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Author Topic: Cannons Spotted in North Florida  (Read 835 times)

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Offline seacoastartillery

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Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« on: March 23, 2007, 01:34:53 PM »
     About a year ago Mike and I had an opportunity to visit the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida.  We were between planned research locations and we had minimal expectations as to what we would find on our brief curiosity stop.  Boy, were we ever surprized!!  The place has more cannons than you can shake a stick at!  The fort has a very long, longesthistory of any in the country.  There are battlefield trophys, huge mortars, unique construction features in the fort, a very friendly staff and a small, but, well stocked gift shop.  We ended up staying almost the whole day.  If you ever get the chance, visit this fort.  You'll be glad you did. 


[img width= height= alt=image hosting by https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/castillosanmarcos001c.jpg[/img]
Spanish long gun, an 18 pdr.



[img width= height= alt=image hosting by https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/castillosanmarcos002c.jpg[/img]
These 12 pdr. garrison guns are fired during the summer season.



[img width= height= alt=image hosting by https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/castillosanmarcos003c.jpg[/img]
A mysterious mortar.



[img width= height= alt=image hosting by https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/castillosanmarcos004c.jpg[/img]
The bore of our mystery mortar.   Lines of active rust in a bronze tube.  Anybody have an idea of what we are looking at here?



[img width= height= alt=image hosting by https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/castillosanmarcos005c.jpg[/img]
15"  Spanish mortar.  Isn't she a beauty?



[img width= height= alt=image hosting by https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/castillosanmarcos006c.jpg[/img]
An excellent example of a Ravelin which protects the sally port from direct cannon fire.



[img width= height= alt=image hosting by https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/castillosanmarcos007c.jpg[/img]
A highly ornate 12 pdr. gun



[img width= height= alt=image hosting by https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/castillosanmarcos008c.jpg[/img]
War trophy.
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Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline dominick

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2007, 02:40:52 PM »
Great pictures!  Thanks.
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Offline Double D

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2007, 06:22:32 PM »
Went there some years ago, was very impressed
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Offline Cannonmaker

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2007, 07:02:12 PM »
I found a few good tubes in Pensicola,  I beleve Florida is rich in history with costal artillery.  Lots of costal  area.

Rick
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Rick Neff
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Malta, Idaho 83342              Keeping history alive with the roar of the guns

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Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2007, 07:42:32 PM »
     Thanks, Dom.  DD, I can't overstate how much we enjoyed this place.  It was really FUN to wander around there with so much to see that is from an era far removed from our own.  Rick, my uncle lives about five miles from Pensacola.  You are so right about it being a good cannon finding area.  I don't want to put you guys on the spot or anything, but Mike and I are really curious.  Does anyone know what those rust lines are doing in a BRONZE MORTAR TUBE?    SEE FOURTH PHOTO.    Is this some kind of reinforcing scheme with an iron wire basket in the flask during the bronze pour??  We checked this tube out.  It is NOT fiberglass!!  Feels like and rings like BRONZE.  Anybody bold enough for a guess?  It remains a complete mystery to us.

    Thanks.
Mike and Tracy
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Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline GGaskill

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2007, 09:33:50 PM »
You're sure that is iron rust?  That reminds me of a couple of pictures in the SBR catalog (page 53 in mine, bottom right two pix) that are indentified as "damaged during reaming."  Perhaps iron was scraped from passing shot and remains in the barrel?
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GG
“If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”--Winston Churchill

Offline Max Caliber

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2007, 04:36:42 AM »
Could they be the remnants of the iron chaplets used to support the core for the bore when the barrel was cast? I have seen them in other old bronze barrels.

Max
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Max

Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2007, 09:32:28 PM »
     I'm about 95% sure that is rust, George.  Do you see the orange smudge between the last line and the edge of the muzzle in the upper right quardrant?  That's where I thumbed the line and smeared the flakes onto the bronze patina.  You may be right about the shells leaving some iron behind as they were fired.  We don't know.
     Max, we could very well be wrong, but we believe that if it were coming from iron chaplets, it would probably eminate from circular spots between 3/4" and 1 1/2" diameter. 

     Any other ideas?  We still see it as a mystery.

Thanks,
Mike and Tracy
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Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline Double D

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2007, 04:46:41 AM »
Okay far fetch and dumb thought time, and I have seen the mortars also  and  believed them to be bronze also.

The thing that struck me was their condition.  They seemed in awful good condiution for as old as they are suppose to be.  Could they be bronze plated cast iron replicas?


Castillo de San Marcos
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Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2007, 09:10:22 AM »
      Thanks DD.  You just provided a bunch of provocative thoughts, no dumb ones there!  In fact you got me thinking that I might be calling a replica gun, a mystery.  That did not set too well with me, I can tell you.  So, I used the tool you provided and I called the interpretive ranger at Castillo de San Marcos and asked him first,  "Are all the bronze cannon you have there original?"  He assured me that they were, however not all are original to that location.  Some are on loan from organizations and universities around the country.  So far, so good.  Then I asked him the question at hand.  "Are there lines of rust in the bore of the smaller bronze mortar up on the terraplien?"  He said, "You know, I wondered that myself when I first started here, it sure looked like rust to me.  And you know, it is.  Our artillery expert told me that their research showed that the rust came from pieces of iron that were part of the "core" initially, but became part of the tube when the bronze was poured.  This condition is described as a "casting defect" and should not be present in the finished piece."  Mystery solved!  Thanks again to all who put forth their thoughts on this topic.

     Thanks again, DD.  Now I know why we keep you around here!!

Regards,
Mike and Tracy
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Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline Double D

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Re: Cannons Spotted in North Florida
« Reply #10 on: March 25, 2007, 05:38:24 PM »
Don't thank me, thank Max Caliber, he had it right!!  Thank yourself for spotting it.  I didn't.  Of course I might have but since it was 1989 when I saw those guns, I might have forgot in the interim....yeah that's it the interim got in the way... ;D ;D 
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