From: Ian Manning [mailto:imanning@iafrica.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 16:21
To: Tony Nicholas; Kieron Cox; Denys Pitcher
Subject: Brass guns
 Good day Gentlemen,
I was recently shown two brass muzzle loading guns [they look more like carronades to me] at the Simon’s Town town hall. Both have what appear to be British king’s crowns on the upper side near the breech. One has a brass tally on the carriage saying:
DONATED BY
SA MERCHANT NAVY ACADEMY
1990
and the other has a brass tally saying:
GESKENK DEUR
SA HANDELSVLOOT AKADEMIE
1990
Can anyone shed any light on these guns? Where did they come from? How were they connected to SAMNA General Botha? How come the date is 1990? I thought the SAMNA closed down as such in 1987.
Nobody around here seems to know anything about their origins. They were brought to my attention because I am searching for the 4.7- inch gun and the 12-pounder gun which were donated by the General Botha Board of Control to the Simon’s Town Municipality in 1936. They were the guns previously mounted on SATS General Botha’s upper deck from 1921 until 1936.
Apart from wanting to know the origins of the brass guns/carronades, I wish to have them registered on the antique gun data base and the more I can find out about them the better.
Kindest regards,
Ian
