1880.] Sequel to the ^ Thunderer ^ Gun Explosion. 313 



lever is quite properly, and to save time, put into the in-running 

 position directly the gun is supposed to have been discharged, and in 

 a very few seconds the whole work of running in is accomplished ; 

 and whether it has been done by hydraulic power alone, or by that 

 power aided by recoil, no one who does not happen to be closely 

 observing the first part of the inward run of the gun could 

 possibly tell. 



Then with resjiect to the rammer giving an indication, the large 

 joint of a hydraulic telescopic rammer having a greater area than the 

 smaller one, it follows, almost as a matter of necessity, that on the 

 water pressure being turned on, the large joint starts first on the 

 journey and carries the rammer head with the smaller joint up into 

 the bore of the gun, the smaller joint not starting to run out from 

 the large one until the large one has made the whole of its traverse, 

 and has come to rest; and thus it is that, in the absence of some 

 indicator, there is nothing to tell those who are working the rammer 

 to what distance the rammer head carried on the small joint goes 

 up the bore, before it is stopped by the projectile and cartridge in 

 the gun. 



Thus concussion, recoil, position of rammer — all means that 

 persons acquainted with the working of ordinary guns would rely on 

 as affording information of the non-explosion of the first charge — fail 

 when one is considering the question of double-loading of guns such 

 as those in the fore turret of the ' Thunderer,' when fired in pairs by 

 electricity. 



From the very outset it was felt by the Committee of investiga- 

 tion, that notwithstanding their strong and unanimous conviction as 

 to the cause of the explosion, based upon the evidence they them- 

 selves had heard and the investigations they had made of the frag- 

 ments of the gun, there was great reason to fear that the public, and 

 it might be some artillerists, including naval officers, not having the 

 opportunity, or not caring to incur the necessary labour, to closely 

 examine into the facts and evidence, would be likely to reject the 

 conclusion arrived at by the Committee, and would hold the belief 

 that the gun had exj)loded because the gun was dangerously near the 

 exploding point even when used in the ordinary manner ; and if this 

 were true with respect to artillerists and naval officers, still more 

 likely was it to be the case with reference to the gunners and sailors, 

 whose education and training in all probability, as a rule, would not 

 be such as to enable them to weigh the evidence and to follow the 

 arguments based upon that evidence (even if they had access to it) 

 and thus to come to a proper conclusion upon a question such as this. 



It was under these circumstances that the Committee which sat at 

 Malta expressed their ho^De that the Government would devote the 

 fellow gun of the one which burst, to trials of all suggested causes, 

 and finally to the firing with the double charge, so as to prove, both 

 negatively and affirmatively, that the Committee were correct in the 

 conclusion to which they had come. 



