HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1971-12-16, Page 3612 GQERICU SIGNAL-STAY4UURAI34Y, DECEMBER 16, 1971
The Bilipe
r�
r
The guns of Goderich
BY G. MacLEOD ROSS cannon, for with a date. tike
1803 cast on the trtiPnion it was
American visitors to Goderich possible they had seen service at
have been known to' Ailment ment Corunna, . oe Badajoz; had even
4:.2-•-awrattter-aiwtd}y •olt..the feet tl a •-the -,,, beert-4anrled,4kl-.- the -way to
ttiiree' cants o; eittritixd i i+ tiri ' "fiiel ' 0 ` Mingo ;' there -to'
the Bank and one in Harbour .decirnate the French Cuirassiers.
Park,' are all "laid" on. the , But the reply. was •rather
United States. To date no one disappointing, though it came
has disclosed whence' these with a folder entitled: "Carron.
cannon - came; whether for rLiving Traditions On the cover
purposes of coastal de''ence, or was a sepia drawing of H.M.S.
merely 'as reminders of r.Victory, Nelson's flagship at
Years of the Sword", during Trafalgar, The crest of the -
which Nelson and Wellington rid Carron Company shows three
Europe of the imperialistic. crossed cannon, supporting a
aspirations 'of the Emperor phoenix rising frOni the flames
Napoleon.of France, and a pile of cannon ball's
,Goderich is not alone in .its beneath and the date 175,
possession of these once lethal being the `ear the Company was
weapons. There are others of .founded, incorporation by
similar • ty.pe at Fort George, Roy al Charter coming in 17,7 3.
Niagara on the -Lake, three at The whale is surmounted by the
Ottawa -and probably some at motto. 'I sto Perpetuo", which
Fort York, Kingston. But translates to "Mat` 'it last
specimens are frro be found all forever" and ich today, 2,12
over the world. A cannon on \ years later, does not seem _to
Mount Victoria,. Wellington, have been unduly optimistic, for
New Zealand, five in South the Company is still eery much
Africa; one. 'each at Port alive:
Elizabeth, at- Vereeniging Specific information about
Country C 1 u b , a t".. the Goderich cannon was 'not.
Pietermaritzburg and at Fort forthcoming, t'or it was hoped
Beaufort Museum_ There is yet that the serial number and the='
another at Akyab, Burma..while -date might associate the. weapon
•carronades,
of which more later,-
with a definite (m
ite theat
re of war,
�.`' t �:din:o�-t•k�t�.,�i.;�pk�c��.W:cas�e�.����t�•u-�t��ivtis
Galt, at - '-'kennery Island, in the canon.' folder shoVvs' a
Bombay and two at St._John's close-up of a trunnion with the
lewfoun.dland. Most are still serial number 83016 and the
• Mounted • on "'M:S: victor' date ' 1814 from which it' :IS't}i ock" alai'' `'venrur`en 'that. over: e1e n'�Yeairs..
hersel��n Portsm�u I� y ,
at the Tower of \London and' from 1803 to 1814, some
there is a single- cannon at the 19.172 cannon or Carronades
by means of a wedge. Stamped
on the barrel just below the
Royal cipher is the inevitable
broad arrow of the Ordnance
Board. - Precis, -was
urtnecessary'in`Mel 9th ceritury
since bombardment .took place
at sucl},4close qliarters that. the
Carronade proved a 'most
destructive' weapon, smashing up
ships of the "' period most
effectively.
Improvements were made and
by 1782 four hundred and
twenty nine ships of the Line
had been armed with the
Cartonade, its reliability- having
been proved as .early as 1778
when the Comptroller of the.
Navy recommended them
especially fpr this quality. One
of the several experiments
featured, the use of shot,
Perforated through the centre
and spirally fluted to prevent
aberration in flight. 'I'.his early
attempt tto. rotate the projectile
was later translated into rifling
the barrel of the gun, rather than
the slot,
Surprisingly the inventors of "
Letter to Editor
Carron Company's plant
Carron in Stirlingshire.
more detailed inspection
the
lefty
- with
___ above;the
Below this is
i.e.. 1803,, whi
at • had been cast. But .that is pure
surmise of course. ro
These were turbulent years
but -in the
same year
any was
died ,,the
local cannon shows that the\ not only in Europ
hand runnion is stamped Americas as well. T
the s ial number 63844 ` the Carron Com
odd
"CARRON,.". founded, Wolfe was_
he date of casting, Heights ' of ..Abraham. Sixteen
e the right hand .years later, with George III 'on
tru:union bear the • calibre, iz•
"32 Pdr". Two years ago L dy
LongfOrd wrote a fasc•ina ing
story of the Iron Duke's c• reer
entitled "The eats of the ..
