CSS Alabama Cannon

[Cannoneer]

Anyone interested in Civil War naval history will probably be aware of Admiral Raphael Semmes' exploits commanding the CSS Alabama, and I think that it's terrific that this historic gun has been given to the Museum of Mobile, but at the risk of sounding like a 'doubting Thomas', I've never seen a British naval four truck carriage that looked like the carriage in this photo.

“Today represents the culmination of seven years of work by many people,” said Robert Edington. “In 2003 French and American divers recovered this cannon from the wreck of the CSS ALABAMA, which was sunk in 1864 in the English Channel 6 miles north of Cherbourg, France. It had lain underwater 140 years. Since then the cannon has been conserved by underwater archaeologists at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, S.C. and then transported to Mobile. Its original gun carriage had completely rotted away and had to be replaced. The replacement was constructed by experienced craftsmen from Mobile Public Buildings. The expertise of these artisans cannot go without note. The original plans for the gun carriage, dated May 1862, were located in England and copied exactly.” http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/mobile_county/css-alabama-cannon-arrives-at-museum

FOX10tv.com

[subdjoe]

The wheels look like from a movers dolly.  Could they maybe just be on for temporary and once in place in the display the proper wheels will be put on?

[seacoastartillery]

     Thanks for posting this Boom J.  It's a great photo and story.  That gun sure has the profile of a British 68-pounder.  I bet this cannon was the 8" smooth bore pivot gun on the CSS Alabama which was abaft the mainmast, the other pivot being the famous 100-pounder Blakely which was on the forecastle.  Six 32-pounders completed the armament as broadside guns.  Mike and I saw the renowned shell from the Blakely that lodged near the sternpost of the Federal ship Kearsarge, when we visited the Washington Navy Yard in 2005.  Had it exploded that fateful day, Sunday, June 19, 1864, six miles north of Cherbourg, France, it would have been a game-changer for sure.  

Tracy and Mike

[VA Rifleman]

This months edition of the Naval History magazine has a great article on this battle.

Here is the tease from the web site.

Stationed at the muzzle of one of the Kearsarge’s XI-inch pivot guns during the Union warship’s duel with the CSS Alabama, first loader John Bickford kept his composure and emerged from...
 

[GGaskill]

So add a link to your post for the article.

[VA Rifleman]

George: Thought of that when I posted but unless you are a member of the Naval Institute, you won't be able to access the article. This will get you to the right area. Of the two choices offered by the Naval Institute, I prefer  Naval History over Procedings.


http://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2010-12

[seacoastartillery]

     A link won't do you any good; a membership is required before you can get the print version or the cheaper online version.  They are available from $39.00 to $1550.00 depending on type and benefits.  Only the student membership is less, $29.00.

     If you want an inexpensive way to get the whole and complete story about the Confederate raider, Alabama, you could do what I did about a year ago and purchase the wonderful book,

   Wolf of the Deep: Raphael Semmes and the Notorious Confederate Raider CSS Alabama by Stephen Fox.

     Right now Abe Books has about 18 used editions available for $2.00 to $13.00.  Not only is this a fantastic adventure story, but a terrific book on responsibility.  The expectations of the Captain, Semmes and the First Officer Kell were well known and understood by the other officers and crew.  This is a story about the harsh realities of war and hundreds of ships up in flames, but also a voyage of almost two years in which not one crewman died of wounds or disease before the climactic battle off the coast of France in 1864. Written in a fast moving, entertaining style, this book is one you will not regret buying and reading.

Tracy

[seacoastartillery]

     Just found a pic of the British Navy's heavy hitter of the 1850s.  With a 8.12 Inch diameter bore size this gun could propel a 68 pounder ball with vigor and it had great smashing power beyond the range of the larger carronades making it particularly useful as a pivot gun, and in this capacity it was used onboard the CSS Alabama.    The image is of a 68-pounder onboard the HMS Warrior found in Wikipedia and is in the public domain.  The similarity with the conserved gun is unmistakable.

Tracy

British 68-pounder Naval Gun, the same type used as a Pivot Gun onboard the CSS Alabama.

[Cannoneer]

The wheels look like from a movers dolly.  Could they maybe just be on for temporary and once in place in the display the proper wheels will be put on?

Joe, you called this one right (thank goodness); it would have been a bad, bad thing, if the 'Mobile Museum' had intended to permanently display this historic gun like that.

http://blog.al.com/living-press-register/2010/08/an_alabama_cannon_one_of_the_o.html

"Moving the cannon was a challenge. Modern wheels were put in place to help the cannon move to its current location. The image in an 1863 photograph, which was obtained from the U.S. Navy, helped create the scene in the exhibit. The photo, taken while the ship was docked in Cape Town, South Africa, was enlarged and mounted behind the cannon."

Press-Register/Mike Kittrell



I'm of the opinion that this cannon is actually one of the two "conventional" 32-pounder guns that made up the 32-pdr broadside battery of six guns; take note of the muzzle swell and reinforce rings on the barrel. 

