Let me first preface this with I belong to a group that interpenetrates the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Era. My father has found a documented design we would like the forum to look at.
His question to me and the one I will initially put to you is what color would this have been painted or finished as? The historic piece is in the drawing below and is the first picture. I do not have the book this was out of but I believe it is the "Mountain Man's Sketch Book Vol. I.". Clearly the HB gives us the clue that it possibly would have been English but would the Hudson's Bay company have followed Royal Military standards? The question is pertaining to the carriage.
Next we are looking at building a carriage for a 1" bore swivel the we have. We wish to pattern it off of this HB piece. It will be offered as an interpretation of what a party of free trappers would have had in the southern Rockies possibly passing through Bent's Fort and Taos. I will more than likely build the axle tree out of cypress and add cedar cheeks. I am wondering if there was a pattern similarly used for the Seminole wars in Florida. This might also tie into the thread posted about the small gun in Silver Springs Park.
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,252656.0.htmlMy feelings are that the carriage would have possibly been a re-purposed limber or would have been built in the field. If this was the case the finish could be linseed oil, occur, olive, or maybe blue. I have no idea as color is something that is lost in history sometimes. The idea is to have the swivel yoke mounted behind the axle and that the carriage will not recoil like a regular piece. The gunner standing behind the gun and traversing and elevating the piece with a tail in his hand much like a swivel would be used on a rail of a ship.
Included is the illustration of the desired design. This obviously takes its cues from the documented piece but is not entirely a copy. We have alot of history that says swivels entered the west on flat boats and were carried as far as the forts. Some even have been documented as being taken further and cached to be used at later times. One account has a party digging up a cache and using their swivel to repel an Indian attack.
PS. I have now found the Galloper carriage gun and think this might be the inspiration. As a example is dated 1756 at the Firepower, Museum of Royal Artillery and the time period I am interested in is 1820-1840 I wonder how relevant this could be.
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php?topic=98545.0I do like to point back to threads if they are helpful. This allows people to add new material and not just have to say here try this. So it looks like what we are actually building will be a galloper carriage for a swivel. Still need to know a color.
