364 
GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1893 . 
Fig. 2. 
-N\B.—The guns to be fired in salvoes as soon as the object crosses the beam. Shells to burst as 
shown. 
Only the work on the lee-ward side is to be allowed to fire, the groups being considered as 
secondary to the main gun defence of Quick-Firing G-uns. 
FORT 
and elevation of each gun must be plainly marked on their 
respective arcs. Spare shells, with fuzes fixed and set , 
would stand beside each gun. The moment a salvo has 
been fired, every gun would be instantly reloaded and relaid 
exactly as before. They will then be in readiness for the 
supporting boats, which will be in all probability following 
the first line. 
Of course, more than one of these “ fire-swept areas ” must 
be prepared in each military zone. In cases where a channel 
is defended by works on both sides, it must be distinctly 
arranged that the leeward side only is to fire when the wind 
is across the channel. The Staff Officer in charge of the 
Section will give his orders on this point, from hour to hour, 
according to the wind. 
As regards the proper moment to fire, moving beams can be 
utilised for this purpose, if a fixed beam is considered, for 
any reason, undesirable; the guns being fired electrically 
at the moment when this beam, which is following the 
object, reaches a certain bearing. This could, in fact, be 
made automatic by arranging the firing contacts on the 
training arc of the lamp, safety being ensured by a remove¬ 
able firing plug in charge of the officer at the light, which 
would be inserted only when the light was actually following 
up an object. 
By day the bearings should be on landmarks if possible, the 
bearings being also marked by buoys in the channel, some 
comparatively near to the observing station, in case haze or 
smoke obscured the more distant ones, 
