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Gun founders were a tight-knit community, often inter-related, and were in the habit of sub-contracting work to a neighbouring foundry if they were over-committed with orders. This may well have happened with these two cannon.
The question that we all want to know, of course, how did these two pairs of Royal Navy cannon find themselves guarding a Burmese potentate's palace in Mandalay ? Well<br /> ==== Tracing the History of the Guns ==== THEY SEEK 'EM HERE, THEY SEEK 'EM THERE,THOSE BURMESE SEEK THEM EVERYWHERE,ARE THEY IN HEAVEN OR ARE THEY IN HELL ?THOSE DEMMED ELUSIVE CANNONS AND SHELLS ! With sincere apologies to Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and his creator, Baroness Emuska Orczy, for this parody of the well known ditty. The first official and knowledgeable recognition of these guns was made by an officer of the Queen's First Royal Artillery, Major Hewitt who, with his battery of 100 men had been detailed off to find and report any armaments he might discover in Mandalay and the surrounding area at the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885. On 23rd January 1886 he noted a gun emplacement on the south embankment of the Irrawaddy, 6ft. higher than average, mounted on a platform with a centre pivot and a 32pdr. smoothbore muzzle-loading cannon lying beside it. Major Hewitt was to capture five more of these cannon mounted on traversing platforms in the Palace enclosure, so in total there must have been six, although the whereabouts of the remaining two have not been noted. (IOLR L/MIL/17/19/30) Burmese of the Konbaung dynasty were constantly endeavouring to acquire armaments, especially cannon and all the necessities for servicing them, but they lacked officers skilled in such matters. Officers of any European nationality who visited Burma and knew anything about weapons were promptly kidnapped, promised land, a house, an allowance of money and a Burmese wife if they settled down peacefully in the King's service, which many did. That generation of gunners gradually died out and in consequence of neglect and the effects of the climate iron cannon deteriorated quite quickly. Some were never fired at all, but in the reign of King Mindon (1853-1878), who moved the capital from Amarapura to Mandalay, an over-zealous Burmese commander of artillery exercised the great guns on the plain near the Palace, but the thunderous noise so disturbed the King and worse, quite unnerved his many Queens and his numerous offspring that he immediately gave orders for the practice to end. All cannon were to be brought into the enclosure, aligned in front of the Palace and gilded, where they looked magnificent and served a merely decorative purpose. (“Mandalay The Golden” by E.C.V. Foucar – pub. London 1963) King Bodawpaya (1782-1819) moved the capital from Ava to Amarapura for fear that evil spirits might cast their spell over that place in consequence of all the royal blood spilled in his struggle for the succession. There were always many contenders for kingship because of the royal family's habit of marrying plenty of half-sisters. Bodawpaya took possession of his new Palace on 10th May 1783 and having settled in he set out to conquer the Arakan, making that state a province of Burma in 1784, acquiring a motley collection of weapons in the process, many of them rusty, including the enormous locally made cannon pictured earlier. Next he determined to inflict a decisive blow on his neighbours the Siamese, Burma's traditional enemies, and for his campaign to succeed he would need all the arms he could get hold of. In consequence he wrote in 1786 to Mohammed Syah, Sultan of Achee, Sumatra, but without result, so he tried again in 1787 with a letter to the French Agent in Chandernagore, but their enclave was in the uncomfortable position of being too close to the British in Calcutta who regarded them with deep suspicion and had the most annoying policy of applying 'stop and search' in respectof every French ship passing Fort William and entering the Bay of Bengal, removing important letters and secret papers intended for French eyes only. Bodawpaya had also approached the Governor of Pondicherry in the hope of engaging in trade. He had even sent him 'un petit batiment' (in nautical terms 'a small vessel') laden with three elephants by way of inducement. One can only imagine the astonishment of many a passing ship's captain who must have doubted their look-out's eyesight and sobriety, and quite possibly their own as well. It is not related whether or not the gift was appreciated. (From Les Relations entre la France et la Birmanie au XV111 siecle et au 1X siecle. - Pierre PreschezParis 1967.) The King, meanwhile, was actively encouraging the use of the southern port of Mergui by French pirates and privateers, exempting them from port dues and allowing them free food and lodging. The Indian Ocean was beginning to be overrun with freebooters and worrying reports were coming in from various sources warning of trouble ahead. In IOLR I.1/17, a collection of letters and papers concerning French activities in the area, there is a note written in 1794....”trade entirely at a standstill for want of protective ships against French privateers operating out of Mauritius”....and in I.1/12, also a collection of papers and intelligence reports, Lt.Col. Robert Brooke wrote to Calcutta from St.Helena in 1794....”It is stated as a certainty that the people of Mauritius are so intoxicated with success in taking prizes that they are mad with fitting and arming vessels