THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
303 
bore projectiles ’would be seriously impaired. Moreover, it would not 
be advisable to complicate the armament of a vessel for the sake of an 
advantage which could in any case be but slight. 
Earthworks are best attacked by large shell with heavy bursting 
charges, which would ruin the parapets and block up the embrasures, 
if there were any, and dismount the guns if they struck them. The 
possibility of requiring to use large bursting charges must be taken 
into consideration when deciding on the calibre for our guns, so that 
the efficiency of the common shells may not be impaired by too great a 
diminution of the bore. 
Shrapnel might also be used advantageously against boats or against 
earthworks, if the guns are so mounted as to expose the detachments. 
It has been found that elongated projectiles will pass through a con¬ 
siderable thickness of water; and the subject is worth considering 
whether ships could be advantageously attacked by shot directed to 
pass through the water and strike them below the water-line. The 
conditions necessary for this to be done effectively, are that the shot 
must strike the water at an angle sufficiently great not to ricochet, 
but no greater than is unavoidable for this purpose, or it will pass below 
the ship's bottom. It must also strike within such a distance of the 
ship's side as that its path shall not pass under the ship's bottom. 
Many shots would have to be fired in all probability before one took 
effect, and experiments should be instituted to discover what chance 
there was of making a successful shot, so that the elements might be 
obtained for calculating the probability of this method of attack being 
more or less effective than direct fire at the part of a ship above the 
water. 
Vertical fire against ships would also be very effective, if it were 
possible to attain sufficient accuracy; but at present in England we 
have no mortars whose fire could be calculated upon to hit a ship, 
although the recently approved 8-in. rifled mortar appears likely to 
supply the want. 
Guns mounted in coast defences would have to be employed almost 
exclusively against shipping. The same conditions, therefore, apply to 
their projectiles as to those for ship guns. 
The principal directions in which improvements may be looked for 
are—in the manufacture of Palliser projectiles, to render them more 
regular in their quality; and in fuzes, time and percussion, to render 
the burning of the time fuzes as regular and unvarying as possible, and 
to ensure the percussion fuze not acting on graze on water, but bursting 
on encountering the side of a wooden ship. Attention may also be 
directed to the most perfect adjustment of calibre to weight of projectile, 
so as to get the utmost amount of energy.in the shot; and to the per¬ 
fection of a system of rifling that shall ensure steadiness of flight in the 
projectile, so that its blow may be always direct. 
We will now turn to artillery for fortresses and siege works. 
II .—Fortresses and Siege Works. 
The objects to be attained by the guns of a fortress are—to keep the 
besiegers at a distance from the place at the early stages of the invest¬ 
ment, so that they shall be obliged to commence their works as far as 
