Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

HINTON'S UNITED STATES.-The Numbers of this work (up to the 9th) now before us, promise a valuable and complete History of the North American Provinces. We have seldom seen more beautifully executed Views than those by which these numbers are adorned. The edifices are in a style of art hardly to be looked for in so young a country as the United States. The historical portion of the work exhibits research and correctness.

THE HARMONICON.-This is the most instructive and entertaining publication of its class with which we are acquainted. In its pages the History and Study of Musical Science are agreeably elucidated by anecdote, precept, and examples.

CABINET ATLAS. The Twelfth Part completes the CABINET ATLAS, one of the most exquisite Specimens of Modern Art. A Biblical Series, to correspond, is announced.

THE NEW SPORTING MAGAZINEFIRST NUMBER.-We are fond of the manly Sports of our Country, and are fascinated by their details. We neither ride Races nor frequent Melton; yet has the cry of a hound or the rush of a racer a spell for our ear and eye. The New Sporting Magazine fell refreshingly upon our path: it is full of promise.

THE SCIENTIFIC GAZETTE, which was established at the close of last year, as a Weekly Record of Improvements and Discoveries in Science, embraces a useful principle, and, as far as we have seen of its numbers, is creditably conducted. We do not, however, agree, either as to cause or effect, with its assumption that the vices and misfortunes of Great Britain are owing to the Decline of Science within its realms. Science and Knowledge were never more generally cultivated amongst us. The mischiefs of "a little Learning" amongst the mass may, we admit, afford matter for just animadversion at the present

[blocks in formation]

of the Upper Nile, for a future Volume, the compiler fulfils the object of the present in a very satisfactory manner. A Map and several well-executed Engravings illustrate the text.

HAVERHILL; or, MEMOIRS OF AN OFFICER IN THE ARMY OF Wolfe. By James Athearn Jones.-We recollect a Work by the same Author, entitled "Tales of an Indian Camp," which displayed much imagination and ability of a peculiar description. The present publication relates to matters of fact rather than fancy, and presents a lively and accurate picture of North-American life in its rude stages, and amidst the savage grandeur of luxuriant forests, the primeval tenants of the soil. The expedition of Wolfe, terminating in the death of that Hero, forms a large portion of the action of these volumes, and is related in a very spirited and characteristic man

ner.

The Author, from his familiarity and perfect acquaintance with the scenes and habits of a country in which he had passed several years of his life, was more than usually qualified to fill up the general outline of such a story by the minor and local details necessary to its due keeping. For the same reasons, the practical commentary introduced by the Author on the subject of Negro Slavery, and the endless cant to which it gives rise, merits attention at a moment when the mischievous meddling of a maudlin and sanctified class threatens to plunge our West India possessions into the horrors of massacre and irretrievable anarchy. The political opinions of Mr. Jones, are marked by practical good sense, and are avowed with a manliness in striking contrast with the servility to mob-government so much in vogue for the passing season,

NOTICE.-Sir Howard Douglas is preparing a New Edition of his Essay on Military Bridges and the Passage of Rivers. Much new matter will be introduced, together with the valuable Notes given in the French Translation, by M. Vaillant, Chef de Battalion au Corps de Génie, relating to operations treated of in the text.

We have still many Reviews and Notices, unavoidably postponed; but as far as the immense mass of matter on our hands will permit, we hope to do justice to all in due season. Brooke's Travels, the Life of Sir Thomas Lawrence, and other productions of a teeming press have reached us.

R

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL.

Experiments at Brest on Marshall's Gun Carriages.

MR. EDITOR,-Having lately made some stay at Brest, the principal naval station in France, I had the good fortune to be present at the very able trials which were made there of Capt. Marshall's gun-carriages. These experiments lasted several days; and as the public have, through your Journal, become acquainted with many interesting facts relative to these carriages, perhaps the following account of what has taken place in France will be acceptable to you.

