31395 (58) Photograph

Written in pencil on sheet of paper below the photo: These weapons mounted outside the Drill Hall, at the back of the City Hall, are very interesting as they were among the first few rifled cannon imported into SA. It must not be forgotten that they are muzzle loaders, but even as such they were a vast improvement on the old smooth bore 9, 18 & 24 pounders, which till then formed the only armament of the Table Bay defences. There were one or two of the same type but different shape on some of the fortifications. This improvement was initiated at the time of the Russian war scare of the middle eighties.