Charges of greatest Efficacy for Artillery at Sea. 333 



In this Table the first column contains the nature, of the 

 ordnance, and the numbers in the other columns are their 

 respective charges of gunpowder in pounds, when the thick- 

 ness of the object to be destroyed is as specified at the top 

 of the columns. If the thickness be given in inches, and 

 parts of inches, tike such parts of the difference between 

 the charge for the given number of inches and the next 

 greater; and add them to the charge first found for the 

 given number of inches for the charge required. 



The value of the decimal part of each will be had by 

 multiplying it by 16, the number of ounces in a pound, and 

 pointing off in the product from the right hand towards the 

 left, as many places for decimals as are contained in the 

 given decimal, and retaining the number on the left of the 

 point for the ounces, increasing it by |, 4-, -f-, or 1, when 

 the first figure of the decimal is 2, 5, 7 or 8 respectively. 

 This hint is merely given for those practitioners who may 

 not be very conversant in decimals. 



Scholium. 



This question is not only of the utmost importance and 

 practically useful in naval engagements, but in several in- 

 stances also of military operations; as the bursting open 

 gates of besieged cities with promptitude and effect, and 

 breaking up all fortifications composed of wooden materials; 

 especially those of a splintering nature, to which the above 

 charges apply most correctly. In the case of a naval 

 action where the object to be penetrated is of oak sub- 

 stance, the ball by having a small motion when it quits 

 the ship's side tears and splinters it excessively, breaking 

 away large pieces before it, which are not so easily supplied 

 in the reparation : whereas on the other hand, if the shot 

 had any considerable velocity when it quilted the side, the 

 effect produced would be merely a hole, which would be 

 stopped instantly by the mechanic employed for that pur- 

 pose; and indeed in a great measure by the springiness of 

 the wood itself; for I have seen in his majesty's dock-yard 

 at Woolwich, captured vessels, having a number of shot- 

 holes in them, almost entirely closed by the wood's own 

 efforts; and that required nothing more than a small wooden 

 peg or a piece of cork to stop them up perfectly: all the 

 damage, therefore, the shot can do under such circumstances 

 of swift celerity is merely killing those men who may chance 

 to stand in the way of their motion. 



If any object to be destroyed be so thick that it cannot 

 be completely pierced by- any common engine; or if it be 



of 