Sword".(*) In it .e mentions
that Wellington insisted , on
Carron cast gu4 because of their
reliability, in tihat they did not
burst when fined, as did many
other makes. This is supported
• by a letter the Duke penned to
his commissariat officer on the
9th of October, 1811, just before
.he. invested the citadel of
Badajoz; MIt'reads: "My Dear Sir,
I have received, your letter of the
31st January. I have had enough
sieges with defective artillery
and I will never .undertake
another without ' the best.
_Therefore in all rely letters I have
__desired to have either 29.
Pounders, 9 feet long, Carron
manufacture, or 29 Pounders. 8
feet long- of the same
manufacture and Carron shot.
The Phoenix's guns appear to rhe
,hot to be of the appropriate
kind and, 'I therefore hope that
you. Ever 'MY Dear Sir,
"`Fa...lth,fu1ly Yours,
WELLINGTON."-
Today,
ELLINGTON."-Today, 155 years later, there
remain th"relics of the impact
the*Napoleonic Wars had on the
public at large. Goderich was
just emerging as a town and its
street names bear witness to the
enthusiasm which, greeted the
-fall . of Napoleon, for here we
,have .Nelson, 5t. Vincent, and
Trafalgar oh the na)al side, with
Wellesley, - Wellington, Arthur,
Waterloo, Picton, Anglesea and
Napier, all concerned with the
prowess of British arms on land,
From-. ."The. Years of the
Sword" it was only logical to
look next in the dictionary. to
find: CARRONADE.n. A short
cannon of large bore originally
made at Carron, near Falkirk,
Scotland. And: CARRON
OIL:n. A mixture of linseed oil
and lime' water used at the
Carron Ironworks for scalds,..A
step further was to write the
Carron Company and enquire as
to the lineage_ of the Goderich
thee,throne, the War of American:
Independence opened and lasted
until 1783: The French •
Re -o1-ution , followed by •the
Napoleonic •Period, covered the
years 1789 to 1815 and while
1805 was marked ,by Nelson's
victory at. Trafalgar, from 1808"
to 1814• the British ,rens 'was
engaged in, ridding the Spanish
Peninsular ' of° ' Napoleon's
Armies, followed by his defeat
in 1815, It was against this
background ,of u-niversal war that
the Armament. Industry was
born. Carron. called t•he.
Woolwich Arsenal of the North,
in 1759; Krupp in 1787 and Du
Pont in 1802. .
'THE CARRON STORY
The inanufacture of Carron
cannon lee to developments and
inventions of far reaching
consequence.: In 1778 the
prototype of a naval cannon Was
brought o t which fired
spherical pr jectiles of• vars.ing
weights,, mo't usually 64 pounds
and 32...po nds., This was called
the Carro ad,e -and achieved
• world-wide fame. These cannon
were sho ._ barreled; '4 foot 6
/TS AS '#
HARD To
GET A MAN 701 7.
/TOME AFTER?Yof/INE
MARR/ED, AS /T ii/AS
To GET /i/M TO Go.
NOME.
BEP' RE
'YOU
MARR/ED
MIM
L
1IONEL'S
SUNOCO
iittittgffteckretokeints
Licensed' Mechanic
6
Repairs to' afll Makes
inches and a bore of 8 inches
diameter, while the muzzle
protruded only an inch beyond
the porthole of the. ship. The
,recoil forced the carronade
inboard, when it was arrested by
thick, -ropes attached to the hull
of the ship. To bring it into
action again a tackle and pulleys
"trained" it to the` iorthole. The
sight consisted of a deep
V -notch on the muzzle, while
the angle of firing was adjusted
the "many variations in the ner•er Claimed any credit. He did 'achievement, more especially at -•�;•.
