The Doris Gun

The rain eased for a while this afternoon and provided the opportunity for a walk down to Devonport Park. My blip today features the so called Doris Gun on a wet sunday afternoon. The gun is a memorial to the 14 sailors from the ship HMS Doris, who died fighting at the Battle of Paardeberg in South Africa (18-26th February 1900). The battle took place during the Boer War and was one of many that involved naval brigades. Inforrmation posted near the gun states that large naval guns were mounted on temporary gun carriages and hauled sometimes hundreds of miles inland, in support of the army. Paardeberg was 800 miles from the sea and the sailors from HMS Doris stood, fought and fell alongside the soldiers. For anyone interested, the gun is a one-pounder pom-pom captured from the Boers. It is a rare 37mm field mounted machine gun made in England by Maxim Nordenfelt. It was one of 22 Maxim guns sold to the Boers in 1896.