THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
391 
The Committee proceed very cautiously. 
Prom the Committee at Woolwich, to the Honourable Board,— 
Present. 
Lieut.-Genoral Drummond, Major-General Lloyd, Colonels Blomfield, Lawson, Douglas; Lieut.- 
Colonels Smith, Laye, Dukernett, Miller. 
Woolwich, 
Sir June 7, 1803. 
Be pleased to inform the Honourable Board of Ordnance that in obedience to 
their orders conveyed in your letter of 3rd instant, I convened a Committee of 
Colonels and Field Officers who attended the experiments carried on by Major 
Shrapnel in firing shells loaded with ball, and they have to report that the 
effect of such fire appears to be very considerable, and would doubtless in many 
instances prove destructive to a great degree. The Committee in giving their 
opinion upon the effect of the invention, are desirous that the Honourable Board 
should be informed they do not take upon themselves to decide upon the policy 
of introducing it for general service, which they submit to the judgment of the 
Honourable Board, &c., &c., &c.” 
It. II. Crew, Esq., 
&c., &c., &c. 
VAUGHAN LLOYD, Colonel Comdt., 
Major-General. 
Shrapnel was now evidently working hard with great effect. His ex¬ 
periments must have been attended with success, for on the 4th of August, 
1803, he was ordered by the Honourable Board “to go down to Carron 
with all convenient dispatch, to prove the shells, and forward them to Dublin 
for the service of Ireland.” 
“ On this spot ” he says, “ the Firth of Forth which runs up within six 
miles of Falkirk, I have encamped my men, and have selected carronades 
for trying my fuzes,” &c. 
From a memorandum of his, it would appear that the Carron Company's 
orders were large. They delivered in 
September, 1803 . 33,000 
C October, 9, „ 2,262 
For Dublin... < » 20, „ 1,502 
L a 31, ,, 26,336 
Dec., 31, „ 11,342 
Total... 74,442 
of these* the significant number of 30,100 were “for the service of Ireland." 
Possibly the Honourable Board took it upon themselves to decide upon 
the policy of adoption of the shell, the “service of Ireland” operating 
towards a settlement of the question. The Committee of Field Officers did 
not come to a decision until March in the following year. 
The following letters are interesting, as shewing that the whole subject of 
the new projectile had been referred to Shrapnel. He appears not only to 
have conducted the proofs, arranged the fuzes, and determined the practice 
tables, but also to have settled, in some measure at least, the very stations 
to which the projectiles should be sent. 
