TOPIC:

Regarding Lt Wilde’s telescope used for sighting No 1 gun: Neville can you explain how this was used? How did the aiming bar work with and without the scope? One has to assume that it was used reversed, as in Rene Bull’s photo, which shows the gun in action against Brakfontein or Vaalkrans, the skyline being Twin Peaks.
So, optically it wasn’t used in a way analogous to a sniper rifle with telescopic sight; it would have brought very close objects into focus, not distant ones…

Rob, I can't make head or tail of it. Makes no sense to me either.

These two photographs show that an extra bar has been added to take the telescope, so this setup appears to have had a definite purpose. I had at first wondered whether the scope had been strapped to the sighting bar for convenience during transport, but, as the gun is in action, that doesn't really add up.

It is worth noting that the alterations render the bar useless in terms of conventional sighting.




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From a layman's point of view the construction makes some sense. It seems that the only direction the construction can be moved is vertically. Being exactly in line with the barrel of the gun is important given that 1 degree left or right means being off-target by 92.2 feet at a distance of 1 mile. The naval guns had a range of 4,5 miles so a 1 degree inaccuracy would be about 415 feet off target. The second barel on the scope mount looks like something that was added for accuracy, allowing for a more precise vertical tweaking (as it pivots on one side only). From Neville's picture I can't determine which way the telescope points. Backwards would not make sense of course unless you are French and preparing for retreat.

This is from Burne Ch 9; the last bit is relevant, and suggests that the telescope is temporarily reversed in the photograph, but would normally be used facing forward, with crosswires, added:

The sighting of the gun (drum and bar system) cannot be beaten, I think. Perhaps a V-shaped notch to give one the centre of the H, or hind sight, might be an improvement, as here personal error often occurs. Lieutenant, now Commander, Ogilvy, R.N., always made his men correct their final sighting of the gun for elevation from about six paces in rear of the trail, and my experience is that this is a small but important matter, especially for fine shooting say at a trench at 5,000 yards, which merely appears to one as a line on the ground. One invariably finds that the gun, with the eye of a man laying close up to the hind sight, is laid slightly short of the object; so this should be noticed in the gunnery drill-book as regards field guns. Telescopic sights, the patent, I believe, of Lieutenant-Colonel L. K. Scott, R.E., were sent out and used by us with the 12-pounders to fire on the trenches at Spion Kop and Brakfontein, when fine shooting was required. These sights had the cross wires much too thick, so we substituted cobwebs picked off the bushes and stuck on with torpedo composition, and these did admirably. Still this sight was not altogether a success. The power of the telescope, especially in the rays of the sun, was poor, and it took a man a long time to lay his gun with it, thus further reducing the quick-firing power of the 12-pounder reduced already by the recoiling field carriage. As to the 4.7's, it was found that the ordinary Naval small telescope, fitted on a bar and with light cross wires, could not be beaten as a sight for ranges they had to fire at. It is a very good useful glass, and it (p. 107) was, I believe, used both in Natal and elsewhere right through the campaign, and I unhesitatingly give it the palm.

Rob D wrote: This is from Burne Ch 9; the last bit is relevant, and suggests that the telescope is temporarily reversed in the photograph, but would normally be used facing forward, with crosswires, added:

As to the 4.7's, it was found that the ordinary Naval small telescope, fitted on a bar and with light cross wires, could not be beaten as a sight for ranges they had to fire at. It is a very good useful glass, and it (p. 107) was, I believe, used both in Natal and elsewhere right through the campaign, and I unhesitatingly give it the palm.

Here we are. This photograph by Middlebrook shows the same gun with the telescope correctly orientated for sighting. The caption for this image indicates that this is No.2 gun, so not Lieutenant Wilde's piece (No. 1 gun). I guess we'll never know why the scope in René Bull's shot is reversed.

SEE ALSO: The Bombardment of Colenso, 13th – 15th December 1899.




Q.139. The Battle of Colenso, No 2 4.7 Firing Shells at Enemy.







Sighting 4.7-inch guns. Note the similar pose of the two men, with left leg flexed on the trail. I believe the magic lantern slide shows No.2 gun again (identifiable by the large lifting eye above the breech and the steel girder attached to centre of the trail).

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J . Finnemore's drawing (based on a sketch by Ernest Prater), as it first appeared in The Sphere on 27 January 1900, and which was used for the lantern slide above. This clearly shows the telescope in use.

Captioned: "These are sailors from H.M.S. Terrible, with their 4.7-inch gun on Captain Percy Scott's carriage. When fired, the gun is considerably elevated, the sighting apparatus remaining on a level with the object aimed at. Three men man the hand spike, each facing the gun. They place the bevel under the iron loop at the end of the improvised carriage, and slue the gun from right to left as required".





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