to be fired horizontally from a common gun. 13 
mark. Six struck the vessel, all of which exploded; the 
others either went too high or too low, and the whole of 
those that went too low, rose again from the water and 
lodged in the ship. Upon examining the vessel, it was found 
that the shells had passed through her side before the explo¬ 
sion took effect, and that the splinters had done more than 
usual execution. They had gone through a cast iron caboose, 
torn up part of the deck, thrown down great part of a wooden 
partition that ran along between decks, and some of them had 
lodged in the opposite side of the ship. One shell cut a strong 
chain cable in two, which was put round the vessel for the 
purpose of raising her, in the event of her being sunk, some 
of the splinters flying backwards on explosion, while the 
remainder passed through her side. Another fired from the 
farthest range, passed through the mainmast close to the 
deck, and set it on fire towards the centre, so as to render it 
necessary to cut part of it away before the fire could be 
extinguished. 
In the third and last day’s experiments, 10 of the longer 
shells were fired empty, at a very large target placed against 
the practice bank, from a brass gun, at a range of 800 yards, 
with a charge of if lb. of powder. The two first were 
fired at 3° elevation, and passed a great way over the bank. 
The remaining 8 were fired at 2f ® elevation; two of those 
also went over, 1 grazed short, 2 passed through the target, 
one of them after grazing 2 yards short, and the other 3 
struck the bank not far from the target; the range therefore 
of the shells here used, when filled and fired at 3* elevation, 
may be about 1300 yards. One dug out of the bank appeared 
to have turned; two others, on being dug out, were found 
