PART VII
THE RANGE OF THE TURKISH BOW
The Author Shooting with a Turkish Bow.[48]
In 1795 Mahmoud Effendi, Secretary to the Turkish Ambassador in London, shot a 25½-in. flight arrow 480 yards. The bow he used is similar to the one shown in [fig. 11], p. 112, and is now preserved in the Hall of the Royal Toxophilite Society, Regent’s Park.
Mahmoud Effendi accomplished this feat—which was carefully verified at the time—in the presence of a number of well-known members of the Toxophilite Society of the day, including Mr. T. Waring, the author of a work on Archery.
Joseph Strutt, the historian, was also a spectator, and describes the incident in his book entitled ‘The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England.’
[48] There are many country residences in England at which the author has made very long shots with a bow and arrow, and where trees have been planted to mark the distances. Among others: Glynllivon Park, Carnarvon; Broomhead Hall, Sheffield; Onslow Hall, Shrewsbury; Norton Priory, Runcorn; and Harpton Court, New Radnor, may be named.
It is beyond question that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with bows precisely similar to the one shown in [Fig. 1], but of much greater power, flight arrows were shot from 600 to 800 yards by certain famous Turkish archers.
The achievements of these celebrated bowmen were engraved on marble columns erected at the ancient archery ground near Constantinople, and these records are still in existence ([p. 125]).
The only trustworthy evidence of unusual ranges attained with the English longbow is as follows: