The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-10

more than was required of them in the
specifications furnished by the War De-
partment. Generals Forsyth and era
ham, accompanied by their stats, were
present and viewed the proceedings with a
great deal of interest.
The test, which was for range and ac-
curacy, was directed by Colonel of Ord
nance L. S. Babbitt, commander of
Benicia arsenal, assisted by Lieutenant of
Heuer Of the United States Engineering
Corps. The guns were operated by b. C.
Batcheller, engineer for the Pneumatic
Dynamite Gun Manufacturing Company,
who has superintendent the construction of
the plant. The projectiles used were live
shells, five of them containing 100 pounds
of nitro-glycerine gelatine and three 500
pounds.
The test commenced at 10 o'clock, and
when it was completed it had been demon
st-ated that the guns can be fired with
wonderful accuracy, and the tumult the
explosion of the cartridges created in the
sea proved that no ship under which or
upon whose decks one of them once fell
would ever live to cross the bar.
In each OF the first four shots fired one
of the projectiles, containing 100 pounds of
explosives, was thrown 5000 yards, and a
rectangle fifty by seventy yards would
have held them all. Colonel Bahbitt then
directed that the gun for the fifth shot be
aimed at the bank on the Point Bonita
side. a shot had been fired into the bluff
at a previous test and Gunner Batcheller
aimed at the spot where the former shell
had struck. Again the great accuracy of
the powderless implement of war was
shown. The shell struck the bluff only q
few feet from the mark. and the variation
was easily accounted for by the wind
which was blowing fully sixteen miles an
hour.
The most interesting feature OF the dav
was the final test which followed A
projectile containing 500 pounds OF explo-
sives was fired from each gun, and the
immense engines of death were timed TO
explode half a second beneath the surface
of the water. They scared a mile and a
quarter and alighting in the sea sent
volume of foam and spray fifty feet in
diameter 300 feet into the air. The shot
was spectacular in the extreme and created
wild enthusiasm among the spectators
One who has seen the giant geyser playing
in the Yellowstone Park can call to mind
the experience and have a fair idea of what
the crowds on Fort Point parapets saw
yesterday.
The range of the large shells was 1850
yards for the first. 2170 for the second and
2OS0 for the third. The firing was done
with an air pressure of 1000 pounds to the
square inch, or about 10000 pounds on
the base of the shell. The time of fight
varied from twenty-eight to thirty sec
onds for the smaller projectilcs. and from
nineteen to twenty and half seconds for
the larger. The angle of elevation was
thirty-five degrees in each case except the
shot fired into the bluff, for which the gun
was placed at twenty degrees.
The expense of firing the guns is about
$500 each for the smaller and $1,000 for the
larger projectiles, the cost of yesterdays
test aggregating about $4,000.
Colonel Rabbit pronounced the test as
highly satisfactory, and telegra Pied the
result to the War Department. immedi-
ately it was ended. He will now prepare
a report in which he is expected to recon-
mend the acceptance of the plant, which
will undoubtedly be done. The artillery
officers at the fort will endeavor to have
the battery turned over to them instead of
to the army engineers, which was the in
tention if it proved satisfactory.
When the test of the dynamite battery
was concluded the big Pinch rife was
fired twice to test new prismatic powder
offered by the California Powder Works.
1t proved unsatisfactory owing to an over
sight of the manufacturers, which caused
two kinds of powders to get mixed and
which was not discovered until the test had
been made.
The explosion OF the dynamite shells
killed thousands OF fish, and fishermen by
the score set sail Immediately the firing
was over and filled their boats without the
trouble of fishing.