After this follow various statistics of the French Fleet of no particular interest here except for the following passage:-- “Irrespective of the above are the four _frégates blindées_, or iron-plated frigates, two of which are now in an advanced state at Toulon. “These ships are to be substituted for line-of-battle ships; their timbers are of the scantling of three-deckers; they will be provided with thirty-six heavy guns, twenty-four of them rifled, and 50-pounders, calculated to throw an eighty pound percussion shell. Such is the opinion of French naval officers respecting the tremendous power of these ships, that they fully anticipate the complete abolition, within ten or a dozen years, of all line-of-battle ships.”[89] Here it is desirable to leave ships for a moment and deal with the corresponding stage of gunnery, which began to take on its modern form contemporaneously with the ironclad ship. In 1858–9 began that contest between the gun and armour, which can hardly be said to be ended even in our own day, for improved kinds of armour are still being sought and experimented with. To quote the work of Hans Busk and its contemporary summary:-- “A number of guns, cast at Woolwich, were sent to Mr. Whitworth’s works at Manchester to be bored and rifled. In April, 1856, trial was made with a brass 24-pounder of the construction above described. The projectiles employed on that occasion varied from two to six diameters in length, and a very rapid rotary motion was communicated to them. The gun itself weighed 13cwt.; the bore, instead of being of a calibre fitted to receive a spherical 24-pound shot, was only of sufficient capacity to admit one of 9 pounds. The hexagonal bore measured 4ins. in diameter, and was rather more than 54ins. long. It was entirely finished by machinery, and the projectiles were fitted with mathematical precision, the spiral in both cases being formed with absolute accuracy. The gun, externally, had only the dimensions of a 24-pound howitzer, but it projected missiles of 24 pounds, 32 pounds, and 48 pounds each, the additional weight having been obtained by increased length. Upon this new system, then, it will be seen that guns capable, under the old plan, of supporting the strain of a 24-pound ball, may be made with ease to throw a 48-pound shot; the reduction of the calibre allowing of a sufficient thickness of metal being left to ensure safety. The 32-pound and 48-pound projectiles used in the above experiments were respectively 11¾ins. and 16½ins. in length. They were pointed at the foremost extremity, being shaped and rounded somewhat like the smaller end of an egg. At the base they were flat, and slightly hollowed towards the centre. The gun was mounted for the occasion upon an ordinary artillery carriage, which shows no symptoms of