Carron Company - Carronades

Carronades

Undeterred, Gascoigne also pushed forward the development of a new type of cannon, originally known as the "Gasconades" but better known by its later name, the "Carronade".

A carronade was shorter and therefore much lighter than a long gun of the same calibre, meaning that more could be carried, and it was also quicker to load and required a smaller crew. On the debit side, carronades had a short range.

Some warships - mainly small ones - were equipped with carronades as their main or only armament, but such vessels were vulnerable to opponents armed with long guns. The carronade's principal use was on the upper decks of warships, where batteries of carronades replaced smaller numbers of long guns. This greatly increased firepower at the close ranges at which contemporary naval battles were usually fought, without impairing stability or sailing qualities.

The carronade was a considerable success, and remained in production from 1778 through to the 1850s. The company established such a reputation for quality that the Duke of Wellington remarked in a letter to Admiral Berkley in 1812 that he only wanted cannon manufactured by the Carron Company in his army. The company also made ammunition, including some invented by Henry Shrapnel.

The company also supplied armaments to governments outside the UK, including weapons supplied to the embryonic United States which were used against Britain in the War of 1812. The British government tried to prevent the company from supplying plans and equipment to the Russian Empire, intended to improve Catherine the Great's weapons foundry at Petrozavodsk; nonetheless, Gascoigne delivered the Russian's orders, and travelled to Russia in May 1786 to supervise the works. He remained in Russia for 20 years, dying in July 1806 in Kolpino near St. Petersburg as Actual State Councillor Karl Karlovich Gaskoin.