MILITARY GUNS

The military, regardless of country, standardised their guns in order to simplify the supply of ammunition and equipment which accompanied them. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) can be included in this category as they conducted business at the Cape in a para-military manner.

Early VOC iron guns were all 4, 6 or 8 pdrs. These were used on their ships and at the early batteries ashore. All had the VOC emblem on the first reinforce and the weight of the gun clearly marked on the top of the base ring. These were apparently all cast at Finspang in Sweden to a standard specification.

The larger guns used by the VOC prior to 1750 were almost exclusively cast in bronze, some of these were landed at the Cape, but none have survived.

The English military guns were manufactured to more stringent specifications than were the Dutch guns, this partly due to the fact that advances in technology had been made by the time the English occupied the Cape. The Blomefield designed guns of 9, 18 and 32 pounds were the military standard guns used in this country.

There are many of this type of gun in and around Cape Town as well as in other parts of the country. Commercial iron guns are generally shorter than their military counterparts and most are 4 to 9 pdrs. Their design was an attempt to offer reasonable short range fire power with a minimum of gun weight. Judging by the guns which remain in South Africa, Bailey, Pegg and Company, (BP & Co.), appear to have been the most prolific manufacturer of this type of gun.

The 12 and 16 ounce and 2 pdr Dutch bronze breech-loaders appear to have been used on both men-of-war and on trading ships. They were placed on the upper deck, on the poop deck and in the fighting tops where they were most often loaded with a handful of musket balls and used in an anti-personnel role. It is difficult to classify them as either military or commercial. They may well have been commercial guns adopted by the services. Several of these were used as supplementary guns in the Dutch signal system.

THE CARRONADES

Named after the Carron Company in Falkirk, Scotland, the carronade was an attempt to increase the weight of deliverable shot without increasing the weight of the guns. The carronade thus attempted to do for the military what the short commercial gun had done for the traders.

A 32 pdr carronade weighed approximately 750 kg and was 1,5 m long. An equivalent 32 pdr long gun weighed 2500 kg and was 2,7 m long. Twenty 32 pdr long guns could deliver a broadside of shot weighing close to 300 kg, whereas the equivalent weight of 32 pdr carronades could deliver about a 900 kg broadside. The shorter carronade could also be served by fewer men than the long gun and could be fired at a rate of less than 90 seconds between shots, a rate of fire only achieved by top crews on long guns.

After a series of military successes at sea the carronade fell into disfavour due to its limited range. A shrewd enemy with long guns only had to ensure that the range was not closed to less than 400 m, well within the range of his own guns, in order to batter a ship armed with carronades. into submission. After 1815 many ex-military carronades found their way onto commercial vessels, some remaining behind as trophies around the country.

The carronades used in the defences of the Cape were placed during the days when the carronade was still in favour. Many of the smaller carronades were used on commercial shipping, some of which were used to cover the flanks of batteries ashore.

A military survey on the defences of the Cape by British artillery officers dated 1809 includes 47 bronze Dutch guns, howitzers and mortars. The guns include six 24 pdrs, seven 18 pdrs and eleven 12, 6, 4 & 3 pdrs. There were nine 190mm howitzers and fourteen 320mm mortars. The report merely lists them as "Gun - 18 pdr - bronze - Dutch". The report also lists guns which are known to be French, Swedish and Norwegian as Dutch guns. From this one must conclude that they recorded any non-English piece as being "Dutch".

Small 4 and 8 ounce bronze guns, which may have been cast by 17th century Dutch bellfounders for wealthy businessmen, found their way to South Africa with some of the earliest settlers during the period 1650 to 1680. These small cannon, of which eighteen remain in the Cape, were mounted on field carriages, and some 2 and 3 pdr breech-loaders are thought to have been used by the Dutch forces at the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806. It is highly unlikely that such irregular forces would have been able to cross the dunes of Blaauwberg with the larger howitzers or heavier ship's guns.

The guns of the signal system used to call the Burghers to arms, were mainly 6 pdrs, with several 1 or 2 pdr bronze breech loading swivel guns (called camers van basjen) at intermediate or supplementary positions. Most, but not all, of these had been replaced with iron 6 pdrs by 1790. There was only one 12 pdr iron gun used in the signaling system, this was at the key position on the slopes of Tygerberg.

