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Add Monster text
Apparently the Maymyo cannon have been placed on carriages suitable for use on the railway.
== The Mandalay Monster ==
Without actual measurements it is difficult to calculate the poundage. Also we do not have a photo of the trunnion ends, which appear to be decorated. However this is clearly a cast iron gun. It is very roughly made native construction but with some input and advice from Europeans. I would imagine it is early 18th century. The interior of the muzzle is very interesting and the flaring appears to be decorative. The exterior of the muzzle seems to be simulated brickwork. It is unlike any other gun I have ever seen.
There is an account in the British Library IOLR- L/MIL/17/19/32/2; supplement to the History of the Third Burmese War 1885-1886. The Diary of Lt Henry Ernest Stanton, as follows:
''"20th November 1885''
''AMARAPURA- Major Hewitt commanding Officer 1st Royal Artillery, with 100 men on reconnaissance. He found in the Old Palace enclosure 3 guns, 2 were broken and overgrown with grass. The third, of the same description as the others, was 30ft long 12” calibre and made of rings of iron, roughly welded together. The Burmese say these guns came from Arakan. They were left as they lay, being quite unserviceable.”''
Another description comes from George W. Bird in his ‘Wanderings in Burma’ published in 1896. George Bird spent 20 years with the Education Department and his book, a series of different itineraries, is, in effect, the first guide book to Burma.
In ’Route XIV- Amarapura' pages 305 and 306…….<br />
''"Lying alongside of and half buried by the ruins of the campanile and the surrounding jungle, lies the enormous cannon captured from the Arakanese in 1784.''
''The principal dimensions taken by the writer from actual measurements are:-
Exterior length 28ft 1in. Circumference below breech 9ft ins. At mouth 8ft 2ins. Calibre 11½"''
''The cannon is constructed of iron bars about 1½” square which run along the entire length. Round these bars lateral hoops or rings of similar bars are shrunk on and the whole welded together. Five pairs of enormous rings are welded onto the upper surface, apparently for the purposes of transport by means of long poles carried on men’s shoulders.
''
''Lying in close proximity is another lesser size and of the same construction, and a few yards tp the east buried in rubbish and jungle is a third, about 7 or 8 ft long with a caliber of about 16” which, from its chubby appearance, was probably a mortar for throwing shells or bombs."''<br />
These two descriptions are clearly of the same cannon although the measurements vary slightly. The photograph in George Bird’s book was taken by the famous war photographer Felice Beato who had finally settled in Mandalay and opened a curio shop. Finally the cannon was moved to the grounds of Mandalay Palace where the modern photograph was taken by Mr Mark Steevens.
The “ Monster” might have been a coastal defence weapon, especially if it came originally from the Arakan.