tarronade which, in its 9 toot, however, fit out a privateer, a time when its main product 'PUB, L'C f1.E�1R, G,S '
six inch bore size,• became the The Spitfire", with "'18 pound was "facile princeps" (easily._.
land cannon are shrouded in .
a . �..c�arronades which was, captured rstj......wh.ich Rhrase._� i'eht, ed .r .. , .... _, .p.:
fi w ..,�;
Mystery., ., Lady Longford. tn. Ince „
bv.'..: . ; n r tht r .. u. ..,-...:..Th - o f � t m o. ndi a :. i+ e.
boor, above::'meritibned'ref "., h�ry l�a(lenged est+u•perpeto ,�o,. n Sta . g C mmitt ,
recorded combat with as the motto of the company,
to a Dr. John Roebuck as the carronades in, 1.7,79.. Witness the haughty letter which
genius, but the Company only The encyclopoedia refers to the Carron Manager to
talks of s;, "two pretenders", Henry Shrapnel- who jived from Their Lordships pennedof . the
General Robert Melville and 1761 to 1842 and Lady'.• Admiralty when the tatter'
Charles Gasco.igne..,The t'orrner a Longford credits him with the suggested they should provide
military antiquarian and, the ,�.inveYnlioti of the shrapnel shell, a suggested
a'"
latter manager and partner in the naval escort for the vessels which
case filled with ltad'' balls and had been sailed to the .Forth to
Company The 'rumour that' a provided viith a fuse., so that it -have ca'rronades installed, during
model of the first piece was _burst in the air above the target. their voyage' back to •London.
inscribed: "Gift of the Carron The Carron Company claims "Carxiun vessels`. stand in no need
that Shrap�rrel entrusted „ them ,protection from Elis Majesty's
with the
invention,
4>
1Irt.'r'�
of the arrogance of great
Company to Lt. 'Gent. Melville,
inventor of smashers and lesser
carronades for solid, ship, shell,
and carcass shot etc. First used
against the French in 1779", has
never been found. Gascoigne laid
on trials of carronades for a
naval delegation in 1779, but he
made no verbal or written claim
to inventing it, • An Edinburgh
banker, Patrick Miller,` whose
name 'is' associated with "a piece
of carriage ordnance intended
for aAship gun and which
eqt a e the 8 -inch
anufacture of his Navy". �liP
`
' at ,the same-
time _giving the impression that �.Today, . cithe Company,
f ,the„ original
he was of World War I vintage, possessed
something the Company ought , drawings, even the original
to straighten out. patterns, all of which have been
Wars apart, the founding of carefully preserved, is prepared
the Canon Company coincided to cast a cannon or a carrgnade
with the Industrial Revolution, with which to ornament the
and the company had' dealings• front of your house, They are
with some well-known names in originals,, unmodified in any
engineering history. James Watt way, save that the British
had his original castings for his Government does not permit the,:
fi d 1 howitzer, 'steam engine cast at Carron, barrel to be' bored and thus
w h i 1 e John Smeaton enable the cannon. to be fired.
(1721.17.92), who rebuilt the, ' But there is something much
Eddystone Lighthouse, also more important which Carron
-relied on
/rrThe
fpany has
prescryed. It -- is
the e
eed
produccdtAhcir cwnpig-ir,
on. "�minesy ire laele:age oldThey are
wiGerS----
>wrdthei .own coal
and by 'de'ed. In fact' I •suggest It is hardly surprising that the , ' Wellington "—The Years of the ,
that more good Christians be, Company, and above all• a Scots Sword.'by Elizabeth Longford.
,,� ' Harper er and Row. §10.00. 970.
Com any' should dis lav sine, ,,;.
doers and' nibi ,sere tal)fers;l z. � � , P� ...
Dear Mrs. Keller,
In, your column or''' the
•"C cderichSi a1 Stair" pf`
;ovember' `?1, you' remarked" on
the letter of St. ' Augustine's
C.W.L. '..Council on the vital
subject of "Abortion", which,
you considered very
controversial.
