THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
227 
REMARKS 
BY THE 
ORDNANCE SELECT COMMITTEE, 
ON A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS WITH ROPE MANTELETS.* 
[Communicated Tby direction of the Secretary of State for War], 
The Committee have carried on a series of experiments with rope 
mantelets constructed by the Russians for the defence of Sebastopol, and with 
others made in the same manner as those prepared on board the British 
fleet for the attack of that fortress; they have also consulted the records of 
former experiments carried on at the Royal Engineer Eield Establishment, 
Chatham. 
From the result of the experience thus gained, they have had a rope 
mantelet constructed which is proof against the Enfield rifle bullet at 50 yds. 
This mantelet consists of five layers of rope, 4 J inches in circumference, the 
two central layers lying parallel to each other, and the layers next to them 
lying across the former. The thickness of this mass of rope is very great, 
about 7 in., and it is very heavy, weighing 27A lbs. per square foot. Sup¬ 
posing, therefore, that one were constructed so as to cover merely the lower 
half of the opening of an embrasure, it would weigh 165 lbs. 
The Committee have prepared the accompanying table to show the thick¬ 
ness of mantelet required to resist the Enfield rifle bullet at different distances, 
from which it will be seen that one formed of two thicknesses of 7-in. rope, 
which weighs 21 lbs. per square foot, is proof at 200 yds. and this being 
lighter, may be found in some cases more useful than the one before 
mentioned; it may be remarked that if two of them were hung up together, 
they would be proof at 50 yds. 
It does not appear to the Committee to be advisable to introduce any 
special description of mantelet into the service for general purposes. 
When the use of mantelets is requisite, much will depend in their construc¬ 
tion, on the particular nature of the service for which they are required, and 
the means of manufacture at disposal; but it seems desirable that the 
experience gained by these experiments should be made known to the two 
services. 
Reprinted from “Occasional Papers,” R. A. Institution. 
[VOL. IV.] 
30 
