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Author Topic: Cannon in the Neighborhood  (Read 1002 times)

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Offline nematode

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Cannon in the Neighborhood
« on: January 07, 2011, 06:45:22 PM »
Friends at the BPCF I have more cannons in my home town than I previously realized. As some of you have seen in other videos that I posted here in the forum there is plenty of artillery at Fort Miles which is now part of Cape Henlopen State Park in my town. Plus there are several cannons from the war of 1812 that have sat near the draw bridge since long before I was born. I found out yesterday that there is at least one more cannon in my town.

I was out for a walk and proceeded in one direction a little further than usual and there it was. Luckily I had a tiny video camera hanging from the zipper of my coat and I thought of all you guys here and turned it on. I thought it was a pretty cool encounter and I hope you like the video. I made a new friend in the process and will try to get him to join the forum. Here she is:

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Offline Cannoneer

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2011, 07:23:25 PM »
Did this man just buy the cannon to be on display where it is now positioned? Is the cannon going to be safe from theft or vandalism at that location on the side of a road?
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Offline nematode

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2011, 01:19:36 AM »
i do not know the answers to those questions but i asked him the same thing about security. he has it chained to a stake and said that the cannon is very dfficult to move.
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Offline Zulu

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2011, 03:35:03 AM »
Quote from: nematode on January 08, 2011, 01:19:36 AM
i do not know the answers to those questions but i asked him the same thing about security. he has it chained to a stake and said that the cannon is very dfficult to move.

A #1 carriage weighs 900 lbs. without implements.  A 6 pounder barrel is 884 lbs. for a total of 1784 lbs.  The barrel is so well balanced on the carriage that one man can pick up the trail and move it very easily on pavement.  Grass is harder but it can still be done.  I did it all the time with my Parrott Rifle and it weighed a little more.  Without a winch it would take 4 guys to get it up on a trailer.
That gun is in the $13,000 to $15,000 range.
It is not safe at all from theft.  Chained to a stake is not security.  I might even be more concerned about someone firing it right there.  A projectile could easily go a mile.
Left sitting outside on the grass, those wheels will be growing mushrooms in 2 or 3 years.  Paulson Brothers make an aluminum carriage for outdoor display but it is pretty pricy.
Its still very cool! 8) :o
Zulu
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Offline GGaskill

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2011, 07:39:33 AM »
Yeah, I hope he takes it in at night and in bad weather.
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Offline nematode

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2011, 07:58:56 AM »
You guys, thanks for your thoughts on the cannon and its security. My first thoughts were pretty much same as yours but when I asked the kind gentleman about it he seemed comfortable with it. I don't know if he takes it in at night but I think not. I will try to encourage him to consider this more. I sent him the link to this forum so that he can join if he wants.

I hope you can comment some on what kind of cannon this actually is and like the year it was in operation etc? I told the owner that you guys were all world class cannon and black powder experts and that he would enjoy bumbing elbows with you guys here. He wrote me back just this morning that his antivirus has not allowed him to view the video or visit this forum yet. His son is visiting soon and will help him navigate to the video and forum. Thanks again for your comments.
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Offline RocklockI

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2011, 07:59:57 AM »
Looks like you live in the right town  ;D. Gary
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Offline nematode

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2011, 08:04:26 AM »
I do.
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Offline Zulu

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2011, 08:42:49 AM »
nematode,
It looks like an 1841 six pounder on a #1 field carriage.  This type of gun was used extensively in the Mexican War and the Civil War.
I would be interested in who made the barrel.
Zulu
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Offline nematode

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2011, 08:49:35 AM »
Perhaps the owner can answer questions when he visits the forum. He told me the makers name and I don't remember but it was made in Arkansas.
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Offline willdj79

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2011, 09:31:02 AM »
Very cool cannon. Although me being a collector i always cringe at the thought of such a beautiful piece being in the elements,but i always think it is neat when visiting the new England states to see history exposed for everyone to appreciate. I would think it would be wise to put some type of plug in the barrel to keep rain water from puddling at the bottom.   
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Offline Zulu

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2011, 10:54:32 AM »
I checked the Cannon Superstore website and found what appears to be the same gun in the "Sold" section.  The description states that the carriage is made of yellow pine.  I can't figure out why someone would go through the trouble to make a carriage for a real barrel and not use oak.  It said the wheels are Amish made and all the carriage hardware came from Trail Rock Ordanance.  It did not say where the barrel was made but that it is cast with a steel liner and a 3 1/2" bore.
With a pine carriage this gun does not have the value I previously thought. 
I'm not real sure how pine would stand up to repeated firing.  There was a reason these carriages were made of oak.
Zulu
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Offline Double D

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2011, 12:01:10 PM »
The confederate pattern 24 PDR mortar used yellow pine for a carriage.
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Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2011, 03:15:27 PM »
Quote from: Zulu on January 08, 2011, 10:54:32 AM
I checked the Cannon Superstore website and found what appears to be the same gun in the "Sold" section.  The description states that the carriage is made of yellow pine.  I can't figure out why someone would go through the trouble to make a carriage for a real barrel and not use oak.  It said the wheels are Amish made and all the carriage hardware came from Trail Rock Ordanance.  It did not say where the barrel was made but that it is cast with a steel liner and a 3 1/2" bore.
With a pine carriage this gun does not have the value I previously thought.  
I'm not real sure how pine would stand up to repeated firing.  There was a reason these carriages were made of oak.
Zulu

    Zulu,  Lets not malign yellow pine!  You might be interested to know that when a crew was doing street excavation near the south-east battery in White Point Gardens at the end of the Charleston, South Carolina peninsula, in the 80s, they found a huge gun foundation, completely intact, 12 feet down and part of the huge gun's subsurface platform, each of them made entirely from yellow pine.  The location coincided exactly with the wartime location of one of the 12.75", (600 pounder) Blakely Seacoast Rifles sent to Charleston by General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.  Jack Thompson, a well known tour guide and author who lives there managed to get a piece of the platform that they dug up.  

     Also there are quite a few mentions of other seacoast guns with platforms and lower carriages (Chassis) made of yellow pine.  Some of it's qualities are resilience, toughness, hardness ( about as hard a soft wood as you can find), with a few exceptions, of course.  It is also slow to rot and has better than average resistance to insects.

     Being used for the chassis of a seacoast gun makes us believe it is exceptionally strong and has reasonable resistance to shock.  As far as use as a relatively light field gun carriage, I would not want to speculate as we know very little about field gun carriages.  I can speculate a little and say it would not be a good choice for a projectile shooting cannon, but with blanks only as in reenacting, maybe O.K.

Regards,

Tracy and Mike
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Offline Cat Whisperer

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2011, 03:38:17 PM »
I have a house framed in yellow pine.  Being built about 1912 of full-cut timbers (2x12's in all the floors) it is impervious to insects - the pitch seeps from it.  Newer yellow pine just hasn't been allowed to grow long enough to match it.  Sad. It's just not the same.

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Offline Zulu

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Re: Cannon in the Neighborhood
« Reply #15 on: January 08, 2011, 04:53:55 PM »
I stand corrected.  I learn something new here every day.
Zulu
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