Two 1878 coastal defence guns, which once defended Dunedin from Taiaroa Head, are displayed on the Boiler Point walkway. The larger one is a 7-inch Mk-IV RML (rifled muzzle-loading) gun and the smaller is a 64-pounder Mk-III RML gun.
Note: During strong winds the Boiler Point path will be temporarily closed because of the risk of falling containers from Port Otago.
These guns were ordered from Britain following a war scare in 1878 and arrived in New Zealand in 1879, only to be put in storage. After a new war scare in 1885, they were hurriedly emplaced at Taiaroa Head. Fortunately the guns were never fired in anger!
In 1911 the guns were declared obsolete and put on display at Queens Gardens, then in 1936 as opinions changed they were buried on site. Disinterred in 2006, the guns have been restored and are now on display at Boiler Point.
Boiler Point is a delightful place to stop for lunch or morning tea - it is sunny and sheltered, with a picnic table, benches, and toilets in the carpark. The Warren Lewis Fishing Jetty at the end of the walkway is a popular fishing spot.
7-inch RML gun (in front) and 64-pounder RML gun (behind) on display at Boiler Point.
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Visit three waypoints on the Boiler Point walkway and gather the numbers to find the cache.
The cache is a 1 litre snaplock at S45 48.ABC E170 37.DEF
At the RML guns:
A. Look at the left-hand trunnion of the 7-inch gun (the trunnion is the projecting cylinder at the side of the gun barrel which supports it on the carriage). The roman number written on the trunnion = A. (Ignore the arabic numbers above and below the roman number.)
D. Feel inside the muzzles of both the guns. The number of rifling grooves in BOTH guns = D. (Or, count the number of rifling grooves in one gun and double that answer = D.)
At the Warren Lewis plaque, just before the fishing jetty:
B & C. "Welcome to the Warren Lewis Fishing Jetty. A true [# letters in word = B] and [# letters in word = C] of public…."
At the plaque commemorating the first frozen meat export:
E. Number of times “Port Chalmers” is mentioned on plaque = E
F. Fifth line of text. First digit minus third digit = F.
The Russo-Turkish war scare in 1878 prompted the NZ government to order 7-inch RML guns and 64-pounder RML guns for harbour defences. These guns arrived in 1879 but by then the fuss had died down so they were put into storage.
In 1885, during the Panjdeh crisis, the guns were hastily emplaced at New Zealand's key ports. Dunedin's three 7-inch guns were mounted at Lawyers Head and Forbury Head (covering the sea east of Ocean Beach) and the Taiaroa Head Saddle Battery (covering the ocean to the north and east of the Heads). All three of Dunedin's 64-pounders were at Taiaroa Head - one at the Howlett Point battery at the northernmost tip of Taiaroa Head, and the other two at the Channel battery which overlooked the Harbour entrance.
Details and map of Fort Taiaroa: Taiaroa Head fortifications ES 5 Oct 1885 p2 ODT 10 Feb 1888 p3
Battery volunteers practice on the 7 inch RML gun at Saddle Battery Taiaroa Head c 1889 (De Maus)
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The Permanent Artillery and Naval Artillery Volunteers both trained regularly with the guns, but in 1904 they were declared obsolete OW 16 Oct 1901 p5 ES 23 Jan 1905 p6 .
In 1911, the RML guns were removed and put on display around Dunedin. Two guns from Taiaroa Head were placed beside the Queens Gardens cenotaph: a 7-inch gun (which served as a soap box for street orators) and a 64-pounder gun. A second 7-inch gun stood under the Royal Oak at the Botanic Gardens and another was sited in the Market Reserve Evening Star 12 Oct 1935 p10. After World War One, war trophy guns brought back as ships' ballast were also put on display in city reserves Stuff 2 Nov 2022 ODT 17 March 2022.
War memorial and former coastal defence gun at Queens Gardens, Dunedin.
Desmond & Leith Erwin Hocken Library MS-2094/045/022
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In February 1936 the DCC voted (6 to 4) to remove guns from reserves, since different nations were offended at the exhibition of war trophies. The mayor said if any society wanted the guns the council would be pleased to hand them over, or else they could be placed in the vicinity of museums as an historical item.