In the beginning of 1830, the attention of the French Government was first drawn to this decided improvement in mounting ships' guns. A very able and scientific naval officer at Brest, Capt. Gicquel des Touches, translated Capt. Marshall's publication, and pointed out so forcibly the merits of this invention to the Minister of Marine, that he ordered a 36-pounder to be mounted forthwith, and directed a Commission to examine and report upon its capabilities. The report was so favourable, that it was expected some of the vessels fitting out for Algiers would have been armed with these carriages, but time did not admit of this being done.

In France, however, they do not do these things by halves: towards the latter end of the year the Government decided on having a more extensive trial of this invention, but circumstances delayed it till Feb. 1831, when a commission of nine naval, artillery, and engineer officers, during four days, put this carriage to the severest tests which they could devise, and it was completely successful in all points. In elevation and trainage it obtained double the angle which was got on the old carriage, and in depression, more than treble! It was fired double-shotted without breechings or tackles after being heated by several hours' firing; and, to wind up the whole, was fired several rounds double-shotted without any breast carriage at all, the gun merely running in and out on a batten nailed to the port-sill; in fact, its total superiority over the old carriage was established in every point in the most decided manner.

Of the very able report of Capt. Gicquel des Touches, the President of the Commission, occupying nearly twelve sheets of paper, I could only copy the conclusion, as follows:

"It results from these experiments made by the commission charged with examining the gun-carriage invented by Commander Marshall, that this carriage possesses a great number of advantages over the old, namely:

"1st, It gives infinitely greater angles, which would always give a ship armed with these carriages an incontestable superiority over one which had only the old ones, whatever may be her position, to windward or to leeward, when the breeze is fresh and the ship much heeled over, in chasing or being chased; these results are of the highest importance, and are not to be compared with the trifling inconvenience which we found in moving the breech to the right or left.

"2nd, The great facility of getting the extreme angle of trainage of the guns. "3rd, The incomparable advantage of being able gradually, and steadily, and without shaking the decks, to point the gun at any required object.

"4th, Its being always ready for loading, under whatever angle it may have been fired, and its never moving its bed or quoin, however it may have been heated in a long cannonade.

5th, The gun cannot kick or recoil in any but a uniform and steady course, which does not, therefore, fatigue the decks like the old one, and would permit a more rapid fire to be kept up.

"6th, This carriage being in two parts distinct from one another, it may be much more readily mounted and dismounted than the old one, if injured in action.

7th, There are several methods proposed for securing it as a lower-deck gun, and all of them are preferable to the old carriage, as they permit the whole of the guns, when it is wished for the safety of the ship, to be secured a great deal nearer the deck than before.

"8th, It is worked with less men, viz. one-fifth in guns of large calibre, and in a greater proportion for smaller guns, and still less if a little grease is put on the crutch.

9th, No attention whatever need be paid to the breechings or tackles in running the gun in or out.

"10th, The great advantage of being able to fire the gun with its fore part running in and out on the sill of the port, presuming the breast-carriage is entirely shot away and cannot be replaced by a spare one.

11th, Spare ones, however, take up much less room on board than on the old plan, as the breast-carriage stows inside the breech-carriage.

"The Commission, viewing all these advantages, are fully satisfied with the experiments which have been made under their eyes, but before recommending the definitive adoption of this carriage, they think it should be tried at sea; in consequence, they conclude by unanimously recommending that a line of-battle ship and two frigates be armed with half their guns on Marshall's carriages, and furnished with the spare articles recommended by the inventor; and above all, that the captains may be ordered to profit by all occasions of bad weather at sea to try them. But in lieu of placing one of the new carriages between two of the old, the Commission think it will be preferable to place three of each together, as affording a better opportunity of viewing their manoeuvring; and they also think that, where so many advantageous circumstances present themselves as do in this system both for attack and defence, all possible activity should be used to make these last decisive experiments.

