Original and Replica Seacoast and Siege Artillery Firing from U.S. Forts Today

[seacoastartillery]

   So, let's see, we now have a few seacoast guns firing on a regular basis in the United States.  There is the original 1844, 8" Columbiad on the terraplein of Fort Delaware in the river and state of that name firing weekly if not more frequently during the summer. They use a one pound BP charge.



 
   In the Peach Tree State, we have an original 7" Brooke Double-Banded Seacoast and Navy Rifle on a naval pivot carriage at the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus, Columbus, Georgia.  A five pound black powder charge is fired occasionally from it during the season over the Chattahoochee River.

            In Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West, Florida there is an original 10" Rodman Gun that occasionally scares the seagulls with a blast from it's casemate position, one of only two firing seacoast guns so situated in the United States today.

   The other casemate gun firing today is the original 32 Pdr. firing from Ft. Delaware's casemate in that 3rd System fort on Peapatch Island in the Delaware River just east of Delaware City in the State of Delaware!  What the hey?  Is it a crime to give a small state a big plug?  There is a YouTube clip showing this gun fire called "32pdr Seacoast Gun".

               Recently in 2009 the state of Alabama, which administers Fort Morgan, mounted a model 1829,  32 Pdr. seacoast gun on a wooden front pintle barbette carriage.  On August 1, 2009 this gun, served by reenactors in Confederate uniforms, fired toward the historical position of Admiral Farragut's flag ship, Hartford where it met the CSS Tennessee, from a sandbagged water battery 25 yards north of the fort's outer works during the August 1, 2009 commemorative of the Battle of Mobile Bay.   Mike and I believe this is an original seacoast 32 Pdr. which used to be mounted on a barbette carriage located at the South-East Bastion.  We have a call in to the fort’s historian to get a definitive answer to our quandary, original or replica?  We will report his answer.  He just called to tell us the tube is original and the barbette carriage is a replica which was used in the Movie, “Glory”.


              Notable replica cannon which fire from forts in the U.S. today are the 32 Pdr. gun on a 4-truck garrison carriage at Fort Lee in New Jersey.  There is a 32 Pdr. Naval Gun on a front pintle barbette carriage at Fort Maconnea       Along the southern coast of North Carolina at Fort Fisher, there is an all steel reproduction of an original Rifled and Banded 42 pdr.,  7" seacoast gun, fired occasionally during the summer.  In Ft. Pulaski, Georgia there is a reproduction siege rifle, a 30 Pdr. Parrott.  It is fired occasionally during the season. Also in Georgia, near Savannah there is 32 Pdr.  gun at Old Fort Jackson which is fired on a regular basis during the season.  You can see a video clip of it firing by entering  "Fort Jackson fires 32-pound Cannon".   There are many others, of course, but most are field artillery. Please consult one of these forts for their firing schedule before running down there to see the seacoast guns fire. 

              If you want to see the Fort Fisher Banded 42 Pdr. Seacoast gun fire in quick succession with a
10 pounder Parrott and a bronze field gun go to YouTube an enter this: Fort Fisher Civil War Museum by Proudrebel08. ]Excellent thunderous roars from the cannons on this one.  If not, you can view this photo obtained a long time ago from an unknown source snapped by an unknown photographer.  This gun was made by the  Compagnie Royal D’Artillerie located in Quebec, Canada.  Since then they have gone out of business, but NOT due to a lack of quality. 




FYI


 Mike and Tracy

[Max Caliber]

Here are pictures of the Brooke they fire at the museum in Columbus, Georgia

[seacoastartillery]

     Thanks Max.  That's one of our favorites!  Mike and I have vowed to get back to the south next year to see the big double-banded Brooke fire.  I have been impressed with that gun ever since 1970 when I visited the previous naval museum in Columbus called the Confederate Naval Museum.  The big 7-Inch Brooke was on a plain concrete pedestal at that time.  I was going through the I.O.B.C. course at Ft. Benning, GA at the time, so I had a chance to come back several more times to see the various artillery related exhibits, Columbus was just down the road from Ft. Benning.
 
      The subsequently established National Civil War Naval Museum was one of the first places Mike and I visited when we changed the name of our business to Seacoast Artillery in 2003.  I think that 7-Inch Brooke and also the 11-Inch Double-Banded Smooth Bore Brooke were impressive enough to get us think about that type to include in our product line-up.
 
 Mike and Tracy
 
 
 The big Brooke Pivot Gun in Columbus, Georgia in 2003.  Scanned chem. photo by Seacoast.
 
