Memoir of the Services of the Bengal Artillery / From the Formation of the Corps to the Present Time, with Some Account of Its Internal Organization

by E. Buckle

The siege-carriages underwent little change during this time. From their solid nature they have been always less liable to injury than field-carriages; and, consequently, attention has been less forced to them by the repairs of daily accidents; less temptation has therefore offered to introduce improvements and alterations, and the pattern established in 1801 remained in use till 1823; indeed, at the present time there are many carriages of that kind in magazines.

In 1823 a new pattern siege-carriage (No. 15) was introduced; not, however, differing essentially from the old one; uniformity in axles, beds, limbers, &c., and improvements in minutiæ, were the chief alterations.

A new kind of carriage was also introduced at this time for the iron howitzers, which superseded the brass 8–inch as a siege-piece; the trail was much shorter than that of siege-carriages, and furnished with small truck-wheels, to ease the recoil. [Plate No. 16.]

Iron mortars and mortar-beds also superseded the brass mortars of 8–inch and upwards, and their wooden beds. No alteration has been made in any of these articles.

In 1823, a general reform in the ordnance equipment in Bengal took place, and, with the changes above noted, the block trail pattern was introduced for the light field-carriages. The ammunition-carriage was made with a limber exactly similar to that of the gun, and the ammunition was divided into six boxes, two on the limber, and four on the body of the carriage, easily removable; the wheels, axles, and beds were made similar, and pains were taken to render all parts as uniform as possible, so that one set might answer for the repairs of all.

On their first introduction into Bengal, in the attempts to lighten the carriages as much as possible, some were made too weak, especially those for the 24–pounder howitzers, and slight alterations were made from time to time to obviate this defect.

At this time, the elevating-screws of the guns were fixed to the cascable neck, while those of the howitzers were capstan-headed. In 1834, Captain Timbrell suggested the adoption of the fixed screw with all, and several howitzer-carriages were altered accordingly; in doing this, however, it became necessary to pierce the beams to receive the screw further to the rear than before, filling up the former hole with a plug: this double piercing weakened the beam so much, that with the increased action from the fixed screw, many broke down, and the change was discontinued at that time; the subject, however, was agitated for many years, and many trials made, and the result has been the retention of the original method.

The advantages of the fixed screw consist in its uniting the gun and carriage, and thereby preventing its jumping, in travelling or firing; greater facility of mending it, and an increased power in limbering up; it is also more economical, as a less depth of beam is required, the fixed screw adjusting itself by means of trunnions, while the capstan-headed requires a horizontal hump on the beam to receive it. On the other hand, the capstan-headed screw is supposed to strain the carriage less; to us, however, the advantages seem to be on the side of the fixed screw, and from the result of the experiments tried, there appears no doubt but that when applied to a new, not an altered, beam, the howitzer-carriages are strong enough to bear it.

In these ordnance arrangements, the European horse and all the foot artillery batteries were armed with 9–pounder guns and 24–pounder howitzers, while the native horse had 6–pounders; and this continued until 1834, when, under instructions from the Court of Directors, the whole of the horse artillery were armed with 6–pounder guns and 12–pounder howitzers.

In 1836, at the recommendation of Sir Henry Fane, then Commander-in-Chief, a special board of artillery officers from the three presidencies was convened at Calcutta, for the purpose of assimilating the ordnance equipment and arrangements throughout India. They sat for about two years, and during that time musters of the carriages they recommended for general adoption were built. This carriage, the “Indian pattern,” was much like those in use with the Madras Artillery, and may be shortly described as having contracted cheek, narrow axles, and metal naves: the carriage was heavier than the Bengal pattern.