THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION 
145 
NOTES 
ON THE 
SIEGE EXPERIMENTS AT EASTBOURNE. 
BY 
MAJOE AY. H. AVAEDELL, E.A. 
The Special Committee on Siege Batteries chose for the scene of their 
operations a wide and flat waste, formed by successive deposits of shingle 
beach, situated about two miles from Eastbourne, in the direction of Pevensey 
and Hastings, and admirably adapted for a shell range. The chief and 
almost only drawback arose from the fact that the earth required for the 
target battery and splinter-proofs had to be transported from about a mile 
inland. This was done by the temporary line of railway laid down by the 
Eoyal Engineers, which connected by means of a branch with the London, 
Brighton, and South Coast system. The rolling-stock consisted of some of 
the light trucks originally intended for the Gold Coast expedition, drawn by 
u steam sappers ”—which latter are available either for road or rail. 
Between Nos. 65 and 66 Martello towers on the beach, an experimental 
siege battery of four gun-portions was thrown up by working parties of 
Engineer recruits from Chatham. This constituted the target (see Plate II.), 
and was provided with magazine, shell-recess, and passages. The nature of 
the ground did not permit of this battery being “ half-sunken/'’ so it was 
given a command of about 7 ft. 6 ins., and, to save transport of earth, was 
composed partly of shingle, covered with 4 ft. of stiff clay, and revetted with 
sand-bags—some filled with earth and some with shingle. Only Nos. 3 and 
4 gun-portions were pierced with embrasures, of the bottle-neck shape—one 
being simply revetted with sand-bags, and the other having the cheeks 
covered with hides as well. The plan will best show the details of the trace, 
which gave 24 ft. thickness of parapet, with only a shallow ditch scooped out 
of the shingle. It will be seen that in front of each of Nos. 1 aud 2 gun- 
portions a semicircular sweep was given to the trace, leaving a minimum 
thickness of 24 ft. of earth in front of each portion, measured at right angles 
to the crest line. A screen of shingle 14 ft. thick was thrown up in front 
of Nos. 3 and 4 gun-portions, revetted in rear with sand-bags. A second 
section of screen of less thickness was afterwards added to cover the maga¬ 
zine in the right epaulment. 
In rear of the target battery a series of splinter-proofs was thrown up, to 
ascertain the relative values of the protection afforded by various descriptions 
of roofs. 
