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British Insurance Cannon

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molthed56

Pilgrim
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Hello. I was looking for some information on this cannon. It weighs about 175-185 pounds and has a stand. There is a standing eagle insignia and the word Proved stamped on it. It is 33 inches long. It looks just like the British Insurance Cannon on Buck Stix down to the insignia.
 
I hadn't ever heard of an insurance cannon but a web site says some British insurance companies required ships to carry cannons on board to protect themselves if they wanted to insure the ship.

Because of this, the cannons were called "insurance cannons".
http://www.buckstix.com/BritishCannon.htm
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Fwiw, in Latin America several nations allow a privately-owned vessel with a LWL of 15M+ may mount a single cannon of up to 100mm bore to drive off pirates, criminals & other evildoers.
(Some such MV also carry a HMG for suppressive fire.)

yours, satx
 
I think a lot of the early merchant ships were armed but the 1840's saw the birth of the clipper ships and some of them were lightly armed or totally lacking in heavy defensive weapons.

They were built for speed and carrying heavy armament rather than more goods wasn't exactly what their owners wanted.
 
And by that time piracy was pretty much supressed along most trade routes. Mostly thanks to the British French and Dutch navies and America also to a lesser extent. With out a major European war they turned to making the world trade safe.
Clippers were fast, they would be hard to catch, but even the slow old packet ships were safe.
Coast guards had become effective so even a new country like Mexico helped keep the Main clear
 
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