In the Field Wanted: Photo of a 12 pdr. Wiard Rifled Steel Boat Howitzer

CivilWarTalk

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Does anyone have a photo of one of these guns I can use? Only 12 were made, and it was based on the Dahlgren boat howitzer.

My Big Book of Cannons... There are 4 known survivors that might be available to the public, and perhaps someone got a shot of one of these:

Two 12-pdr (3.4-inch) Wiard boat howitzers are at the National Museum of the United States Navy in the Washington Navy Yard, D.C.

One is in Charleston, South Carolina (at the Charleston Rifle Club)

One is in Bellevue, Ohio, maybe privately owned, maybe on public property, I'm not sure.

I'm also looking for a good photo of the rifling in a wiard gun if you happen to have that!
 
This is as close as I can come, but your right this RARE bird is out there.

 
This is as close as I can come, but your right this RARE bird is out there.

Oh, I know what it looks like, seen that page in my own copy of that book, I've looked at three different photos of them, I just need one I can legally reprint for my upcoming article :smile:
 
I don't know for sure, is this gun also a Wiard?

 
Are you looking for the semi-steel flavor or bronze flavor. The one in Charleston is bronze. The one you listed above is a Dahlgren.
 
Technically the wiard is a rifled boat howitzer, in steel, or semi steel of the dahlgren design, bore is 3.4 inches, so outwardly it should be the same shape as a dahlgren boat howitzer, or nearly. I woud expect it to be painted black or be gunmetal.

You think the gun in Charlestown is bronze?

They don’t state the metal in the description but they do state:

“It bears the inscription of Norman Wiard, a Canadian who lived from 1826-1896 and served as Supertendent of Ordinaces Stores for the Federal Government. Wiard’s patent and the inscribed number “6” were revealed when George Kornaherns and this men meticulously stripped and restored the cannon in 1979.”

If it looks bronze, I bet they painted it bronze because it “looks” better, more like the real thing....
 
It looks bronze to me. I can call over there and get someone to email some photos.
wiard.jpg
 
That is an 1871 12lb Dahlgren. The F.M.R., on the cannon refer to Francis Munroe Ramsay who in 1871 was a Commander of the US Navy ordnance at U.S.N.Y. in D.C.
 
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