The river was full of sand-banks, and little islands stood here and thereone in mid-stream, where the ironclads are now launched at Elswick.

For a mile and a quarter, along the north bank of the Tyne, stretch the world-famed Elswick Works, which have grown to their present gigantic proportions from the small beginnings of five and a half acres in 1847.

The price of the land for the new shops, which were soon built on the green slopes above the Tyne, was paid to Mr. Hodgson Hind and Mr. Richard Grainger; the latter of whom had intended, could he have carried out his plans for the rebuilding of Newcastle, not to stop until he made Elswick Hall the centre of the town.

On some of the early notepaper of the firm there is, as the heading, a picture of Elswick as it was then, showing the first shops, the little square building in which were the offices, the green banks sloping down to the waterside, and the island in the middle of the shallow stream, while the chimneys and smoke of Newcastle are indicated in the remote background.

The new machinery rapidly grew in favour; and orders from mines, docks and railways poured in to the Elswick firm, which soon extended its works.

An Ordnance department was opened at Elswick, and the Government promised a continuance of orders above those that the Arsenal at Woolwich was able to fulfil.

All went well for a time, but after some years the connection between the Government and Elswick ceased; the Ordnance and Engineering works were then amalgamated into one concern, and Mr. George Rendel and Captain Noblenow Sir Andrew Noble, and one of the greatest living authorities on explosiveswere placed in charge of the former.

Released from the agreement to make no guns except for the British Government, Elswick was open to receive other orders, which now began to roll in from all the world.

Elswick prospered greatly, until suddenly there came a check, in the shape of a strike for a nine hours day, in 1871.

The gun, which was the largest in the world at that time, was lowered into the "Europa" by the largest pair of "sheer-legs" in existence, and was lifted out again at Spezzia by the largest hydraulic crane of that day, and all these were the work of the Elswick firm.

This is one of the most notable features of the Elswick works; the wonders of ancient magicians pale into insignificance before the marvels of this department, and no Eastern Genius could accomplish such seemingly impossible feats with greater ease than do the workmen of Elswick.

The works continued to grow still further, and soon Elswick was building cruisers for China, for Italy (where works at Pozzuolithe ancient Puteoliwere opened), for Russia, Chili, and Japan.

Tynesiders took a special interest in the progress of the Japanese wars, for so many of that country's battleships had their birth on the banks of the river at Elswick, and Japanese sailors became a familiar sight in Newcastle streets.

The Elswick firm became Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Ltd., in 1897, which was also the year of another great strike; and two years later, a disastrous fire burned down three of their shops, throwing two thousand men temporarily out of employment.

And the scope and extent of these works are extending, and yet extending; and now Elswick and Scotswood form an uninterrupted line of closely-packed dwellings, which stretch without a break from Newcastle, and make a background for the immense works on the river shore; and one would look in vain for any signs of the pretty country lanes and village of sixty years ago.

In the following year he explained to the same society his hydraulic experiments and achievements; in 1846 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; and the next summer, 1847, saw the Elswick Works begun.

ORDNANCE.Firing Trial of the 110½ Ton B.L. Elswick Gun.

* * FIRING TRIAL OF THE 110½ TON B.L. ELSWICK GUN.

It is supplied to Elswick from Whitworth's works, one of the few in England where such a tube could be made.

[Illustration: THE NEW 110½ TON ELSWICK GUNS FOR H.M.S. BENBOW.]

The estimated maximum for this gun was a velocity of 2,017 ft. with a projectile weighing 1,632 lb., giving a total energy of 46,061 ft. tons, or 13,000 ft. tons less than the Elswick gun, comparing the estimated results.

The proof of the Elswick gun is mounted on a carriage turned out by the Royal Carriage Department, under Colonel Close.

Theoretically, the recoil is not so perfectly met as in some of the earlier Elswick designs, in which the presses were brought opposite to the trunnions, so that they acted symmetrically on each side of the center of resistance.

7. It is to be made of forged steel, and supplied by Elswick.

ARMSTRONG, WILLIAM GEORGE, LORD, born at Newcastle, produced the hydraulic accumulator and the hydraulic crane, established the Elswick engine works in the suburbs of his native city, devoted his attention to the improvement of heavy ordnance, invented the Armstrong gun, which he got the Government to adopt, knighted in 1858, and in 1887 raised to the peerage; b. 1810.