The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-24
Oreat Gums Four Centuries ola.

writer in CdSseIrs MagozSne saws
A. many Dig guns have been made during
!ue last Few years, but none of them surpasS
a. a. SIZE those which have guarded the straits of
0s S1e Dardanelles for the past four centuries
a. AZ enormous weight and calibre, capable of
tlyWli8 stone cannon-balls of eleven and
we've hundred pounds, these guns have re-
NAMED for ages disregarded and almost I'M
Anown. Their existence, it is true. has been
nouned to us by travellers who ever and
11non' Voyaged from the Levant to the
Diack Sea, passing in close proximity to the
ifoWnlng muzzles ranged in regular lines on
elther shore of the Dardaneles. but the ac-
counts OF them appeared so fabulous 'and
eXtravagant as scarcely to warrant belief.
indeed, so unlike were these engines
Oh war to those employed by western nations.
and so much did they surpass in size our own
castings, that their existence was generally
believed in with about as much credulitv as
that OF the griffins who watched over the
enchanted castles in the "Arabian Nights.
And when it is remembered that these wea-
pons were cast within one hundred and fifty
years of the knowledge and application of
gunpowder to warlike purposes being first
dihused IN Europe, there is certainly sufli-
clent reason why grave doubts should have
been entertained on the subject of their re-
alty, more especially as, up to the present
time, no cannon have been manufactured in
this country capable of throwing proiectiles
OF even half the weight of that of the granite
ball used in charging the largest of these
giant guns.
''In the year 1868, there were at the Castle
of Asia, on the Dardanelles, twenty-one guns
of this description, eleven of them being on
the European shore and the remainder on the
Asiatic side. OF these, one has recently been
I presented by the Sultan to her Majesty, and
although by no means one of the largest of
the series, it is still of the most gigantic pro-
portions. The weapon consists of two por-
lions, almost equal in length, which screw
one into the other, and weigh together
eighteen tons; its length is seventeen feet
and the shot employed has diameter of
twenty inches and weighs six hundred and
seventy pounds. The exterior is ornamented
with some handsome scrolls, and bears in
scriptions relative to the manufacture and
employment of the gun; and from these we
learn that it was cast in the year 1864, that
the charge of powder to be employed was one
hundred and fifty pounds, and that the eleva-
ton of firing was three degrees.
''Ihsg grand specimen of ancient warfare has
recently been forwarded to Woolwch, where
it forms part of the collection preserved in
the Museum of Artillery, and it is to the re-
!, searches of the curator, General Lefroy, that
we are indebted for reliable history of it
and its more important Dardanelles brethren,
from whom it has just been separated. For
Merly, the number of cannon at the Castle of
4 Asia was much greater than at present for M.
J. Thevenot tells us that when he passed up
the Dardanelles in 1906, there were twenty
guns on the European side alone, many of
which were so large that man might easily
creep into them.
'In the early part of the eighteenth century,
Bishop Pococke narrowly examined the
weapons, and the information he gives is very
interesting He testifes to the presence of
forty-two pieces of ordnance in all-viz.,
twenty-five on the north side, and twenty on
the south, all placed upon the seashore with
out any carriages. Stone cannon-balls were
used for loading them, and they were always
kept charged, so as to be ready to sink any
ship which might attempt to pass before being
properly searched The guns always fire ball
when returning salutes made to the castle,
says the bishop; and as this mode of proceed
ing does much damage to the opposite coast,
the lands across the water pay no rent.