 
 
 
 This was the non-firing, fiberglass replica 8" Naval Gun we found at Ft. Macon when we visited in 2005, since replaced by the all steel, firing replica previously mentioned.  Both are very well done and can fool anybody who is further than about 20 feet from them. 
 
 
 
 
 When visiting Ft. Pulaski near Savannah, Georgia with my family in 2002, I spotted a 100 Pdr. Parrott seacoast rifle and was very impressed by this cannon at a distance of 50 feet.  The tube, I discovered, after walking up to it, was a fiberglass replica which was painted very well that year and looked sooooo real.  The tip-off that it was a replica came when I noticed that there was a automotive hose clamp over the right trunnion to a bolt head inside the authentic cheek on that side.  The Chassis was authentic and correct, being made in 1859.  I scratched my head and asked myself this question:  "Why would the fort technicians put a perforated metal hose clamp on a 9,800 Lb. tube??"  Why?  Then it dawned on me that "THIS Tube" might NOT weigh 9,800 pounds, it might weigh 198 pounds! ( if it was made of fiberglass).  I began to look for other anomalies.  About 5 minutes later, I saw the clincher.  Whoa!!  This tube has two front sight masses, one on the right and the other on the left rimbase!  The original 100 Pdr. Parrott seacoast rifle had but one sight mass on the right rimbase.  The Seacoast photo from our visit in 2006 shows the front sight mass on the left.  The photo IS NOT left view/right view switched!
 
 
 
 
 
 
      We hope you agree that there is a place for replica cannon at forts today, especially if the fort has no original guns to put on display.  We would much prefer if fort signage existed to educate the public as to which of the fort's cannon are replicas and which are original.  Ft. Macon does an excellent job of this.

[Blaster]

Here are a couple that we photographed at Bent's Fort, CO (Near LaJunta, CO)
They are not seacoast or siege artillery but still worth looking at.


and the powder magazine at Bent's Fort


Of course these are only representative pieces and no longer fired but are still worth looking at.
If anyone happens to be near this Fort, it is well worth the effort to stop in and check it out!!

[seacoastartillery]

     Blaster,    We really appreciate your contribution here.  WOW!!  That Swivel might not be capable of conducting a siege by itself, but it sure could foil an enemy's Infantry attack or Coup de Main.  Mike and I both like large swivel guns and that one would fit the bill!  WE saw lots of those "high water" garrison carriages at California's famous Sutter's Fort in Sacramento.  They must have been popular during the 1820s, 30s, 40s and 50s in the western forts built during that era.

     We have visited several forts on the South Platte River, but the one you showed, Bent's Fort, is much more interesting with it's cannon.  We will have to visit in September or October when we get a chance.  Thanks for posting!

Tracy and Mike

[Blaster]

Thanks T&M.  When up on the wall of the Fort, I could look down in the field and just imagine that swivel piece being carefully aimed as some rider galloping towards the Fort with apparent bad intentions.  Make that trip and I can assure you, you will enjoy the trip through the entire Fort.  We utilized our "Golden Age Passport" good for all National Parks and it got the whole car load of us in for free.  Of course we did do a little donating to help with their overhead.  There were a lot of folks working there in authentic period clothing and the tool shop was outstanding as there were some spokes in the process of being made for wagon wheels, some muzzle loading rifle stocks in various stages etc.  With all the traveling you two guys do, I am confident you already have one of these passes which are good for a lifetime.
I believe I just talked myself into making another trip to tour the Fort one of these first days.

[Double D]

Thanks T&M.   We utilized our "Golden Age Passport" good for all National Parks and it got the whole car load of us in for free.   

And they are old enough, boy are they old!   

[seacoastartillery]

      O.K. Montana boy, who, pray tell, is retired?  You.  Us?  No, probably never.  Who spends hours and hours on the internet tending to far flung investments, talking  to old law enforcement cronies, swapping recollections and stories paying not a lick of attention to the accuracy of said stories.  You.  And every time we visit for one of your famous western cannon shoots, I've noticed that while everyone is casting zinc or sawing sprues, you drift to the back of the shop to work on something normally kept under that big tarp in the shadows.  I'm not really that nosy, but I couldn't help myself last time.  I took a little peek and quickly darted away to ponder what it was you were using that spoke shave on.  Until just a few minutes ago, I thought it was a wooden sleigh runner, you know for one of those Canadian or north-woods cannon sleighs you see a picture of occasionally.  I didn't want to steal your thunder on a new thread devoted to what would be a very interesting build, so I said nothing.  NOW I Understand what it was!!  You broke your rocking chair, ROCKER !

