Lead balls are packed in boxes containing each 1 cwt. About 4 pounds of lead in the cwt. are generally lost in casting. See Shot.

BARRELS for powder—Their dimensions.

The whole barrels are made to contain 100 pounds, and the half barrels 50 pounds of powder; but of late only 90 pounds have been put into the barrels, and 45 into the half barrels; which, by leaving the powder room to be shifted, preserves it the better.

Budge Barrels contain 38 lbs.

BASKETS.—Ballast, ½ bushel—weight, 5 lbs. Diameter, 1 foot 6 inches—length, 1 foot.

BATTERY.—Dimensions of Batteries.

1. Gun Batteries.—Gun Batteries are usually 18 feet per gun. Their principal dimensions are as follow:

• Ditch.—Breadth 12 feet.
•   Depth  8

Note. These dimensions give for a battery of two guns 3456 cubic feet of earth; and must be varied according to the quantity required for the epaulment.

Note. The above breadths at top and bottom are for the worst soil; good earth will not require a base of more than 20 feet wide, which will reduce the breadth at top to 15 feet; an epaulment of these dimensions for two guns will require about 4200 cubic feet of earth, and deducting 300 cubic feet for each embrazure, leaves 3600 required for the epaulment. In confined situations the breadth of the epaulment may be only 12 feet.

Note. Where the epaulment is made of a reduced breadth, the openings of the embrazures are made with the usual breadth within, but the exterior openings proportionally less. The embrazures are sometimes only 12 feet asunder, or even less when the ground is very confined. The superior slope of the epaulment need be very little, where it is not to be defended by small arms. The slope of the sole of the embrazures must depend upon the height of the object to be fired at. The Berm is usually made 3 feet wide, and where the soil is loose, this breadth is increased to 4 feet.

2. Howitzer Batteries.—The dimensions of howitzer batteries are the same as those for guns, except that the interior openings of the embrazures are 2 feet 6 inches, and the soles of the embrazures have a slope inwards of about 10 degrees.

3. Mortar Batteries—Are also made of the same dimensions as gun batteries, but an exact adherence to those dimensions is not so necessary. They have no embrazures. The mortars are commonly placed 15 feet from each other, and about 12 feet from the epaulment.

Note. Though it has been generally customary to fix mortars at 45°, and to place them at the distance of 12 feet from the epaulment, yet many advantages would often arise from firing them at lower angles; and which may be done by removing them to a greater distance from the epaulment, but where they would be in equal security. If the mortars were placed at the undermentioned distances from the epaulment, they might be fired at the angles corresponding:

A French author asserts, that all ricochet batteries, whether for howitzers or guns, might be made after this principle, without the inconvenience of embrazures; and the superior slope of the epaulment being inwards instead of outwards, would greatly facilitate this mode of firing.

If the situation will admit of the battery being sunk, even as low as the soles of the embrazures, a great deal of labour may be saved. In batteries without embrazures, this method may almost always be adopted; and it becomes in some situations absolutely necessary in order to obtain earth for the epaulment; for when a battery is to be formed on the crest of the glacis, or on the edge of the counterscarpe of the ditch, there can be no excavation but in the rear of the battery.

4. Batteries on a Coast—generally consist of only an epaulment, without much attention being paid to the ditch: they are, however, sometimes made with embrazures, like a common gun battery; but the guns are more generally mounted on traversing platforms, and fire over the epaulment. When this is the case, the guns can seldom be placed nearer than 3½ fathoms from each other. The generality of military writers prefer low situations for coast batteries; but M. Gribauvale lays down some rules for the heights of coast batteries, which place them in such security, as to enable them to produce their greatest effect. He says the height of a battery of this kind, above the level of the sea, must depend upon the distance of the principal objects it has to protect or annoy. The shot from a battery to ricochet with effect, should strike the water at an angle of about 4 or 5 degrees at the distance of 200 yards. Therefore the distance of the object must be the radius, and the height of the battery the tangent to this angle of 4 or 5°; which will be, at the above distance of 200 yards, about 14 yards. At this height, he says, a battery may ricochet vessels in perfect security; for their ricochet being only from a height of 4 or 5 yards, can have no effect against the battery. The ground in front of a battery should be cut in steps, the more effectually to destroy the ricochet of the enemy. In case a ship can approach the battery so as to fire musquetry from her tops, a few light pieces placed higher up on the bank, will soon dislodge the men from that position, by a few discharges of case shot. It is also easy to keep vessels at a distance by carcasses, or other fire balls, which they are always in dread of.

