Here is a very small Chinese bronze cannon on a reproduction stand which is probably not authentic in the least. The cannon weighs only 20 kg, is 63cm long, and has a bore of 28mm.

This cannon is the most intriguing (to me anyway) of the three Chinese weapons I own. I can't explain it, but somehow it is enigmatic, mysterious and seems to have brought me good luck since I acquired it about 6 years ago. It has more of a "traditional" Chinese design than my other weapons.

The iron and brass swivel may be original, I am not sure. It does have some age. I cannot find any other such cannons to compare the mounting with. The two which were once in the Tower of London are no longer there. They had no mounting swivels.

Two Ebay members, Orientalhorions and KHL889, translated the writing for me, but I will show some of it here so you can see for yourself. You can find more pictures of the writing by changing the last digit of the picture URL, there are quite a few such pictures on the photobucket site.

The character says "道光 23 年" (Emperor Dao Guang 23 years). That was 1844 AD and it could be from Opium War times. Could those small cannon used for firing closer range enemy?

Thank you for your reply.

I agree, certainly this is only for anti-personnel use at short range. I would not think this gun would be effective beyond about 100m at the extreme. Such a piece is also typically defensive, even if it is onboard a ship, it would be used for keeping boarding parties off of the defended ship.

This type of cannon is usually called a "swivel gun" due to its mounting, in kind of an oarlock.

Perhaps someone will find a drawing of such a piece being used either on a ship or on a fortification, and they can post it here.

Could the syntax of the writing on this gun indicate whether it was intended for land or sea use? If the individuals named on it were Army people, then would it be for land warfare, or were military people in China in 1844 considered to be serving in a joint service, such as a combined "defense department?" I am lost in such matters, I have no idea.

It is well known that after the First Opium War Qing government adopted some European devices to be used in army and navy. So it is likely the relic of this adoptation. There is even a Chinese manual for European-styled gunnery dated by 1841 "Yanpao tushe jiyao" by Qing nobile Ding Shengnan. But in a short while after the war everything was given up as "useless" as Qing emperor thought he conclused a trety with U.K. for 10000 years. It was a really fatal error, but ...

Best regards,

Alexey.

that is definitely a deck gun from a Chinese warship(used for hitting the opposite ship or personnel when it is being boarded).

though i guess it could be used to mount anything really, it is hard to tell

It is a swivel gun, hence going by function it was naval gun mounted on deck - put in action against enemy troops, rigging or smaller masts.

Daoguang Era Cannon



Location : local Craft Expo, Kota Baru, Kelantan (Malaysia)



http://raykinzoku.fotopages.com/?entry=1488653&page=0

that cannon get 63cm in size??
it look so small in photos you post.
and those chinese wording is...suspicious...
those wording on cannon should looks like what Hng Li Po shows in the URL above.

Even for a swivel gun, this seems a little small, but then again it was a Chinese copy of a Western weapon.

Swivel guns were mounted on the bows and sterns of naval ships and were sometimes called bow chasers or stern chasers.

I agree that the calibre seems small at 28mm. It would have had a fairly low firing rate, as it was a muzzle loader, although it would have been a lot faster than the larger 18lb, 24lb or 32lb muzzle loading weapons that were the main guns on a warship fo this time.

There are a number of ways the lethality of this weapon could have been increased. One was to double load the gun. That would have meant putting one large charge of gunpowder and two cannon balls, one after the other. More effective still would be to load it with "grapeshot." This was a a cannister of musket ball sized projectiles which would spread out at short range and be a very effective anti-personnel weapon.

Hi William

I submit this was not designed to be lethal weapon. It was designed as a signal device, a warning signal or an honors provider. At this point in time the British navy used this type of device as a signal and many of the British navy traditions were copied. Signal devices of this type were were fixed at the towers of cities or palaces as well as on ships.

I have seriously considered that possibility. I have been unable to find any detailed reference in any of my books on the age of sail, which covers swivel guns. In exasperation I turned to Wikipedia, which states:

Swivel guns are among the smallest types of cannon, typically measuring less than 1 m (3 ft) in length and with a bore diameter of up to 3.5 cm (1¼ in). They can fire a variety of ammunition but were generally used to fire grapeshot and similar types of small-diameter shot, though they could also fire small caliber round shot. Most swivel guns were muzzleloaders.

The length and bore of this cannon would actually meet the bill!

I also note that swivel guns were actually used for signalling. When I was at Oxford, they used three similar cannons to start rowing races.