THE IlOYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
293 
MOUNTING OF TWELYE 12-TON GUNS 
AT MALTA, 1870, 
BY IOtii BRIGADE, K.A. 
The work was begun on the 4th January, and completed on the 4<th 
May following. 
The guns parked in the Military Store Yard at the Bight Marina 
Wharf, were conveyed to the following works :— 
to St. Lazarus* Bastion, East Yaletta. 
to the English Curtain, West Yaletta. 
to Bdl”tSl S Bastion 1 Fort St. Elmo Yaletta. 
to Fort Tigne, Yaletta District, 
to No. 3 Battery, Fort Bicasoli 
to No. 2 Battery, Fort St. Angelo 
} 
Cottonera. 
Valetta .—The five guns for Yaletta were conveyed singly by land, on 
a special drug, about 12 ft. long by 6 ft. 4J ins. across the axle-trees, 
having rear trucks 3 ft. and front trucks 2 ft. in diameter, with tires 
8 ins. wide; the weight of the drug being about 3|tons. (Vide par. 
1662, “ Changes in Artillery Materiel/* 1. 10. 68). 
A gun was placed on the drug by means of an 18 ft. strengthened 
gyn, and then removed from the yard beyond the Bight Marina Gate. 
The following day 180 to 200 men, assisted by eight or ten mules, 
drew it to the battery for which it was intended—a distance of two or 
three miles—in about two hours. 
The bridges on the road to St. Elmo were carefully shored up by the 
Boyal Engineers, and gave no sign of yielding when this great weight 
—about 15 tons—passed over them. 
The drug answered well, the roads being exceedingly firm, solid rock 
coming to within a few inches of the surface, which was macadamised; 
but dampness in the atmosphere, or a fall of rain, made a considerable 
difference in the draught. 
The drug was taken through gateways and across bridges barely 8 ft. 
wide; through a cutting at the entrance of Fort Tigne only 7ft. wide; 
ascents as much as one in fourteen, and descents as great as one 
in ten, were accomplished in safety, the drug having no break, by 
means of from 60 to 100 men holding on to check drag-ropes in rear. 