Quote taken from the website "Captain Alexander Blakely RA." http://captainblakely.org/default.aspx
"The Alabama was outfitted as planned with the single 7 inch Blakely on a centre-line pivot forward, an 8 inch calibre 68 pounder smooth-bore on a pivot aft, and six truck-mounted 32 pounder smooth-bores on the broadsides.  The 8 inch and four of the 32 pounders were also cast in iron by Fawcett, Preston & Company in Liverpool to an advanced “pressure curved” design, remarkably similar to that devised by Captain John Dahlgren in America. All of these guns were purchased from the makers in the name of Captain Blakely. The remaining two 32 pounder cast-iron smooth-bores were of “conventional” make, with ornamental bands, ribs and cascabel rings, probably bought from the stock of the Low Moor Iron Company."

[subdjoe]

The wheels look like from a movers dolly.  Could they maybe just be on for temporary and once in place in the display the proper wheels will be put on?

Joe, you called this one right (thank goodness); it would have been a bad, bad thing, if the 'Mobile Museum' had intended to permanently display this historic gun like that.

Thanks.  It only made sense with all the clues there.  The first was that there was no attempt to paint or otherwise hid the wheels and their hardware.  Another was that the hardware on the front truck looks a whole lot like some heavy duty dollys I have seen.  And, you can make out the holes in the gun carriage for the axles. 

[Double D]

Look closely at those dolly wheels.  The restorers were even more clever than you think.  To mount the front dolly wheels they made a set of axles  braces for the wheels.  I'll bet they did some thing as equally clever on the back.

[Cannoneer]

DD,
I think the brace that's attached to the front axle bed is an original feature of the carriage design. Many truck carriage designs of the 19th century had a brace that connected to the front axle and the underside of the cheek. If you enlarge the photo that shows the wooden trucks (with the heavy duty casters removed) on the axles, you can see the front of the bracket still in place.   
This may be a W. Green drawing that you posted; the brace on the front axle of this U.S. carriage is numbered 17.

[Swampman]

I'll drive over and take a look.

[Double D]

DD,
I think the brace that's attached to the front axle bed is an original feature of the carriage design. Many truck carriage designs of the 19th century had a brace that connected to the front axle and the underside of the cheek. If you enlarge the photo that shows the wooden trucks (with the heavy duty casters removed) on the axles, you can see the front of the bracket still in place.   
This may be a W. Green drawing that you posted; the brace on the front axle of this U.S. carriage is numbered 17.

Yes in deed it is part of the original design.. They used the design to mount the dolly wheel. They made separate axle braces for mounting the dolly wheels to it.  You can see the real ones on the finished carriage-different color.

[Cannoneer]

Is that so! Well how would you like to meet me in the middle of main street at high noon and prove it?

[Double D]

I'm retired, I don't get up that early unless it is free cheese day at the Senior center.

[Cannoneer]

 
Ok, we'll settle it like gentlemen, I'll send an email to the museum curator. Seriously, I am going to contact the curator of the Mobile Museum, and the Hunley Museum conservator about the barrel. All the sources I've found state that it weighs approx. 5,000 lbs., so if that information is correct then it can't be a 68-pdr, it must be one of the two "Royal Navy style" 32-pounders.

Period photo of one of the two older pattern 32-pounders on the deck of the CSS Alabama.

[GGaskill]

It should be pretty easy to determine what caliber the gun is by measuring the muzzle diameter.  A 68 pounder is about 8 inches; a 32 pounder is about 6 1/4 inches.

[Swampman]

To tell the truth I didn't think the big gun was on wheels.

[Cannoneer]

Swampman,

If you're talking about the other cannon on display at the museum, then you're right; that's a reproduction of the 7-inch Blakely rifle that was mounted (amidships down the center line of the Alabama's deck) on a pivot carriage that could be rotated to fire off of either the port, or starboard side of the ship. The 68-pounder smoothbore that was also part of the ship's armament, was set up in the same way, but the six 32-pounders were mounted on four (wheeled) truck carriages positioned at the gunwales on both sides of the ship.

Mobile Museum photograph - Tim Lennox


 

[Cannoneer]

Hi Starr,
I’ve got a question about the armament of the CSS Alabama; even though some sources refer to four of the Fawcett, Preston Co. made broadside 32-pounders as Blakely guns, is it definite that the only real Blakely patent cannon on the ship was the 7-inch rifle that served as the forward center-line mounted pivot gun?

Hi Cannoneer

Yes, the ONLY Blakely patent gun on the "Alabama" was the 7 inch rifled pivot gun. The 68 pounder after smooth-bore pivot gun and four of the six 32 pounder smooth-bore broadsides guns were ordered by Blakely for Captain Bulloch CSN but were in cast-iron (no steel hoops) and in appearance were like Dahlgren guns. The other two 32 pounder smooth-bore broadside guns were similar to British Royal Navy "old fashioned" cast-iron cannon of the same nature.

This information is based on the underwater survey of the site of the sinking of the "Alabama" and from the guns recovered from the sea afterwards.

