« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Brit 24 pound coehorn  (Read 1154 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline threepdr

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Avid Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 144
  • Gender: Male
    • Eras Gone Blog Spot
Brit 24 pound coehorn
« on: June 12, 2012, 06:27:36 AM »
I thought y'all might enjoy this.  I snapped this shot while in Plymouth England a couple of weeks ago.  It is a wonderful condition bronze 24 pounder Coehorn mortar.  It is Napoleonic era, but essentially the same as those made during the Revolution.  It was sitting on its muzzle in a window sill in a Elizabethan house museum.  The museum folks only knew it was a mortar and "came from the harbor."  They had no explanation why it was being displayed in an Elizabethan house without any markings or interpretation.  They were a bit surprised when I told them what it might be worth.  Too bad it is so unappreciated (and too heavy for my luggage!)
 
I've inverted the image so you can see it better.
 

 
 
 
Logged
See my history and archaeology blog at:  http://erasgone.blogspot.com/

Offline cannonmn

  • Trade Count: (1)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3345
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2012, 08:46:47 AM »
Thanks for the nice picture.  I hate to be picky (I'm lyin' of course!) but did you measure it for bore diameter?  To me it looks more like the 4.5-inch Coehorn.  If I'm not mistaken, the Brits called their 5.5-inch bronze mortar a "Royal."  That size would be closer to a 24 pounder.
Logged

Offline threepdr

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Avid Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 144
  • Gender: Male
    • Eras Gone Blog Spot
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2012, 09:26:05 AM »
Cannonman, you are correct the Brits called their 24pdr a 5.5 inch and the nomenclature was a "Royal."  I could not move this tube to see the bore, however the outside deminsions suggested a 5.5 inch bore.  Also notice that the vent field has been altered.  Part of it has been milled off and some holes added nearby.  It looks like it may have had a flint or percussion firing device attached at one time.
Logged
See my history and archaeology blog at:  http://erasgone.blogspot.com/

Offline A.Roads

  • GBO Supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Avid Poster
  • *****
  • Posts: 182
  • Gender: Male
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2012, 10:10:33 PM »
A very nice example, made by John & Henry King in the Royal foundry, the first I have seen adapted to take a cannon lock.
Also nice to see it hasn't been polished to death, unlike mine, see below.
Adrian
 
 
Logged

Offline seacoastartillery

  • GBO Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (1)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2853
  • Gender: Male
    • seacoastartillery.com
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2012, 10:46:14 PM »
      Does anyone know the type and vintage of this  mortar which Mike and I found at Ft. Niagara in 2007?  Looks like it may have seen some use in years not long past.

Tracy







Logged
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 threepdr

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Avid Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 144
  • Gender: Male
    • Eras Gone Blog Spot
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2012, 03:52:16 AM »
Tracy,
 
Could you tell the bore size?  The bed is exactly like those illustrated for a 4.5 inch mortar in Muller's Treatise on Artillery.  This tube appears to be stuck in the bed facing the wrong direction. :o
Logged
See my history and archaeology blog at:  http://erasgone.blogspot.com/

Offline Bob Smith

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 280
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2012, 04:01:24 AM »
Cypher of George II- 1727-1760. Must have been cast by Andrew Schalch at Woolwich or William Bowen or Richard Gilpin, both working in Southwark, London.
Bob Smith
Logged

Offline seacoastartillery

  • GBO Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (1)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2853
  • Gender: Male
    • seacoastartillery.com
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2012, 04:43:21 AM »
      Threepdr,   The tompion was stuck fast, so we didn't attempt to pry it off the muzzle, being respectful of museum or fort artifacts.  We both had the impression of bigger rather than smaller.  You're right about the tube being mounted in the wrong direction.  We never have seen one mounted like that before.

      Bob,   Thank you, very interesting and it makes this piece a possible capture or leave behind item during that unpleasantness in 1812 and 1813.  Ft. George is right across the Niagara River.  Those forts, if memory serves, changed hands more than once during those years.

Tracy and Mike
Logged
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 KABAR2

  • Trade Count: (1)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2830
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2012, 04:49:43 AM »

If  by the one set of handles on this for lifting I would say this may be a grenade mortar
if memory works around a 2,25 inch bore .... most likely a repro like mine below....
Logged
Mr president I do not cling to either my gun or my Bible.... my gun is holstered on my side so I may carry my Bible and quote from it!

Sed tamen sal petrae LURO VOPO CAN UTRIET sulphuris; et sic facies tonituum et coruscationem si scias artficium

Offline Cannoneer

  • GBO Supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3950
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2012, 06:13:12 AM »
Quote from: A.Roads on June 12, 2012, 10:10:33 PM
A very nice example, made by John & Henry King in the Royal foundry, the first I have seen adapted to take a cannon lock.
Also nice to see it hasn't been polished to death, unlike mine, see below.
Adrian

Adrian,

I really admire your mortar, but I can see what you mean about it being perhaps a little too well loved over the years.
Logged
RIP John. While on vacation July 4th 2013 in northern Wisconsin, he was ATVing with family and pulled ahead of everyone and took off at break-neck speed without a helmet. He lost control.....hit a tree....and the tree won.  He died instantly.

The one thing that you can almost always rely on research leading to, is more research.

Offline cannonmn

  • Trade Count: (1)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3345
Re: Brit 24 pound coehorn
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2012, 03:04:54 PM »
Quote
Does anyone know the type and vintage of this mortar which Mike and I found at Ft. Niagara in 2007? Looks like it may have seen some use in years not long past.

I agree, repro.  It is not exactly like any British bronze mortar I've seen, in the outline.  COA looks slightly different from authentic examples.  If they were firing it recently, it is unlikely they'd fire an original.  NPS is not allowed to fire original guns, at least last time I checked, and Ft. Niagra, although a New York State park, most likely does likewise.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »