Large Cannon Found at Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario

[seacoastartillery]

    Mike and I found this large cannon lying on timbers next to the fort's trading post when we visited this historic old structure dating from 1726 in western New York State on the Niagara River about 5 miles north of the famous falls.   We hope someone more familiar with British artillery can tell us exactly what this big brute is.  Quite a vigorous bombardment of this fort was mounted during the War Of 1812 from Ft. George, just across the Niagara River.  The Ft. Niagara artillerists wanted to drop a few shells into Ft. George and see exactly where they went, so they built artillery positions on the roof tops, especially the 3 story "French Castle" which lay along the west wall.

Tracy and Mike

The bore size is a little over 5.75", maybe as much as 5.85".




Elevated vent field, breeching ring and unique cascabel.  Are those elevation marks on the base ring?




The broad arrow pretty much says, British, but those other, raised relief crests are Greek to us.  Anybody know whose reign these designate?




It's a long one too, about 8 feet!  Can anybody tell if this is an authentic original or is it a replica?  Could it have come from Ft. George which is opposite the western curtain wall of this fort, across the Niagara river in Canada.

[dan610324]

hey hello stop , where is the trunnions ??

[KABAR2]

I don't have my books here at work, but it looks to be an original piece, have the trunnions been broken off?
the crest looks to be "GR though it is odd that there is no "III"(1760-1815) or "IV" (1815-1830)    the raised vent shows evidence of a Flint ignition system at some point, Can't make out the numbers above the crests but that should be the weight.

[Double D]

Looks like the cypher of George III.  British 24  PDR Naval gun.

Why don't you post here Palmerston Forts Society > Artillery, if you don't think I am right!

 

[tombstone270]

Markings looks a little like this one...


(King George III reigned 1760-1820)




tomb

[The Jeff]

You can see a 3 in Arabic numerals in the upper left.

[Bob Smith]

Blomefield pattern, introduced after 1787; at 8 foot, more likely to be an 18 Pounder than a 24 pounder

[RocklockI]

Tracy look on page 28 in your Navel Guns by Hans Mehl .

[seacoastartillery]

   This is a very good example of "garbage in - garbage out".  This is the last time I rely on memory alone to present observations for analysis.  After thinking about how shrimpy an 18 pdr. would look, I began to wonder.  Looking at my trip notes today AND calling the Fort Niagara curator, I found that the over-all-length of this piece is 10 feet 6 inches, not eight feet. Also the bore dia. is 6.5", not 5.8".  So, now we know why it looked so huge to Mike and I when we were there looking at it.  The curator also mentioned the only portion of it's provenance that they have is the very last leg of it's journey to Ft. Niagara; it came from Letchworth State Park located E.N.E. of Ft. Niagara fairly recently. Looks like it is solidly in the 6.4", 32 pdr. category.  According to my book on Naval Guns, the Cipher is from the reign of George III, 1760-1820.  Thanks Gary.  Thanks Double D for mentioning the Palmerston Forts Society site.  Back before email we occasionally wrote them letters of inquiry.  Thanks Dan for noticing the sledge-hammer modified trunnions.  Thanks tombstone270 for making me look even harder in my Naval Artillery book and know the diff between bronze and iron gun Ciphers.  The one you posted is in my book under Bronze Guns.  The Ft. Niagara gun is iron.  Thanks KABAR2 for noticing the flintlock mounting holes a significant observation.  Thanks Sir for pointing out those tiny numbers that I can't quite make out.  Finally, thank you Bob Smith for making me think.  You are the catalyst in this equation which caused the proper compounds to react and produce the sought-after, elusive, correct answer.

Tracy and Mike

[Double D]

So what is it?  a 32 PDR long Navel gun.

A little diligent research might be able to determine where this gun came from.  Look for a vessel that was scuttled in War of 1812 armed with 32 PDR's.  American vessel armed with captured British guns.  British vessel scuttled or captured and them scuttled.

[Bob Smith]

It did seem on the large size, but photographs (and their angles) can be very deceptive
Bob Smith