Artillery in Canada (9) Nova Scotia: Annapolis Royal, Fort Anne

Artillery in Nova Scotia, Annapolis Royal, Fort Anne

The aim of this website is to locate, identify and document every historical piece of artillery preserved in Canada.  Many contributors have assisted in the hunt for these guns to provide and update the data found on these web pages.  Photos are by the author unless otherwise credited.  Any errors found here are by the author, and any additions, corrections or amendments to this list of Guns and Artillery in Canada would be most welcome and may be e-mailed to the author at hskaarup@rogers.com.

For all official data concerning the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, please click on the link to their website:

Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery Website

Note: Back in the day, artillery in Canada was referred to by its radio call sign "Sheldrake".  It is now referred to by its "Golf" call sign.  (Acorn sends)

Guns and Cannon

Those of us with an interest in old guns and cannon generally have to sort them out by size and purpose.  If the weapon can be transported by manpower alone, and if it relies on direct hits to kill, then it is classed as a gun.  If it takes more than one gunner to operate and is too heavy to be transported by manpower alone, and if its main purpose is to kill via shrapnel or concussion or to destroy obstacles, then it is a cannon.  Even when they are not in action against a target that can shoot back, they can be extremely dangerous, particularly when at sea.

Annapolis Royal, Fort Anne

Fort Anne, Officers Quarters, 1935.  (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3527934)

Annapolis Royal is located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia.  It  is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the 1605 French settlement of Port-Royal National Historic Site also known as the Habitation.  This new French settlement was renamed in honour of Queen Anne following the Siege of Port Royal in 1710 by Britain.  The town was the capital of Acadia and later Nova Scotia for almost 150 years, until the founding of Halifax in 1749.  It was attacked by the British six times before permanently changing hands after the Siege of Port Royal in 1710.  Over the next fifty years, the French and their allies made six unsuccessful military attempts to regain the capital.  Including a raid during the American Revolution, Annapolis Royal faced a total of thirteen attacks, more than any other place in North America.  As the site of several pivotal events during the early years of the colonisation of Canada, the historic core of Annapolis Royal was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1994.

Fort Anne National Historic Site is a fortified site located at the confluence of the Annapolis and Allain rivers in the town of Annapolis Royal.  Settled since 1629, the fort consists of the remains of various 18th and 19th century buildings and fortifications, the land surrounding them, and viewplanes over the adjacent salt marshes, river and town. Specific resources include the powder magazine (1708); the remains of a Vauban-style French fort (1702-8) with an underground powder magazine, a parade square well, a covert way well and earthworks; a dry-stone retaining wall (1760); a 19th-century Sally-port; shoreline cribwork (1740s); the ruins of the Queen’s wharf (1740s); the British Officers’ quarters (built 1797-9 and reconstructed 1934-5); an Acadian cemetery; and a British garrison cemetery.

Artillery preserved at Fort Anne.

Diagram of gun locations at Fort Anne, Annapolis Royal.

(Author Photos)

Cast iron 18-pounder SBML cannon, weight 41-2-21 (4,669 lbs), (SOLID) on left trunnion,  (W) for John Wilkinson, on the left trunnion, (SOLID) on the right trunnion, King George 3 cypher ( c1760-1780), mounted on a wood naval gun carriage guarding the South side of the main entrance to the fort.

(Author Photos)

Bronze 16-inch Smoothbore Muzzleloading (SBML) Mortar, stamped No. 2, Serial No. 2006, with three fleur-de-lys.  This Mortar stands beside the flag pole North of the main entrance.

