The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-07-28
SHRAPNE| DIED A
DISAPPOINTED MAN
of the ProjectiIe That
RevoIutionized Warfare Had
Checkered Career.
FIRST AT suRlNAM
Major Wilson,, Who Commanded .hs
British Artillery There Says u
Had Such an Effect AZ to
Cause Them to Surrender.
sS85&..8G

sE1z:K
Philadelphia Ledger: From the ac-
counts of the grea. land battles in
the far east 1t is clear that 80 far the
esults ave principally turned upon
the efficacy of the victor's artillery fire.
Both combatants seem to have suffered
heavy losses from their opponents con-
centrated batteries, firing shrapnel.
This recalls the circumstances that a
which with every army goes by the
name of its English inventor, was in
shrapneT has Been christened the
n killing projectile. inasmuch as
!ts sole object is to strike down the
IT. contains. thus repeating the function
OF musketery fire at a range far eX-
ceeding that of the rifle. Unlike COM
mon shell it infiicts practically no In
jury upon surrounding objects. The
effect of ommo shell, or the locomo-
sion of its high bursting charge per-
Sons in the vicinity are liable to de-
struction both from the flying frag-
ments of the projectile itself and from
the damage inflicted on the walls,
buildings magazines, etc. But the
With s%chrannel, however, man and man
only is the target, and the bullets rain
doWn owe a large area.
Henry S%hrapcel, the Inventor.
Henry Shrapnel, the inventor of this
murderOuS WeapOn, was born in 1851,
n received his first commission in
h Royal Artillery on the 9th of July,
1879.
While present at the siege of Glib
raltar in 1887 young Shrapnel was
much struck by the poor results of the
British gun practice. For example, for
1000 24-pound round shots fired from
the Rock only twenty-six Spaniards
were seen to fall. Therefore, an exper-
lment was recommended by a Captain
inch mortar shells with short fuses.
which was carried out with consider
able execution.
BY one man at least the lesson was
taken to heart. Shrapnel realized that
the effect Of both round shot and case
very trivial except at short ranges. His
theory was to increase h range of the
more effective projectile, viz, grape, by
producing a collected fire at long dis
tc-ces. He therefore suggested the
manufacture of a she'll, filled with car
quantity of gunpowder, only sufficient
to open it, at a choir distance previous
to Its execution. w~hereupon the balls
would scatter with great force, derived
erom the momentum of the projectile
itself, over a large area. by which
means the fire would be equally sever
at all distances.
Took Years to Form.
At Gibraltar during the same year
Shrapnel exhibited to General o'Eara
"a new method of extending the use of
grape or case shot to the utmost range
Of ordnance" This small nlemoran-
dunn OF +Shrapnel's Is the first indica-
HON M liz orraot i1noh t1.1 r,,i @rA
Of which occupied the best years of his
life. However, his labors took som
years to crystalline, as may be Judged
from h fact that it was not until 1902
"a Table of Practice With Lieuten-
ant Shrapnel's New Method of Firing
as an artillery textbook. On the 9Th
Of May, 1903, the inventor had the
honor of exhibiting his new projectile
In the presence of the king and a great
number of general officers, no foreign
ers sheing invited to attend the demon
Stratton; and a few weeks later he was
sent tosthe Carroh iron works, in Scot
land. there to superintend the manu-
tactNre of his Spherical case shot,
Tor immediate issue to the army"
Consequent upon h Introduction Of
this project, there was a complete
use. Shrapnel classed his fuses in
boxes for different ranges. Thereupon,
h gullner'S task became greatly SIM
plif,ed, for he no longer had to trouble
about degrees or minutes or rates of
burning.
First Use in Surinann.
Tho first occasion upon which shrap-
nel Usa employed on active service was
at the bombardment of the .Batavian
settlement OF Surinam. April 80, 1904.
Mat0. Wilson. who commanded the
British artillery, "Shrapnel had
30 excellent an effect as to cause the
garrison, of Fort Amsterdam to surren-
der after. receiving the second shell. The
NnemY Were SO astonished at these
shells as not to be able to nou how
they apparently suffered from mus
kerry at sc great a distance eas 1850
yards" Here WI may note sthat al
though from the outset army .lnen in
vartahly referred to the new REojectile
by It's inventors name. it was not till
1866 thzatlthis weapon was officially des-
lgna1ed Sshrapnel," when Henry. Scrope
Strapped obtained authority from the
war once, tha it should bear dis. faith
er's ana
WRITING. of;the defeat OF 5000 French
troops In ,Calabria by 1000 British in
smith. asspectator. says: 1t wassevl,
dent the shells of Colonel ~ShfapneIs
when burst in fiEht and
|1hort of tshetr, objects. as they 0slght to
admiral asked the admiralty to ,intrr-
AHce the ahell. into the navy. and when
neey efuaed he purchased a quantity
ct his OWN expense n by employing
tbs pro5ecttles covered the landing Of
The boats Gf ,the division in the face. of
q huge Turkish force at the Daadan-
e4Ass in February, 1907.
In the .Rsnjnsuta Campaign.
In the Peninsula campaign shraGs1el
was employed with amazing eject,
proving itself to be tie greatest artil-
lery discovery OF the age, while had
our enemies possessed it and not our
selves, the result of many OF our bait
ties might have been very different to
what 1t was. After Vimiera Wellington
wrote sarapnel that his shell had had
the beat effect in procuring that VIC
tory, and Sir William Robe. comamnd-
Ing the artillery. added, 1T Is admirable