Was there a cannon in the whaleboat with Sturt?
Well! Notwithstanding that the recoil from a cannon of this size, discharged within the confines of a 27-ft whaleboat, would, arguably, have placed the occupants of the whaleboat in a somewhat uncomfortable, if not perilous, circumstance! -The 1830 Expedition, wherein Sturt discovered & named The Murray, was an official NSW Governor sanctioned enterprise and, as such, inventories of supplies and equipment issued to the Expedition remain, to this day, in NSW State archives; – and there was no cannon included in the Expedition’s paraphernalia. -Likewise, all of Sturt’s journals, diaries and published account re this expedition have been numerously and scrupulously studied; -and there is nowhere to be found a single reference to the word ‘cannon’, nor to the word ‘ordnance’, which Sturt has used elsewhere in connection with other instances involving cannon and/or cannon-fire. There was at that time, however, a propensity among journalists and orators alike to draw parallels between the ex
Well! Notwithstanding that the recoil from a cannon of this size, discharged within the confines of a 27-ft whaleboat, would, arguably, have placed the occupants of the whaleboat in a somewhat uncomfortable, if not perilous, circumstance! -The 1830 Expedition, wherein Sturt discovered & named The Murray, was an official NSW Governor sanctioned enterprise and, as such, inventories of supplies and equipment issued to the Expedition remain, to this day, in NSW State archives; – and there was no cannon included in the Expedition’s paraphernalia. -Likewise, all of Sturt’s journals, diaries and published account re this expedition have been numerously and scrupulously scrutinised; -and there is nowhere to be found a single reference to the word ‘cannon’, nor to the word ‘ordnance’, which Sturt has used elsewhere in connection with other instances involving cannon and/or cannon-fire. Moreover there was, at that time, a propensity among journalists and orators alike to draw parallels between t
