Tuesday, November 9, 2021

The Guns of Cape Spear

Last month, I had the opportunity to visit St John's NL. I landed midday and since I had a vehicle, some decent weather, and some time on my hands, I decided to visit Cape Spear. Cape Spear is famous for being the eastern-most point of land in Canada and for it's iconic lighthouse.

It also has two gun emplacements. They were built in 1941 to protect the approach to St John's harbour.

 Each emplacement consisted of a single gun with hide-away carriage that would drop the gun down behind concrete and earth embankments while it was being loaded. 

The emplacement had a ready room where the on-duty crew could relax and a small magazine to hold the ready shells and powder. I'm not sure where the main magazine was.

I don't know any specifics about the guns themselves other than they must have been fairly well discounted. The guns were second-hand because they had been installed in an American fort in 1891. There's nothing left of their carriage, but at least the guns are still there.

1 comment:

  1. Ha ha! Wow. Fascinating. Probably installed for show - like, "hey, we're taking defence of this pace seriously (wink, wink...)".

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