My guess is that this is a 6-inch BL gun, a standard coastal defence gun from about 1888 to 1956. Many different marks, this is most likely a Mark VII or later but hard to tell. The caliber shown in the article, about 15.cm, is about right. I would suggest it is from West Battery, originally an RML battery.
Thanks John for your thoughts. I wonder why it was buried. Is it a case of decommissioning when a deadlier or more effective weapon came along which made this cannon redundant?
Old artillery pieces were often discarded on site. Very hard to dispose of.
There are numerous examples where old guns can be found on the shore below coastal batteries or forts e.g. Portland Breakwater Fort, and the Bahamas.
Sometimes just dumped on open land nearby, some similar guns and a 9.2-inch recently unearthed during development in Colombo. Also found 6-inch guns lying on the ground in Mauritius. In the UK mainly scrapped in WW2 during the scrap collections.
In Bermuda at Fort Cunningham old RML guns found buried in the old moat. Still there.
Given the cannon was found on Mody Road in East Tsim Sha Tsui, it would be interesting to see if there was a connection with the battery at Signal Hill.
My guess is that this is a 6…
My guess is that this is a 6-inch BL gun, a standard coastal defence gun from about 1888 to 1956. Many different marks, this is most likely a Mark VII or later but hard to tell. The caliber shown in the article, about 15.cm, is about right. I would suggest it is from West Battery, originally an RML battery.
Thanks John for your…
Thanks John for your thoughts. I wonder why it was buried. Is it a case of decommissioning when a deadlier or more effective weapon came along which made this cannon redundant?
Why buried
Old artillery pieces were often discarded on site. Very hard to dispose of.
There are numerous examples where old guns can be found on the shore below coastal batteries or forts e.g. Portland Breakwater Fort, and the Bahamas.
Sometimes just dumped on open land nearby, some similar guns and a 9.2-inch recently unearthed during development in Colombo. Also found 6-inch guns lying on the ground in Mauritius. In the UK mainly scrapped in WW2 during the scrap collections.
In Bermuda at Fort Cunningham old RML guns found buried in the old moat. Still there.
Often dumped when upgrading guns.
Signal Hill ???
Given the cannon was found on Mody Road in East Tsim Sha Tsui, it would be interesting to see if there was a connection with the battery at Signal Hill.
re: I wonder why it was buried?
East Tsim Sha Tsui is reclaimed land, so if the gun was originally dropped on the seabed it would have been buried during reclamation.