Durtubie estimates, that a battery of 4 or 5 guns, well posted, will be a match for a first rate man of war.

To estimate the Materials for a Battery.

Fascines of 9 feet long are the most convenient for forming a battery, because they are easily carried, and they answer to most parts of the battery without cutting. The embrazures are however better lined with fascines of 18 feet. The following will be nearly the number required for a fascine battery of two guns or howitzers:

90 fascines of 9 feet long.

20 fascines of 18 feet—for the embrazures.

This number will face the outside as well as the inside of the epaulment, which if the earth be stiff, will not always be necessary; at least not higher than the soles of the embrazures on the outside. This will require five of 9 feet for each merlon less than the above.

A mortar battery will not require any long fascines for the lining of the embrazures. The simplest method of ascertaining the number of fascines for a mortar battery, or for any other plain breast work, is to divide the length of work to be fascined in feet, by the length of each fascine in feet, for the number required for one layer, which being multiplied by the number of layers required, will of course give the number of fascines for facing the whole surface. If a battery be so exposed as to require a shoulder to cover it in flank, about 50 fascines of 9 feet each will be required for each shoulder.

12 workmen of the line, and 8 of the artillery, are generally allotted to each gun.

If to the above proportion of materials, &c. for a battery of two guns, there be added for each additional gun, 30 fascines of 9 feet, and 10 of 18 feet, with 12 workmen, the quantity may easily be found for a battery of any number of pieces.

The workmen are generally thus disposed; one half the men of the line in the ditch at 3 feet asunder, who throw the earth upon the berm; one fourth upon the berm at 6 feet asunder, to throw the earth upon the epaulment, and the other quarter on the epaulment, to level the earth, and beat it down. The artillery men carry on the fascine work, and level the interior for the platforms. This number of workmen may complete a battery in 36 hours, allowing 216 cubic feet tn be dug and thrown up, by each man in the ditch in 24 hours.

Tools for the Construction of a Battery.

Intrenching—1½ times the number of workmen required; half to be pick axes, and half shovels or spades, according to the soil.

Mallets—3 per gun.

Earth Rammers—3 per gun.

Crosscut Saws—1 to every two guns.

Handbills or Hatchets—2 per gun.

This estimate of tools and workmen, does not include what may be required for making up the fascines, or preparing the other materials, but supposes them ready prepared. For these articles, see the words Fascine, Gabion, Platform, &c. and for the construction of field magazines for batteries, see the word Magazine.

Note. The following estimate of the quantity of earth which may be removed by a certain number of workmen in a given time, may serve to give some idea of the time required to raise any kind of works. 500 common wheel barrows will contain 2 cubic toises of earth, and may be wheeled by one man, in summer, to the distance of 20 yards up a ramp, and 30 on a horizontal plain, in one day. In doing which he will pass over, going and returning, about 4 leagues in the first case, and 6 in the last. Most men, however, will not wheel more than 1¾ toise per day. Four men will remove the same quantity to four times the distance.

In a soil easy to be dug, one man can fill the 500 barrows in a day; but if the ground be hard, the number of fillers must be augmented, so as to keep pace with the wheel barrow man.

BEDS for Mortars.

 
BOXES for Ammunition.—The dimensions of the common ammunition boxes vary according to the ammunition they are made to contain, in order that it may pack tight: this variation, however, is confined to a few inches, and does not exceed the following numbers.

Table of general Dimensions of Ammunition Boxes.

Weight when filled, and Number contained in each.

The common ammunition waggon will hold from 9 to 13 of these boxes in one tier.

The tonnage of ammunition in boxes is equal to its weight: about 12 boxes make one ton.

BOMB Ketch. The bomb ketches upon the old establishment carry one 13 inch and one 10 inch mortar; with eight 6 pounders, beside swivels, for their own immediate defence. The modern bomb vessels carry two 10 inch mortars, four 68 pounders, and six 18 pounders carronades; and the mortars may be fired at as low an angle as 20 degrees; though these mortars are not intended to be used at sea, but on very particular occasions; their principal intention, at these low angles, being to cover the landing of troops, and protect our coast and harbours. A bomb ketch is generally from sixty to seventy feet long from stem to stern, and draws eight or nine feet water. The tender is generally a brig, on board of which the party of artillery remain, till their services are required on board the bomb vessel.