(Author Photos)

French bronze 4-pounder smoothbore muzzleloading cannon, weight 6-0-17 (689 lbs), 3.75-inch, (Serial No. 278) above the cascabel. The first band is cast with “LA RUGISSANT” (the roaring one) at the top of the barrel, followed by a second band cast with the motto "ULTIMA RATIO REGNUM" (the Final Argument of Kings), an inscription that had been ordered to be etched into the field pieces of all his armies Louis XIV's armies, then the 4-pounder maker's symbol of a face in a sunburst over the Bourbon coat of arms of King Louis XIV (the “Sun King”).  Louis XIV was the King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715.  The third band is cast as "NEC PLURIBUS IMPAR" (Not unequal to many), followed by the weight, 6.0.17, and a fourth band cast as "A STRASBOURG PAR J BERENCE, 1738" (made at Strasbourg by J Berenger, 1738).  (Serial No. 36) is on the left trunnion, (the letter P is stamped over 671) on the right trunnion.  A number 4 is also inscribed on the barrel for the weight of the shot.  LA RUGISSANT rests on wood supports South of the former Officer's Quarters of Fort Anne, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

According to André Corvisier, the "Canon de 4 de Vallière" was designed by the French officer Florent-Jean de Vallière (1667-1759), Director-General of the Battalions and Schools of the Artillery.  The cannon was a result of the Royal Ordonnance of October 7, 1732, enacted to reorganize and standardize the King's artillery.  There were many different designs of cannon in the French Army in the 18th century.  De Vallière standardized the French sizes in artillery pieces, by allowing only for the production of 4, 8, 12 and 24 pound guns, 9-inch and 13-inch mortars and 16-inch stone-throwing mortars.  The 24-pounder was the largest in the French inventory at the time.  (The Old French pound (French: livre) was 1.079 English pounds, making the weight of shot about 4.3 English pounds).

These bronze cannon were cast in one piece and then had the core drilled out, using a method that had been developed by Jean Maritz.  This method of construction allowed for much higher precision of the cannon's bore shape and surface, and which therefore led to higher shooting efficiency.  As with other de Valliere guns, the 4-pdr was also highly decorated and contained numerous designs and inscriptions.

Any cannon could be served by as few as six gunners, but to achieve maximum rates of fire more gunners were needed.  David Candler, an artillery historian, counted eight men in the 4-pounder gun crews, including five specialists.   A second source agreed that the 4-pounder crew required eight men and added that a single cannon was often controlled by a non-commissioned officer, while two or more cannons were commanded by an officer.  According to Otto von Pivka, the most experienced gunner stood behind the piece, aiming and firing the cannon.  A second gunner stood to the left of the cannon and inserted the powder and shot.  The third gunner stood to the right and mopped out the barrel after a discharge and rammed home the powder and shot.  Additional crewmen brought fresh ammunition to load, kept matches burning and the touch hole clear, repositioned the gun after firing, observed the fall of shot and manned the ammunition wagon.   A trained gunnery crew could fire two or three rounds per minute.  Moving the 4-pounder, however, required a team of three or four horses.

(Les Invalides Photo)

French Classical Cannon, 17th-18th century.

(US Army Photo)

French de Vallière 4-pounder-smoothbore muzzleloading cannon mounted on a wheeled wooden carriage.

Numerous de Valliere guns were used in the American War of Independence, especially the smaller field guns.  The guns were shipped from France, and the field carriages provided for in the US.  These guns played an important role in such battles as the Battle of Saratoga and the Siege of Yorktown.

 (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3305287)

Fort Anne, Officers Quarters, 1951.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4317476)

Fort Anne, Annapolis Royal, c1952.

(Author Photos)

Cast Iron 12-pounder SBML cannon with Blomefield pattern breeching ring, no markings, mounted on a wood naval gun carriage.  This gun stands in front of the former Officer's Quarters.

(Author Photos)

Cast Iron 6-pounder SBML Carronade with Blomefield pattern breeching ring, crown, no cypher, no markings on the trunnions, mounted on a wood naval gun carriage.  This stands at the SW corner of the main building inside the fort.  The Carronade was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and in service with the Royal Navy from the 1770s to the 1850s.  The carronade served as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon.  While considered very successful early on, carronades eventually disappeared as rifled naval artillery came into service, leading to fewer and fewer close-range engagements.

(Author Photo)

Blomefield Cast Iron 24-pounder 50-cwt SBML cannon, weight (not observed), no markings on the trunnions, King George II cypher, unmounted, resting on wood supports in front of the main building.

