Mounting of Naval Ordnance. 151 



principle, would be to pass a ring-bolt through the middle 

 of the fore-axletree of the carriage, making it sufficiently 

 long to pass through the rear axletree, and forelocking on 

 it, as well as on the fore axletree. The breeching may 

 then be led from this, to a single ring-bolt in the ship's 

 side, placed just above the thick Avaterway in the middle 

 line of the port. In this way, a gun would require about half 

 the length of breeching that it does at present ; but, being 

 a single rope, should be stouter than when the breeching is 

 led to two ring-bolts, if, however, two ring-bolts should be 

 preferred, both iiL. the carriage and in the side of the ship, 

 and there are some cogent arguments for having them, those 

 in the carriage should be placed in the middle line of the 

 port, so that one should be just as much above the height 

 before indicated, as the other is below it ; the planes of the 

 rings being so disposed, as to revolve about a horizontal axis ; 

 then, if the breeching be led through both these rings, and 

 fixed to two others in the ship's side, similarly disposed, in the 

 middle line of the port, the object in view will be effected, 

 without neutralizing our primary intentions, and giving, as 

 in the first method, a breeching, which, although consisting of 

 two parts, from the circumstance of being in one plane, per- 

 pendicular to the platform, and bisecting both port and 

 carriage, will never require adjustment when the carriage 

 is trained. 



• The breast-carriage in Captain Marshall's plan will be 

 seen, by the most superficial investigation, to afford the 

 readiest means of traversing or training the gun from one 

 side of its port to the other, and also, of ensuring the nicest 

 adjustment of aim at a moving object, by means of the 

 tackle TT, fig. 2 of our explanatory diagrams. Indeed, 

 with so much facility is this operation performed, that (t 

 long 12-pounder, worked only by th7'ee men, was traversed 

 from an angle of 54° before the beam of the port, to 54° 

 abaft } or through an arc of 108° in the short space of 25 

 seconds. 



• Captain Marshall states, that the aggregate of the weights 

 of his two carriages for a 24-pounder gun, is only Icwt. more 

 than the weight of the old carriage ; so that we have not 

 here to complain of the immense additional weight accom- 

 panying almost all other attempts to improve the mounting 

 of naval ordnance ; nor have we to make the serious objec- 

 tion, common to all systems that we have seen, except 

 Congreve's, that the deck is encumbered with a large fabric, 

 and the free circulation of air prevented thereby. We think 

 that the increase of weight might be nearly, if not quite, got 



