Ancient Weapons of Oman. Volume 2: Firearms 1803270322, 9781803270326, 9781803270333

Table of contents :
Cover
Title page
Copyright information
Contents
List of illustrations and plates
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Gunpowder
Chapter 2 Matchlock Guns
Chapter 3 Flintlock and Percussion Guns
Chapter 4 Introduction of Modern Rifles in Arabia
Chapter 5 Martini Henry Rifles
Chapter 6 Repeating Rifles
Chapter 7 Pistols
Chapter 8 Cannons
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index
Social Media
Back cover

Citation preview

T H E A R C H A E O LO G I C A L H E R I TA G E O F O M A N - V O L . 9

ANCIENT WEAPONS OF OMAN VOLUME 2 – FIREARMS Vincenzo Clarizia

MIN ISTRY OF H E RITAGE A ND TOUR I SM - SULTANAT E OF OM AN 2022

The Archaeological Heritage of Oman

ANCIENT WEAPONS OF OMAN VOLUME 2 – FIREARMS

VINCENZO CLARIZIA

Sultanate of Oman Ministry of Heritage and Tourism

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Summertown Pavilion 18-24 Middle Way Summertown Oxford OX2 7LG www.archaeopress.com Ministry of Heritage and Tourism Sultanate of Oman P.O. Box 200, Postal Code 115 Thaqafah Street Muscat, Sultanate of Oman © Vincenzo Clarizia 2022 Ancient Weapons of Oman, Volume 2 – Firearms (Includes bibliographical references and index). 1. Arabia. 2. Oman 3. Weapons. 4. Traditional. 5. Antiquities. This edition is published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd in association with the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman. This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Sultanate of Oman. First published 2022

ISBN: 978-1-80327-032-6 ISBN: 978-1-80327-033-3 (e-Pdf)

Note: The maps in this book are historical and cannot be modified as they are specifically drawn for that period only and they do not reflect political, geographical and administrative boundaries. The Geographical Place Names (GPN) in these maps are not written by the Arabic Standardized Romanization System applied in the National Survey Authority of Oman (NSA).

Contents

List of illustrations, tables and plates

vii

Acknowledgments

xvii

Introduction

xix

1 Gunpowder

1

2 Matchlock Guns

3

3 Flintlock and Percussion Guns

32

4 Introduction of Modern Rifles in Arabia

39

5 Martini Henry Rifles

51

6 Repeating Rifles

75

7 Pistols

111

8 Cannons

122

Endnotes

154

Bibliography

157

Index

163

List of illustrations and plates

FIGURES 1.1.

Illumination showing the use of Greek fire from the manuscript Skyllitzes Matritensis by Ioannes Scylitzes (National Library of Spain, Madrid).

1

2.1.

Bellifortis, manuscript by Konrad Kyeser: Hand cannon fired from a stand and ignited using a hot iron rod (Niedersächsische Staats und Universitäts Bibliothek Göttingen, 2° Cod. Ms. philos. 63 Cim. 14021404).

3

2.2.

14th century French handgun (Musée de l’Armée, Paris).

3

2.3.

Early crossbow-type ignition mechanism (Calamandrei 2003: 20).

4

2.4.

Sear lock (left) and trigger lock (right) (Blackmore 1994: 19).

4

2.5.

Detail of the Indian (Central India) matchlock firing mechanism (Stone 1961: 441, fig. 562): A) Spring on the back of the trigger; B) Pivot for the trigger; C) Link; D) Match holder; E) Pivot for the match holder; F) Slot for the match holder in the stock; it is curved to move the match over the pan.

5

2.6.

Later engraving of a musketeer from about 1630 wearing the bandolier with wooden cylinders covered with leather to hold the powder charges. A bandolier had 12 cylinders called “apostles” and the bandolier “the twelve apostles”. The accouterments hanging from the bandolier included a primer flask, a leather bag with the shots, pieces of match, a cruet of tin with olive oil to lubricate the firing mechanism, oily rags, a needle to clean the vent hole, and a flint. He also had to carry a pipe to hide the lit match in the night, a scraper to be screwed to the musket’s rod to clean the barrel after firing, a fork for the support of the musket, the musket that weighted 7-8 kg, and a sword (Deutsche Fotothek Kriegskunde & Militär Waffe & Drill & Kavallerie & Muskete).

