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==== The Pair of Guns at the Exit ====
''Gold is for the mistress, silver for the maid''<br />
''Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade.''<br />
''"Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall,''<br />
''"but Iron, Cold Iron, is master of them all."''<br />
from 'COLD IRON' by Rudyard Kipling<br />
<gallery caption= widths="330px" heights="250px" perrow="2">
File:0059 Mandalay Palace Exit gun 8009.jpeg|Palace exit gun 8009 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
File:0061 Mandalay Palace Exit gun 8012.jpeg|Palace exit gun 8012 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
</gallery>
These are the oldest Royal Navy guns seen. They are marked with the Rose & Crown insignia which was used by the Board of Ordnance from 1690 to 1725. The design of the crest varied slightly as the years progressed. The guns are marked respectively 8009 and 8012 and the marks on the buttons are L7 and S11. These last refer, I believe, to the guns' position on board ship, Larboard No.7 and Starboard No.11. The word Larboard was subsequently changed to Port to avoid confusion. The serial numbers are recorded in Col. Browne's Survey and refer to a date of 1695. From this survey it can be established that they are nine and a half foot 32-pounder demi-cannon, cast by Thomas Weston, Ironmaster of the Ashburnham forge near Battle, East Sussex, for HMS NEWARK. She was a Third Rate ship of the line mounting 76-80 guns of various weights.
<gallery caption= widths="150px" heights="150px" perrow="4">
File:0060 Mandalay Palace Exit 8009 detail.jpeg|Gun 8009 detail 1 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
File:0063 Palace exit Rose & crown button.jpeg|Gun 8009 detail 2 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
File:0062 Mandalay Palace Exit 8012 detail.jpeg|Gun 8012 detail 1 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
File:0064 Palace exit button top detail.jpeg|Gun 8012 detail 2 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
</gallery>
Each of these 32-pounders would be serviced by 14 men and a 'powder monkey' (a small boy who could easily run up and down ladders carrying bags of gunpowder from deep in the ship's hold). HMS NEWARK was refitted in 1717 and in 1745. At each refit, and possible alteration to the ship's hull, it was usual to remove and assess which guns would still be needed. Those surplus to requirements, but still in good condition, would be transferred to the ordnance stores and placed on another ship as needed. Well founded cannon, if used with the correct amount of powder, single-shotted and not fired at extreme elevation, could be expected to last 1000 firings and a few were recorded as lasting for 3000 before becoming worn out and useless.
Typo
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{{Template:Origin|text=This article describes British and other artillery pieces found in Burma after the [[3rd Burma War]]. See also article [[Historic Guns of British India]].<br>The information and images have been provided by Elizabeth Hancox, a FIBIS member with a special interest in artillery, the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library] and the [http://www.royalasiaticsociety.org/site/ Royal Asiatic Society].}}
== Guns found at Mandalay Palace ==
[[File:Mandalay Palace terrace.jpg|550px|thumb|left|Guns on the terrace of Mandalay Palace<br>From ''Mandalay the Golden'' by E.C.V. Foucar pub:1963. Image courtesy by kind permission of the Royal Asiatic Society.]]<div style="clear:both"></div>
==== The Pair of Guns at the Entrance ====
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 ? <br />
==== The Pair of Guns at the Exit ====
''Gold is for the mistress, silver for the maid''<br />
''Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade.''<br />
''"Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall,''<br />
''"but Iron, Cold Iron, is master of them all."''<br />
from 'COLD IRON' by Rudyard Kipling<br />
<gallery caption= widths="330px" heights="250px" perrow="2">
File:0059 Mandalay Palace Exit gun 8009.jpeg|Palace exit gun 8009 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
File:0061 Mandalay Palace Exit gun 8012.jpeg|Palace exit gun 8012 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
</gallery>
These are the oldest Royal Navy guns seen. They are marked with the Rose & Crown insignia which was used by the Board of Ordnance from 1690 to 1725. The design of the crest varied slightly as the years progressed. The guns are marked respectively 8009 and 8012 and the marks on the buttons are L7 and S11. These last refer, I believe, to the guns' position on board ship, Larboard No.7 and Starboard No.11. The word Larboard was subsequently changed to Port to avoid confusion. The serial numbers are recorded in Col. Browne's Survey and refer to a date of 1695. From this survey it can be established that they are nine and a half foot 32-pounder demi-cannon, cast by Thomas Weston, Ironmaster of the Ashburnham forge near Battle, East Sussex, for HMS NEWARK. She was a Third Rate ship of the line mounting 76-80 guns of various weights.
<gallery caption= widths="150px" heights="150px" perrow="4">
File:0060 Mandalay Palace Exit 8009 detail.jpeg|Gun 8009 detail 1 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
File:0063 Palace exit Rose & crown button.jpeg|Gun 8009 detail 2 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
File:0062 Mandalay Palace Exit 8012 detail.jpeg|Gun 8012 detail 1 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
File:0064 Palace exit button top detail.jpeg|Gun 8012 detail 2 <br> '''Image courtesy of the [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library]'''
</gallery>
Each of these 32-pounders would be serviced by 14 men and a 'powder monkey' (a small boy who could easily run up and down ladders carrying bags of gunpowder from deep in the ship's hold). HMS NEWARK was refitted in 1717 and in 1745. At each refit, and possible alteration to the ship's hull, it was usual to remove and assess which guns would still be needed. Those surplus to requirements, but still in good condition, would be transferred to the ordnance stores and placed on another ship as needed. Well founded cannon, if used with the correct amount of powder, single-shotted and not fired at extreme elevation, could be expected to last 1000 firings and a few were recorded as lasting for 3000 before becoming worn out and useless.
==== Tracing the History of the Guns ====
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'')
[[Image:Royal Palace at Amarapura.jpg|300px|right|thumb| Royal Palace at Amarapura.<br>Note the pair of 32-pdrs in front of the palace entrance<br> From ''Europe and Burma'' by D.G.E.Hall. Pub.1943<br>Image courtesy by kind permission of the Royal Asiatic Society.]]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(see '''Mandalay Monster''' below). 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 respect of 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 Preschez Paris 1967.'')
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 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.)
[[ImageFile:Burmese War Boatwar boat.jpggif|300px250px|right|thumb| Burmese War Boat.jpg.<br> (From 'Europe and Burma' by D.G.E.Hall. Pub.1943<br>Image courtesy of the Royal Asiatic Society.Wikimedia Commons)]]
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.
In a letter dated 9th August 1802 to Lord Wellesley, Michael Symes writes that “The VILLE DE LYONS a fine ship of 500 tons.....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 1806 and ceased operations in 1815. In addition to the trading depot there was an American Consulate established on the island in 1794 which finally closed in 1911 and was upgraded to an Embassy thereafter. (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.
== Naval Gun at Moulmein ==
The “ Monster” might have been a coastal defence weapon, especially if it came originally from the Arakan.
[[Category:Ordnance]]
[[Category:Burma]]
