The Ryder 
Target. 
BO RECORD TARGETS. 
ing, common to all webbing targets, that a shot may carry away a 
mast, and with it the whole of the webbing “ bay,” making an aper- 
ture through which subsequent shots may pass, leaving no record. of 
perforation. It is also awkward to hoist in and out of the water with- 
out straining. 
The writer has seen a single shot, ’twixt wind and water, completely 
wreck this target. 
The boats, if perforated, are certain to settle down, which brings the 
cross-pieces into the water, and makes the target most difficult to tow. 
Wooden buoys are provided to place at intervals along the tow-rope. 
They make it awkward to handle, and have not been used at this 
station as it 1s often an advantage to allow the rope to sink a few feet, 
and so permit a fishing boat to cross between the launch and target. 
The Ryder pattern target is cheap and simple in construction. 
It consists of two long, narrow rafts of flat timber, pointed at the 
ends, and connected by flat wooden cross-pieces. It is in two sections, 
fastened together by chains and lashing. 
The superstructure is of the usual lattice webbing type, supported on 
eight wooden masts and iron rods. 
It tows well and easily, and its being in two sections gives elasticity, 
and flexibility in riding over heavy seas. 
Its greatest disadvantage is, that a single shot cutting the two centre 
masts will cause the whole two sections of webbing at the centre to 
collapse. 
A direct hit on water-line, also, cuts cleanly through the rafts, al- 
most invariably through both, as has happened more than once this 
season at Plymouth. Its length is 36 feet, and height above water- 
line is 12 feet. 
The annexed rough hand sketch is not drawn to scale. 
THE RIDER TARGET. 
In presenting the above notes, the writer puts them forward with no 
claim to originality, the details of these and other Coast Artillery targets 
being, no doubt, well known to Garrison Artillery officers. 
He presents, however, the foregoing short description of those Record 
targets now in use, in the hope that it may not be uninteresting to 
some officers who have not had the same opportunities of seeing them 
used and comparing their points. 
The late Commandant of the School of Gunnery, Major-General 