6

2.7.

Illustration of an Arab gun medfaa from a manuscript by Schems Eddin Mohammed dated to 878 AH (1473-74 AD) copying an earlier manuscript (Manuscript N. C686, Cabinet of Manuscript, Institute of People of Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg) (Lindsay 1966: 157).

6

2.8.

Asian matchlock guns of Japanese type: 1, 2) Japan; 3) Malay (chased brass); 4) Tonkin (brass engraved and decorated with enamel); 5) Khamti, Assam (plain iron); Asian matchlock guns of Indian type: 6) Central India (with a removable clip hung to a string instead of the usual removable pan cover); 7) Hyderabad; 8) Sindh; 9, 10) China (Not to scale) (Stone 1961: 442, fig. 563).

7

2.9.

Omani matchlock gun (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

8

2.10.

The essential mechanic of the matchlock gun made it reliable and simple to repair (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

8

2.11.

Pierced trigger (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

8

2.12.

Rolled match holding the pipes. Notice the skin covering the stock near the pan (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

9

vii

viii

2.13.

The skin covering the stock (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

9

2.14.

Rosewood buttstock (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

9

2.15.

Skin pads to reduce the recoiling effect. In some regions, wolf skin was used for talismanic purpose (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum)

10

2.16.

Indian matchlocks (Stone 1961: plate IV).

10

2.17.

Early 18 century barrels of Omani matchlocks (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

11

2.18.

Late 18th century Indian barrel with gold koftgari inlays of geometric foliage (top); 19th century Indian barrel with gold koftgari inlays of floral pattern (middle); 19th century Indian barrel with silver geometric koftgari inlays (bottom) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

12

2.19.

Religious inscriptions on the barrel of a matchlock gun: “I opened you a manifest victory” (top); “In the name of Allah the Merciful” (center); “When Allah’s victory and conquest come” (bottom) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

13

2.20.

Manufacturer’s marks. The second from left still retains the gold sheet on the marks. Similar marked barrels can be found on Indian 18th century matchlocks toradar (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

14

2.21.

Fine 18th century barrel of an Omani matchlock (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

14

2.22.

Examples of 18th century Italian barrels (di Carpegna 1997: plate I).

15

2.23.

Fluted muzzle (left); lotus shaped muzzle (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

15

2.24.

Heavily used matchlocks (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

15

2.25.

Daguerreotype from “Omani Arabs of the Beni-m’hhacen tribe” showing an irregular soldier of the Sultan of Zanzibar. The warrior wears all typical Omani arms: the matchlock abu fitila, the sword saif, the dagger khanjar, and the shield terrs (Guillain 1857: pl. 10).

16

2.26.

Baluchis in Oman (from www.pinterest.com).

17

2.27.

This matchlock has the original Indian old barrel soldered to a 19th century European barrel (photographs by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum).

18

2.28.

A shortened barrel wasla (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

19

2.29.

Indo-Arab matchlock gun (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Adam Museum Muscat).

19

2.30.

Suspension rings on the left side of the stock (left) and stock covered with a decorated brass sheet (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

19

2.31.

Bullet moulds kellab. The ones shown on the bottom and right cast twelve lead rounds but there were also moulds that cast up to twenty rounds at one time (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

20

2.32.

Stone and lead projectiles (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

20

2.33.

Omani powder flasks qura with silver and brass cap (V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait AlZubair Museum).

21

th

2.34.

Powder measures (V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

21

2.35.

Silver primer flask covered with fine silverworks (V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

21

2.36.

Daguerreotype from “Omani Arabs of the Beni-m’hhacen tribe” showing irregular soldiers of the Sultan of Zanzibar. The one on the left shows that the talahiq was carried hang around the neck (Guillain 1857: plate 10).

