Canon size

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wstirling

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Can anyone help with advice about canons:
I am building a smuggling lugger from 1835 and want to find a canon for the taffrail. I don't know what size is appropriate for the boat which is 37'6" or 14.2 tons displacement- she is quite a big boat for her size so to speak and if it will aid advice there are pictures of the completed hull at cuttersandluggers.co.uk I don't know where one gets canons from; whether one has to find an old one or is there a firm that makes them? If I would like a blank firing canon do I need a shotgun licence?
 
A swivel gun is the piece that you want. This was mounted in a bracket which looked very like a rowlock. The bracket was in turn mounted on the bulwark rail. I wonder if the Trafalgar Gun Company make one? Gunpowder may be a problem, especially these days, when anything that goes bang is suspect. LPG may be a viable alternative, ignited by a spark plug-and-coil setup. a local square-rigged ship "Enterprize" has such a swivel, which I though made an impressive noise until they had a duel with the Bark "Endeavour". Now that was noise! Endeavour's gunner had rammed his powder well, and it made a really sharp "crack", followed by the deep Boom that one would expect. The noise of a broadside would be truly deafening.
Peter.
 
Excellent Peter, thankyou very much for your piece advice. Have just had a shuffle about on Google but couldn't find the TGC, (apart from a health and safety memo relating the court findings after they had been hired to supplement an orchestra and a girl had blown two fingers off and burnt her nose in the third movement.) I don't suppose you have their contact details in your address book?
 
I beleive I remember a case in the Menai in the 1980s where someone fired a cannon from the 'Castle' at Caernafon bar - and blew a hole in the main of a passing yacht! I dont think the local magistrates were too impressed /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
A swivel gun -- the Grand Turk, Mike Turk's replica frigate (as seen on TV in Hornblower etc) has several set along the quarterdeck rail. When she was at IFOS in Portsmouth a few years back my daughter and I enjoyed training a swivel gun on a passing yacht with Natwest Bank written down the side and a large crew of veritable bankers. I had this vision of sinking our overdraft and mortgage along with it. Sadly the swivel wasn't loaded.
Chris
(PS Canons are actually clergymen, and they come in varying sizes from gaunt to portly, but they are said to bring bad luck on board!)
 
Sorry, but there's no call for me to have their contact details, as I am located too far away for it to be of any use to me. I have just read of them appearing at various maritime festivals around the UK coast.
Peter.
 
What a shock the first time they fired that bloody thing

BTW not a swivel gun heavy little fixed bugger

Was there that weekend.Brayford Pool,Lincoln for the water

festival .My boat is far right of picture

Those HMS boys can certainly sup and sing /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

They spend a fortune in our club Lincoln Boat Club once a

year
 
Have just seen your post.

I assume you are in the UK? If so you don't need a certificate to have a blank fireing gun or to buy blank cartridges, providing the gun can't be used as a firearm or converted to a firearm.
To buy or use loose gunpowder you need an explosives license from your local police force.

If in doubt speak to the firearms liason officer for your local police force. The Metropolitan Police have a very informative web site that covers all of the above

www.met.police.uk/firearms-enquiries

I would imagine that your best bet would be to aquire a twelve bore yacht starting gun and fit this into a dummy barrel for your swivel. Twelve bore blackpowder blanks are probably the easiest to find.

The LPG "gun" that PD mentions sounds like a bird-scarer - perhaps it would be worthwhile checking out a local agricultural supplier. LPG burns clean - try a squirt of caster oil down the barrel to give authentic looking smoke.

Hope this helps
Terry M
 
I believe that Friar Tuck is around the largest size of canon around. Not sure he would appreciate being strapped to your taffrail.

R
 
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