Councillor Batchelor did not think there was a returned soldier in New Zealand who ever wanted to see a gun again. Councillor Silverstone: "It all depends what end of the gun". Evening Star 4 Feb 1936 p3
While many people regretted the loss of history ES 4 Feb 1936 p8, and one returned soldier predicted that "in the year 2145 someone may discover the guns" ES 21 Nov 1936 p3, scrap metal dealer Mr A W McCorkindale quietly disposed of the guns at no cost to the council - ES 17 July 1936 p3 ODT 21 Nov 1936 p8. Two 64-pounder guns, from Taiaroa Head and Harington Point, went to Colonel Nichol's display at Kuriheka Estate war memorial.
OLD GUNS BEING REMOVED FROM QUEEN’S GARDENS
Left: One of the old guns in the Queen’s Gardens after it had fallen into the hole in which the barrel is to be buried. The carriages of both guns will be broken up for scrap.
Right: The other gun (near the corner of Cumberland street and Lower High street) after it had been tipped up.
ODT 21 Nov 1936 p8
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The Queens Gardens guns were rediscovered by University of Otago geology students using a magnetometer in late 2005, and exhumed in 2006. They were restored by New Zealand Antique Arms Association Otago branch volunteers and put on display at Boiler Point with the help of Port Otago.
The 7-inch Mk-IV RML gun was named for its 7-inch bore (barrel diameter). It had a range of 5500 yards.
The 64-pounder Mk-III RML had a 6.3-inch bore, fired a 64 pound shell (hence its name), and had a range of 4000 yards.
At the time they were purchased in 1878 these RML guns were the standard British ordnance for coastal defence. Both guns were manufactured with a tough steel inner barrel (the A tube), built-up by shrinking a series of wrought-iron coils around the A tube. This compressed the inner barrel so it could resist the heat and pressure of firing.
According to A. Firth (Christchurch) in a Letter to the Editor, the guns were were cast by Thos. Firth and Sons, Norfolk Works, Sheffield, in 1878, and are embossed with the Firth Steel name. The guns were finished and mounted at the Royal Arsenal. Woolwich —hence the Royal Arms. The cost of the guns would run into several thousands of pounds. The numbers are tabulated at Norfolk Works in the order books there.— ODT 12 Dec 1936 p27
The guns were rifled by the Woolwich system, with helical grooves machined into the inner surface of the gun barrel. The shell had protruding bronze studs which fitted into the rifling grooves. This caused the shell to spin as it was fired, giving much better accuracy, range and penetration.
Left: Diagram showing structure and dimensions of Mk V common shell for RML 7 inch gun.
Right: 7-inch RML shell on display at Taiaroa Head. Note the lugs on the outside of the shell.
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Background information:
Rifled guns were essential after France launched the first ocean-going ironclad La Gloire in 1859. A conical shell was needed to pierce the armour-plate on a warship, and you couldn't fire a conical shell accurately without rifling.
However I was baffled as to why the British were still using muzzle-loading guns in 1878. Why weren't they using breech-loaders?
Up until the Crimean War, British artillery was cast-iron or bronze smooth-bore, muzzle-loading ordnance. In 1859 the Royal Artillery adopted the Armstrong 12-pounder Rifled Breech Loading gun and (against Armstrong's advice, because the breech was not designed for large guns) the Armstrong 7-inch Rifled Breech Loading gun. Both guns were used in the New Zealand wars including the attack on Gate Pa 29 April 1864. However the new technology required higher standards of gun maintenance and gunner training, and the 7-inch BL gun was liable to have the breech piece blow out under the pressure of firing.
An 1865 committee found that muzzle loaders were equivalent to breech loaders in range and rapidity of fire, were sufficiently accurate, and were far less expensive to manufacture. Therefore production of the 7-inch RBL was discontinued in 1864 and it was replaced by the 7-inch Rifled Muzzle-Loading gun.
But our RML guns were already out of date by the time they were emplaced at Taiaroa Head in 1885. There had been vast improvements in metallurgy, gun design and gun manufacturing technology since 1865. In 1879 the British decided to switch to breechloading guns and in 1882 introduced the BL 12-inch Mk I – VII naval gun, which stayed in service until 1920. HMS Colossus: RML & BL guns