As Maxwell Smart would say.... Missed it by that much!

[KABAR2]

There was a Dom Carpenter  Dictator golf ball mortar up on evilbay...... Just missed it it went for 231.00......
sadly the fellow who had it did not apreciate it by its overall condition........
 

[little seacoast]

I'm sorry that you didn't get it, it really needed a good and loving home. Better luck on the next one.  If you look at his other stuff that wasn't the only thing he didn't appreciate properly.

[Double D]

Wonder what it would have gone for if the guy had bead blasted and painted first.

I'd sell mine by the pound...opening bid would be $20 a lb.

[seacoastartillery]

      My grandson is one kid who would want it rusty or not!  He loves the 13 Incher in Denver's City Park!  I think he's impressed by the bore size.  If he had Dom's creation, he would put on his vinyl smock, safety glasses and rubber gloves and show you how remove rust. Before you could say Island No. 10, he would have the the piece completely slathered in Naval Jelly!  He knows what a box of Baking Soda is for too. 

     I just can't imagine anyone being as careless as the previous owner.  Gives me a shiver.

Tracy


J. learns about the 13 Inch Seacoast Mortar M1861.  "How far will it shoot? Do the bullets explode? How heavy is it?  Can you make one for me?  Etc., etc."

[P38]

 
Don't you just hate it when you miss out on a bargin like that.
 
A couple of hours of elbow grease and a splash or two of paint and that surface rust would have been a distant memory.
 
 

[Double D]

Okay, I have seen the picture of Tracy and his Grandkid before and every time I see it, I want want to shout, "No Tracy, don't do it it.  You can get the chamber measurement without stuffing the kid down there to hold the tape!"

I'm sorry it just looks like he's ready to stuff the kid in.

[RocklockI]

Dang it looks like someone used it for a boat anchor . Either that or Dom is older than I thought ,talk about your patinas!
 
Gary

[seacoastartillery]

     That's O.K., Double D., there is very little I can do to bore this little guy.  He would rather walk through the fields and woods with me looking for animal tracks than play video games. He loves cannons almost as much as trains.  To keep him happy we have to chase 2 or 3 trains each month!  Oh, he knows how to use a tape measure too and could probably do an acceptable job on measuring the depth of that chamber with it. 
 
      Getting back to rust on steel and iron.  We sure hate to see it on a cannon as nice as Dom's Dictator Mortar, but occasionally you run across nature's , almost artistic, application of the oxidation process.  Maine is a great state for discovering seacoast guns and one of the most unusual locations for a 100 pounder we found is 200 yards east of Ft. Popham, a fort built in 1861-1865 where the Kennebec River meets the Atlantic Ocean.  Built to protect the shipbuilding assets of Bath and the State Capitol of Augusta, this semicircular fort is incomplete, but contains some of the most advanced features of Third System forts like Totten Shutters for each embrasure.  These are forced open when the gun is run out of the casemate and they snap shut as the gun recoils back into it.  They protect the gun crew from small arms fire, canister and grapeshot.
 
      Just why the big Parrott is 200 yards away from the fort remains a mystery, but we were fortunate to spot it amid piles of logs which were washed up everywhere you looked. The pattern of rust on this gun is evidence of it's seacoast location.  The pitting is deeper than land locked locations due to the presence of lots and lots of salt.  Nothing here that 500 sheets of sand paper and a gallon of lamp black and linseed oil paint won't cure!
 
 Tracy
 
 Aging gracefully on Kennebec's shore.
 
 
 
 
 
 We found this part of the 100 Pdr. cannons that we build to be most interesting.  Note the square threads on the elevation screw.  This configuration is rarely used today.  Extremely precise machining is required for these parts to function freely.  A unique and complicated  cascabel.  To the touch, what you see did not feel rough, but rather smooth.  Strange, we guessed that all the rust is below the surface in the pits, themselves.
 
  

[Artilleryman]

I wonder what happened to the handle that fits on the top end of the elevation screw?