(Author Photo)

Blomefield Cast Iron 24-pounder 50-cwt SBML cannon, weight (not observed), no markings on the trunnions, King George II cypher, unmounted, resting on wood supports in front of the main building.

(Author Photos)

Blomefield Cast Iron 24-pounder 50-cwt SBML cannon, weight (not observed), no markings on the trunnions, King George II cypher, unmounted, resting on wood supports in front of the main building.

(Author Photos)

Cast Iron 12-pounder 6-cwt SBML carronade with Blomefield breeching ring, weight 6-1-21 (721 lbs), 4, broad arrow mark, 3-feet, 100-inches long, mounted on a wood naval gun carriage, North side of the main building.

(Author Photos)

Cast Iron possible 3-pounder SBML cannon, heavily corroded, (P) on left trunnion, blank on right trunnion, plain cascabel, mounted on a wood naval gun carriage.  North side of the main building.

Cast Iron 18-pounder 42-cwt SBML cannon, weight 42-0-0 (4,704 lbs) on the barrel, (SOLID) on the left trunnion, (W) for John Wilkinson, on the right trunnion, King George III cypher, ca. 1760-1780, mounted on concrete stands, No. 1 of 2 guarding the East side of the fort.

Cast Iron 18-pounder 42-cwt SBML cannon, weight 41-2-14 (4,662 lbs) on the barrel, (SOLID) on the left trunnion, (Z) on the right trunnion, King George III cypher ca. 1779-1783, mounted on concrete stands, No. 2 of 2 guarding the East side of the fort.

George Matthews leased Calcutts in 1767 and a decade later he was casting iron cannon there.  These first guns for the Board of Ordnance were proofed in June 1779.  By January 1785 George Mathews was bankrupt and the ironworks were sold off.

Mathews specialized in supplying large numbers of a few sizes of guns from 4-pounders up to 32-pounders, usually in one length only.  He supplied guns both for the government and the merchant market, including the East India Company.

At least three related marks: Z cast on the left trunnion and number engraved on the right; Z cast on the right trunnion and SOLID cast on the left with an engraved number; or Z cast on each trunnion.  They are all on Armstrong type GR3 guns.  (Ruth Rhynas Brown)

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3305262)

Blomefield Cast Iron 12-pounder 34-cwt SBML cannon, mounted on iron garrison carriages, facing West, 1910.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3305259)

Fort Anne, Annapolis Royal, c1954.  

(Author Photos)

Blomefield Cast Iron 12-pounder 34-cwt SBML cannon, weight 32-3-27 (3,807 lbs) under the cascabel, (WCo) on the left trunnion, (Serial No. 64) on the right trunnion, King George III cypher, broad arrow mark, mounted on an iron garrison carriage, facing the water to the South of the fort.  No. 1 of 2 facing West.

(Author Photos)

Blomefield Cast Iron 12-pounder 34-cwt SBML cannon, weight 32-2-24 (3,664 lbs) under the cascabel, (WCo), Samuel Walker & Company of Rotherham, England on the left trunnion, (63) on the right trunnion, King George III cypher, 12, broad arrow mark, mounted on an iron garrison carriage, No. 2 of 2 facing West.

(Author Photos)

Blomefield Cast Iron 12-pounder 34-cwt SBML cannon, weight 32-3-7 (3,675 lbs), Samuel Walker & Company of Rotherham, England (WCo) on left trunnion, (Serial No. 66) on right trunnion, 12 above the King George III cypher, 2, broad arrow mark, mounted on an iron garrison carriage.  Solo.

King George III, reigned from 25 Oct 1760 to 29 Jan 1820.  (William Beechy portrait, Wikipedia)

(Author Photos)

Armstrong 20-pounder 16-cwt Rifled Breech-loading Gun, weight 16-1-12 (1,821 lbs), made by Armstrong, (No. 2, 1860) on the left trunnion, (+) on the right trunnion, Queen Victoria cypher, mounted on concrete stands.  The land service model of this gun was introduced in 1860.  It is identified by its two long chase hoops, no muzzle swell and its distinctive breech mechanism, No. 1 of 2 facing the bay.  This gun has a charge inserted in the breech.

