54 
MINUTES OF PKOCEEDINGS OF 
the 110-pr., which made the usual indent, broke 16 rivets at the back, 
injured one rib, and made a slight bulge in the rear. 
These were followed by six solid cast-iron shot from the 68-pr., which made 
indents varying from 1*5 in. to 2’3 inches in depth (ora mean of T84in.), 
breaking 5 bolts, one only of which was a through-bolt; the plates were more 
or less bulged and cracked, and some rivets at the back broken, but nothing 
very serious. 
After this, two 68-lb. shot struck plates Nos. 6 and 7 in their weak 
parts, that is to say, where the armour was only 3 in. thick; they broke 
through the armour, doing some injury to the skin and fastenings in 
rear, especially to the stiffening pieces or double knees, three of which were 
broken. 
The next four shots were fired in a salvo from one 68-pr. and three 
110-prs.; they all struck about the centre of the target, and principally on 
No. 5 plate. They made indents from *9 in. to 2 inches in depth, cracked 
the armour a good deal, and displaced the plates and buckled them an inch 
or two ; at the rear, the skin was found to be cracked, one rib broken, and 
two others injured, and one bolt attached to the dovetail bar driven in J in. 
A steel jacketed cylindrical shot, flat-ended, weighing 109 lbs., from the 
110-pr. gun, with a charge of 16 lbs., struck No. 5 plate, but did little 
mischief beyond making an indent 1*2 in. deep. 
A spherical steel shot, weighing 156 lbs., fired from the 12 ton gun, with 
a charge of 50 lbs. of powder, went clean through everything, and out to sea, 
with considerable force left in it. The damage done was very serious indeed, 
and of such a nature, both as to rupture in the skin and general smashing of 
ribs and supports, as to make it fatal to a ship at sea. The injury done by 
the fragments and splinters on board the ship would also have been terrific. 
One bolt close to the spot struck was driven through. 
A 300-lb. steel shell was then fired from the same gun, with a charge of 
35 lbs. of powder, and a bursting charge of 12J lbs. This shell went as 
completely through everything as the spherical shot did, and the general 
damage done was not less serious. 
Lastly, a 100-lb. cast-iron shot was fired with 25-lbs. of powder, from 
Armstrong’s 9-in. smooth-bore muzzle-loading gun (6 tons), at the same 
range. It struck No. 5 plate, and made a hole through it measuring 9J-in. 
by 10-in., with some cracks round the hole. It did not pass completely 
through the target, but it broke open the skin and left some timber protru¬ 
ding ; the shot itself, broken up, remaining in the hole. One rib, injured 
before, was broken in two, and one bolt (not a through-bolt) broken; 
several rivets also were broken. Had this shot been of superior metal— 
that is of homogeneous metal or steel—it would undoubtedly have passed 
easily through the target. 
The results of this day’s firing are somewhat perplexing. 
It is easy to see some defects in the target, such as that of a single armour 
plate having different thicknesses in its different parts, and that of the 
reduced size of the plates, together with some unnecessary complications of 
design; but it is not easy to account for the structure being so much 
inferior to Chalmers’, and even to the original “ Warrior ” target. 
The “Warrior” presents an extreme of elasticity in its backing to the 
armour. Chalmers did not depart entirely from this principle, for he pro- 
