The Latest Dogger Bank.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7717, 20 January 1905, Page 4

The Latest Dogger Bank.

EXTRAORDINARY ARTILLERY I PRACTICE. ALMOST SINK A TKAWLER. j (Imnedin Star.) , After what happened at the Ocean ' ;Beach on Saturday afternoon the i Baltic fleet, with all its shortcom- i ings, stands excused. It appears thnt a (iin. gun may be managed that it is as possible in these latitudes as it was on the Dogger Rank for tragedy to happen, and hose who witnessed the target practice of No. 2 Company Garrison Artillery almost saw one. By great good luck" nobody was hit, and the steamer Express, which was towing the targets, escaped without 8 scratch. What did happen was that one of the guns sent in a 1 00 lb shell, fortunately not carrying a bursting charge, just astern of her, and followed this up by sending another through her main-mast and her funnel—an aperture of perhaps Bft. Had that shot pitched a few feet lower the vessel would have ceased to be there and then, and every jlifc would in all probability have , been lost. . The conditions under which the practice was carried out were -almost ideal. The weather was beautifully fine, and the Hongkong target, floating on a glassy scu, gave , no sign of motion except in response to the strain on the tow \ rope. Under such circumstances a "centre" or thereabouts might rca- \ sonably have been looked for with almost every shot. The Express, which brought the targets round from the Heads, and was charged with the duty of towing, arrived olf \ the Battery with something like an hour to spare, and shutting off steam, drifted down easily in the neighbourhood of White Island. To while away the time the men put out a fishing line or two, and Jdk- \ ed over that which very nearly happened. One made humorous mention of the fact that he was the father ' of ten children, and wondered if the ' Government would provide for them if he should fail to survive the af ' ternoon's proceedings. Hy the time ' appointed for the commencement of ' practice hundreds of interested spectators were perched on the Sand- ! hills, the bronze-green guns hardly ' distinguishable from the creeper on ' jthe battery parapet rose slowly out " of the pits, and the gunners stood to stations. Punctually at 3 p.m. ■ the Express ran •up the red flag—-the ' signal that she was ready—and be--1 !gan to go ahead on the tow-rope, ' making, as far as could be seen ' six knots. The red flag rose on the ' battery flagstaff a minute or two • later, and at 3.5 p.m. the right--5 ihand gun opened. The first ten 5 'shots were well placed. If there ; was anything to be desired, it was a matter of elevation, and even ? this was very good. For it must be ! borne in mind that the Central Batf tcr.v is what is termed a low-sita : battery, and the determination of the ? range depends upon the trigonome--1 rical solution of a triangle of jthich the perpendicular is the height I of the battery above the sea. In the t ase of the Central . Battery the perpendicular, taken in proportion > to hypotenuse and base, is very - mall, and the predisposing cause Jo error considerable. When the 1 disadvantage is taken into considers ation it must lw? conceded that the ' first nine shots were—as has been t mentioned—excellently planted. The I ninth shot from the left-hand gun—- - the gun which subsequently almost did the damage—was a particularly good one, and its delivery of the

