The Details of the Rocket System. Sir William Congreve
of the curve of the recochét, in this mode of firing, depend on the length of the stick—the stick of the full length giving the longest range, but rising the highest from the ground; the reduced stick giving a shorter range, but keeping closer to the ground. From this application, therefore, where practicable, by carrying a certain number of the 12-pounder pouches in the ammunition waggon, an officer, even with a dismounted brigade, may always manœuvre and detach parties to get upon the flanks of any approaching or fixed column, square, or battalion, while he himself remains with the heavier ammunition and cars in front.
This mode of firing from the ground of course applies only for moderate distances; the limits of which, with the smaller natures of Rockets, may be considered from 800 to 1,000 yards, and for the larger from 1,000 to 1,200; where therefore greater ranges are required, the apparatus must be resorted to. And here it is proper to remark, that in the use of the Rocket, at least in the present state of the system, no certain increase of range can be depended upon by increasing the elevations from the ground-ranges up to 15°, for the smaller Rockets; and 20 to 25° for the larger; for in the intermediate angles, the Rocket is apt to drop in going off, and graze near the frame; but at the above angles it will always proceed in a single curve to very greatly increased ranges from 1,500 to 2,000 yards.
In bombardment, as well as in the field, the quantity of instantaneous fire is equally important, and the greater number of Rockets that can be thrown, not only increase the number of fires, but, by distracting the enemy’s attention, prevent their extinction. To this end, therefore, an officer should always employ as many bombarding frames as possible; and here again he will find, that in bombardment, as well as in the field, the weapon affords him the means of extending his fire beyond the compass of his apparatus.
Thus, he may form a Rocket Battery of any common epaulement, parallel to the face of the town to be bombarded, by digging a trench in the rear of it to admit the stick, so as to lay the Rocket and stick against the slope of the epaulement, that slope being brought to the desired elevation for projecting the Rocket, or by boring holes to receive the stick; or he may construct a slope expressly as a Rocket Battery; and as, in firing these vollies, his Rockets need not be more than three feet apart, it follows, that from an epaulement or battery of this description, fifty yards in length, he may keep up this bombardment by a discharge of fifty Rockets in a volley, and repeat these vollies every five minutes if desirable; a rate of firing which must inevitably baffle all attempts of the most active and numerous enemy to prevent its effect.
It is obvious, therefore, that in any comparison made of the powers of the Rocket with those of common artillery, whether an officer be called on merely to demonstrate its powers, or to carry it actually against an enemy, the foregoing maxim must be his rule; in fact, every thing should be demonstrated according to the spirit of its use; a single Rocket is not to be compared with a single gun shot, by firing it at a target. But the consideration is, whether for general service, the power of quantity in the fire of Rockets does not at least counterbalance the greater accuracy of the gun? and for this purpose the spirit of the demonstration of the Rocket system is to shew how few men are required to produce the most powerful vollies with this arm. No demonstration should be made with less than twenty rounds in a volley; to maintain which, in any fixed position, at the rate of two or even three vollies a minute, twenty men may be said to be sufficient, and this with Rockets projecting cohorn, or 5½-inch howitzer shells, or even 18 and 24-pounder solid shot. The first point of comparison, therefore, is—How many rounds of such ammunition in the minute could twenty men project by the ordinary means of artillery?—or how many in a volley, even if they had all the means at hand?—And the next point is—what are the comparative facilities in bringing these different means into action, where the one system requires only the transport of the ammunition—the other, not only that of the ammunition, but of the most massive ordnance, without which it is entirely useless?
But independent of this comparison as to quantity, there are others in which the Rocket has advantages exclusively its own: there are situations where artillery cannot by any means be brought into action, while there is no situation, no nature of ground, which is passable to an infantry soldier with his musket in his hand, that is not equally to be passed by the Rocketteer with his arm and ammunition. For the accomplishment of any particular service, he may dispense entirely with wheel carriages or even horses; there is nothing which the men themselves cannot transport and bring into action; and if any bombardment were required by a coup de main, 1,000 men would not only convey 1,000 rounds of the heaviest Carcass Rockets, a number sufficient to destroy any place within the compass of their range, but would perform that service in a few hours, having neither batteries or platforms to erect, nor mortars to convey.
Such are the true principles of this new system of artillery, for (projecting the same ammunition) so it may be called, and the greater the scale of equipment, the greater in proportion will its powers appear; thus, if an establishment were formed on the strength of a cavalry regiment, if 600 mounted men were equipped on the principles of the present detachment, they would take into action, without ammunition horses or wheel carriages, 2,400 rounds of ammunition, and 200 abouches a féu; and if 100 ammunition horses were attached to this corps, it would further possess a reserve of nearly 2,000 rounds more: the whole capable of every movement and service practicable by any other regiment of heavy cavalry; and the same proportionate power would be found to attach to every other mode of equipment.
In addition to this view of the powers of the weapon, it is important to state, that the detail of the service is most extraordinarily simple; that there are but a few points to be attended to in its application; and those such as may be most easily acquired; the principal ones are, that care must be taken to fix the sticks very firmly to the Rocket, and in the true direction of the axis of the Rocket, to prevent aberration of flight.
That, at high angles, the frame must always be elevated for the large Rockets from 5° to 10° more than the elevation at which the Rocket is intended to be projected, and in the small Rockets from 2½° to 5°; for, as the Rocket leaves the frame before it has obtained its full force, it drops a certain number of degrees in proportion to its weight at going off. Thus the longest ranges of the 32-pounder Carcass Rockets are obtained at about 55°, or rather more, if the Rockets have been long made. An officer, however, being prepared for this circumstance, will soon discover the maximum range of the Rockets he may have to discharge.
Some allowance in elevation also must be made for the direction of the wind: if it is powerful, and blows in a contrary direction to that in which the Rocket is projected, the frame requires more elevation; for the wind acting more on the stick than the body of the Rocket, depresses the elevation in its rising. If, on the contrary, it blows in the direction of the Rocket’s flight, less elevation is required; for, in this case, the Rocket mounts by the wind’s action on the stick. So, from the same cause, if the wind be strong, and across the range, though no difference of elevation is necessary, still an allowance must be made to leeward; for the Rocket, contrary to the course of ordinary projectiles, has a tendency to draw to windward: a few rounds, however, in all these cases, will immediately point out to the observant officer what is the required allowance. These remarks refer only to high angles; for no effect whatever is produced by the wind in the ground-ranges: in these the only caution necessary to be attended to is, to chuse the most smooth and level spot for the first 100 yards in front of the point from which it is intended to discharge these Rockets, as they generally travel in contact with the surface for this distance, not having acquired their full force, and are therefore more liable to deflection; but having at this point acquired a velocity not much less than the mean velocity of a cannon ball, they are not to be more easily deflected: at this distance also they rise a few feet from the ground, so as to clear any ordinary obstacles that may occur; insomuch that, if it were desired to fire Rockets at low angles into a besieged town, from the third parallel, these Rockets, having a clear space to acquire their velocity, in front of the parallel, would run up the glacis, clear the ditch, and skim over the parapet into the town; and would no doubt be of great use in a variety of cases, particularly in discomfiting and rendering the enemy unsteady, by pouring in vollies of some hundreds or even thousands on this principle, previous to an assault or escalade: indeed, knowing the effect, I do not hesitate to affirm that this manœuvre, practised on the great scale, would infallibly dislodge any enemy posted for the protection