177 
A LECTURE ON 
COAST DEFENCE. 
DELIVERED AT 
THE ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION , 
On the 9th March, 1896, 
BY 
CAPTAIN F. M. LOWE, R.A. 
The National Artillery Association has done me the honour to ask 
me, through the Secretary of the Royal Artillery Institution, to read 
a paper to you on the subject of Coast Artillery. It is, however, wisely 
stipulated that my remarks should generally lie outside the province 
of the Drill Book. The new edition of “ Garrison Artillery Drill ” is so 
complete, and enters in every direction so much into detail, that very 
little is left of the subject which is not dealt with in that manual. 
This must be my excuse if my paper should unfortunately fail to 
interest you. I, therefore, come among you without maps, diagrams, 
and usual paraphernalia of the lecturer, and will simply make it my 
endeavour to-day to dispel certain illusions or misunderstandings 
which my experience in the School of Gunnery leads me to believe 
are not uncommon with regard to coast artillery. 
The Use of Coast Artillery, Forts, and Gunners. 
I sometimes hear people, who ought to know better, say, “ I do not 
believe in Coast Defence,” meaning thereby, the fortifying of strategic 
points on the coast-line of the Empire. 
1 am not infrequently asked, “ Of what use is the Garrison Artillery 
on coast fronts?” And in these days when so much is read and 
written about the Navy, the question is not unnatural. I hope to be 
able to answer it satisfactorily. 
In a discussion, following upon his lecture on “ Coast Defence in 
Relation to War,” delivered before the Malta Naval and Military 
Society in 1893 , Sir George Clarke cleverly compared the usefulness 
of a coast gunner to a notice that “ a fierce dog was on the premises.” 
And he considered that the coast gunner at best is but a deterrent. 1 
Admitting for the moment that this description is full and complete, 
it does not in the least absolve us from exerting every effort to 
4. VOL. XXIV. 
Vide Proceedings B A. Institution , November, 1894. 
24 