lcventh shot was watched with great interest. A loud and simultaneous "Oh !" went up from the crowd when it was seen that tho shell, instead of going anywhere near the target, had apparently passed close to the steamer, and driven up a column of water just beyond her. Everyone expected to see the little vessel turn the targets adrift and run for it, but she continued towing steadily, and the right-hand (or A) gun got oIT the twelfth shot with good effect. Then B gun followed with another "paralyser." Judging from the proximity of the ." waterspout " which succeeded, nobody on shore could tell whether the steamer was hit or not, but presently she •turned her head to port and stood in towards the shore with her flag half-masted. Many of the spectators supposed that this indicated a casualty, but in reality it was only the signal to cease firing. The Express had had enough of it. At this time the series was still incomplete, and as the guns were again loaded, and it was not deemed quite safe to withdraw the charges, both guns were discharged at White Island. The Express subsequently left for the.Heads with tho targets in tow, * THE CAPTAINS STATEMENT. One of our representatives went down to Port Chalmers with a view to ascertaining if any damage had been done to the Express. Captain Ryffcl -made the following statement :,■ —"We took' round some artillery experts with us, and started towing about five minutes past three. The target was about 9Uott away from us, and the first shots were all right. Then one came past us, I should say about 15ft or 20ft astern, and struck the water about 60yds or 70yds to starboard, as near as I could judge. I called out ' Was that an accident ?' to the man in charge, and he replied : •* Verylikely it was.' I said it was very funny shooting, and he made no reply. He didn't seem to Know what to matte of it. I kept an eye on that gun—we could sec both guns qluitc easily—and saw the flash of its next discharge. We heard nothing for some seconds, for the shot seems to get ahead of the sound, and then I felt a great gust of wind that nearly shifted everything on the fcridge. The gust was so sharp that it made me duck my head. You see the mainmast there. It's <|uite close to the funnel, as you will notice. Well, that's where the shot came through. It struck the water a skort distance to starboard. I thought the business had gone fatenough, so I went down from the bridge and told the officer plump and plain that I'd had enough of it. I told him that if he didn't get the firing stopped I would cut the target adrift. He nodded, and told me to half-mast the flag. We had all the signals written out, and that was the signal to stop liring. I then steamed inshore and stopped the engines, when the lead showed six fathoms. The artillery people were semaphoring away, and the signallers on the battery wore doing the same. I don't know exactly what the range was. White Island is something like 3200 yds off shore, ami I started some distance otilside of it—l should say a'lvout 3500 yds altogether. I was pointing for Tomahawk Head, and so, of of course, I was gradually decreasing the distance 'between the ship and the shore. I don't know what the experts on board thought of it all, 'but I heard one say that he had never seen anything like it in his life. The men aft felt the wind of the first shot. and. as I have told (roti, the second one made me duck', J don't think I would care to do a oh like that again v No, not frightened, but, yon see, with shooting ilike that it 1 seems like throwing loway ckances. We started back for town a-boiit 4.30 p.m., and delivered the targets at the Heads at 6.H0 p.m. They had the news of it there before we arrived, fin the whole I think we have some reason to be thankful that things that things ended as they did." THE OWNER'S STATEMENT; The statement of the owner was brief. He said: ? 'I got £lO from the Defence Department as charter money, but all the tea in China wouldn't be sufficient to charter the steamer for another job of the same sort." THE RESPONSIBILITY. As far as iwe can ascertain the practice began at 4000 yds, and at

the time of the mishap the range was being given at something like 3000 yds. It was doubtless the diagonal course steered by the steamer which saved- her, because, being a little further inshore than the targets, the difference in the range was responsible for a difference in the elevation of the gun, which cause* the shot to clear her. We learn that Major Johnston, who is the Government Garrison.' Artillery expert, and who was acting as umpire, went immediately to Hie gun pit, and finding that the gun had actually 'been laid on the steamer stopped the practice and disqualified the company. There are no defects in she guns which could have caused such an occurrence, and the sighting' 'gear is so simple that a child could 'almost niaii'ipulate it. The fault was primarily that of the layer, who appears to have lost his head, but the responsibility does not rest with him, as efficient means of checking jthe laying are to hand. The inexplicable thing is that those who were in a position to check the laying should have permitted a second shot [to be fires at the steamer. We learn ithat the gun group commander for (this particular gun was a non-com-jmissioncd officer, and it would be interesting! to know whether the lieutenants of the company are oi 'any real use, or whether they are merely ornaments, who stand in rear 'of the guns arrayed in naval toggery, which, however picturesque, has no place in a company which is not naval in any shape or form. The merits of No. 2 Compqny N. 7--G.A.V. are too well known to Iwar 'disparagement, but possibly how much they owe their efficiency to their non-commissioned officers is not so generally known. We understand that the layer who was at fault has been "broken," but. the real point about last Saturday's practice seems to be : "Was a commissioned officer acting as gun group commander for this practical gun ? If not, why not 1"