"They also think the breeching bolts should be the same as are used for the carronades on the non-recoil principle, as they are much stronger. That the port scuttles should be placed opposite the mouth of the guns when placed horizontally in their crutches. That the hand-spikes for 36-pounders should be from thirty-six to forty centimetres longer. That improvements may, perhaps, be made in fixing the breast-carriage to the side, which would render it still more unlikely to be shot away. That the breeching should be rove through a hole in the carriage instead of going round the breech of the gun, and that a preventive breeching will not be needed; this will be less expensive and more simple, and do away with any likelihood of the breeching chafing against the trunnion clamps or sides of the carriage. ❝ (Signed) Gicquel des Touches, Capt. de Vaisseau, President. De Rault La Hurie, Capt. de Vaisseau.

Kerdrain, Capt. de Vaisseau.

Lunean, Capt. de Vaisseau.

Andrea de Nerciat, Capt. de Vaisseau.
Le Gal de Kervin, Capt. de Fregat.

Tronde, Capt de Fregat.

Laonenan, Lieut de Vaisseau, Rapporteur.

Fabre d'Eglantine, Engineer of Naval Constructions.
Taillefer, Chef de Bataillon, Artillery of the Marine.
Conseil, Capt. Artillery of the Marine.

"Brest, March 1st, 1831."

No heavier gun than a 32-pounder had been before tried on these carriages; the one reported on above was about equal to an English 42-pounder, and during the whole of the four days it was put through all its facings most completely, in presence of a number of naval and military officers, and elicited the most marked approbation from all the scientific people present; eleven men were the crew, and fourteen worked a similar gun on the old carriage. When the crutch was greased, four men run Marshall's gun out, and three run it in. They were rather unhandy in training it; the French have no sailors. The crew of both this gun and the one on the old carriage which was worked against it, were raw conscripts belonging to the corps formerly called cannoniers.

Here, then, France has, after the first experiment on a proper scale, at once come up to what England has been four years arriving at, after having tried these carriages in all shapes and manners, at sea and in harbour, and their decided merits having been warranted to her by names enrolled for ever in the deathless pages of her history as the first of her naval heroes. Capt. Marshall details in his publication the experiments made under the orders of Sir Robert Monsom, Sir Pulteney Malcolm, Sir Thomas Staines, Sir Thomas Hardy, &c. &c. and since that time, Sir Jahleel Brenton officially reported to the Admiralty of that day as follows.

"I was prevented at first from making an application for them by objections which I had heard urged against them on several points, and which appeared to me well founded." "On reading the report made by Sir Pulteney Malcolm and Captains Campbell, Thomson, Maitland, and Bouverie, of a trial which took place in their presence of two 24-pounders on these carriages in H. M. S. Isis in the Mediterranean, I felt satisfied that it would be expedient to have some of the Donegal's guns fitted on these carriages with a view to farther experiments, and applied for them." “During the summer I have caused almost daily experiments to be

made."

Sir Jahleel then arranges the results alongside of the objections he had heard against them, fully disproving every one of them; and by this report alone, if there were no others, the entire success of these carriages would be for ever established.

Sir Jahleel then goes on to state with respect to securing them—

"In order to remove every possible objection, I caused the gun to be lifted off its breast-carriage, and the muzzle to be laid on deck, where it was effectually secured, with the additional advantage of having the weight so much lower and brought into contact with the strongest part of the ship, not only diminishing the weight aloft, but affording so much more room for the hammocks. It was at first thought that guns secured in this manner would require too much time to replace them upon their breast-carriages, but this was done to a 24-pounder by its crew in the presence of Sir Henry Blackwood and Sir John Gore in two minutes."

[ocr errors]

Having, as I conceive, disposed of the objections, I think it right to mention what appears to me the decided advantages of the new over the old carriages, viz. The power of giving a much greater angle of elevation, depression and trainage; the great dispatch in firing; the facility and accuracy of pointing; the ease with which the muzzle is placed for loading; their being worked with at least one fifth fewer men than the old; the facility of replacing a disabled carriage, and their never displacing their bed or quoin, a very material object in the night or in smoke. The difficulty in transporting them has entirely vanished by using the spare axletree as done by Sir Thomas Staines.

