APPENDIX to tlic CHRONICLE. 



525 



i offered io deliver over this part of 

 their funds to the lieutenancy of the 



i county ; to be added to whatever 



I sums they (the lieutenancy) might 

 otherwise raise for that purpose. 

 The proposal was received by the 

 lieutenancy with expressions of ac- 

 knowledgement, but declined for 

 reasons unnecessary to be mention- 



, ed in this report. Tiie lord advo- 

 cate, however, having afterwards 

 given the committee to understand, 

 that his majesty's ministers anxious- 

 ly wished the equipment to be pro- 



I ceeded in, a plan that had been pre- 

 viously presented to, and approved 

 of by the navy board in London, 



! was adopted as a model by the com- 

 mittee ; and, conformably thereto, a 

 contract was immediately entered 

 into with respectable ship-builders at 

 Lcith, for the equipment of a cer- 

 tain number of decked vessels, from 

 70 to 30 tons burden, to receive on 

 board carronades of various cali- 

 bres, and to serve as an auxiliary 

 force when called for. Of these 

 there are now prepared 10 vessels, 

 completely fitted with slides, chocks, 

 iron-bolts, sweeps, powder-chests, 

 &c. ready for the reception of car- 

 ronades, the largest to carry two 

 24 and two IH-poiinders : the rest 

 two 18 and one or two I'J-pounders 

 each. IJeside these, there is a deck- 

 ed vessel of 40 tons burden, fitted 

 up on adifferent plan, as an t-xperi- 

 mcnt, and the slides, chocks, izc. all 

 accurately marked and nuni])ered 

 Xvith the names of the vessels to 

 which they respectively belong, are 

 delivered over to his majesty's otfi- 

 cers, and deposited in the naval 

 yard at Leith, ready for the ser- 

 vices to which they were destined. 

 Authority was given, at the same 

 time, for preparing twelve herring- 



boats, on a plan recommended by 

 his grace the duke of Buccleugh, 

 and sir James St. Clair Erskine, of 

 which the committee undertook to 

 defray the expence. 



7th. Lieut.-gen. Vyse, whose at- 

 tention to the concerns of the asso- 

 ciation, and to whatever promises 

 any addition to the means of nation- 

 al defence, his been uniform and 

 unremitting, having recommended 

 to the committee's notice the descrip- 

 tion of a newly-invented or improv- 

 ed gun, which,* of the same calibre 

 as a ti-pound carronade, and pos- 

 sessing, with half the charge of pow- 

 der, nearly an equal projectile pow- 

 er, should weigh one-half less, and 

 cost three-fourths less, than the guns 

 or carronades of like power hitherto 

 in use J the committee, to enable 

 Mr. Roebuck the inventor to estab- 

 lisli by ex[)eriment the reality of a 

 fact whieh (if well ascertained) pro- 

 mised to become of so much im- 

 portance to the service, caused a 

 gun to be made at Glasgow, under 

 liis direction, and had it brought to 

 the fort at Leith for trial. • A com- 

 parative trial of this piece of ord- 

 lutnce has been made in the presence 

 of competent judges; and it ap- 

 pears, from their report, tliat thero . 

 is every reason to conclude that, 

 with a lew small improvements, sug* 

 gested at the time of the experiment, 

 and approved of by our distinguish- 

 ed commander-in-chief for Scot- 

 land, it will fully answer the expec- 

 tations of the inventor. 



8th. The committee, finding that 

 the above objects had not yet whol- 

 ly exhausted the fiinds of the associ- 

 ation, were of opinion, that nothing 

 could more effectually contribute to 

 the defence of the Frith of Forth, 

 and of the country in general, than 



providing 



