, 1880-04-10
lit TO TIJJ0AJI III
The breech could<not bein its proper place,

clasped, emerge from tie broken Roof of
the tuffet. whence also, almost jmmedi7
ately afterwards, issued wreatns OF smoke,
notify spy means dense, but very like the
first few faint 4 curls which spring from
a newly-lighted fire. AT the next instant
there was a cry of g Fuoeo!!" and while
some, Of the sailors mounted, the roof of
the turret to assist any comrades who
might be in danger within, Others rapidly
brought a hose and a small hand fre-en-
CINE, which directed a stream of water
into the turret. By this time | had been
abletc make some slight examination, and
found that while the roof Of the turret was
raised and broken, the back wall behind
the guns. with its 22-inch solid steel plates
showed a rift which bad been torn open by
some resistless power within. Meanwhile
:all alarm Of fire ceased, and wounded men
were brought out of the turret one by one.
1t appeared that no one was killed, but
that two officers and seven men were
wounded, two of them dangerously. Still
it was difficult to know exactly what had
happened. The muzzle of the gun, though
depressed, had not moved forward at all,
nor was there cny mapgling of the mems
bodies. The only dangerous wounds were
'tbose on the heads of two men, and the
only broken limb was that of a man
who. being on the top OF the t%urret, mad
been struck by q loose stanchioo. The
idea which first occurred to more than one
mind was that the hydraulic press had fail.
ed, ADD not for some time was it known that
the gun itself had gone. The Italian officers
never lost the gentle courtesy of their
manners, and no difficulty was made to
hinder complete examination of the scene
of the accident, which was unique, so far
at least as the experience of any one
present assisted him to judge.
The gun had not burst, in the ordinary
acceptatiOn Of the term ; the interior steel
tube bad been entirely fractured across at
the point where the enlarged powder cham
Der begins to slope towards the lesser
part OF the bore the shoulder of tile
powder chamber, as it may be called.
The rest of the gun, composed of various
tubes made OF coiled wrought iron, had
simply ~diseugaged itself as q glass stop
per might BE- drawn out of bottle, and
the tubes were not broken in the slight.
est degree. Each one appeared to be
as sound as when it had been slIrank
on to its fellows. The whole of
the. muzZle, together with the trunnions
and the coils Immediately behind the trun-
MONS, even including the inner one which
surrounds the steel tube, remained fixed by
the ftrunnions to the carriage. The only
movement Of this mass bad been the de-
preston OF the muzzle, which has been
previously mentioned. The rest CT the
gun, including the whole of the breech,
containing the rear par: of the steel tube,
from the shoulder of the powder chamber
backwards, had separated itself from the
muzzle portion, and, being unsupported,
had, yielded to the forcs of the discharged
powder andheen dashed backwards against
the wall of the %turret, displaciog two of
the plates, cracking the steel lining like a
mirrors, and crushing the heavy wooden
backing through the gap made between the
two plates.
This extraordinary accident has shown
that the gun as it exists possesses. an ele-
ment of weakness in it's longitu dinal con-
structiop, also that the enlarged powder
chamber 10, at least 10 its present form,
tablet longitudinal strain which has not
been sufficiently provided for. It is how.
ever, only fair to remember the history Of
these guns. The contract was thet they
should be able to produce a certain effect,