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cannonmn
01-25-2009, 04:36 AM
This information comes from the National Archives Record Group 74, Records of the Bureau of Ordnance, US Navy. The particular entry I got this from contains lists of miscellaneous guns that were at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1870's. Many of the strange, nonstandard guns listed were captured Confederate items, both those made or modified in the South, or those which were imported by the Confederacy. It is clear to me from the context that all eleven of the rifled howitzers listed here were captured Confederate weapons.

Notice there are two interesting entries together in the middle of the page:


Five wrought iron Howitzers-rifled-cal. 2.9 in.-219 lbs. each-(marked) "Fawcett, Preston, &Co., Liverpool"

Six Cast Iron -2.9 in. -rifled Mountain Howitzers-269 lbs. each

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b62/cannonmn/miscforumsetc/forums24/IMG_0525s.jpg

R. C. Hubbard Jr
01-25-2009, 05:55 AM
cannonmn,
Is it possible that these were some of the Blakly pattern #10's of which the Navy still has two in the D.C. Navy yard ?

cannonmn
01-25-2009, 08:41 AM
Thanks for reply. About all I know so far is this-Warren Ripley's identification of the Navy Yard pair as Blakely weapons is described as tentative in his book. Olmstead regards the Ripley I.D. as "speculative" in his book. There's good reason for the speculativeness due to lack of marks on either piece, or if they were marked, the marks have always been painted over or were corroded off long ago.

Likewise, the six weapons formerly at Phila may be a yet-unknown type of Blakely since no survivors with the documented combination of bore diameter, marks and weight have been found, that I know of.

I'll look in the same document I got this info from, in the section on the Washington Navy Yard and see if the pair Warren saw at "Quarters H" were recorded, if they were even there when the list was compiled. That'd be nice if there were there, marked, and the marks were recorded in the ledger, wouldn't it?

The other group mentioned in the document, the six cast iron rifled mountain howitzers, are anybody's guess as to what they looked like. Do you know what those might be? I'm guessing they were Confederate-manufactured weapons since they were cast iron and apparently unmarked.

My friend Jim Schoenung recently made a trip to South America to photograph and study cannons there, and turned up a bunch of Blakely weapons of all sizes, up to and including 11-inch seacoast guns. I'll ask to see if he can shed any light on this whole thing.

cannonmn
01-25-2009, 12:12 PM
Jim says:


In my mind there is no question that the two guns, tentatively identified by Ripley as Type 10 Blakelys, are in fact Blakely patent guns produced by Fawcett Preston who, at this early stage (1861) had the word "Engineers" instead of "Maker" prior to the word Liverpool. They are 9-pounders and I have pics of two slightly different styles taken in Peru about 3 years ago. You will have to wait for the book to see the pics.

cannonmn
06-01-2009, 06:07 AM
I was in the Navy Museum in DC on Saturday and noticed this photo hung in the front office. It caught my eye because of the two mortars on the corners of the building, so I've posted some information about them on the Company of Military Historians forum if anyone is interested-the mortars are the pair of old Spanish mortars captured from the Confederates at Fernandina, FL in 1862. Bill Prinz traded the mortar in the foreground to the NPS for a field gun back in 1960. The mortar in the far corner was in a private collection last time I saw it. Both mortars have a capture inscription engraved or stamped on the muzzle face that goes "Captured by Rer. Ad. Dupont at Fernandina, Fla, Feb. 3, 1862." The capture of Fernandina was actually a month later so someone gave the engraver the wrong date.

Now for the small guns on carriages-I suspect those are the five Blakely pieces described in earlier posts in this discussion.

This image was made at the Washington Navy Yard, I suspect in the 1870's, but I'll find out more today when everyone is back at work in the Navy Yard. In particular I want to find out if they have any more images of the items outside of that small museum. The Navy's once-famous collection of large Confederate artillery shells can be seen in front of the building.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b62/cannonmn/miscforumsetc/forums34/FtWashandWNY_Dewey225.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b62/cannonmn/miscforumsetc/forums34/FtWashandWNY_Dewey223.jpg