Double D. Is this true? Can a two-time winner possibly have Butterflies in his tummy? Senior Discounts??? You must have us confused with Golden Coral!! HA. Medicare can probably be arranged if you get "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" from to much high speed typing, you know copying those sections of Wikipedia ordnance entries. Remember only about 75% of that stuff is accurate on technical subjects.
Contestants can use this cannon delivery and research trip itinerary of our September travels as another resource for the cannon location half of each cannon question. A couple specific town locations are on this list, but most are not listed, being nearby along the map route indicated by these towns listed. We delivered cannons around the United States in September of 2012 and took lots of photos too. Our itinerary included the route indicated by these towns listed in chronological order: Denver, CO to Charleston, WV to Pulaski, VA to Roanoke, VA to Lexington, VA to Frederick, MD to Harrisburg, PA to Phoenixville, PA to Valley Forge, PA to Scranton, PA to Kingston, NY to Red Hook, NY to Croton-on-Hudson, NY to Sayville, NY to New Haven, CT to New London, CT to Hartford, CT to Springfield, MA to Lowell, MA to Bangor, ME to Presque Isle, ME to Bucksport, ME to Rockland, ME to Portland, ME to Bath, ME to Manchester, NH to Windsor, VT to Hartford, CT to Philadelphia, PA to Chester, PA to Carlisle, PA to Latrobe, PA to Wheeling, WV to St. Louis, MO to Denver, CO to Cheyenne, WY to Salt Lake City, UT to Sacramento, CA to Portland, OR to Spokan, WA to Billings, MT to Denver, CO
SEACOAST ARTILLERY COMPANY’S NINTH
Happy New Year!
“WHAT IS IT? WHERE IS IT? CONTEST"
All those participating will be vying for the Title:
Cannon Hunter For The Ages. This Contest is dedicated to all those people Mike and I have met over the years all around this great country of ours who have asked us all sorts of interesting questions about cannons, artillery and fort construction.
All members entering this contest will be asked to provide the type of cannon and it’s location for each of the cannon photos provided. To encourage more participants, we will continue the practice of awarding ½ credit for the Type and ½ credit for the location. Give both and you get 1 full credit. The member with the most credits at the end of the traditional, two day, contest will be declared the winner.
First, your answer should include a general description of the cannon as to it’s TYPE: Naval, Seacoast, Field or Siege and at least one element of it’s specific description such as ( 24 Pdr.) ( Seige and Garrison Howitzer) ( M1844), more commonly called the 24 Pdr. (Flank Howitzer) M1844. Please include this information, because credit cannot be given if you do not. The BORE SIZE is NOT necessary. A guess here is O.K.
Second, your answer should include the location of the cannon. The nearest city or town and state is the minimum location. The name of the Fort, Ship, Park, Cemetery, Courthouse, Beach, Road, etc. is really nice to include, but not required.
Please remember these things: One, nobody really takes these Contests seriously and the purpose of all this is simply to have some fun. Hints will be given as to an answer for a particularly difficult question and NOT to a particular contestant. The winner receives our respect, applause, admiration and accolades. Sorry, no free cannons! We traveled all over the United States to take these photos, almost 9,000 miles on the latest trip, alone.
Have Fun ! Mike and Tracy Seacoast Artillery Company
I’ll be loading the photos and captions for at least a half hour or maybe a whole hour, so please be patient. Thanks.
1) Immediately prior to the start of The War Between the States, this cannon was used by a Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy to train young men about the proper use of artillery. It and three others were given Biblical names, because they spoke a powerful language. If you know what it is, you will know where it is.
2) This one has an unmistakable profile. The similar sized 4.2” Parrott Siege rifle was far more popular,because of better ammunition. Located approx. 46 miles north and a little east, (across the Hudson) of Orange County Choppers in a small cemetery at the town’s southern edge. The staccato, rat-tat-tat of WWI aircraft machine gun fire is heard nearby every weekend during the summer. Coal dust bombs are dropped on WWI tanks and armored cars.
3) This cannon was designed to do just one thing, to stop infantry or landing party attacks before the attacking force could gain the heights of a fort’s scarp or main exterior wall. Firing canister at close range, one of these could turn a scaling ladder into kindling with one shot. These were used at almost every seacoast fort in America in the defense of the ditch. Enough clues as to location exist in this photo near the green van owned by my former college roommate who became a U.S. Army 8” Howitzer Battery X.O. during the Vietnam years.
