“Can you feel the weight of history pressing down?” I ask. Here before us stands an 8-Inch Shell Gun. This isn’t just any cannon. It’s a piece of Toronto’s story etched in iron and gunpowder.
These 8-Inch Shell Guns played a crucial role. They were British cast iron smoothbore muzzle-loading guns. These guns fired exploding shells. Henri-Joseph Paixhans pioneered this technology in the early to mid-nineteenth century.
Imagine the scene. The gunners would load the 8-Inch Shell Gun. They would ram home the gunpowder and then the shell. The air crackles with anticipation.
This particular 8-Inch Shell Gun weighs 7263 pounds. It bears the markings of its origin. You can see “Samuel Walker & Company of Rotherham, England (WCo)” on its left trunnion. Serial number 406 is on the right trunnion.
These guns weren’t designed to fire solid armour-piercing shots. Their purpose was different. They launched large shells filled with explosives. This allowed them to inflict maximum damage. The 8-inch gun fired a shell of about 50 pounds.
The design of the 8-Inch Shell Gun is interesting. It features a “chambered” design. This means that the area for the gunpowder was not the same as the gun’s bore. The chamber was coned to concentrate the force of the explosion. This design allowed the gun to be lighter.
Initially, a shorter version of the 8-Inch Shell Gun was deemed unsuitable. The 9-foot 65 cwt version became the standard. British warships used it extensively.
The 8-Inch Shell Gun eventually became obsolete. Rifled muzzle-loading guns replaced them in the 1860s. Some 65 cwt versions were converted into RML 64-pounder guns.
Two 65 cwt 8-Inch Shell Guns dated 1843 are preserved here in Toronto. They stand as silent witnesses to a bygone era. Another gun of this type can be found at Fort Denison in Sydney, Australia. Also, another one is located at Pendennis Castle, Cornwall, UK.
This 8-Inch Shell Gun before us is a tangible link to the past. It reminds us of the ingenuity and the destructive power of 19th-century naval warfare. Let us remember the stories it could tell. Let us reflect on the history it represents.