(Author Photos)

Armstrong 20-pounder 16-cwt Rifled Breech-loading Gun, weight 16-2-0 (1,848 lbs) on the barrel below the cypher, made by Armstrong, (No. 45, 1860) on the left trunnion, (+) on the right trunnion, Queen Victoria cypher, mounted on concrete stands.  The land service model of this gun was introduced in 1860.  It is identified by its two long chase hoops, no muzzle swell and its distinctive breech mechanism, No. 2 of 2 facing the bay.

(Author Photos)

9-pounder 8-cwt Muzzleloading Rifle Mk. III (SS) Gun, weight 8-1-6 (930 lbs) on the barrel, the left and right trunnions have been painted over, RGF No. not legible, Queen Victoria cypher, No. 1 of 2, mounted on a Mk. II all steel carriage with Madras wheels.  In the UK, the 9-pounder 8-cwt Muzzleloading Rifle was replaced by the BL 12-pounder in permanent artillery batteries before the Boer War, but militia units in Canada continued to use them until after 1905.

(Author Photos, 30 May 2015)

9-pounder 8-cwt Muzzleloading Rifle Mk. III (SS) Gun, weight 8-1-7 (931 lbs) on the barrel, the left and right trunnions have been painted over, RGF No. not legible, Queen Victoria cypher, No. 2 of 2, mounted on a Mk. II all steel carriage with Madras wheels.

Cast Iron 4-pounder SBML cannon, weight unknown, 3-feet, 6-inches long, no markings, reported to be here, (not observed).

I would imagine that many of you who are reading this book are very likely familiar with the standard routine of military training exercises and the rigours of being in the field in all seasons, not to mention the conditions found on deployment these days. Whether or not you have experienced it, I am sure you can well imagine what it is like to train and work in the heat, the dust and the mosquitoes in summer, the wind, the rain and the mud in the spring and fall, the snow and the cold in the winter and of course the routine day-to-day challenges of combat exercises in the training areas of the Canadian Forces. For most in the Army, this includes CFB Gagetown, CFB Valcartier, CFB Petawawa, CFB Kingston, CFB Shilo, CFB Edmonton, CFB Wainwright, CFB Suffield and all the fields and exercise areas of LFAATC Aldershot and LFCATC Meaford and their environs.

As an Army Officer in the Canadian Forces, it has been my privilege to have served alongside a tremendous number of highly professional military men and women of our nation while taking part in training in Germany, the UK and the USA and while on operational deployments to Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Afghanistan. During my training and military professional development, I have learned much about our long military history. My interest in our multi-faceted historical record has led me to write about it and to seek out the stories about Canada's military servicemen and women and the tools and equipment they used to preserve our security when warclouds darkened our horizons.

As a military history enthusiast, I have learned over the years that there are many with similar interests in preserving our story. We have all seen the odd old gun or retired tank placed on display outside a Militia Drill Hall, War Memorial, city park site or Royal Canadian Legion Hall, and many will have enjoyed visiting a number of our military Museums. The vast majority of retired wartime combat equipment used by members of the CF have dwindled in number, many being scrapped, others being shot up as targets, while a few have been sold to overseas operators and collectors. Fortunately, a handful of important examples of retired CF guns and war machines have been preserved and may be found in a wide variety of locations throughout Canada.

Curators, docents and volunteers working in Canada's military museums have been successful in preserving a good number of retired military weapons of war and many are still being sought after and in some cases, being restored to running condition again. As an artist, photographer and military history enthusiast, I have attempted to keep track of where historic Canadian military equipment has survived and is presently located and to make that information available to others with the same interest. For those of like mind, the purpose of this handbook is to provide a simple checklist of the classic Great War and WWII artillery that is part of our military heritage and a location guide to where they can be found in Canada. The book includes a number of photographs to illustrate an example of each gun wherever possible, and lists the locations of the survivors by province.

