3-017-014 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Agincourt Target, experimented on by the Mackay Gun, 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. J. Wilson of tests on '...the gun invented by Mr. James Mackay...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...[The] 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 Co., 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. On the right upper corner of this centre the ball had penetrated about 2 ft. 5 in. from the right edge, and 6 in. from the bottom edge of the upper plate. There was a displacement...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.