400 
COMMENDED ESSAY, 1893 . 
three clays* bombardment followed, the ships enfilading the land faces, 
coming in much nearer, and each being told off to certain guns. 
The result was that the guns on the land front were completely silenced. 
Meanwhile the troops were landing, with stores and artillery, their 
flank being protected by some of the ships, and on the fourth day the 
place was taken by assault on the land side. In all 50,000 projectiles 
were fired by the fleet, most of which were wasted on the sea face. 
Carthagena, A combined attack was made on Carthagena (garrison 4000) by 51 
ships and bomb vessels and 12,000 troops. The fortress was unap¬ 
proachable on the sea side owing to three miles of shoal water. The 
troops were just landed on the island of Tierra Bomba ; three weeks 
after the fleet was inside the harbour and most of the earthworks 
were silenced. The troops were then conveyed to the mainland. 
Then followed a collapse. Vernon erroneously imagined that there 
was not sufficient water to allow him to close on the town. General 
Wentworth spent some days in unaccountable inactivity. Each com¬ 
plained of the dilatoriness of the other. Sickness broke out among 
the troops, and after an unsuccessful assault, the attack was abandoned. 
The loss among the troops was 1800 men. 
Failure was due to obvious causes : (1) friction and ill-feeling be¬ 
tween General and Admiral; (2) faulty handling of both ships and 
troops ; (3) sickness ; (4) height of the defences. 
Puerto W Puerto Cabello a day was spent in silencing two batteries by 
Cabeiio. s hjp S ? fire. Then a mixed force of troops were landed, but ran away 
on some guns being fired. A futile bombardment followed. 
PABT III. 
Modern Improvements, their Nature, and their Influence on the 
Combat between the Ships and the Fortress. 
(1.) Ordnance .— The introduction of rifling (which dates from 1850), 
of breech-loading, of accurate position and range-finders, of the dis¬ 
appearing system of mounting guns, and of various other improvements, 
has enormously increased the range, power, and accuracy of ordnance, 
as well as the safety of the detachments working the guns. 
The result has been to increase the superiority of the fortress over 
the fleet, as, of course, the stable platform enables the fortress to take 
full advantage of all these improvements. 
Enormous strides have been made since the days of the attack on 
Algiers, compare the 32-pr. of those days with the modern 6-inch 
B.L. :— 
Calibre. 
32-pr. S.B. ... 6*4" 
6" B.L. 6" 
Weight Effective 
Weight. M.V. Charge, of Projectile. range. 
3 tons. 101b. 361b. 
5 „ 1660 f.s. 34 „ 100 „ 8000 yds. 
Of late years quick-firing guns have been greatly developed. Their 
chief characteristics are great speed of fire and ease of manipulation. 
We possess four natures, 3-pr., 6-pr., 4'7-in., 6-in. The 4'7-in. fires 
a 45-lb. projectile which will penetrate 5'4-ins. of steel at 1000 yards. 