May you let me remark that
-some Biblical . quotations that
'you mentioned were misleading,
Christ fomrnanded -His-
followers, not ONLY to teach
and •baptize, but also to`Ypeach
=•BALL that He commanded,
including the sacredness of life,
• • To Christians. at least to good
Christians, like the 'members of
the C.W.L. Councils throughout
,the World,' they try: ' to fulfill the
law• of Christ till the last dote,
and • not''' arty some of His
commands. '
We need more thristi'ans like
them ' today with strong
convictions -in their Faith who
practice their beliefs by word
Kingsbridge
Continued from • Page 10 B
WHAT CHRISTMAS'
• MEAN$ TO ME,
Christmas is a time to be gay,
'With a merry smile -on your face
all day, .
Under the tree the children play;
Ewen those that are far away.
Christmas means decorating
your tree,
And setting it up where all can
see,
It means taking the little kids' on
your knee,
And telling thein, how good
,.-,-...'they should be.
Christma' ;i•s'the time of year
/When the Holy Saviour to us
draws near,
And in our hearts we hold him
dear,
In faith and ever loving fear.
Anne Marie
Grade 7
Kingsbridge
_..their convictions, •
The second point I would like
to remind, you of,' is. once again
taken ft -4)m the Bible: "Let your
light; t (Faith) shine before men
(no exception, being believer or
not), that they may glorify yoiir
•Father in Heaven." And that's
exactly what these women are
-doing b} writer' Carte. I hope
that they keep on writing with
conviction) on this._t riral issue,
arid not tet it die. •
Last -but not least,' let me
Congratulate all the Christians
who wrote and are still writing
on this important issue "The
Right to Eife" arid"' encourage
others to 'state their convictions
on this matter by writing in our u
daily papers and to our M•Ps.
With, my best regards'.
Rev. Henry. Cassano, S,S.P.'
Tiger Dunlop
WI gives
to Arrny
The Christmas meeting Qt'.(he.
Tiger Dunlop ,Institute was held
in the township hall ' with - Mrs.
Elmer Hunter, president, in.
charge and, Mrs. Gordon Kaitting
as pianist.
Thank you cards, including
.one from the' Children's Aid
society were read. •
A donation was made to the
Salvation Army.
'Mr. E. Elliott displayed her
large collection of beautiful
home ' made Christmas
decorations.
, Mrs. D. McNeil and Mrs. Earl
Sherwood with Mrs. Gordon
Kaitting at the piano' led in
Christmas carols.
It was decided to purchase a
new supply of tea,tpwels for the
kitchen. After an • exchange of
gifts. everyone enjoyed asocial
half hour with a pot luck lunch..
11,4,4
•
"Commerc Growth Savings
Certificates.
like to giv a gift that
-would like to ave fo myself:"
'Some people lust don't
think enough about Christmas
presents But I've always tried
to get gifts that I think are
right So often I give
Commerce Growth Savings -v
Certificates If only costs ,
$C.81 for a certificate that will
gw 10 t Cibi-n a y UM. >.
You can buy as many as you
want, even if you don'=t have
an account' at the Commerce.
You can cash th m in anytime
you want and of er six months
receive interest oa Commotce
Growth Saving • Certificates
make a good Ch istmas present
They're easy to •et and
people 'appreciat �'them.They're
gift the that grows:'
_w.
Np
• ECONOMICALLY PRItE\D AT'
on
TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
This Committee will visit South Western Ontario during the
last week of January�1972 for the purpose of inquiring into'
the adequacy of the rail or substitute passenger service in
that area.
It -is intended tip hold public hearings in the following' places
at the times indicated.
TILLSONBURG, ONT,, Monday, January 24, 1972
°ry ` Council Chambers 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
CHATHAM, ONT., Tuesday, January 25, 1972
William Pitt Hotel (Marina Room) 9:30 a.m. and 2:00
-STRATFORD, ONT:, Wednesday, January 26, 1972
Victoria Inn (Victoria Room) 9:30 a,rn_*. and 2:00 p.m.
WALKERTO4v11:-O.NT., Thursday, January 27, 1972
Hartley- House (Bruce Room) 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. -
Organizations 'or individuals who wish to. make
presentations to the Committee and/or submit a brief on
the passenger service 5re asked to inform the Clerk of the
Committee, as soon as possible.
They are.also requested to forward 10 copies, if possible, to
the Clerk for distribution"To Committee members prior to
January 15, 1972, In ,the event that individuals do not have-
facilities for providing multiple eopies, a' single copy, will
Suffice.
Requests for additional information should bye directed to:
on Trans, ort and Communications
• House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OA7
•
0
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