Instructions for their Management and Security in Action.

1. A Dutch pump, filled with water, must be placed in each round top, one upon the forecastle, one on the main deck, and one on the quarter deck; and furnished with leather buckets, for a fresh supply of water.

2. The booms must be wetted by the pumps before the tarpaulins and mortar hatches are taken off; and a wooden skreen, 5 feet square, is to be hung under the booms, over each mortar, to receive the fire from the vents.

3. The embrazures being fixed and properly secured, the port must be let down low enough to be covered by the sole of the embrazure. Previous to its being let down, a spar must be lashed across it, to which the tackles for raising it again must be fixed: this spar serves to project the tackles clear of the explosion.

4. The mortars must not be fired through the embrazures at a lower angle than 20 degrees, nor with a greater charge than 5 lbs. of powder.

5. Previous to firing, the doors of the bulkhead, under the quarter deck, must be shut, to prevent the cabin being injured by the explosion.

6. The bed must be wedged in the circular curb, as soon as the mortar is pointed, to prevent reaction; the first wedge being driven tight before the rear ones are fixed, in order to give the full bearing on the table, as well as the rear of the bed. The holes for dog bolts must be corked up, to prevent the sparks falling into them.

7. When any shells are to be used on board the bomb, they must be fixed on board the tender, and brought from thence, in boxes in her long boat; and kept along side the bomb ship till wanted, carefully covered up.

8. In the old constructed bomb vessels it is necessary to hoist out the booms; and raft them along side previous to firing; but in these new ones, with embrazures, only the boats need be hoisted out; after which the mortars may be prepared for action in 10 minutes.

Proportion of Ordnance and Ammunition for a Bomb Ship, carrying two 10 Inch Mortars, to fire at low Angles, and at 45 Degrees, Four 68 Prs. and Six 8 Prs. Carronades.

BREACH.—The batteries to make a breach, should commence by marking out as near as possible, the extent of the breach intended to be made; first, by a horizontal line within a fathom of the bottom of the revetement in a dry ditch, and close to the water’s edge in a wet one; and then by lines perpendicular to this line, at short distances from each other, as high as the cordon; then, by continuing to deepen all these cuts, the wall will give way in a body. The guns to produce the greatest effect should be fired as near as possible in salvos or vollies. The breach should be ⅓ the length of the face, from the center towards the flanked angle. When the wall has given way, the firing must be continued to make the slope of the breach practicable.

Four 24 Pounders from the lodgement in the covert way will effect a breach in 4 or 5 days, which may be made practicable in 3 days more.

Another way of making a breach is by piercing the wall sufficiently to admit two or three miners, who cross the ditch, and make their entry during the night into the wall, where they establish two or three small mines, sufficient to make a breach.—See Artillery at a Siege; see also Battery.

BRIDGES.—Manner of laying a Pontoon Bridge across a River.

The bank on each side, where the ends of the bridge are to be, must be made solid and firm, by means of fascines, or otherwise. One end of the cable must be carried across the river; and being fixed to a picket, or any thing firm, must be drawn tight by means of a capstan, across where the heads of the boats are to be ranged. The boats are then launched, having on board each two men, and the necessary ropes, &c. and are floated down the stream, under the cable, to which they are lashed endwise, by the rings and small ropes, at equal distances, and about their own breadth asunder; more or less, according to the strength required. If the river be very rapid, a second cable must be stretched across it, parallel to the first, and at the distance of the length of the boats; and to which the other ends of the boats must be lashed. The spring lines are then lashed diagonally from one boat to the other, to brace them tight; and the anchors, if necessary, carried out, up the stream, and fixed to the cable or sheer-line across the river. One of the chesses is then laid on the edge of the bank, at each end of the bridge, bottom up; these serve to lay the ends of the baulks upon, and as a direction for placing them at the proper distances, to fit the chesses that cover the bridge. The baulks should then be laid across the boats, and keyed together: their numbers proportioned to the strength required in the bridge. If the gangboards are laid across the heads and sterns of the boats from one side of the river to the other, they will give the men a footing for doing the rest of the work. Across the baulks are laid the chesses, one after another, the edges to meet; and the baulks running between the cross pieces on the under side of the chesses. The gangboards are then laid across the ends of the chesses on each edge of the bridge.