The numbers of restored Canadian guns is actually increasing as a few rare examples are being recovered from scrapyards and monument sites and salvaged for restoration. (Ultra rare items such as Skink AA gun turrets come to mind). One of the aims of this book is to help an enthusiast track down these monuments and museum artefacts and to have a simple reference book on hand with more detailed information about them such as a serial number, a Museum location and contact information which might be helpful in learning a bit of the history of a particular vehicle. The guns detailed in this handbook are listed alphabetically by manufacturer, number and type in the order that they came into service with the CF. The data is also appended with a list of most of the current guns found in the various collections and Museums in Canada. The book is also meant to serve as a companion volume to "Ironsides", Canadian Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicle Museums and Monuments, also available online.

It is my sincere hope that more of the guns and artillery found in this list will one day be added to the record of historically important military armament survivors that have been recovered and restored.

Shelldrake can be ordered online in softcover or e-book at these bookstores:

http://www.amazon.ca/Shelldrake-Canadian-Artillery-Museums-Monuments/dp/1469750007/ref=sr_1_44?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331231081&sr=1-44

http://www.amazon.com/Shelldrake-Canadian-Artillery-Museums-Monuments/dp/1469750007/ref=sr_1_45?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331231130&sr=1-45

http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000542288/Shelldrake.aspx

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shelldrake-harold-a-skaarup/1109124375?ean=9781469750002&itm=46&usri=harold+skaarup

Photos and technical data on artillery preserved in Canada may be viewed by Province on separate pages on this website.

A brief history of Annapolis Royal (Wikipedia)

Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the 1605 French settlement of Port-Royal National Historic Site also known as the Habitation.  This new French settlement was renamed in honour of Queen Anne following the Siege of Port Royal in 1710 by Britain.  The town was the capital of Acadia and later Nova Scotia for almost 150 years, until the founding of the City of Halifax in 1749.  It was attacked by the British six times before permanently changing hands after the Siege of Port Royal in 1710.  Over the next fifty years, the French and their allies made six unsuccessful military attempts to regain the capital. Including a raid during the American Revolution, Annapolis Royal faced a total of thirteen attacks, more than any other place in North America.  As the site of several pivotal events during the early years of the colonisation of Canada, the historic core of Annapolis Royal was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1994.

The original French year-round settlement at present-day Port Royal, known as the Habitation at Port-Royal, was established in 1605 by François Gravé Du Pont, Samuel de Champlain, with and for Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. (Annapolis Royal is twinned with the town of Royan in France, birthplace of Sieur de Mons.)  The Port-Royal site is approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) west of present-day Annapolis Royal at the mouth of the Annapolis River on the Annapolis Basin.  This initial settlement was abandoned for several years after being destroyed by British-American attackers in 1613 but was significantly the first year-round European settlement in Canada.  It was also likely to have been the site of the introduction of apples to Canada in 1606.

In 1629 Scottish settlers, under the auspices of Sir William Alexander, established their settlement, known as Charlesfort, at the mouth of the Annapolis River (present site of Annapolis Royal).  The settlement was abandoned to the French under the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632).  A second French settlement replaced the Scottish Charlesfort at present-day Annapolis Royal.  It was also called Port Royal and it developed into the capital of the French colony of Acadia.  Port-Royal under the French soon became self-sufficient and grew modestly for nearly a century, though it was subject to frequent attacks and capture by British military forces or those of its New England colonists, only to be restored each time to French control by subsequent recapture or treaty stipulations.  Acadia remained in French hands throughout most of the 17th century.

In 1710, Port Royal was captured a final time from the French at the Siege of Port Royal during Queen Anne’s War, marking the British conquest of mainland Nova Scotia.  The British renamed the town Annapolis Royal and Fort Anne after Queen Anne (1665–1714), the reigning monarch.  The Annapolis Basin, Annapolis River, Annapolis County and the Annapolis Valley all take their name from the town.  (Previously, under the French, the Annapolis River had been known as "Rivière Dauphin".)

After success in the local Battle of Bloody Creek (1711), 600 Acadians and native warriors attempted to retake the Acadian capital.  Under the leadership of Bernard-Anselme d’Abbadie de Saint-Castin, they descended on Annapolis Royal and laid siege to Fort Anne.  The garrison had fewer than 200 men, but the attackers had no artillery and were thus unable to make an impression on the fort.  They eventually dispersed, and Annapolis Royal remained in British hands for the remainder of the war.

Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Acadia was formally granted to the British  however, the vague boundary definitions saw only the peninsular part of Nova Scotia granted to Britain.  The next half-century would see great turbulence as Britain and France vied for dominance in Acadia and in North America more generally.

During Father Rale’s War in July 1722 the Abenaki and Mi’kmaq attempted to create a blockade of Annapolis Royal, with the intent of starving the capital.  The natives captured 18 fishing vessels and prisoners from present-day Yarmouth to Canso. They also seized prisoners and vessels from the Bay of Fundy.

In response to the New England attack on Father Rale at Norridgewock in March 1722, 165 Mi'kmaq and Maliseet troops gathered at Minas to lay siege to the Lt. Governor of Nova Scotia at Annapolis Royal.  Under potential siege, in May 1722, Lieutenant Governor John Doucett took 22 Mi'kmaq hostage at Annapolis Royal to prevent the capital from being attacked. Massachusetts Governor Samuel Shute declared war on the Abenaki.

New Englanders retrieved some of the vessels and prisoners after the Battle of Winnepang (Jeddore Harbour) in which thirty-five natives and five New-Englanders were killed.  Other vessels and prisoners were retrieved at Malagash Harbour after a ransom was paid.

During Father Rale’s War, the worst moment of the war for the capital came in early July 1724 when a group of sixty Mikmaq and Maliseets raided Annapolis Royal.  They killed and scalped a sergeant and a private, wounded four more soldiers, and terrorized the village.  They also burned houses and took prisoners.  The British responded on 8 July by executing one of the Mi'kmaq hostages on the same spot the sergeant was killed.  They also burned three Acadian houses in retaliation. As a result of the raid, three blockhouses were built to protect the town.  The Acadian church was moved closer to the fort so that it could be more easily monitored.

During King George’s War there were four attempts by the French, Acadians and Mi'kmaq to retake the capital of Acadia.

Le Loutre gathered three hundred Mi'kmaq warriors together, and they began their assault on Annapolis Royal on 12 July 1744.  This was the largest gathering of Mi'kmaq warriors till then to take arms against the British.  The Mi'kmaq outnumbered the New Englander regular soldiers by three to one.  Two New England regulars were captured and scalped.  The assault lasted for four days, when the fort was rescued on 16 July by seventy New England soldiers arriving on board the ship Prince of Orange.

After spending the summer trying to recruit the assistance of Acadians, François Dupont Duvivier attacked Annapolis Royal on 8 September 1744.  His force of 200 was up against 250 soldiers at the fort.  The siege raged on for a week, and then Duvivier demanded the surrender of the fort.  Both sides awaited reinforcements by sea.  The fighting continued for a week and then two ships did arrive - from Boston, not Louisbourg.  On board the ship was New England Ranger John Gorham (military officer) and 70 natives.  Duvivier retreated.

In May 1745, Paul de la Malque led 200 troops, together with hundreds of Mi'kmaq in another siege against Annapolis Royal.  This force was twice the size of Duvivier's expedition.  During this siege the English destroyed their own officers' fences, houses, and buildings that the attackers might be able to use.  The siege ended quickly when Marin was recalled to assist with defending the French during the Siege of Louisbourg (1745).

During the 1745 siege, the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet took prisoner William Pote and some of Gorham’s (Mohawk) Rangers.  During his captivity, Pote wrote one of the most important captivity narratives from Acadia and Nova Scotia.  While at Cobequid, Pote reported that an Acadian had remarked that the French soldiers should have "left their [the English] carcasses behind and brought their skins.”  The following year, among other places, Pote was taken to the Maliseet village Aukpaque on the Saint John River.  While at the village, Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia arrived and, on 6 July 1745, tortured him together with a Mohawk ranger from Gorham's company named Jacob, as retribution for the killing of their family members by Gorham.  On 10 July, Pote witnessed another act of revenge when the Mi'kmaq tortured a Mohawk ranger from Gorham's company at Meductic.  (Wikipedia)

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