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[No. 128. See page 803.]
extract from report of Commodore W. N. Jeffers.1 The remainder of the powder put on board at Norfolk, making in all one hundred and eighty-five (185) tons, was stowed against the after bulkhead of the deck-house, and filled the space over the boiler, extending as far as the hatch to the after hold or coal-bunker, leaving about four fifths of the space in the deck-house empty .... When the probable effects of the explosion were under discussion, it was the unanimous opinion of the experts in ordnance that, to produce the maximum effect, the fire should be communicated, and the explosion take place in many points simultaneously, all the accounts of accidental explosions of large quantities of powder agreeing that large quantities of unconsumed powder were blown away from the focus of ignition, causing a great reduction of effect. Electricity was proposed as offering the most probable means of securing this result; but as this agent is known to be very unreliable in action, it was determined to use several clockwork arrangements, a slow match, and finally to set the vessel on fire to insure an ultimate explosion, and not bestow so large a quantity of material on the enemy in the event of a failure of one or more of the modes of exploding it. The arrangement of the clockwork being confided to me, I made a very simple one. Removing the face and hands of an ordinary marine clock, I secured to the arbor of the minute-hand a small cylinder with four pins set into the circumference, and equidistant — that is, fifteen (15) minutes of time apart. Three clocks were thus arranged. These clocks were secured to a board; by the side of the clock a copper tube was secured, in the bottom of which was brazed a mass of metal with a common musket cone screwed into it, to be capped with a percussion cap. An eight-inch grape shot, weight two pounds, diameter 2.5 inches, was attached to one end of a piece of catgut which was led through an eyebolt at the top of the tube, and hooked by a loop in the other end, over one of the pins on the clock cylinder. It is easy to see that by the revolution of the cylinder the loop would slip off, the grape shot drop, and the explosion of the cap take place in 15 “, 30” , 45 “, or 60” , as desired; this it never failed to do in many trials. I frequently set the three clocks going, and the explosion occurred within two minutes of each other at the end of an hour. To determine the time of explosion it was only necessary
1 Report before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, No. 5, p. 249.
A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.
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