Navy guns

The guns were removed from their mountings on board HMS Terrible and relocated onto special field carriages. They had three times the range of the Royal Field Artillery guns and fired a common shell.

Although commonly called the “12 pounder” the shell was 3 inches in diameter and weighed 12.8 pound for the common or percussion shell and 14 pound for the shrapnel. The former used a time fuse and had a range of 4154 metres and the latter 7385 metres. 

 

 

The carriage was designed by Captain Scott of HMS Terrible who was also responsible for the carriage of the 4.7 inch Gun and the shuttered front cover for signalling with searchlights.

One of these guns was affectionately known as “Bloody Mary” by the sailors and was sited at Cove Redoubt, whilst another “Lady Ellen” was moved to Caesars Camp.

The 4.7 INCH field gun Navy threw a 45 pound shell, either common (percussion) or time-fuse (shrapnel) and their range was almost 9000 and 6000 metres respectively and required 32 oxen to pull one gun. The guns were taken off HMS Terrible, mounted on special carriages designed by Captain Percy Scott and were the only “match” for the boer Long Tom. The guns were first used during the Siege, manned by sailors from HMS Powerful and arrived in the “nick” of time to save the town. This action is commemorated each year at the Royal Naval Tattoo in London where is a race is held between Naval teams and the guns are carried across various obstacles.

                                             Junction Hill Ladysmith                                              

Two of these guns in Ladysmith were named “Lady Anne” or “Princess Victoria” by the sailors.

A further two 4.7 inch guns were mounted on similar carriages, with one being used at Colenso and the other at Spioenkop.

An urgent request from Sir Redvers Buller was sent to Captain Percy Scott of H.M.S. Terrible. He desired the same portability that was possible with the 4.7 inch and 12 pounder guns for this large and much heavier 6 inch gun. This was achieved by Scott in five days and then ready to be shipped to Buller. It arrived just two weeks before the Relief of Ladysmith.

The 6 inch on Scott’s carriage

The gun fired both common and shrapnel shells over distances of 2750 to 13 700 metres and a 100 pound shrapnel shell was a lethal weapon indeed!