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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
ropes. Theoretically,, chains will not break under certain known pressure; 
hooks will not draw; blocks will not carry away; but we all know in 
practice these things do happen. I have seen a chain break with a weight 
of five tons that ought not to have failed with 80. The very block of the 
tackle that mounted the 22-ton gun with perfect safety the other day at 
Woolwich, broke like a carrot when dismounting it, and let the gun go by 
run; luckily it fell on soft ground, and no harm was done. I do not think 
the captain of the “ Prince Consort ” would have felt very comfortable if he 
had had a couple of 600-prs. on board his ship during the gale he met with 
in the Irish Channel. And why run the risk ? What more powerful gun 
can be wanted than the 12-ton 9'22" ? It will throw a shell weighing nearly 
300 lbs. containing fifteen pounds of powder w r ith wonderful accuracy, as far 
as we can see. Within 1000 yds., with steel shell, it will sink the strongest 
iron-clad afloat. Par better have two 12-ton guns on board a ship than one 
22-ton gun. Two guns form a battery, one does not. 
I have now told you all I know on the subject of muzzle-pivoting, and it 
only remains for me to thank you for the kind attention with which you 
have listened to a dry and purely professional paper. My object has been 
to convey to you, in the plainest possible words, what I consider to be the 
advantages to be derived from a system of muzzle-pivoting, and to explain 
how that system was to be carried out in practice. If I have succeeded in 
so doing I am perfectly satisfied. 
NOTE BY LIEUT.-C0L0NEL SHAW. 
Woolwich, 
5th January, 1867. 
Since the above paper was printed the wrougkt-iron muzzle pivoting carriage 
for H.M. ship “PrinceAlbert” has been completed, and issued for service on board 
that ship. In the course of manufacture it was found desirable to alter some of 
the details of construction; for instance, it was not considered advisable to fit the 
compressors for controlling the recoil as originally designed, and the compressors, 
for tying the cradle to the main carriages, are dispensed with, so is the paul on the 
carriage, and the rack on the slides, and the running in and out gear is different 
from any other carriages mounted in turrets or elsewhere. 
The compressor now fitted to this carriage was designed by Mr Smith, master 
fitter, Eoyal Carriage Department, and consists of a short length of 8" girder iron, 
just long enough to fit between the sides of the slide; it is placed on its side, and 
the two ends on the upper side are filled up with iron faced with copper, so as to 
fit the under side of the projecting piece of T iron that forms the top of the slide 
through each end, but clear of the slide, a socket is fitted and tapped with the female 
thread of a three-inch screw, which screw works through the bottom of the carriage; 
