Image Courtesy of Colyn Thomas
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When in 1858 the French laid down their first Iron Clad warship "La Gloirs" it rendered the Royal Navy's wooded ships obsolete overnight and posed gunnery problems as to how to defeat such protection, so in 1862 work began at Mount Edgcumbe to build a fortress on the Earls private saluting platform. It is a massive but simple granite casemated work for 7 guns behind shields. The guns fitted were found to be too large and needed immediate modification , later 2 of these guns were removed and replaced with 9 inch 12 Ton (Rifle Muzzle Loaders). These guns fired 256 lbs Palliser Shells at 1440 ft/ sec. Using 50 lbs of gun powder and could penetrate 9.6 inches of armour at 1000yards.
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