The Mersey Gun at the Washington Navy Yard
“The Mersey Gun”, a 12-Inch Wrought Iron cannon manufactured in 1845 at the Mersey Ironworks in Liverpool, England is displayed at the Washington Navy Yard
Captain Robert Stockton and John Ericsson worked together to design and fit out USS Princeton in the early 1840s. The world’s first warship designed and built as a screw steamer, Stockton and Ericsson wanted to arm the ship with an equally revolutionary battery of a pair of 12-Inch cannons. The story of Ericsson’s “Oregon Gun” and Stockton’s huge and likely poorly manufactured “Peacemaker” is well told, as is the busting of the “Peacemaker” on February 28th, 1844 which took the lives of the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Navy, and four others.
After the “Peacemaker” burst, a replacement cannon was ordered from and manufactured by the Mersey Ironworks in Liverpool, England in 1845. The resulting “Mersey Gun” is a wrought-iron 12-Inch Smoothbore weighing 16,700 pounds. It was only proof fired a single time with a shot weighing 224 pounds and 45 pounds of powder as propellant. It is displayed at the Washington Navy Yard on iron carriage for a 13-Inch Mortar.
See John C. Reilly’s The Iron Guns of Willard Park. pg. 70 - via Google Books.
See other posts about cannons displayed at the Washington Navy Yard.
Illustration of the bursting of the "Peacemaker” aboard USS Princeton. Peacemaker was a 12-Inch Smoothbore manufactured in the United States which weighed more than 27,000 pounds. The Mersey Gun was ordered to replace the Peacemaker.
The plaque on the carriage reads “12-inch wrought iron smoothbore gun of a design developed during the 1840s by Commodore Robert F. Stockton, USN, and made under his direction.
The Mersey Gun at the Washington Navy Yard
The Mersey Gun at the Washington Navy Yard
10-Inch Brooke Smoothbore (Manufactured in 1864 at Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond. 21,000 pounds. Cast Iron with wrought iron reinforcing bands.) with the 12-Inch Mersey Gun (Manufactured in 1845 at the Mersey Ironworks in Liverpool. 16,700 pounds. Wrought Iron.)
7-Inch Brooke Rifle (“S-10” manufactured in 1863 at Selma Naval Ordnance Works. About 14,800 pounds cast iron with wrought iron bands.) in front of the Mersey Gun.
