86 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
in the attack upon Odessa in 1854. The “ Ironsides ” was obliged to retire 
in 45 minutes, and the a Keokuk,” a two-turreted Monitor, was sunk by a 
117 lb. shot from a 7-in. rifled gun 1 hour and 40 minutes after the 
commencement of the action. 
The area of that part of the work exposed to the fire of the ships, was 
8000 square feet. 
It appears that out of about 83 shots fired at the fort, at an average 
range of about 1200 yds., 58 struck; and that in only one case did three 
shots strike near the same point. Port Sumter was, however, quite service¬ 
able at the end of the naval action. It was, subsequently destroyed by a 
long continued fire from land batteries, it not having been constructed 
to resist an attack by artillery on the land side. 
18. Applying the experience gained at Port Sumter to the experiments 
at Shoeburyness, we find that the proportionate area of the part of the two 
experimental casemates fired at (viz. about 640 ft. superficial), being about 
-JL-th of that of the portion of Port Sumter fired at,—and the proportion of 
shot which hit Port Sumter, being at most Jths of the number of shots 
fired at it,—the number of shot that would probably have hit the two case¬ 
mates experimented upon at Shoeburyness during a naval attack upon a 
fort of 24 casemates, constructed on the granite and iron plan, would have 
been § of = 5*5 shots nearly,* instead of 87 ; that is to say, it would 
require 16 times the accuracy and concentration of fire that was attained by 
the iron-clad fleet against Port Sumter, to produce the result which occurred 
in the experiments at Shoeburyness, viz. the destruction of the fronts of two 
casemates. 
It must be remembered, moreover, that the assailing fleet would not only be 
opposed by the fire from casemated works, but that powerful open batteries 
and guns in turrets (for the reception of which provision will be made 
in some forts), submarine mines, floating obstructions, and moveable floating 
batteries, would also be employed in aid of the defence. 
19. It cannot of course be disputed that works wholly plated with iron 
of sufficient thickness will afford superior powers of resistance to granite 
works provided with iron shields at the embrasures; but it is maintained 
that, in many if not in most cases, the latter construction is strong enough 
for its purpose. 
The works constructed in England on this principle are far superior in ' 
strength to the casemated forts of any other nation, and except in cases where 
a work is entirely isolated, and from its position specially liable to a concen¬ 
trated fire, or where the nature of the foundations may render an iron 
* Accounts from Federal sources state that 135 rounds were fired at the Fort by the Monitors 
and “ Ironsides.” If this be the case (and the attacking party should be the best judges of the 
number of shots they fire), the proportion of hits would be much smaller than I have here stated. 
