It may be interesting to note the armament carried by Nelson's _Victory_ at the Battle of Trafalgar, in order that it may be compared with that of some earlier ships of which particulars have been given and with those of our modern battleships, which will be found in a later chapter. On that memorable day the famous old three-decker which still swings at her buoy in Portsmouth harbour mounted-- On her lower deck, thirty 32-pounders; On her middle deck, thirty 24-pounders; On her main deck, thirty-two 12-pounders; On her upper deck, eight 12-pounders, and four 32-pounder carronades. The upper-deck 12-pounders were 2 feet shorter than those on the main deck, and only weighed 21 cwt., as against their 34, but the 32-pounder carronades only weighed 17 cwt. This will give an idea of the comparative lightness of these weapons. The guns at this period, and indeed since Elizabethan times, were mounted on carriages formed of two wooden sides or cheeks strongly connected together by timber cross-pieces or "transoms", and placed on four solid wooden wheels or "trucks". They were secured to the ship's side by thick ropes or "breechings" passing round the breech of the gun, and long enough to allow of a certain recoil on being fired. The gun was run out again by blocks and tackles, which could also be used to haul it inboard without its being fired, in order to secure it for sea and close the port. It was trained from side to side by means of hand-spikes or levers placed under the rear of the carriage, and elevated in a similar manner, the hand-spikes being used to raise or lower the breech of the gun, while the "quoin", or wedge, supporting it was being adjusted. Similar carriages remained in use in our navy far into the 'eighties of last century, being used for the "converted 64-pounder", which was the old smooth-bore 68-pounder lined with a rifled steel tube. I have drilled at such guns myself. It was fine exercise, and it was necessary to be pretty smart and have all one's wits about one to get outside the breeching, if a loading number, before the gun was run out. The 13·5-inch gun of to-day is, thanks to hydraulics, manipulated with a tithe of the exertion required to serve a truck gun. Here are the orders for "Exercise at the Great Guns" which obtained in 1781, and are considerably simpler than those previously in vogue: 1. "Silence." 2. "Cast loose your guns." 3. "Level your guns." 4. "Take out your tompions." 5. "Run out your guns." 6. "Prime." 7. "Point your guns." 8. "Fire." 9. "Sponge your guns." 10. "Load with cartridge." 11. "Shot your guns." 12. "Put in your tompions." 13. "House your guns." 14. "Secure your guns."