There are seven "Finbanker" styled guns which appear to have been cast in England for the Dutch. Characteristic of these guns are a thicker but shorter button, and the first and second reinforces are more parallel than those of guns cast in Sweden, which have a constant taper from the base-ring to the muzzle astragal.

The Dutch are known to have scoured the Cape and searched wrecks along the coast in order to salvage or commandeer guns of all sorts for the signal system. Here they were fortunate in that they did not need shot for the guns, as they were destined to fire blank warning signals only. This would offer an explanation for the small numbers of odd guns at the Cape.

The only iron guns cast by the Dutch were cast in Liege, Belgium during the period 1817 to 1831 while Belgium was part of the Netherlands, thus too late to have any influence on the Cape.

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SWEDEN

It seems that only during the 1781-1783 upgrading of the defences did the Dutch begin to use larger guns in any significant numbers. There are eight 24 pdr guns which bear Swedish weight markings (roman numerals) and dates of between 1752 and 1755. They also show the crossed anchors of the Dutch Admiralty, indicating that they were not ordered by the VOC. These may have been part of an urgent order for the Admiralty placed in about 1755, they were possibly moved to the Cape at a later date. An example of these can be found at the East Fort at Hout Bay.

There are seven clearly identifiable Swedish guns dated 1782 and one gun dated 1777 which all show Swedish weight markings but no admiralty markings, nor any VOC emblem. There are other identical guns where the markings have corroded away. According to Mr Rudi Roth, this probably indicates an urgent order which was met by means of supplying "off-the-shelf" guns cast for use by Sweden.

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FRANCE

The French guns at the Cape were most likely brought here by the French troops which assisted the colony in expanding local defences between 1781 and 1783. This is borne out by the dates of manufacture of two French guns which clearly indicate the year 1782 on the trunnions. Unfortunately many remaining French guns are partly buried and the trunnions are not accessible.

Some of the French guns have the word "INDRET" on one trunnion and the fleur de lis on the other. These markings indicate the main French naval foundry and arsenal near Nantes.

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Had these guns been brought to the Cape by the British during their second occupation in 1806, one would expect to find at least one gun cast later than 1794. This indicates that the 18 pdrs were probably landed during the consolidation period which followed the 1795 occupation and that the guns were not removed when the British left the Cape in 1803. This was the case in the Dutch East Indies, where the British left the guns when they departed.

As the settlement grew over the years the ideal placement of guns to meet the perceived threats changed. With each new Governor or new military leader taking over command the defence philosophies and tactics changed.

The first great reshuffle of guns occurred under French influence in the early 1780's with larger guns being positioned at key positions and older or smaller guns being relegated to the defence of the flanks, at secondary batteries or for signal use.

Minor adjustments in the distribution took place as the construction of each new battery or redoubt was completed.

When the British occupied the Cape in 1795 the second great re-organisation took place. Twenty seven English 18 pdr guns were placed at Imhoff Battery, two were added to the Sea Lines, two at Chavonnes Battery, five at Three Anchor Bay and six in Simon's Town. Eight 32 or 42 pdr carronades were added to the defences, two at Camps Bay, four at Kloof Nek and two at Three Anchor Bay.

The Dutch guns which were displaced by the English guns were redistributed to other batteries. The Dutch 24 pdrs from Imhoff Battery were moved to King's Blockhouse (2), Prince of Wales Blockhouse (4), Queen's Blockhouse (5) and Craig Battery (6). The 32 pdr Blomefield guns were probably landed after the 1809 survey was conducted, as they are not listed in that record.

There were doubtless many other adjustments made at that time and in the years that followed. The greatest redistribution occurred during the latter half of the 19th and first decade of the 20th centuries, when batteries were demolished to make way for development. It is apparent that no thought was given to the preservation of the guns when their emplacements were destroyed, and little has been done to preserve the few that remain.

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Some guns were set muzzle up in concrete and iron bars of approximately 45mm diameter set into the muzzles to form pivots for later traversing carriages at Imhoff Battery, on the Castle ramparts and, presumably, elsewhere. Some of these pivots remain.

Many guns were used as bollards in the harbours at Cape Town and Simon's Town. On 3 June 1862 an official at the Castle wrote to the Secretary of the Table bay Harbour Company, "His Excellency the Commander of the Forces, having approved of your offer of the 21st ultimo for the purchase of 12 of the guns at Chavonnes Battery at the rate of £9/16/0 each....".