SHELL BURSTS IN A GUN PIT.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXV, Issue 4454, 17 January 1910, Page 3

SHELL BURSTS IN A GUN PIT.

Eleven Victorians Injured. Mei.uoukne, Jan. 13. During practice operations at Point Nepean in connection with Lord Kitchener’s visit, a shell from a 9.2 inch gun exploded, wounding eleven men. The injuries are only slight in the majority of cases. All the injured men were in the gun-pit at at the time of the explosion. The gun is on hydro-pneumatic mountings and is loaded in the pit and then elevated. The charge went off before the lip of the gun cleared the parapet, and the projectile ricochetted and broke into pieces, filling the pit with smoke and flame. The projectile weighed 380 pounds, the charge consisting of 64 pounds of powder. The cause of the accident is not known. Most of the men are still too dazed to form an opinion, and the officers are very reticent. One suggestion is that in locking the breach the charge exploded by concussion, But for the fact that the gun in descending was stopped and loaded two feet above the usual base, probably the whole of the men of the detachment would have been killed. The practice was part of Lord Kitchener’s camp scenel The fatal gun had fired two shots and there had also been two misfires. In consequence of this it was decided to substitute a percussion tube for the electric tube. After that was done the gun was loaded, and was being raised again when it prematurely exploded. The shell caused terrific havoc It struck and wrecked the masonry, and then ricochetted almost vertically into the air. Artillerymen were hurled in all directions, stunned and bleeding. Eleven out of fourteen in the gun-pit were injured. Gunner Finch was struck by a projectile held in readiness for the next shot and sent to the hospital suffering from a supposed fractured pelvis, Jan. 14. The injured gunners are progressing satisfactorily. The gun was an old one and had been in the fort 20 years. It is suggested that the accident was caused by the lock becoming defective through wear. A board of officers has been appointed to inquire into the cause. Lord Kitchener expressed regret at the disaster. Jan. 15. Ten of the men injured in the gun accident have been discharged from the hospital and the others are expected to resume duty in a few days. Their wounds are less serious than at first supposed.