Цитата из биографи генерал-лейтенанта Роберта Мелвилла, написанная его секретарем:
While on duty at the Cove fort in Cork harbour, applying to certain principles he had previously adopted on the subject of artillery the result of his observation and enquiries concerning the comparative advantages of batteries on land and afloat, Captain Melville was led to project guns, shot, and shells of a nature up to that time unknown to practice. His gun was to be much shorter, therefore much lighter, and consequently much more manageable than any then in use. His shot was so far to partake of the nature of a shell, as to be cast with a hollow in the centre, to receive inflammable substances, while it would be so strong as to answer at a proper distance the purpose of a solid shot. His shot, in fact, was to combine the properties of the shot, the shell and the carcase. Of this species of gun those called CARRONADES, * from the great establishment at Carron, in Scotland, where they were first cast, have long been universally adopted. The larger sort, however, the MELVILLADES, have hitherto been seldom employed.
* Carronades were designed by General Melville in 1759 and were at first called 'smashers.' They were adopted in the British navy in 1779 and their use was extended to other navies also. Somewhat similar in shape to a mortar, they were destructive at close quarters, especially against wooden ships. They were used with effect in the Battle of the Saints in 1782.
