Florida Mortar

[GLS]

Going thru old photos I found this shot I took back in 1974 at the fort in St. Augustine.  I was wondering if this good looking mortar is still there?  What type is it?
 
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Guess when you run out of shot you just use whatever is at hand.
 

[boomerralph]

Yes it is.  Owned by Metropolitan Museum of Art, on permanent loan to Castillo De San Marcos.
 
Ralph Reese
St. Augustine, Fl

[KABAR2]

I believe it is in a Cannonmn video of Castilio De San Marcos, I think he does a walk around of it.......
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   So who is the volunteer cannon ball?

[KABAR2]

Found it!
Info on plaque in video:"Bronze 15-inch mortar constructed in Barcelona  in 1724, this weapon was captured by the United States during the Spanish American war in 1898 it is part of the Yale University Art collection, It was placed on indefinite loan to the Castillo de San Marcos in 1971
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Maximum Range 2700 yards or 1.2 miles"

[Cannoneer]

Thanks for posting the pic, GLS. That is definitely one unique looking piece of artillery.

[Double D]

To bad Rocklock's router died, he would like this post.

[GLS]

Thanks for all the relpies.  I would love to see one of the mortars reproduced in GB size.  I am going to check into the metal casting classes they offer at the university I work for.  They pour aluminum, brass, bronze and iron often.  An iron pour is coming soon and that is always a big attraction.  I get involved over safety issues (after a few injuries last pour) but I see a need to learn bronze casting.  Maybe I can  find the answers to repeatable mortar casting.

[Cannoneer]

This is the kind of thing that has to be reproduced in cast bronze, anything else seems to fall short of doing it justice. There's an old "Popular Mechanics" magazine issue that contained a tutorial on how to machine this Spanish mortar out of steel, and there was a good machinist that sold a few on eBay; but even though they're well done, for me they just don't quite cut it (pun intended).

Late member El Caz's gb mortar.

[GGaskill]

There should be little difficulty in making GB size versions of this piece.  If you wish to make several, I would suggest making a suitably oversized model (allowing for shrinkage), then making a rubber mould so you can cast wax patterns to be used in investment casting the actual finished pieces.  Then invest and cast.  I have cast 90 lb half scale mountain howitzers this way without difficulty. 

Gary was unable to find a foundry that could cast his patterns but that seemed to be because they wouldn't change their ways to deal with a new product.

[cannonmn]

One of my areas of interest is the question of how the many Spanish cannon now in the US actually got here.  The mortar pictured in this discussion exemplifies the single largest source of Spanish artillery brought to the US ca. 1900.   NY metal merchant Benjamin Lissberger won an auction, held by the Spanish government in Havna, of about 500 Spanish bronze cannons weighing a total of about 500 tons, in 1898.  This particular mortar and several others, identical, were in the lot of Spanish cannons brought from Havana by Lissberger.  The mortar battery and other large Spanish bronze pieces, 13 in all, were displayed on the Moorestown, NJ estate of financier Luther Kountze until his death in 1918, after which some of them went to Yale and some (apparently) to Ft. Ticonderoga, and perhaps to other destinations.  I've been putting the detailed documents, photos, etc. regarding this research on the SARA site (Spanish Artillery Research Associates) in the form of either messages or files, in case you'd like more info, just join that group. It isn't nearly as active as this board, perhaps some of the members have died, can't tell, but it is very focused on Spanish artillery.