Andrew Bocock's book "CSS Alabama - Anatomy of a Confederate Raider" published by Chatham Press in England gives precise measurements and drawings of all of these guns (and of the "Alabama's" engines and fittings!).

Starr

Thanks for the information, Starr.

Do you know how many, and which of the Alabama’s eight guns have been recovered to date?
From information that I’ve been able to gather (and as usual, some contradictory)  three of the guns are now in the U.S.; one of the 32-pdr older British naval pattern guns is on long-term loan to the Museum of Mobile in Alabama, one of the Fawcett, Preston Co. 1862 contemporary design 32-pounders remains at the Charleston, SC lab where it was conserved, with hopes of eventually displaying it at the planned CSS Hunley Museum, and another of the newer model 32-pdrs is being stored in the Naval History and Heritage Command laboratory warehouse at the Washington Navy Yard.
I know that the Blakely 7-inch rifled gun was the first gun raised in June of 1994; do you know if France still has possession of this gun?
According to the following photo and caption, the 68-pounder smoothbore aft pivot gun was raised in July of 2005; do you know the present location of this gun?
I realize that these questions don't directly relate to your research on Blakely, but I figured that you might have garnered some current information on these guns while on your journey.


A cannon from the Confederate sea raider CSS Alabama rests on a dock in France after being recovered from the bottom of the English Channel off the coast of France in this July 2005 photo provided by Gordon Watts. The 7,000-pound main battery pivot gun is the largest artifact ever retrieved from the site where the Alabama was sunk by a Union warship June 19, 1864. (AP/Press-Register)

Cannoneer

I don’t know where the guns off the ‘Alabama’ are now. I have been surprised how they have been dispersed though, and how difficult it is to trace them. They are heritage.

Thanks for the picture of the 68 pounder; it looks in good condition barring a few barnacles. The cast-iron seems to have survived salt water surprisingly well.

Starr

Well, I suspected as much, that is definitely the Blakely 7-inch rifled pivot gun from the CSS Alabama on display at the Maritime Museum Cité de la Mer in Cherbourg, France.
Through an agreement reached between the Republic of France represented by the French Ministry of Culture, and the U.S.A. represented by the U.S. Navy (Naval Historical Center), the wreck of the CSS Alabama and all its artifacts are considered to be the property of the U.S. Navy; all that being said, you can see that the gun is now on show at a French museum, because the 'Naval Historical Center' has made a long-term loan of the gun to that French museum.

I copied these replies from the Starr 2011 thread "The Captain Blakely Guy", and quoted them here, because they're also applicable to this topic.

[Starr 2011]

Having looked at the Cite de la Mer website it seems that the "Alabama's" Blakely is in a shopping mall rather than a real museum.

I hope that I am wrong, but it surely it deserves a better resting place than that!

It seems a shame that the "Alabama's" guns haven't been brought together in a proper memorial.

Starr

[RocklockI]

So whats wrong with shopping cart wheels  ? They wobble a bit and steer hard left OR right ,and are flimsy with one wheel that goes ...... kathump..kathump..kathump ...wobble..wobble .

But hey ...that's just my interpretation


Gary

[Cannoneer]

Starr,
The Cité de la Mer (City by the Sea) in Cherbourg, France is a genuine maritime museum, it has the look of a vast open mall because the building is actually a converted ocean liner terminal. The main attraction there is the ‘Redoutable’, a French Navy nuclear submarine.

I too would like to see all the guns from the ‘Alabama’ displayed together in one American museum, but because of  limited space, resources, and the fact that France did play such an important role in the recent history of the Alabama, I just don’t think there’s a reasonable chance of  that happening. What would, or could have been more reasonable in my opinion, is if the officials from our ‘Navy Historical Center’ had acted with a little more tenacity in their dealings with the officials from the ‘French Ministry of Culture’, maybe one of  the 32-pounders would now be under glass at Cherbourg, and the Blakely 7-inch rifle would be on view at the U.S. Navy Museum in Washington, DC.   

[Starr 2011]

Cannoneer

You are right to pick me up on the Cite de la Mer. It is indeed an excellent museum. I ought to have written ‘it seems that the "Alabama's" Blakely is in a shopping mall rather than "the" real museum.’ There is a large mall attached to the exhibition halls.

I agree with you that a home should have been found for these guns in the US.

Starr

[Cannoneer]

I came across these while looking for information on the disposition of some of the Alabama's recovered artifacts.

This pdf shows the CSS Alabama upper deck plan, lower deck plan, and profile plan. There are some errors on the two pivot gun's descriptions; the forward gun is a 7-inch Blakely rifle, and the aft pivot gun is an 8-inch 68-pounder smoothbore. http://www.marshall.edu/library/speccoll/virtual_museum/css_alabama/pdf/Binder1.pdf

This article relates some interesting facts about Captain Raphael Semmes and his opponent Captain John A. Winslow that I hadn't known about before.
http://clevelandcivilwarroundtable.com/articles/naval/intrepid_mariners.htm

[Cannoneer]

A photo of the 7-inch Blakely rifled gun being raised from the English Channel in June of 1994; this was the first cannon recovered.

Photo - French Navy