THE CARRONADE - Short Cannon (use against Maori)

The Carronade, first produced by the Carron Company of Scotland in 1776 was designed to be a short gun of large bore. - It was a bit of a hybrid between the long cannon and a short howitzer.

 Carronades were normally mounted on a sliding carriage, and fired a large heavy ball at short ranges - they weighed much less than the longer cannons. - Carronades were cast in all the usual calibers and the most common were 12, 18, 24, and 32 pounders. The most well known carronades were the two 68 pounders mounted on the forecastle of HMS Victory at the 1805 Battle of Trafalger.

Some carronades were however mounted on wheeled elmwood 'common truck carriages' so that they might be fired from the poop or quarter decks - but also might be readily moved about for use as needed - in a similar manner to the different, longer 'Chase Gun' cannon.

Unlike the big brother cannon there was no muzzle swell on carronades - but the muzzle was 'cupped' to ease and speed-up loading of the tighter fitting balls. These short big-bores might be likened to the 1911 45ACP semi-auto pistol in that they both throw a slow but heavy lump of metal and both are very effective at point-blank combat ranges - but limited at greater distance. Sailors called the carronades "Smashers". Built with less windage (less clearance in the bore) - carronade shot had to be stored more carefully on-board and protected from rusting by the elements (all that salty water slopping around) - which was always an issue onboard the sailing warships of that era.

Carronade

The main advantages of carronades were that - like a good woman - they were cheap and cost much less to run. - they were much lighter and could be fired faster than cannon, with fewer crew.

Round ball shot was the standard load - designed to damage enemy vessels rather than sink them - so that they might become a prize  and help enrich both crew & Captain. - The heavy low velocity ball from the short gun made for a more ragged hole in ships timbers and generated more splinters causing many wounds. - 'Case' or canister filled with musket balls, or 'grapeshot' of larger balls tied into a canvass or netting bag might be used against rigging or men. Grape-shot however was never used in bronze guns as it damaged the bores.

The six pounder piece of ordnance  carronade such as that landed in 'The Harriet Affair'  in Taranake would have had a smooth-bore of 3.6 inches and fired a standard 6 pound 3.5 inch cast-iron ball. It would have been charged with half the gun-powder used by a cannon of the same caliber (under 1 pound rather than 2 pound plus).

The last carronade was cast at Carron  in 1852, 76 years after the first - The London Times having observed in 1849 that carronades were fit only for use by pirates !

There is disagreement recorded about just how effective the bombardment of the Waimate pa actually was. Captain Lambert of the Alligator insisted that very little damage had been done - saying that some of the Maori just left, others walked about on the beach quiet unconcerned while some even ran to where the balls struck and tried to pick them up. - The exact number of Maori killed is unknown.

Marty K.

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