SHEED, Ind. A witness.
SHEICK. A chief of a tribe among the Arabs. Mr. Morier, in his account of a campaign with the Ottoman army, relates that in 1800, a fanatic sheick, who pretended to be inspired, headed the Fellahs, (the lowest class of inhabitants are so called among the Arabs) of the district of Demanhour, and caused a detachment of 80 Frenchmen to be put to death in the night; this was effected by first securing the sentinel.
SHELLS, in gunnery, are hollow iron balls to throw out of mortars or howitzers with a fuze hole of about an inch diameter, to load them with powder, and to receive the fuze: the bottom, or part opposite the fuze, is made heavier than the rest, that the fuze may fall uppermost; but in small elevations this is not always the case, nor is it necessary; for, let it fall as it will, the fuze sets fire to the powder within, which bursts the shell, and causes great devastation. The shells had much better be made of an equal thickness, for then they burst into more pieces.
The following shells may also be fired from guns.
| Hand grenades | from | 6 Prs. |
| 4²⁄₅ shells | —— | 12 Prs. |
| 5¹⁄₂ shells | —— | 24 Prs. |
| 8 inch | —— | 68 Pr. carronades. |
Shells may likewise be thrown from guns to short distances, in case of necessity, though the bore be not of a diameter sufficient to admit the shell. For this purpose the gun may be elevated to any degree that will retain the shell upon its muzzle, which may be assisted by a small line going from the ears of the shell round the neck of the gun. To produce a greater effect, the space between the shell and the charge may be filled with wads or other substance.
Shells for Mortars and Howitzers—Their Dimensions, Weight, &c.
| Kind. | Weight. | Diam- eter. | Powder con- tained in Shells. | Powder for bursting. | Diameter of Fuze Hole. | Thick- ness of Metal. | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Out- side. | In- side. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Ct. | qr. | lbs. | oz. | Inches. | lbs. | oz. | lbs. | oz. | Inches. | Inches. | Inches. | |||||||||||
| 13 | inch. | 1 | 3 | 2 | 12 | ³⁄₄ | 10 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 1 | ·837 | 1 | ·696 | 2 | ·05 | ||||||
| 10 | —— | 3 | 9 | 9 | ³⁄₄ | 4 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 1 | ·57 | 1 | ·45 | 1 | ·575 | |||||||
| 8 | —— | 1 | 11 | ¹⁄₂ | 7 | ³⁄₄ | 2 | 12 | 1 | 14 | 1 | ·219 | 1 | ·127 | 1 | ·2 | ||||||
| 5 | ¹⁄₂ | —— | 15 | ¹⁄₄ | 5 | ¹⁄₄ | 1 | 12 | 0 | ·894 | ·826 | 0 | ·822 | |||||||||
| 4 | ²⁄₅ | —— | 8 | 4 | ¹⁄₅ | 7 | 5 | 0 | ·832 | ·769 | 0 | ·653 | ||||||||||
| H. Gren. | - | 3 | 11 | 3 | ·49 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 13 | 2 | ·77 | |||||||||||||||||||
To find the weight of a shell of iron.
Take ⁹⁄₆₄ of the difference of the cubes of the external and internal diameters for the weight of the shell.