Cannon Spotting!!!

[Double D]

Okay, Here's one located in  Howick, SA.


Trunnion mark.


Anyone know what this gun is?

[A.Roads]

Now that is a thing of beauty.
It is a British S.B.M.L. mainly for naval use.  The No. on the trunnion is its serial number, it was cast at the major foundry of Carron (the foundry that made Carronades famous). Cast in 1812, of Blomefield pattern. Blomefields designs dominated the British artillery scene from the late 1700s to the early 1800s - approx 50 years.  
It is probably a 24 or 32 pounder, a bore size would ascertain that. There will be a GRIII raised royal cypher on the 2nd reinforce. Also will be marked weight, several other marks & sighting lines etc including the broad arrow.

It's mounted on an original cast iron garrison carriage, these are also marked with type & weight etc, a deep broad arrow even being visible in your pic. The C.I. carriages were used mainly to spare timber ones from sufering standing decades in the weather - Apparently if battle was likely the guns were swapped to the timber ones as they did not shatter so when struck as did the C. iron ones.  The cast iron carriage is later than the barrel as I understand that they were a later innovation - can't remember when introduced though. Also it was found that the heavier guns didn't need trunnion covers (cap squares) for garrison use.  

A lovely gun, do you have any pics of the vent field & top surfaces of the barrel?
Adrian

[Double D]

Here's something to make the tongues wag.  last Sunday I flew to  the U.S.  for meetings and my wife went to Howick with this guy who she had dinner and patato wine with.  She took these pictures for me.  So I guess we will have to go back and get more.

[Double D]

Ever since my wife took the above picture about two years ago, I have been trying to figure out where this gun is so I could get some additional pictures.  She  says it's in Howick.  I've  been to Howick and it's not there.  I checked with my friend and he says, yes Howick.  Try as I might I haven't bee able to find this gun.  Then last week I was doing some research on the internet and came across a picture of this building. 



This is the building in the background of the cannon pictures.  It is the largest brick building in the southern hemisphere and the City Hall at Pietermaritzburg.    I asked the wife about it and she said they had stopped in Pietermaritzberg, but the cannon was in Howick.  And yes that was the building across the street in from the cannon. Howick as about  30-35 miles from Pietermaritzberg.  Closer the Toledo Ohio , I guess.

Today we drove up to Pietermaritzberg and went to the city hall and there was the cannon.  So here are some more pictures for you perusal.

[cannonmn]

Nice.  That gives me an idea, wonder how hard it would be to weld up a carriage like that, but made of steel channel or some shape that's readily available?  I guess casting would be easier if you had a foundry pour from your pattern.  I'm thinking you'd only need one pattern since it could be made symmetrical.  Then if you could borrow one of those carriages and take it apart, you could have the foundry use that as a pattern...

If only...

[accuratemike]

That looks like a prime shape to cut with the CNC torch table. All you need is a 2D .dxf drawing of it. That can be converted to g-code and easily cut. My table is only ~30"x30" (small garage), but, even that would be an impressive sized scale model. MIKE

http://www.accuratepower.com/Torch/
http://www.accuratepower.com/Rest/

[cannonmn]

Great idea!  There's a company in Richmond VA. I've visited that has a gang-plasma cutter with something like a 20x20 foot table, when I get time I'll ask them for a quote.  I think the cost of the steel plate is going to be considerable now.  i've seen big gears like 3" thick and over a foot in diameter they've cut using that setup.  Yes it shapes the teeth and everything. 

[lance]

 Double D, I have looked the cannon over, i'm thinking it with be the perfect shipping container for the Zulu spear ya picked up for me  you know kids! i'll probably have more fun with the "box" than the toy inside

[Double D]

Double D, I have looked the cannon over, i'm thinking it with be the perfect shipping container for the Zulu spear ya picked up for me  you know kids! i'll probably have more fun with the "box" than the toy inside

Good  Idea Lance I was wonderng how I was going to get all those spears home.  When you come to Montana and pick your spear up I will let you play with my shippping box.

[seacoastartillery]

     If Lance gets some iron or zinc balls cast for his new Confederate coehorn, and brings them and it along to Montana, they can also be used in that, impossible to damage, shipping container, right?

Maybe?

Tracy and Mike

[lance]

 ya know? this plan just ain't working the way i hoped it would but i'll be happy either way.....

[Double D]

There use to be a plate mounted in front of that gun.  Becasuse the sheared of mounting bolts look like brass or bronze I think I know what happened to it .

I'll bet this is some historic gun.  I could probably go to the ANC town governement and offer to remove the is vestige of  colonialism and they would let me have it.  Then when I tried to ship it to Montana the Aniquities Board would confiscate it as a historical artifact and take away to the government archives..  A year later Cannonmn would show up shooting it in one of his video's knocking down trees at his local gun club.  

[cannonmn]

A year later Cannonmn would show up shooting it in one of his video's knocking down trees at his local gun club. 

Hey you don't know how true that could be.  Just two months ago there was a small private museum in S.A. that went out of business.  They had to dispose of several very nice cannons, some bronze including a big Dutch one?  There were five and I think the historical authority only cleared two for export, so the others could be sold but had to stay in S.A.  There was a nice early Danish bronze gun with the arms of Chrstian 5? on the breech and I was somewhat interested, but shipping costs made me leave it alone.

[Squire Robin]

We have two local cannon that I know of.

One on top of our Martello Tower, aimed out to sea and defending the town against Napoleon Bonaparte. This was erected sometime after the French raiding party burned most of the town.

The other is being used as a coach stone, looks kinda unloved

[seacoastartillery]

     Mike and I found this 24 Pdr. British cannon at Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Niagara River in New York State.  This fort has a terrific collection of bronze guns both British and American manufacture.  We believe the 24 Pdr. almost 12 feet long is a Blomefield pattern with markings similar to the one in South Africa.  The provinance of the 24 Pdr. is unknown, but an educated guess would be that it was captured by American forces after the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813 when The American flotilla commanded by Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British flotilla commanded by Commander Barclay whose flagship was the HMS Detroit, built in 1813.  HMS Detroit was to have been armed with four long 12 Pdrs.(like Double D's S.A. gun) and sixteen 14 Pdr. Carronades, but, due to supply problems, it ended up with a hodge-podge of misc. cannon and perhaps the larger 24Pdr was a bow chaser of this flag ship or maybe it came to Ft. Niagara after a fortified redoubt was captured during the war or it could have been left behind as the British abandoned Detroit after the Battle of Lake Erie.  The big tip-off that this gun was suddenly abandoned was the fact that both trunnions have been destructively removed in an attempt to render it useless. 

Regards,

Tracy and Mike