THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
£39 
■ The naval Constructors of the Admiralty fully admitted the important 
advantages presented in several points of these designs. 
It was objected^ however; by one of the Naval Lords, that such large, 
square, flat floats would prove unmanageable in being towed out to the Black 
Sea and the Baltic. I could not myself coincide.au this view, the futility of 
which, the experience since had in towing out to Bermuda and elsewhere 
far larger and heavier iron floating docks, has amply proved. With a 
view to meet the objection, however, I pointed out the readiness w T ith which 
each float could be divided into three pieces, each of only 75 ft. by 25 ft. 
beam, which, with or without temporary bows and rudders, could be towed 
anywhere and united at the destination of the battery. This was admitted 
to have met the supposed difficulty. 
This design for placing these mortars and guns upon low floating iron 
unsink able rafts, was thus anterior in date by several months to that con* 
structed at Woolwich Dockyard, from a design it was understood, of the 
late Captain Coles, R.N., which was not completed before nearly the end of 
1855 (see the “ Times/' 14th Nov. 1855); and was long anterior to the 
proposal of rafts, in several respects the same, by Mr. H. Conybeare, C.E., 
which first appeared in the “ Times of the 10th October, 1855. 
ROBERT MALLET, 
January, 1871, 
