3-017-013 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Mackay Gun, 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. J. Wilson '...of the experiments which have lately been practised on Crosby Sands, near Liverpool, with the gun invented by Mr. James Mackay, timber merchant, of that town, and manufactured by the Mersey Steel and Ironworks Company. It has been tried at various ranges against a target similar to the sides of the iron-clad steamer Agincourt...Mr. Mackay's gun is of wrought iron, weighs nine tons, has a bore of 8'12 inches...The target consisted of an outer plate, 7 ft. square and 5½ in. thick, of rolled iron; next came 9 in. of teak, then an inner plate or skin three fourths of an inch thick, then angle iron and ribbing, and finally a backing up with timber balks and supports 18 in. thick. The plates, also made by the Mersey Steel and Iron Company, were the best that can be made of rolled iron...In the centre of the target was a 9-in, bull's-eye, and a centre ring about 3ft. in diameter...There was a displacement of this plate, to the right, of about 2½ in.; and this, together with the fearful damage occasioned to the angle-iron, teak backing, and supports, rendered the target perfectly useless for further experiments'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.