The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1915-09-04

JcCtiic. All Lu6ilSu dItlliCiy ohHSO1
has written:
.Shrapnel realized that the effect
of round shot tcannon balls), impact
bombs, case or grape shot against
troops in the field was trivial. His
idea was to increase the ranges OF
the most effective missiles, namely,
case and grape shot, by producing
collective fire at long distances.
Shrapnel therefore suggested hol-
low spherical projectile filed with
carbine balls and containing small
quantity Of gunpowder, just sufficient
to burst the shell, the explosion to be
timed at short distance previous to
its execution, by which means the
fire would be equally severe at all
ranges"
In 1857 the records of the British
army state that Shrapnel in that year
described to General O'Hara, then
commanding at Gibraltar. "a new
method OF extending the use of grape
or case shot to the utmost range OF
ordnance"
In 1902 Shrapnels idea may be said
to have taken, for the first time. deti-
mite shape. In that year there was
issued at Woolwich, England, book
which embodied "a table of practice
with Lieutenant Shrapnel's proposed
new method Of firing case shot," and
in that same year it is recorded that
n Onvbihitod ha chov1c
on Woolwich common, in the presence
of his majesty the king and a great
number of general officers, and that
all foreigners were excluded" Among
the general officers was Wellington,
who was greatly impressed, but who
in later years changed to certain
extent his opinion as to the effective
ness of shrapnel in war.
In 1903, and following the royal in
spection of the new shells at Wool
wich, Shrapnel was ordered to Els
wick, there to superintend the manu-
facture Of his spherical case shot for
immediate issue to the army"
In the following year shrapnel were
for the first time employed by the
British. The occasion was the bonn
bardment Of the Batavian settlement
of Surinam in the Dutch East Indies.
The time was the latter part Of April
and the year was 1904. A Major Will
son commanded the British artillery.
and 1t was under his directions that
the shrapnel shell was used for the
first time in history. After the bonn
bardment Major Wilson reported that
"shrapnel had so excellent an effect
as to cause the garrison of Fort Am
sterdam to surrender after receiving
the second she'll" Major Wilson's re-
port continued:
1.-THE enemy was 30 astonished at
these shells as not to be able to ex-
plain how they apparently suffered
from musketry at SO great distance
as 1000 yards"
Two years passed before shrapnel
was again mentioned in official rec
ords. 1t was at Calabria in 1906.
when q force Of 1000 British troops
defeated a force CT 5000 French. Ad-
miral Sir Sidney Smith, commanding
the British naval force OF Calabria.
witnessed the engagement. He sub
sequently wrote:
1T was evident that the shells OF
Colonel Shrapnel's invention, when
burst in their fight and short Of their
objects. as they ought to be. did
great execution"
So impressed was the admiral that
he asked the admiralty to issue shrap-
mel to the navy. but his request was
refused, whereupon Sir Sidney man.
aged to get some Of the shells by pay
ing for them out of his own pocket.
In February, 1907. he successfully
used the shells in the landing of
division in the Dardanelles.
The victory Of Vimeiro. in the PENN
sula war. was largely due to shrapnel,
when at the critical moment of that
battle the British artillery opened q
shrapnel IRE, using their nine-pound-
err, and routed the French infantry.
The French could not understand
where the little balls came from, and
the soldiers swore that devils were
In the British shells"