The plinth where the stolen carronade, or cannon, used to stand, with St John the Baptist Church in the distance. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The plinth where the stolen carronade, or cannon, used to stand, with St John the Baptist Church in the distance. Photo / Peter de Graaf
A Northland church pained by the loss of a centuries-old cannon stolen from its returned services cemetery is appealing for its return.
The cannon - more precisely called a carronade, a shorter version of a cannon designed for close-range naval engagements - was until recently bolted onto a concrete plinthin the graveyard of Waimate North’s St John the Baptist Church.
It was located in a dip where it was not visible from the church so it may have been missing for weeks, possibly months, before its disappearance was reported on February 19.
Reverend Elgin Edwards said the carronade was heavy - about 300kg - so whoever took it must have come across adjacent farmland, undone the four bolts that attached it to the plinth, and used a digger or similar to lift it.
The carronade was initially displayed on a gun carriage but more recently was bolted directly to a plinth.
Another possibility, raised by the church sexton, was that the unbolted carronade was rolled down the hill to a road gate, then hoisted onto a vehicle.
While the carronade’s exact origin was unclear, it was thought to have arrived in New Zealand as ship’s ballast.
“The loss is pain to us,” Edwards said.
“The cemetery is important to us, and the returned services section is important to us.”
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Northland manager Bill Edwards (no relation) said the 12-pounder carronade - known as a “smasher” for its effect on enemy ships - dated back to the late 1700s and agreed it probably arrived as ballast.
It was restored by the late military historian John Osborne, of Herekino, who found a cast-iron cannonball rusted inside the barrel.
It was fired during the 200th anniversary commemorations of the sinking of the Boyd at Whangaroa in 2009.
The missing carronade used to be mounted on a gun carriage, as seen in this historical photo.
Edwards said Northland had a contested history and some people may have objected to the carronade’s presence in the cemetery.
“But it was there in a commemorative and symbolic space to remember the fallen of all wars. If there was an issue with it, it should have been debated - there are good ways of doing that - not taken surreptitiously in the middle of the night from a sacred space, which is what a cemetery is.”
A story published in the Northland Age in 2009 suggested the carronade came from the remains of an unidentified sunken ship off the coast at Russell.
The story also reported some Māori were unhappy about its presence in Waimate North, given that it may have been used against Māori in the Northern War.
However, that would be unlikely if the carronade arrived as ship’s ballast.
Later the RSA built a plinth and initially displayed it on a gun carriage thought to have belonged to a signalling cannon.
The late military historian John Osborne with the restored carronade when it was still mounted on a gun carriage.
It’s not the first time historic artillery has gone missing in the Bay of Islands.
In 2012 community group Focus Paihia put out a call for information about the whereabouts of a pair of signalling cannons salvaged from the 1823 wreck of the Brampton.
A Historic Places Trust plaque at the lookout at Maiki Hill states the cannons were placed there for ceremonial use but there is no sign of the guns or even the plinth they were presumably mounted on.
■ If you have any information about the missing carronade please contact Elgin Edwards on rev@waimatenorthparish.org.nz or 027 291 3981.
The stolen carronade, or cannon, used to occupy this plinth in the returned services section of the St John the Baptist Church cemetery, Waimate North. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The carronade in a photo from 1971 when it was outside a Sunday school in Waimate North.
