look cautiously out for the derailing of the
trains, and Kaffirs with flags were posted at points in the line to
signal if danger were ahead. Another contingent of the Naval Brigade
from Her Majesty's ship _Terrible_ started from Durban with guns and
special mountings invented by Captain Percy Scott. The officers in
command were Commander Limpus, Lieutenants Richards, Wilde, and England.
Surgeon Lomas accompanied them.

The new gun-carriage designed by Captain Percy Scott at this time came
in for a great share of attention. The feature of the invention is a
spade which holds the gun in position, while the recoil is absorbed by
the compression of oil and springs. Great strain is thus placed on the
spade, and consequently its success depends largely on the character of
the soil and the hold obtained.

On this subject a correspondent writing to the _Times_ from Natal
said:--

"You may be interested to hear a little about the Navy, who have come to
the front as usual and met an emergency. From the first it would seem
that what was wanted were long-range guns which could shell the enemy at
a distance outside the range of their Mauser rifles, and the captain of
the _Terrible_, therefore, proposed a field-mounting for the Naval long
12-pounder of 12 cwt., which has a much longer range than any artillery
gun out here. A pair of waggon wheels were picked up, a balk of timber
used as a trail, and in twenty-four hours a 12-pounder was ready for
land service. Captain Scott then designed a mounting for a 4.7-inch
Naval gun by simply bolting a ship's mounting down on to four pieces of
pile. Experts declared that the 12-pounder would smash up the trail, and
that the 4.7-inch would turn a somersault; the designer insisted,
however, on a trial. When it took place, nothing of the kind happened,
except that at extreme elevation the 12-pounder shell went 9000 yards
and the 4.7-inch (lyddite) projectile 12,000 yards. Captain Scott was,
therefore, encouraged to go ahead, and four 12-pounders were fitted and
sent round to Durban in the _Powerful_, and also two 4.7-inch guns.
People say here that these guns saved the situation at Ladysmith. A
Naval friend writing to me from the camp says: 'The Boers complain that
we are not "playing the game"; they only expected to fight rooineks, not
sailors who use guns that range seven miles, and they want us to go back
to our ships. One of our lyddite shells went over a hill into their
camp, killed four