4) This cannon has lines which are very similar to a Bronze 6 Pdr. Model 1841. It is a transitional model of slightly earlier vintage. It’s a little shorter than the ’41. A big clue for location is within the photo. Spuddy knows where this one is.
5) Mike’s handspan is a little over 8”. This 50,000 Lb. behemoth is in the right hand water battery about 50 feet above the river. This large seacoast smoothbore was emplaced to give this very unique, all granite fort, one of only two in the U.S., long range protection along the likely avenue of enemy approach from the south.
6) This cannon looks very similar to another, far more famous cousin. This is the one we described a month or two ago and showed a photo of it sporting a Regulation Slide Lock. It has a longer reinforce and is longer overall than it’s famous, same cal., brethren and weighs about 1,000 Lbs. more than the more famous one. Do you see an elevation screw? No. They were both designed as shell guns, but this one used a quoin for elevation adjustments! Not one was delivered for use before the end of the Civil War, yet five contracts for more than 400 of these guns were let in 1864, 1865 and 1866. Politics? You bet. Clues for location abound in this photo.
7) With that “mushroom cascabel” and not a straight line on it, that tube can be only one type. With Mike and the photo, most of you can get the bore size too. The location is elusive though. This is the “other” all granite fort in the United States and it’s Egyptian Revival architecture makes it very unique as it is the only one designed that way in the U.S. The large town that this fort was eventually built to protect was mostly burned to the ground by a substantial British raiding party in 1781, led by this nation’s most famous traitor, Benedict Arnold.
Mike stands next to the seacoast gun that we have named “Quincy Gilmore’s Terror Toy”. It fired only 36 rounds in 1863, before energetically disassembling itself, yet became the second best known, (to the Dictator of Petersburg fame) of all the famous cannon of the Civil War. It’s use in bombarding city-dwelling, civilians made Gilmore very much hated in the south. It’s hard to tell if he was hated more or less than “Spoons” Butler of New Orleans infamy, as it seems they were both vying for that title. The gun’s location today can be determined by answering another question. Where did General George Washington have his first victory in the Revolutionary War? Napoleon used
EXACTLY the same field artillery tactics when attacking troop garrisons in towns and cities.
9a) These guns were mounted in casemate positions like the one here and also in barbette mounts like those topside on this famous ship. While the origins of this gun were foreign, this gun was state of the art in 1898. These “quick firing” guns were made mostly in Britain. Can you imagine how disconcerting it would be as a gunner to have an empty, ejected brass shell casing bounce off that bronze “case deflector” shown in the photo? The location of the ship can be easily found after you know the ship’s name which is very similar to the name of the mountain which was home to all those gods of Greek mythology.
9b) The other side showing Mike and gun details and a better look at this ship’s typical casemate “blister” . The steel is three inches thick in this area. The bronze boss for the rear sight was half way along the shoulder stock tube on the gun’s left side. Right shoulder only on the stock please as you want to be to the left of the case ejection trajectory!
10) For bronze cannon lovers, this is the place of dreams. This place has lots of cannon and almost all of them are bronze. They are far and away the very best of replica British bronze artillery. Size, shape, weight are all authentic and well researched. This particular gun is super impressive because of it’s size. And you thought the French were top dogs with their monster 12 inch iron mortars which they used on Fort McHenry on Lake George, NY. Ha! This Big Bronze British Brute sports a huge tube with a 13” dia. bore and a large bed. Location of this Colonial British fort was the most advanced in a long string of such forts in their quest during the French and Indian War to reach further and further westward in order to conquer French, Fort Duquesne.
11) South Bend Replicas sold a replica of this type of heavy mortar to Fort McAlister, Georgia. The original had to be located more than 100 feet outside the main fort because it’s firing produced vibrations which tended to reduce the height of sand and marsh sod ramparts. There are five of these left today in the U.S. Four of these are in this photo collected long ago from an unknown website. Mike and I saw the fifth one at Watervliet Arsenal when we visited in 2004. The location of the 4 in this photo is due East of Erie, Pennsylvania and West South West of Schenectady, New York.
