Year: 1864

| The Greatest Sun I'm the WOrId.-Ihe


Great Peaeemalzer of the Age.


On Wednesday the trial of the great
2O-inch Rodnlan gun came of'at Fort Ham
ilton. This gun weighs 117,OOO pounds, is
nearly six feet in diameter at the breach,
and hes bore of twenty inches The
gun-carrisge is in proportion. The reg
ular charge ofpowder i, 100 pounds and
the weight of the ball 1880. Tfe ex-
I e -iments are thus described:


THE FIRST SHOT.


The gun was first l1aded with the regu-
lar charge Of powder-one hundred pounds
"a blank cartridge and fred amid the
applause of the spectators. The report
was not louder than that of 3 ten-pounder
Parrot loaded with solid shot, nor was it
near so shrill. Probably it did not create
so great a conclusion of the atmosphere
and could notIbe heard so far. On examin-
ing the monster to see the effect, it was
noticed that it had only deigned to roll
itself back disdsinfully about two feet.
The air was sulphurous for a considera-
bic distance around it.


THE SECOND SHOT.


This time the "big fellow" was loaded
with fifty pounds of powder and solid
shot weighing one thousand and eighty
pounds. The shot was driven six or eight
hundred yards, when it dropped in the
bay, ricochetted two or three times, knock
ing up dashes Of spray as large as a ship
in full sail and twice as high, and finally
disappeared in the water. On examining
the gun after this discharge il was found TO
have moved on its carriage just enough to
show that it knew how to- work and work
easy.


THE THIRD AND LAST TRIAL.


The final trial yesterday was by far the
most interesting and important of all that
precededit. Great impatience for the re-
suit was manifested BY the spectators. A
heavy conclusion of the ground as well as
the atmosphere was now looked for, and
there was just about enough anxiety. for
the safety of the giant, who was now be-
come a pet among those who were not
familiar with its powers, as to lend the ad-
ditional charm of excitement to the inter
est hitherto felt. The gun had now in
full charge of one hundred pounds of DOW
der, and a one thousand and eighty pound
ball. At length it was loaded, and it was
announced that the fuse was about
to be fred. Every one rushed
out of the way, and many took shelter hsr
hind redoubts of the fort. The fuse hissge
and famed, but while all waited breath
lessly for the fash it only turned out to be
"a flash in the pan" The fuse failed. An
officer then went up, who must have had
great confidence in the gun, and snapped
the cap sndo off went the big gun. The re-
port was very little louder than the one
which Immediately preceded it. There
was no perceptible conclusion of the
ground, and indeed very little of anything
to lead you to think that the greatest gun
known to exist had been fred. The shot
whirled thrsugh the air from the angle of
twenty-five degrees at which the gun was
elevated, and after describing beautiful
arc, which was visible to the naked eye,
dropped into the water about four miles
off The noise made by the collision of the
ball and the air in the fight of the former
was like the wall of a giant. It was some
thing like the peculiar noise made by q
hurricane passing through q ships rigging. |
It was the scream of an eagle. The vol
ume of spray thrown up by the ball after
its cUltact with the water was 60 great |
h 1t we could not see whether it ricochet-
.e,I or not, though many said it did. On
sxsminin~ the effect on the gun it was dis
covered that his time the giant was foam
ing little at the i'outh, the smoke of the
burnt powder still oozilig from the muzzle-
He had consented TO roll himself back five
feet, but in other respects was just as be-
fora