ARTILLERY 



The most remarkable effects were as follows : 



247 



The next shot was from the Armstrong 300-pounder, with a cylindrical stool shot 

 weighing 301 Ibs., and fired with a 45-lb. charge of powder. This shot had a velocity 

 of 1,295 feet per second at 30 yards in front of the target, and struck the 7^-inch plate 

 where it had the teak backing. The indent made was 6'2 inches deop, and its diameter 

 about 12 inches, or rather a circular piece of this diameter was driven in to a depth of 

 6 - 2 inches, and nearly, if not quite, separated from the plate, which. was of very good 

 quality. There is, therefore, here, a well-defined measure of the full force of this 

 shot. Besides this local effect, the target had evidently received a serious shako ; 

 one rib was cracked through and bent out; a number of email rivets were broken; 

 the plate struck was buckled about 1 inch and slightly cracked. The shot, which 

 rebounded from the target, was set up about 2^ inches, and was of excellent material. 



A cylindrical steel shell, with a cast-iron head, made on a principle designed by 

 Sir William Armstrong for the purpose of penetrating iron plates by directing the 

 force of the explosion of the bursting charge forward, was next fired from the same 

 gun. It weighed 288 Ibs., had a bursting charge of 11 Ibs., and was fired with a 

 charge of 45 Ibs. of powder, which gave at 25 yards in from the target, a velocity of 

 -1,320 feet per second. It struck the 5j-inch plate on the part supported by the teak 

 backing. It completely penetrated the armour-plate, leaving a hole about 14 inches 

 in diameter, burst in the teak backing, tearing' away the inner skin, and- breaking a 

 rib, and carried a : sho\rer of fragments and splinters in board. The teak was sot 1 on 



