The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-17
CHINESE IDEAS OF GUNNERY.
Amusing Accounts of Chinese Fort
and ArsenaIs of Shanghai.


and ArsenaIs of Shanghai.
From the Engineering Times.
Lord Charles Beresford, discussing the
openings in China for mechanical engi-
neers, gives an amusing description OF
Chinese forts and arsenals.
Il would like" he says, 10 tell you one
or two stories thoroughly characteristic OF
the Chinese At Shanghai. in the superb
arsenal under the superintendent of Mr..
Bunt and Mr.. Cornish, both British me
chanical engineers, l saw an Armstrong
gun which had had the breech- piece re-
paired in a most clever manner. As mat
ter of fact it was really a Krupp gun,
but with an Armstrong breech mechanism.
On asking for explanations 1 was told
that the original breech-piece had been
blown out. and on visiting fort later on
found out how and why. At this fort
congratulated the mandarin on having the
guns (sixty-seven toni mounted in proper
positions and I was afterward shown the
powder used. 1 then said: You surely do
not use this powder in those guns? oh,
yes replied the mandarin, we do But
in will blow the breech- pieces out Yes
it does was the reply. One gun on being
fired blew the breech of and killed four
teen men, and then they tried the other
gun and killed twenty-four men.
Later on I visited another battery,
where there were five sixty-ton guns. OBJ
serving the arrangements Of these, l ask
ed the mandarin where his front was.
The mandarin pointed in one direction,
but the guns pointed In another. / mem
TONED this and the mandarin nodded and
said he thought there was some mistake.
| then pointed out that only one gun could
be fired safely in the desired directions.
oh, no. replied the mandarin, we should
fire them all. At my request the expert
-s.-ka. -.
guns around as desired they became an
echelon, so that the wave of concussion
of one gun would have destroyed the de-
tachment on duty at its neiBhbor Know
ing this placed soldiers hats and clothes
about the guns, and on firing the latter in
succession these garments were blown
skv high You see? | observed TO the
mandarin. Yes replied the latter, we
should have had some men killed but the
shot would have neached. the enemy
wouldn't it?' a-
"At another place there was a sixty
ton muzzle-loading gun, at which the ar
rangements were such that the gun was
actually loaded in the magazine. A bad
" sponged gun or burning wad might,
therefore, have blown the whole up.
pointed this Out. remarklng that l had
never seen anything so dangerous. The
mandarin smiled slapped me on the back
and said: You are the cleverest man
have ever met. That is just what hap
pened last year We did fire the gun and
the magazine blew up. I will show you
where About fifty men had been killed
I'm this explosion. but no alteration had
been made In reconstructing the battery
Later on | went to powder mill and
found there excellent machines OF Ger
man make. l noticed. however, that there
was too much powder In chs pan and
further, that the windows wets all open
and protected by gratings. Hence II was
possible for dust or grit to blow In. and.
getting into the pan, IL would be liable, by
the friction caused, to start on explosion.
| pointed this out and the mandarin re-
piled: Yes, It blew up like that last year;
this is the new place we have built since.
THE Chinese were also delighted with
me at other arsenals having no European
superintendent when I showed them how
to set their speed and feed gearing for the
machine tools.
I'm one place l found man boring a
six-pounGer gun. and the tool protesting
most vigorously against the ili-treatment.
I showed the man how to adjust t. and
got ii going properly. The workmen Rath-
cred in a corner and talked excitedIy. I
asked what they were saying and was
told; They are saying that England
produces the most wonderful mandarins
ia the world We have many but not one
OF them knows anything about any Of the
machinery In the shop"