Yesterday I didn't have much to do so I went to the
Mariners Museum in Newport News Virginia. The main thing I went to see was a cannon from the CSS Virginia that they recently restored as well as the stuff from the Monitor. It's been a while since I visited last and their collection has really grown. Then there were a few other artillery kinds of things spread throughout the museum. All in all it's a good place to spend an afternoon.
You should be able to click on any of these photos to get a bigger version.
Here's the #2 gun that was destroyed during CSS Virginia's battle with the USS Cumberland. This is a 9" Dahlgren and was the first gun on the port side. My great-great grandfather was on the #4 hot shot gun which would have been the gun next to this one.
This is one of the Monitor's two 11" Dahlgrens being preserved.
This is two pictures I stitched together of a full size model of the fore part of the CSS Virginia. A single banded Brook rifle is being hoisted aboard on the port side, and a gunport shutter on the starboard side. You can walk around on the inside and see a Marsilly style carriage being built.
Here's a cutaway model of the Monitor's turret. Notice the gun port edges are still rough. Later turrets had the ridges filed out, apparently there wasn't enough time to do that with the original Monitor.
These are breech and front sights and covers, hammer, and a fuse recovered from the Monitor's turret.
The plaque near this one says:
"8-inch Mortar, Model 1861, circa 1864
Fort Pitt Foundry
This mortar was found at Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay, Alabama, and was probably mounted there following the fort's capture by Union forces in August 1864."
The round balls are 3 pounders from the war of 1812. No dates given on the bar shot. In the upper right is a magazine lamp for use near the magazine. If I ever get my golfball howitzer finished I'd like to make some of that expanding shot.
A model of a mortar boat.
A bronze rifled cannon. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the plaque, so I know nothing about this one.
Although here's a good shot of the rifling if that makes up for it! I didn't think brining a powder can would be a good idea, but the bore is roughly fist sized.
A swivel gun and other relics from the mid 1500's.
The howitzer on the left is of Spanish origin from 1787, while the mortar on the right is British and had no date listed.
And just for kicks, here's a punt gun for market hunting. It appears to be made of 3 sections of overlapping pipe, you can still see threads on the ends of the outer layers. I wonder what kind of breech it has, and does it conform to the 1 caliber rule??
Someday I'd like to make one simply to hang on the wall.