22

2.37.

Iron flints (V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

22

2.38.

Powder flask, leather pouches for the lead balls, flint, and measure attached to a leather belt (mahzam) (courtesy Oman National Museum).

22

2.39.

Leather holder of a type common from North Africa to the Middle East. The patrons are made from bone (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

22

2.40.

Cartridge belt with pouches to hold wooden decorated patrons each containing the charge for one shot (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

23

2.41.

Modern cartridges made with plastic tubes to fire the matchlock barrels (wasla) (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

23

2.42.

Brass match pipe and match extinguisher (mutfa) tied to the buttstock (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

23

3.1.

Miquelet lock developed in Spain with a large diffusion in South Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. As proved by this lock made in South Italy in 1849 (left), it was still in use well after the invention of the French-type flintlock and the percussion lock. A true flintlock (right) invented in France in the early 17th century as the last form of flintlock (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

32

3.2.

North African flintlock gun Moukahla (top) and the detail of its lock (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

33

3.3.

Sindhi-Afghan gun Jezail (photographs by V. Clarizia, top private collection; bottom courtesy Bait Adam Museum, Muscat).

33

3.4.

Percussion lock (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

34

3.5.

12-gauge double-barrel side-by-side gun. The buttstock is decorated with a deer head in bas-relief (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

34

3.6.

16-gauge double-barrel side-by-side gun decorated with silver bands (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

35

3.7.

Pakistan-made gun with an Enfield 1853 type lock (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

35

4.1.

Minié and other conical bullets (from vicksburgstreasures.blogspot.com).

39

4.2.

Paper cartridges used in the American Civil War, 1861-1865 (www.mcpheetersantiquemilitaria.com).

39

4.3.

Dreyse needle rifle (courtesy Swedish Armémuseum).

40

4.4.

Dreyse needle firing pin (www.infobarrel.eu).

40

4.5.

Chassepot rifle in a 19 century Italian magazine.

40

4.6.

Chassepot rifle cartridges (guns.wikia.com).

40

4.7.

Enfield Pattern 1853 muzzleloader (left) and its Snider breechloader conversion (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

41

th

ix

x

4.8.

The fishmarket and harbor of Mutrah in a photograph taken by Hermann Burchardt in 1904. In 1900, Mutrah was the commercial center of Oman with 14,000 residents and its harbor was an important trading center in the Arabian Gulf (Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin).

43

4.9.

The harbor of Muscat and the British Consulate in an old postcard.

44

4.10.

The French Consulate in Muscat in an old postcard.

44

4.11.

The large trading dhow (ghanjah) Fatah Al-Khair in the Maritime Museum of Sur (photograph by V. Clarizia).

45

4.12.

The port of Djibouti with sail dhows in an old postcard.

46

4.13.

John Gordon Lorimer was a British colonial administrator commissioned in 1903 to compile a handbook for British diplomats and agents operating in the Arabian Gulf region. After twelve years, he produced the Gazetteer of the Arabian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia, a 5,000 page two-volume book that was classified as “secret” and circulated only among the British officials until it was declassified in 1955 (from www. bbc.co.uk).

47

4.14.

HMS gunboat Lapwing launched in 1889 (from www.history.navy.mil).

49

4.15.

HMS Lapwing firing the steamship Baluchistan in a sketch by the Lapwin’s surgeon Bernard Ley (The Illustrated London News, March 5, 1898).

50

5.1.

Longitudinal section of a Martini Henry lock (Routledge 1881: 132).

51

5.2.

Cutaway of a Martini Henry used by the Royal Irish Constabulary (www.victorianwars. com).

51

5.3.

Martini Henry Mk I rifle (from www.bidsquare.com).

52

5.4.

Martini Henry Mk I Cavalry Carbine (from www.allaboutenfields.co.nz).

52

5.5.

Martini Henry marks (from www.martinihenry.com).

52

5.6.

