REPORTS ON MOUNTING OE HEAVY ORDNANCE AT MALTA. 
619 
Report upon Means used to Land two 1 2%-in. Guns at Sliema Pier, Con¬ 
ducting them to, and Mounting them at, Sliema Point Fort . 
Water Transport —The gun on sleigh rested on four 6' x 9" x 6" baulks 
placed transversely on two long 18" x 18" Dockyard skids, which were 
thrown across two pontoons, lashed side by side. The pontoons were moored 
at the right-hand corner of the landing pier, by which means the largest 
straight pull could be obtained. 
Roadway. —The long 18-in. skids jutted about 6 ft. over and 4 ins. above 
the pier. These were built up, so that on taking the weight of the gun a 
slope was formed of 1 in 72. Three 20' x 15" x 15" skids parallel to one 
another, with long tapering wedges at the ends nearest the gun, were then so 
arranged that the gun should gradually be lowered until it was received at 
the bottom of the hill on 3-in. oak planks, which formed the only platform 
for the rollers to rest on while on the road. The planks were placed apart 
the breadth of the sleigh. 
Holdfasts and Method of Moving. —Two anchors, of 9 cwt. and 13cwt., 
were sunk horizontally in the solid rock below the roadway at distances 
about 50 and 120 yds. from the landing stage, the latter being at the top 
of the hill. A winch was used to move the gun, which was first placed at 
the first anchor then at the end of a 374-fathom IJ-in. chain, stretched from 
the 2nd anchor, and then at the 2nd anchor a 6-in. well-worn fall was used 
for the hauling, worked with a double and single 18-in. block, attached to a 
sling cast over the gun and under the trunnions. The sleigh was raised by 
20-ton jacks on to 8' x 12" oak iron-bound rollers, while still on the 
pontoons, and the baulks removed. A preventor rope was put round the 
cascable, but was hardly required. When the top of the hill was reached, a 
moveable holdfast, consisting of a 24-pr. gun slung on a sling wagon, the 
wheels being well scotched and helped by the weight of the chain, was 
found sufficient, and not to take long in moving it. 
Time and Men.—On day of landing, 90 men in two reliefs of four hours 
were used; on other days from 60 to 80 in two reliefs were employed 
for four hours each. 16 men for the winch and 16 for the gun were, as a 
rule, ample; the others moving planks, rollers, &c. The first gun was landed 
and reached the fort in four days, the second gun in 3 4 days. They would 
have been moved in a shorter time had not the rollers been of a very 
indifferent quality. At the top of the hill a very sharp turn of about 240° 
had to be made, to avoid going over a stone tank on the right of the road; 
and this proved the most difficult part of the operation. 
Mounting.— Overhead gear was used as laid down in the instructions, the 
gun being gradually raised by jacks and skidding. When at the highest 
point it could be raised, the carriage was brought in and raised till the cap- 
squares could be pinned round the trunnions. The platform was then 
traversed as near under the carriage as possible. There great difficulty was 
