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Burmese Dragon Gun
CARRONADEs CARRONADES were a revolutionary concept in naval gunnery, known by the sailors as ‘Smashers’. They were first produced at the Carron Ironworks at Falkirk, Scotland, in 1770. They fired a 32lb. hollow shell filled with 500 musket balls. The idea was to approach enemy shipping from the rear and, aimed at the stern, the shell would explode on impact causing a shower of bullets to fly along the decks towards the bow, killing as many enemy crew and troops as possible. The ultimate 18th century naval anti=personnel weapon!
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== Summary ==
This article describes some famous artillery pieces with connections to the era of the British in India.
These guns are at the [http://www.royalarmouries.org/visit-us/fort-nelson Royal Armouries Museum Fort Nelson] Fareham
=== Sutlej Campaign 6-pounder ===
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Trail arm hook on limber ornamented with small brass figure representing mahout.
=== Mountain Battery Swivel Gun ===
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=== Sikh bronze 7-pounder ===
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This piece is decorated with palmette ornament in relief and there are cartouches with inscriptions in northwest Indian script, now practically illegible. The gun is equipped with a pair of lifting rings at breech and muzzle and also dolphins; the base ring is stamped with the weight 11-0-3 and the cascable is numbered 7. Two small blocks form a fore sight and a rear sight.
Said to have been captured at Chillianwala but now thought to be Sutlej.
=== British 9-pounder Howitzer===
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Transferred from the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich 1968. This gun together with a similar one now in the Rotunda Museum Woolwich which may have formed part of another gift, is similar in form and decoration to the above but bears the name D PREGRAVE and is dated 1839 (its companion at Woolwich is illustrated as fig, 85 in ‘plans of ordnance captured by the Army of the Sutledge during the campaign of 1845-46’. Drawn by Capt Ralph Smyth, Bengal Artillery.n.d)
=== Bronze Tiger Mortar ===
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L 4ft 6in (137.2cm) Cal 9.4in ( 23.9cm) Diam chamber 7.2in (18.3cm)
Found concealed in the Fort at [[Kurnool|Kurnaul]], [[Madras Presidency]], in 1838 together with 219qv. There is a similar mortar, also from Kurnaul, at the Firepower Museum.
=== Kurnaul 24-pounder ===
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Found with another in the fort of Kurnaul, Madras Presidency, about 1838 (1859 Inventory, 137, No 85). Other pieces of ordnance from the same source are in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotunda_(Woolwich) Rotunda Museum Woolwich]. They were originally found concealed in the fort. From the Rotunda Catalogue 1864 it appears they were intended for the equipment of an insurrectionary force raised to drive the British out of India.
=== Bhurtpore 6-pounder ===
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BRONZE GUN 6pdr
Captured at Bhurtpore in 1826 by General Viscount Combermere, later Field Marshal and Constable of the Tower. Presented by the East India Company in 1856 (1859 inventory, xix 78)
The inscriptions show that this gun was cast to the order of Sava i Jai Singh, ruler of Amber (modern Jaipur) from 1693 to 1743. He was the founder of Jaipur and is famous for the astronomical observatories which he built in various places in N. India.
=== Indian bronze 2-pounder ===
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L 5ft ( 152.4cm): 5ft 8.5in (174cm) Cal 2.3in (5.8cm) Wt 4cwt 2 qtr 25lb (239.9Kg)
Transferred from the India Office to the Indian Section of the Victoria & Albert Museum, in 1894, and from the Museum to the Armouries in 1958.
=== Burmese Dragon Gun ===
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Taken by British forces in 1885 from King Thebaw’s Palace in [[Mandalay]].
== Guns at the Royal Hospital ==
[http://www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk/home The Royal Hospital] in Chelsea.
===Indian 6-pounder ===
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It has now been dated by Mathew Buck (Firepower Museum Woolwich) and Neil Carlton (V&A) from [[1st Sikh War]] 1845-46. It is the only example seen of ‘standard munition quality’ Sikh field carriage.
=== 17th Century Chinese Guns ===
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Father Ferdinand Verbiest 1623-88, a Jesuit priest of Flemish birth, was sent to China as a missionary in 1657 and, in 1677, became Vice-Provincial of the Order. He was held in great favour by the Emperor K’ang-hsi for whom he carried out many tasks of a scientific and mathematical nature. Amongst other achievements he designed and supervised the manufacture of three hundred cannon which he blessed giving each one the name of a saint. The fact that the date of the casting of no. 203 is a year later than Verbiest’s death may be explained by their being part of a series whose manufacture commenced the previous year. Another of Verbiest’s guns, also date 1689 and bearing a similar inscription, is in Hakozaki Shrine, Kiyushu, Japan (Shin-ichi Yoshioka, Collection of Antique Guns Tokyo 1965, 36)
== Guns Gun at Belvoir Castle==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvoir_Castle Belvoir Castle] in Rutland.
The gun at Moulmein is marked as 17-1-0, indicating a weight of 17cwt 1 qtr and 0lbs. Which is a much lighter weight that might be expected for an approximately 9ft long, 32-pounder cannon. This is indicative of a carronade.
During the [[2nd Burma War]], Commodore Tarlton was in charge of the naval operations at the [[Battle of Martaban]] (on the opposite bank of the Salween River to Moulmein) and also at [[Capture of Pegu June 1852|Pegu]]. His ship was HMS Fox. This ship was a vessel of 1,131 tons, built at Portsmouth in June 1821, re-fitted in September 1850, she was a 5th rate ship of the line, indicating a complement of 46 guns. On her quarterdeck she was armed with 10 32-pounder carronades, one of which corresponds exactly to the weight marked on the Moulmein piece.
