Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-16

OF nre on the left hand side and a light sea
was running. The ship was headed of
nearly at right angles with the line of fire,
port beam. This position was the one Of
course, In which the roll Of the vessel would
most anect the accuracy of the firing.
The First Shot Fell Short.
Lieut. Brinley got the distance by word Of
mouth from the bridge, and when 200
yards was reported he was all ready to fire.
rhe dummy made the graceful curve that
Is Characteristic Of this guns work and
plunged downward In q direct line for Sail
Rock. 1t failed to reach the target. how
ever, by fully one hundred yards Lieut..
brinley explained that ne had fired as the
ship was rising from a roll toward the tar
get, and that he had tried to make an al
lowance or the ships motion between the
time of pulling the firing lever and the es-
| cape Of the projectile from the tube. Evil
IDENTIFY, he said, he had overestimated this
time and the corresponding amount that
the range would be increased.
After firing this dummy projectile the
engines We're stopped and the ship drifted
along while a live torpedo containing 30
pounds Of wet gun cotton was reused up
out OF the hold. By the time the piece was
loaded the Nictheroy was heading toward
Sail Rock. and starboard helm was given
her as she backed away The rock was
soon about point or two forward of the
port beam; but the distance was only about
| 1,250 yards. The gun had been laid for . 200
yards, which is considered desirable fight
ing range.
Shot That Was Out of Sight.
Just then Lieut.. Commander Hill, on the
bridge, shouted to Lieut.. Brinley that as
soon as the ship reached a distance of 1900
yards from the rock he could fire. The lieu
! tenant misunderstood the executive officer.
Thinking that he had been told to fire at
once he trained the gun on black stain
in the rock and pulled the firing lever. AS
the distance was nearly 1000 yards short of
the supposed distance the projectile took a
eyer over the rock, just clearing 1t on its
downward plunge. The line aim was per-
ect. but as the torpedo struck on the fur
Their side of the rock no one could tell
whether IT exploded or not. The fuse was
set for delayed action Of one second and a
half. and therefore If the explosion took
place must have been so far below the sur
ace that no noise would have been heard
at the distance at which the shell struck.
Wave the Only Evidence.
Some observers said that they saw a con-
siderable wave break around the edges Of
Sail Rock just after the falling of the shell,
and 1t was thence inferred that this wave
was due to the shells explosion. AS such
wave might have been caused by an ex
plosion. If one took place. it was believed
aboard the Nictheroy that the explosion had
occurred.
But SO far as certainty goes, there is
none. The fuses failed last February at
FORT Royal. and there is reasonable doubt
whether the present fuse viii be anv mors
certain IN Its action than they were. In
.hls case no one saw the she'll explode, and
tne evidence that it did explode is far from
S S. 1T seems probable that If the
Nictheroy goes into a fight she will bavs
an entirely unknown quantity on her side of
me rapicity with which the Nictherov,s
crew learned their duties at both the men
matte and the powder guns showeJ tbe,,
70 De mostly trained men '-wars-men.