Fig. 34. C the level of the water, and at a known distance A B from a vertical object BC, as a ship's mast upon which is a distinct mark D (suppose the main-top), whose height D B'D above the level of the water is known. Then if, from the experimented or computed B ranges of shot fired from a particular nature of ordnance, there be taken the correspond ing elevations; and (BB' being equal to AA') with the ranges and elevations, the heights B'D be computed trigonometrically by the formula A B tan. B A D + B'B = B'D; a table of such heights, with the corresponding distances A B (the names of the marks D being also expressed), may be formed; from which, by inspection, there may be taken the designation of the point to be aimed at, in order that the shot may strike the object at the waterline, the dispart sight being used so that the line of aim may be parallel to the axis of the bore of the gun. In this manner Table XXIII., Appendix D, was formed for an 8-inch and a 32-pounder gun; the points to be aimed at being on the hull or masts of French ships of two classes. The ships B and C, represented in the annexed plate, are supposed to be of 82 guns, and the distance from the ship A to the ship B is found to be 630 yards. This requires that A, in firing at a ship B of that class with 8-inch guns (charges 10 lbs.), should aim at a point about midway between the water-line and the main-top (see Table XXIII., Appendix D). The distance from the ship A to the ship C, supposed to be 1078 yards, requires that, with the same gun and charges, the aim should be taken to 1 foot below the main-topmast crosstrees, or to points equally high on the other masts. The masts being thus the aim for the line as well as for the elevation, will, with this description of practice, be more likely to be wounded or felled, either by shot which penetrate the side of the ship with adequate force, or by shot which may chance to be too high to hit the hull. 369. Since, in the table, the angles of elevation are given as well as the points to be aimed at, the guns may be elevated, according to the distance of the object, by the quarter-sights or tangent-scales if preferred. But the reference of the direction of the line of sight, to points in the object aimed at, has manifestly great advantages over the other method, particularly with persons not trained to the intricacies of elevations; and the service of the guns may thus be simply and uniformly conducted by general orders expressing the point of aim which should be taken. The designations of the parts to be aimed at, in ships of three decks, are not given, because, in firing at such great bodies, so great a degree of precision is not required as in firing against single-deck or two-deck ships; and the tables arranged for the one may be used for the others with small allowances for the differences of height. SECTION III-ON LOCKS AND TUBES FOR NAVAL ORDNANCE. 370. The general introduction of flint-locks into the British naval service resulted from the efficient firing of the "Duke," of 98 guns, on a celebrated occasion, that ship having been previously fully equipped with gun-locks by her captain, the late Sir Charles Douglas, who commanded her from April, 1778, till November, 1781, when he was removed into the "Formidable," as Captain of the Fleet, in which ship he likewise introduced these and other improvements in naval artillery. The equipment of the "Duke" with flint-locks to all her guns was effected in a manner so characteristic of the ardour and energy of that enlightened and scientific officer, that the author trusts he may be excused for adverting to it in a brief statement of facts, which will, perhaps, be deemed somewhat interesting by the professional reader. On Sir Charles Douglas's appointment to the "Duke," he brought before the Admiralty and the Ordnance several propositions for improving, facilitating, and quickening the service of naval ordnance. The cartridges were at that time all made of paper, which required the operation of worming guns after every discharge, on account of the lower end of a papercartridge remaining generally at the bottom of the bore in a state of ignition. To obviate this, Sir Charles Douglas proposed that the cartridges should be made of flannel. He recommended, and urged repeatedly, the full equipment of his ship with flint-locks, by which the use of the slow-match and the powder-horn for priming might more or less be discontinued; and as tin tubes would manifestly be dangerous and highly objectionable on the fighting decks of a ship, he recommended that quill-tubes should be substituted for them. a b 371. Neither of these propositions was immediately or fully adopted; paper-cartridges, the match, and the priming-horn continued for some years in general use. It appears by official documents that no locks were supplied during 1778 to the "Duke" at Plymouth, where she was commissioned in April of that year; but in the following year she was furnished, at Portsmouth, with two locks for 24-pounders, four locks for 12-pounders, and two for 6-pounders; total eight locks. Yet the "Duke" was fully equipped with gun-locks in the celebrated victory of the 12th of April, 1782, to which that ship and the other three-deckers, the "Formidable" and the "Namur," so greatly contributed. By what means then had the "Duke," in the previous years, been completed with these important implements? By Sir Charles Douglas, out