against the English and the Dutch trade, with expeditions against those parts of our coasts that are unprotected. Several American ships are hastening home from thence after purchasing the cargoes of various prizes to return again, with additional swarms, to get more bargains and to supply the French islands with naval stores and adventurers, so that will if left undisturbed they may get so strong that it would require a very powerful force indeed to subdue them and in the meantime the English and Dutch trade may suffer inconceivably....the French are fitting 18pdrs. aboard the Dutch prize as well as the PRINCESS ROYAL (Indiaman) and hope to make her above 50 guns.” (This vessel and her Packet had been captured in the Straits of Sunda, between Sumatra and Java, by French privateers.) Bodawpaya had also written to Mauritius which finally produced a positive reply to his request for arms. The Governor, Anne Joseph Hippolyte de Maures, Comte de Malartic, stated that he could not at that time comply with the requirements because of the ongoing war with the English (1793-1815) but promised to supply all that was wished for as soon as circumstances changed. This Governor died in 1800 and the new incumbent, Generale Francois Louis Magallon, Comte de la Morliere, decided to honour his predecessor's intentions and sent to Burma two cargoes of armaments, including cannons, in 1802 together with a letter promising a new load of warlike munitions if the King so desired. The East India Company was, at the time, attempting by means of Special Envoys sent from Calcutta with the usual gifts, to persuade the Burmese King to enter into an agreement to close his ports to French warships and to negotiate a commercial treaty with the Company's Agent residing in Rangoon. This, Bodawpaya refused to do. He wanted to obtain guns and knew the British were suspicious of his motives after his army's arbitrary incursions into Chittagong and the protectorate of Manipur, and would certainly not supply him with those heavy guns which he craved. On the other hand, although their power and influence was on the wane, the French were hoping to keep their options open, just in case, since Burma was the source of many valuable commodities and good relations might provide benefits in the long run.Pierre Preschez says that two ships, the VILLE DE LYON and the GEORGE , said to be prizes taken from the British, laden with cannon and muskets were despatched from the Ile de France (Mauritius). The former arrived in Rangoon on 27th March 1802, but the latter mistook the port and was wrecked at the mouth of the River Sittang. Capt. Michael Symes of HM 76th Regiment, in the Journal of his second embassy to the Court of Ava in 1802, elaborates, and also gives a different month of arrival:- “.....on the 27th of last month (i.e. July 1802) a ship from the Mauritius anchored in the (Rangoon) river. She is now called the VILLE DE LYONS, but was formerly the FREDERICK NORTH, an English ship which the French captured in the west of India. This vessel sailed from the Mauritius early in July in company with another story called the GEORGE, also a capture made by the French, and parted with her consort at the Nicobars. On 29th July, two days after the arrival of the VILLE DE LYONS, accounts were received that the GEORGE had missed the port of Rangoon and been carried to the eastward where she went aground and was totally lost on the sands near the Sittang River. The crew escaped in their boats but the vessel and property were irrecoverably lost. A principal part of the lading of these vessels consisted of firearms which were expected by the Berman government and had previously been commissioned. There was likewise a letter from the Government of Mauritius to the Burmese monarch.” On the 16th October Michael Symes notes “I received information from a Portuguese named Anthony George in the service of Baba Sheen (an Armenian who acted as agent for the East India Company in Rangoon) that Mr.Bevan, an American, but of French connections and, I believe, part owner of the French ship, had made protestations before a magistrate at Rangoon that on board the wreck there were considerable presents for the King of Ava from the Government of Mauritius and that amongst other things lost were ten pieces of ordnance and a quantity of muskets, some for sale and others as presents.” In a letter dated 9th August 1802 to Lord Wellesley, Michael Symes writes that “The VILLE DE LYONS a fine ship of 500 tons.... work .and we heard that the GEORGE a still larger vessel and carrying a more valuable cargo of firearms on board the wreck... the rest of their cargoes were made up of the plunder of English ships which had been captured at different periods and carried into Mauritius, and since the ships came an air of mystery and an apparent wish to conceal or disguise something have been visible.” (European Manuscript Add.13872). This still leaves the question of the provenance of the cannon. There was an American supercargo on the GEORGE and there was also a very active American trading depot on Mauritius established between 1796 and 1798 which reached its peak in progress!<br 1806 and ceased operations in 1815. (Maritime History of the United States by K. Jack Bauer and Cozens/>Byrnes Merchant Networks Project) Engravings: The Royal Palace at Amarapura, and Burmese War Boat. From 'Europe and Burma' by D.G.E.Hall. Pub.1943. The Royal Palace at Mandalay. From 'Mandalay the Golden' by E.C.V. Foucar pub:1963. All originals believed to belong the Royal Asiatic Society.
==== The Pair of Guns at the Exit ====
