CAPTAIN PERCY SCOTT, C.B., OF H.M.S. "TERRIBLE."
Under Captain Scott's direction a number of 45-pounder naval guns were rapidly supplied with carriages, which gave them mobility and rendered them available as a sort of heavy field-gun. So mounted, they were of the greatest service both in the defence of Ladysmith and in our numerous assaults upon Boer positions. Captain Scott also designed a railway truck to carry the gun, and from which it could be fired.
[Photo by West, Southsea.
GUNS LANDED BY THE "TERRIBLE" AT DURBAN, ON CAPT. SCOTT'S CARRIAGES.
Armoured trains.
An armoured train daily proceeded from Estcourt to reconnoitre in the direction of Colenso. Why this dangerous and clumsy contrivance should have been used for such a purpose it is difficult to say. The lives of somewhere about 100 men were daily risked upon an errand which could have been accomplished with infinitely greater ease by half-a-dozen mounted infantry. The train was tied of necessity to one line of advance or retreat; it was a conspicuous object, and made enough noise with its puffing and blowing to alarm all the Boers for miles around. Nothing could be easier for them than to bring up and lay their guns on some particular point of the line, removing one or two rails. If this were done after the train had passed, its retreat might be cut off and its capture rendered certain. The risk was a matter of common talk in the British camp, yet these foolhardy expeditions continued day by day.