of his own funds and by his own. energies he bought a sufficient number of common musket-locks, which being let into pieces of wood, as a Report of the Ordnance Storekeeper, Devonport, 5th Dec. 1850. b Report of Mr. G. Stacey, Chief Clerk, Tower, 7th Dec., 1850. into the stock of a musket, might then be fastened with iron wire to the guns. He purchased flannels sufficient to make bottoms for paper-cartridges, goose-quills for tubes, and the ingredients necessary to fill and prime them. On Sir Charles Douglas's appointment to be Captain of the Fleet he was succeeded in the command of the "Duke" by Captain, afterwards Lord Gardner; and, in the battle of the ensuing year," the quick and efficient firing of that ship was so conspicuous and powerful as to enable the gallant Gardner to widen the gap which his leaders had made in the enemy's line, and so open a The subjoined is one of the accounts of these disbursements, which the author finds among the papers of his honoured Parent : "AN ACCOUNT of Expenses by me incurred for the better use of the Cannon of H. M. S. the 'Duke,' under my command, between the beginning of the year 1780 and the day of the date hereof. To 28 left-hand locks at 10s. 6d., made by Mr. Sandwell, To 400 best black flints at 2s. 6d. hundred per To carriage and porterage of said locks and flints from To 1004 goose-quills for tubes £. s. d. 14 14 0 To spirits of wine to make an inflammable paste for the To sewing silk for tying down and crossing their heads to 0 12 6 To 71 yards of flannel at is. 2d. per yard, for bottoms to To worsted for sewing in ditto 4 2 10 1 4 25 11 2 "These are to certify that the foregoing articles are actually in use on board this His Majesty's Ship in my department, in quantity and quality as above-mentioned; and I do moreover certify, to the best of my knowledge and belief (I myself having purchased sundry of the said articles for Sir Charles Douglas), that the charges of the whole thereof are fairly stated. Witness my hand, on board H. M. S. 'Duke,' WM. IRELAND." An analytical and tactical account of that celebrated and remarkable battle, 12th of April, 1782, will be found in the author's work entitled 'Naval Evolutions,' in which the manœuvre by which that great victory was gained is fully described. Boone, 1832. The locks were made to be placed on the left side of the vent, in order, it would appear, not to interfere with the stationing of the men in the exercise or manual, the man who serves the vent being always on the right, and he who fires on the left of the gun. the way for Rodney to pass to a memorable victory. That glorious day settled the question of the locks, by bearing down all further opposition to the introduction of improvements which the prejudices of the time deemed useless and unnecessary refinements; but that battle having likewise put an end to the maritime part of the war, no measures for the supply of locks to naval ordnance appear to have been taken till 1790, when "brass locks" of a new pattern were provided, and continued in general use throughout the late war. These no doubt contributed greatly to the efficiency of our practice, to the accuracy and rapidity of which all French authors attribute the superiority of our gunnery in the actions and battles of the early part of the war, the French not having adopted locks till 1800. 372. The flint-locks of the pattern of 1790 remained in general use till 1818, when the double-flinted lock, likewise adopted by the French, of the author's invention, a drawing of which was given in the former editions of this work, was ordered for general use in the navy.b "The Duke,' commanded by Sir Charles Douglas, was always considered one of the best ordered and best regulated ships of the fleet, consisting of forty sail of the line (1780); and, although strong prejudice and attachment to old customs prevented the general adoption of that excellent system of naval gunnery (locks, quill tubes, flannel cartridges, &c.) of which Sir Charles was the sole inventor, it was found to answer so well by Captain Gardner, who had so great a share on the 12th of April, 1782, that it afterwards became universally adopted in the navy."-Admiral Lord Saumarez's Naval Evolutions, p. 46. The adoption of a double-flinted lock of the author's invention was communicated to him in a letter of which the following is a copy : "Office of Ordnance, Jan. 16, 1818. SIR,-Having submitted to the Board of Ordnance your letter, dated the 15th instant, requesting to be informed of the proceedings which have taken place in consequence of your letter of the 8th November last, respecting the cannon locks of your invention, I have the honour, in reply, to acquaint you that a copy of your said letter, as well as the observations which accompanied it, has been transmitted to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and that, on a subsequent communication which has been had with their Lordships on the subject, it has been decided that the provision of locks for sea-service ordnance now in use should be discontinued, and those of your invention gradually introduced into the service. "With respect to the measure of appropriating your locks to land-service ordnance, as suggested in your letter dated the 12th September last, I am to inform you the Board have not signified their orders on that subject. "I have the honour, &c., (Signed) "W. GRIFFEN. "Colonel Sir Howard Douglas, Bart." |