89 
THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
ACCOUNT 
OF 
EXPERIMENTS AGAINST IRON PLATES, CARRIED ON AT SHOEBURYNESS, 
ON THE 8th APRIL, 1862. 
[FURNISHED BY CAPTAIN E. J. BRUCE, R.A.]* 
I. Experiment carried on against tRe Warrior target, f 
II. Experiment against the Committee target,! on which latter, since 
previous experiment on the 4th March, 1862, the following alterations have 
been made: viz. 
Upper Plate .—On the left half of this plate, rivets, having conical heads, 
had been substituted for bolts, and vulcanized india-rubber washers inserted 
behind the bolt-heads on the right half of the plate; there being no inter¬ 
vening substance between the plate and the skin. This part of the target 
therefore remained as iron on iron. 
Lower Plate. —One-quarter inch thickness of felt dipped in tar had been 
inserted between the skin and half the length of the plate on the left side, 
the fastenings being rivets. On the right half of the plate, J-in. thickness 
of vulcanized india-rubber had been inserted between the skin and plate; 
bolts having nuts and india-rubber washers were used for fastenings. A few 
of the bolts had spun-yarn instead of india-rubber washers. 
Centre Plates .—These plates had suffered most from the firing at the late 
experiment, and had been refastened with bolts having four washers (three 
of lead and one of iron) under the bolt-heads; they were not fired at, 
on the present occasion. 
Range 200 yds. 
“WARRIOR” TARGET. 
No. of 
round. 
Nature 
of 
ordnance. 
Charge 
in lbs. 
Nature 
of 
projectile. 
Front. 
Back. 
1 
300-pr.§ 
40 
150 lbs. 
spherical 
cast-iron. 
Hit on the junction of the lower and 
centre plates to the left of the port¬ 
hole. Smashed in the plate, making a 
hole 1 ft. high by 14 ins. The bulge was 
3' 1" long x V 8" high. A crack 2' 7" 
long, across the top of the bulge, and a 
huge crack extended in a zigzag direc¬ 
tion across the plate and through its 
thickness. The tongue and groove 
was broken only at the actual hole. 
Inner skin fractured and 
bulged in; strong iron 
ribs broken in two; two 
nuts of bolts broken off. 
* For several particulars thanks are due to Captain Harrison, R.A. 
f See pp. 30 and 43. J See p. 44. 
§ i.e. this gun, if rifled, would fire an elongated shot of 300 lbs. 
[VOL. III.] 
18 
