The Daily Journal

BIG GUNS OF A CENTURY AGO
Turks at That Time Had the Most Effective Cannon Known to the World.

It would scarcely appear feasible that a shot weighing 800 pounds could have been employed a century ago, yet the Turks, who used the largest cannon in Europe, actually used guns of such caliber at that time. When Sir J. Duckworth passed the Dardanelles to attack Constantinople in 1807 his fleet was dreadfully shattered by the immense shot thrown from the batteries. The Royal George, of 110 guns, was nearly sunk by only one shot, while another cut the mainmast of the Windsor Castle almost in two; a single shot knocked two ports of the Thunderer into one; the Repulse (74 guns) had her wheel shot away and 24 men killed and wounded by a shot, the ship being saved only by the most wonderful exertions. The heaviest shot which struck our ships was of granite, weighing 800 pounds, and was 26 inches in diameter. One such shot, to the astonishment of the tars, stove in the whole starboard bow of the Active, and, having crushed this immense mass of timber, the shot rolled ponderously aft, the crew standing aghast at the singular spectacle. One of those guns was cast in brass. It was composed of two parts, its breech resting against massive stonework, and the difficulty of charging such a monster would not allow of its being fired more than once. -The Dundee Advertiser.