Guns Below Deck Frigate Unicorn On History Visit To victoria Dock Dundee Tayside Scotland

Tour Scotland short 4K travel video clip, with Scottish bagpipes music, of the guns on the Frigate Unicorn on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit and trip to Dundee, Tayside, Britain, United Kingdom. Running the length of the ship’s Gun Deck are the Blomefield-pattern 18 pounder guns. Named after the weight of shot they fired, each gun could have fired once every 90 seconds at a range of one and a half miles. Thomas Blomefield, son of the Reverend. Thomas Blomefield, rector of Hartley and Chalk, Kent, England, and Chaplain to the Duke of Dorset, was born in 1744. When he was 11 years old he was sent to sea on HMS Cambridge under a close friend of his father, Sir Peircy Brett. His naval career was short lived and in February 1758 he enrolled as a cadet at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He was a talented student, gained the notice of his professors and passed out as a lieutenant eleven months later at age 15. He saw combat in the West Indies and Florida. He became aide de camp to General Conway, who was then acting Master General of the Ordnance and was retained in that position by his successor, Lord Townshend. He resigned that high profile post to serve in the war in America. He was wounded in the head at Saratoga, returned to his duties as aide to the Master General of Ordnance. In 1780 he was appointed Inspector of Artillery and Superintendent of the Royal Brass Foundry. Blomefield set about his task with energy. In his first year he condemned 496 new artillery pieces and unsuitable before they were sent to the army or the fleet. This represented about a quarter of the national production. Around 1783, Blomefield set his hand to designing artillery. He he was a dedicated experimenter and used his experiments to inform his designs. There are several key deviations from the Armstrong-Frederick pattern gun in the Blomefield gun. After 1794 the Blomefield pattern gun was the standard within the navy. The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland. The Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland, used prior to 1603 by the Kings of Scotland was supported by two unicorns and the current royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom is supported by a unicorn for Scotland along with a lion for England. The unicorn is frequently found as an ornament on mercat crosses. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome. @tourscotland All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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