Precautions for passing a Bridge of Boats.

Whatever size the bridge may be, infantry should never be allowed to pass at the same time with carriages or cavalry. The carriages should always move at a certain distance behind each other, that the bridge may not be shook, by being overloaded. The horses should not be allowed to trot over the bridge; and the cavalry should dismount and lead their horses over. Large flocks of cattle must not be allowed to cross at once.

For the dimensions, weight, and equipage of a pontoon, see the word Pontoon.

When bridges are made to facilitate the communication between different parts of the approaches at a siege, they should, if possible, be placed above the town; or the besieged will take advantage of the current to float down large trees, or other bodies, in order to destroy the bridge. Two of such bridges should always be placed close to each other, in order to prevent the confusion of crossing and recrossing on the same bridge; the one being intended to pass over one way, and the other to return. Pontoon bridges will generally not support a greater weight than 4 or 5,000 pounds. Pontoons, when united as a bridge, will no doubt bear more in proportion, than when acted upon separately: but the weight which a pontoon will bear may be easily ascertained, by loading it with water till it sinks to any required depth, and then by calculating the number of cubic feet of water it contains, ascertain the number of pounds required to sink it to that particular depth.

C amp—With some trifling variations, camps are formed after the same manner in all countries. This principle seems general, that there should not be more ground occupied by the camp of a body of men, in front, than the extent of their line when drawn out in order of battle. Intervals are however generally left between battalions of infantry of about one eighth their front, and between squadrons of cavalry of thirty or forty paces. An army is sometimes encamped in two lines, and sometimes in three; the distance between the lines varies according to the face of the country, from 200 to 600 yards, or more.

In the distribution of the front of a camp, two feet are generally allowed for every file of infantry, and three feet for each file of cavalry. When the ground will admit of it, the infantry are usually arranged in rows perpendicular to the front; each row containing the tents of one company; and the cavalry in the same position, each perpendicular row containing the horses of a troop.

The grenadiers and light infantry are usually placed in single rows on the flanks, and the battalion companies in double rows.

A single row, or one company, occupies in front, nine feet; and a double row, or two companies, twenty one feet, if formed of the old pattern rectangular tents, which hold only five men each. But if the new bell tents are used, 15 feet must be allowed for a single row, and 30 feet for a double row in front.

In the cavalry, a row or troop occupies in front as follow:

The breadth of a row in front, whether of infantry or cavalry, being multiplied by the number of rows, and the product subtracted from the whole extent of front for a battalion of infantry, or a squadron of cavalry, will leave the space for the streets, which are generally divided as follows:

The following is the Distribution of the Depth of a Camp of Infantry or Cavalry, when the Ground permits.

If the ground on which the camp is to be formed will not, from a swamp in the rear, or any other circumstance, admit of each troop or company being formed in one row perpendicular to the front; the distribution of the front of a battalion or squadron must be more contracted than the above, and laid out as follows: Find how many perpendicular rows will be required, by dividing the number of men in the battalion or squadron by the number the ground will admit of in one row; then the number of rows being multiplied by the breadth of one in front, will give that part of the front to be occupied by the rows; and the difference between it and the whole front allowed for the battalion or squadron, will be left for the streets; which, if the streets are to be equal, must be divided by their number, to find the breadth of each; or is otherwise easily divided into streets of unequal breadths. When two guns are attached to a battalion, they are posted on the right in the following order: from the right of battalion to the center of the first gun, four yards—from this to the second gun, 6 yards.—The muzzles of the guns in a line with the serjeants’ tents.

The subaltern of artillery, if any, in a line with the subalterns of infantry.—The rear of the gunner’s tents in a line with the rear of the battalion tents.

For the proper positions for camps, see the word Reconnoitering; and for the encampment of a park of artillery, see the word Park.

CARCASSES.—Composition.

Valencienne’s composition, so called, from its having been used by the Austrians at the siege of that place, has the effect of making shells answer the purpose of carcasses after they burst:

This composition is cast in copper cylindric moulds of 6 inches long, and of different diameters according to the shell in which it is to be used. It must be put in along with the bursting powder in pieces as large as the shell will admit, without preventing the fuze being driven down.

CARCASSES.—Their Dimensions and Weight, 1796.