The 68-Pounder 95 Hundredweight Gun in Warrnambool, Victoria

May 24

68-Pounder 95 Hundredweight Smoothbore Muzzleloading Gun in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. Photo by Ivan Dove.

A 68-Pounder 95 Hundredweight Smoothbore Muzzleloading Gun is displayed outside the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. Many thanks to friend-of-the-page Ivan Dove for taking these photos and sharing them with me.

The cannon was manufactured by Low Moor Iron Works in Bradford, England in 1861. The 68-Pounder was produced in different lengths and barrel weights, however the 95 Hundredweight 10-foot long type was by far the most common in service. The 95 hundredweight model was first manufactured in 1846. It's weight, 95 Hundredweight, is 10,640 pounds. It's bore measured just over 8-inches in caliber (I've seen 8.12 inches). The cannon fired a 68-pound shot with as much as a 16-pound propellant charge in service.

With my focus on US Navy ordnance, I find it interesting to compare the 68-Pounder to the US Navy's 9-Inch Dahlgren which weighed about 9,200 pounds and could fire a roughly 90-pound shot using a 10-pound service charge of propellant. (13-Pound charges were approved during the Civil War for close actions with ironclads.) However, the 9-Inch Dahlgren was conceived of as primarily a shell gun that had the capability of firing shot when necessary.

To quote the interpretive sign beside the Warrnambool 68-Pounder:

"The Victorian Colonial Government commissioned the Scratchley Report in 1863 to review colonial defenses in the context of the growing gold wealth of Victoria. It was one of 19 purchased by the Victorian colonial government for the defenses of Hobson Bay (Williamstown) in response to the report. It is not known when the cannon was moved to Warrnambool, but it possibly arrived in the 1860s, and was used for training purposes by volunteers.

It is now considered "exceptionally rare at a world level" to have the original cannon still with its intact teak carriage and slide, as well as the wooden air compression box (held in the Flagstaff Hill archive) that was used to limit the recoil of the weapon when fired."

Indeed, it is very rare to find original wooden carriages from the 19th century.

As the sign goes on to note, there are nearby fortifications, and this cannon is one of several of different types in the area which may be found as part of the "Southwest Cannon Trail": https://artilleryvic.org.au/index.php/2023/07/23/the-southwest-cannon-trail/

Again, many thanks to Ivan Dove for the photos!