"(Signed) JAHLEEL BRENTON."

What can the Government of any country want more than this? Here is a distinguished naval officer coming forward with all the characteristic candour of his profession, and stating to the Admiralty, first his prejudices, and then the incontrovertible facts which have, after totally removing them, caused him warmly to point out that there are no objections, and that the advantages are numerous and decisive. It is also a curious fact, that the President of the French Commission, Capt. Gicquel des Touches, also at first sight conceived a strong prejudice against these carriages, which was entirely removed from his mind by reading Capt. Marshall's book, detailing the invention. This distinguished French officer was in the battles of Algesiras, and in the ship which engaged the present Admiral Sir E. Codrington, at Trafalgar, &c. and is, I think, as sound a practical sailor and scientific man as I ever had the pleasure of conversing with. Just at the conclusion of the trials at Brest, he was appointed to the Guerriere of sixty guns, and immediately applied for her to be fitted with these carriages.

Since Sir Jahleel's report, another Committee have been ordered, who

state

"After having given them every investigation in our power, we are of opinion, that they are worked with greater facility, (with fewer men,) easier pointed and to a greater extent forward and aft, and give more elevation and depression than the carriages now in use. Twenty rounds were fired double-shotted, and they answered in all respects. We fired them double-shotted without either breechings or side tackles, so as to allow them to recoil off the crutch and fall on the deck, neither the carriage or deck were in the slightest degree injured; the 24-pounder was remounted in two minutes and a half by seven men, and the 32-pounder in one minute and a half by nine men. On the lower-deck, the method of housing them is preferable to the old, from their being placed lower on the deck, and allowing a greater circulation of air and room for the crew." "We beg leave to suggest that one line-of-battle-ship and two frigates on active service be fitted with the new carriages for half the guns on board, and placed alternately on the ship's decks, that the captains be directed to try them on every occasion of bad weather at sea; and that such ships be allowed a certain number of spare articles as proposed by the inventor.

66

(Signed)

Ben Hallowel Carew, Admiral.
J. P. Beresford, Vice-Admiral.
John Gore, Vice-Admiral.
T. M. Hardy, Rear-Admiral.
Samuel Warren, Commodore.
J. W. Dundas, Captain.

William Cuppage, Lieut.-Gen. Artillery.
William Millar, Major-Gen. Artillery.
J. S. Williamson, Colonel, Artillery.
J. May, Colonel, Horse-Artillery.”

To arrive at the above point has taken England four years, and France a few months. I suppose, then, that France must win the laurel, and that England must wear it second-hand. Can this be true? Will she again be left in the back-ground? When one nation adopts these carriages, all the others must, unless they mean to give away their ships to the first enemy who can get alongside of them. The cradle of mechanical genius, how often does she leave other countries to father the best of her children, and is at last obliged to take them back and cherish them, although she is shorn of the honour of their adoption: we need only look to steam-boats, for one among the many proofs of this melancholy fact, yet she still heedlessly forgets that "Palmam qui meruit ferat," the motto which she gave to her greatest warrior, would wave as gracefully over the crown of a nation, as it would float round the coronet of a hero.

Let us hope, however, that we are falling upon other days; I cannot bear to think that any but the parent country should in this case earn the palm. Thus much at any rate is certain; that splendid frigate, the Barham, is ordered to be entirely fitted with Marshall's carriages, of course embracing all the inventor's latest improvements, drawn from the extensive experience which he has acquired during the numerous trials they have undergone for more than two years: report says, this is to be the omega; I trust so; among the many reforms of the day, this one at least will not be problematical.

Lord Camelford.

λ

MR. EDITOR, You have laid before us some able papers on Duelling,pray could you prevail on J. M., or any of his friends, to favour your readers with a memoir of the eccentric but gallant Lord Camelford? It would be an excellent illustration.

X. Y. Z.

« AnteriorContinuar »