STANCHION, OR PUNT-GUN. 335 



point in standing clover. As to all the old plans of 

 burying punts, casks, &c. &c., they are now of so 

 little avail in almost every part of England, as to be 

 no longer worthy of insertion. 



STANCHION, OR PUNT-GUN. 



I HAVE, by practical experiment, since the earlier 

 editions, found, that the gunmakers have another 

 lesson to learn ! Although a gun of this description 

 must of course be supported by some mechanical 

 means, yet the universal system of entirely confining 

 the gun under the barrel, so that it cannot be relieved 

 even one inch in the recoil, is the worst that can pos- 

 sibly be adopted. It not only (when properly loaded) 

 jars every thing so much as to require extra strength, 

 and therefore extra weight to a punt, which we want 

 as light as possible, in order to go in shallow water ; 

 but the sudden check throws the muzzle so much out 

 of the proper direction, that we are frequently obliged 

 to take level very far under, or over, the mark ; ac- 

 cording as the gun may spring, from being either 

 heaviest or lightest forward : and, what is worse than 

 all, this sudden check, at the moment of ignition, 

 materially injures the shooting of the gun in every 

 respect. This experiment was tried, in my presence, 

 by Elijah Buckle, one of the best stanchion-gunners 

 in England, who, some time ago, left the coast of 

 Essex for Southampton ; who has been several weeks 

 in my employ ; and to whom I am, most probably, 



