The SAAF Forum

A Ship Cannon from the 19th century named Susanna, is fired exactly at 12:00 on Fridays, at Fort Schanskop at the Voortrekker monument site. This is done to celebrate the 175ste years after the Great Trek and is part of various activities planned this year by Afrikaanse cultural organizations. Susanna will be fired till December on the first Friday of every month at 12:00.

During renovations in the seventies at the Cape Town High School Susanna was dug out. The cannon have been identified as a six pound ship cannon dating from 1820. During the Great Trek, many of the Trekkers took some of these guns with them inland. Retired Navy Commander Gerry de Vries, co-author of the book The Muzzle Loading Cannon of South Africa, approached the school on behalf of the monument that at that stage was looking for a gun to use on special occasions.

In 2002 the school board decided to donate the cannon to the monument. The canon was received in April 2003 by the Monument where after staff at the monument built a gun-carriage for it.

Persons who would like to attend the proceedings pay only R10 entry to the site.

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There's no such thing as a good or bad gun. A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing. A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guy.

Thanks for posting. Was at a corrosion prevention engineering compny yesterday and noticed they had five of these cannons. The company has kindly treated the cannons free of charge and they will return for display at Hout Bay. Gerry is even arranging to have one of them fired.