Yes, paybacks are like they say, Douglas.   

Tracy and Mike

[Blaster]

I wonder if that new rocking chair, that Douglas is allegedly fabricating, will be equipped with a good quality seat belt?

[BoomLover]

Hummm, a Rocking Chair, with a Seat Belt...go all out, Double D, and add a Swivel Cannon on each arm to repel boarders.....

[Double D]

....and I have had my Golden Passport Card for years!!!!!   

Eat your hearts out!!!

[Double D]

Oh, sorry, forgot. 

To the rest of you.  Thank you for your continued employment and payment of your FICA tax which funds my monthly Social Security check.  It  is gratefully appreciated....I will spend it wisely on powder and cannons.

 

[BoomLover]

That's good, Douglas, as long as it doesn't go to waste on incidentals like Food, Clothing, Housing....and don't forget to save a big chunk of that Retirement money for GAS to get to cannon shoots!

[seacoastartillery]

    Getting back to the topic of this thread, I just found a nice photo of the 1829 32-pounder seacoast gun that the State of Alabama installed in 2009 in the water battery just outside Fort Morgan, Guardian of the Gulf and Mobile Bay.  The other photo I found was too small and not from a good angle, and therefore, was not posted; this one is.  Installed just before the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Mobile Bay, this gun, an original model 1829 was supplied to Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines which flanked the entrance to Mobile Bay.  Many of these guns were rifled locally after the war started; most of this work was done in Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, Louisiana as they were the locations closest to the forts with foundry facilities and rifling machinery.  As we mentioned previously, the fort historian told us that not only was the tube an original, but the wood, front pintle, seacoast, barbette, carriage was built for the movie, "Glory".
 
 
 Tracy and Mike
 
 
 

[Swampman]

Here's one at Ft. Gaines

[seacoastartillery]

 Swampman,     Thanks for posting such a nice photo of that 32 Pdr. seacoast gun M1829 firing. That picture of the big gun firing from it's wood, center pintle, seacoast, barbette carriage on top of the South-West Bastion is a unique one.  Mike and I are so glad you found it!
 
      There are four of these M1829s there at Fort Gaines and all of them are rifled with 10 grooves (1) or 5 grooves (3) in addition to all of them being unbanded.  They were most likely rifled at Skates and Co. in Mobile, Alabama.  The bolts and shells used were very short and lighter weight than others, such as those used in purpose-built seacoast rifles like the 6.4-inch Brooke single or double banded rifles.  The bore size was the same; the strength was not even close. Nobody really trusted these conversion rifles much. 
 
 Tracy and Mike
 
 
 A photo of the type for bolt used in the unbanded 32 Pdrs. at Fort Gaines.
 
 
 
 
 Our picture of that gun and the South-West Bastion with the Gulf of Mexico in the background.  The grassy slope, (left edge) is actually the scarp shown here going down to the Chemin de Ronde or communications path behind the Carnot Wall with all of its rifle loop holes.  The Chemin de Ronde goes all round the periphery of the fort joining all portions of it. There are even tunnels for it which pierce the main bastion entrance tunnels under the Terraplein.  Sometimes called the detached scarp, this Carnot Wall's specific purpose was to defeat a Coup de Main or sudden, large infantry attack.  The forts designers figured that the Flank Defence Howitzers M1844 and all the defender's musket fire from the wall could defeat the enemy infantry.  Only one other fort in the United States has a Carnot Wall.
 
 
 
 
 Here is a so-so photo we took of the rifling in the 32 Pdr. tubes.  This is the ten groove of the bunch.  It looks like Hook-Slant rifling to us, although it could possibly be Brooke modified Hook-Slant.
 
 
 
 
 Here is Fort Clinch in northern Florida near Fernandina Beach.  That is a good pic of it's Carnot Wall and the North-West Bastion with the St. Marys River flanking that side of the fort.  The Atlantic Ocean is to the photographer's back.  There are six, 8" Rodman guns on iron, front pintle, seacoast, barbette, carriages there and, according to the forts staff, a couple of these large guns had been fired on previous occasions. 



 
 When you inspect rocket, spacecraft, and aircraft parts for 28 years you develop certain habits which are hard to break. Mike would not buy a toaster without plugging it in first! Knock, knock, No answer except a hollow sound. The 8-inch Rodman guns on the terraplein of Fort Clinch are VERY well done replicas, not original guns. The nicely made carriages are also replicas. They also have a 10 inch Rodman Gun here which was found at Fort Taylor, Florida during excavations. It was unmounted when we visited in 2005.
 
 

[Swampman]

Another Ft. Gains pic......