easy enough, no
doubt bu. | was no Captain Webb and
amongst my fellow officers there were few
| who would have attempted it, so felt rather
inclined to be able to say that had been
there Confding my intention to no one,
started one day from the gun-pier just before
slack water, counting on getting back before
the tide turned again.
1t was hot day, as have before said, and
| swan very slowly however I arrived AT
my destination without much difficulty The
framework on which the target floated offer
ed pleasant resting-place and lay down
| on il laZily, intending to take some five min
utes' breathng-tim and then start out foi
home. But alas for the feebleness of human
resolutions! Between the warm sun and the
long swim and the recumbent posture, / had
not been there two minutes before ! was fast
asleep | had a curious dream. had been
reading a rather wild book of speculative as
tronomy that morning, and had been some
what struck by the writers theory that the
end of the world would come through the
fiery yapors and lava of the interior of the
earth breaking through the thin crust there
of. | dreamed now that such a catastrophe
was imminent, and that was calmly inspect
ing a pressure-guage to ascertain how lonG
the globe would yet endure. Fearlessly al
happens in dreams, felt the increasing hea
beneath me. Tremors and indistinct distant
rumblngs came rising up from infinite depths
until the ground shook and quivered unde
my feet Higher ran the warning hand upoi
the dial, and at length, with mighty crash
the world exploded, and was hurled, not int
chaos, but splash, into the water of the estu
airy of the Thames
Thoroughly awakened as the reader may
suppose, rose to the surface, gulping dow
A mouthful of water swallowed in the sur
prise. As l clutched the framework besid
me, | was conscious of a dazzling red tiasl
like sheet-hghtning, followed by u tremend
GUS report and rattling all about me, a
though shower of hail were falling. l ha'
seen too much of artillery not to know wha
this astonishing meteor was-a shrapne
she'll
Perhaps there may be some of my reader
, | I.N "a Fnigsila IL for i'm