This is referring to the blog entry from Tuesday, the dedication of the Fort Fisher cannon at the North Carolina History Museum in Raleigh. Wednesday I wrote about why it takes me so long to do these blogs. Like I said, I was unfamiliar with Blakely rifled cannons, so had to do some research which ended up in many areas and over more hours than I intended putting into the effort.
From Good Ol' Wikipedia.
Blakely rifles were a series of muzzle-loading rifled cannons designed by British Army officer Theophilus Alexander Blakely. These guns were best known for their use by the Confederacy.
Blakely tried to interest the British government in his design, but with no success. His design involved a cast iron core with wrought iron or steel binding to reinforce the breech. His designs were very similar to those of Sir William George Armstrong (whose 150-pdr gun was at Fort Fisher). Blakely believed that Armstrong had infringed on his patent. When Armstrong became superintendent of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, Blakely stopped offering his design to the British Army.
He sold his cannons mostly to the Confederacy, though he didn't actually manufacture the guns himself, but contracted out to companies like Fawcett, Preston & Co. of Liverpool (where the one in Raleigh was made), Low Moor Iron Co. and the Blakely Ordnance Co. of London (possibly his?).
Armstrong or Blakely. Whose Is It? --Old B-Runner
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