The first type of sheet brass cartridge (left) and a later solid brass cartridge (right) (from www.bidorbuy.co.za).

53

5.7.

Francotte action (from www.gunboard.com) (left); Swinburne Henry (from www. tapatalk.com) (right).

53

5.8.

Nepalese Gahendra Martini (from www.tapatalk.com).

54

5.9.

Turkish Peabody Henry rifle Mod. 1874 (from www.militaryrifles.com).

54

5.10.

Marks on the receiver (left) (from www. militaryrifles.com); the Sultan’s tughra and the serial number in Arabic (right) (V. Clarizia, private collection).

55

5.11.

Khyber Pass Martini Henry with fake British marks (from www.martinihenry.com).

55

5.12.

Different Martini Muscat inscriptions (top, photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection; center, photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum; bottom, from British Militaria Forums).

56

5.13.

Belgian-made Martini Henry rifles in caliber .577”/450 (11.43 mm) decorated with silver bands, silver wires, and silver sheets (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

57

5.14.

Silver decoration around the stock (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

57

5.15.

Peabody Martini Henry with shortened forearm (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

58

5.16.

Different silver decorations (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

58

5.17.

British Martini Henry carbine Mk III disk (left); George VI East Africa coin dating from 1937 to 1945 screwed on the stock of a Belgian Martini Francotte with octagonal barrel (center); Ten Omani Baisa coin dated to 1400 AH (1979 AD) on the stock of a Belgian Martini Henry (right) (V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

59

5.18.

Mk IV Martini Henry made by the Enfield factory in 1887 (top left); Khyber Pass Martini Henry with fake British marks (top right); Floral and geometric incisions (center); Floral incision with the formula Mash’Allah (What God has willed) (bottom) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

59

5.19.

Well-incised tigers on the action plate (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait AlZubair Museum).

60

5.20.

Arabian gazelle (left) and a crescent (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

60

5.21.

Fine floral incision probably made in Belgium with a lion representing Ali holding his saber Dhu al-Faqar (left) (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection); Persian lion in the Persian emblem (center); Locally made (in Oman?) incision of the mid-19th century with the larger African lion replacing the Persian lion (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

60

5.22.

Slings decorated with silver buttons (courtesy Oman National Museum).

61

5.23.

Military type leather sling (top), canvas sling (center), plastic sling (bottom) (top and center photographs by V. Clarizia, top and center courtesy Oman National Museum, bottom courtesy Madha Museum).

61

5.24.

Bedouins photographed by Wilfred Thesiger in 1949-50 (from web.prm.ox.ac.uk).

62

5.25.

Original package of Martini Henry ammunitions made by the Indian Government Ammunition Factory of Kirkee, near Pune, India (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

62

5.26.

Bullet casting mould (qalib or kellab) (courtesy Oman National Museum).

63

5.27.

Leather cartridge belts with .577 ammunitions. The spent cases were recapped and reloaded for many times during their life (photographs by V. Clarizia, top courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum, bottom courtesy Oman National Museum)

63

5.28.

Cartridge belt woven with silver thread. The two small silver pouches on either side of the buckle were used to keep safe small items like amulets or coins. A fire striker called mudharba once used to spark up and light the fuse of the matchlock is attached to the silver chains. This belt (80 cm long) is one of the longest found in Oman. The usual length between 70 and 80 cm give an idea of the smaller frame of the Omani men of the time (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum)

64

5.29.

Silver bullet-shaped containers mikāhil. The first two on the left are shaped as a .577 Martini Henry cartridge, the one on the right is shaped as a .303 British cartridge (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

64

6.1.

Lee Metford rifle (from ww1.westernfrontweapons.weebly.com).

76

6.2.

Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle – MLE (from www.ar15.com).

76

6.3.

Advertisement of the Birmingham Small Arms Company with the different model of Lee-Enfield carbines (from www.rifleman.org.uk).

77

6.4.

Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine – LEC (from www.allaboutenfields.co.nz).

77

xi

xii

6.5.

SMLE Mk III* assembled in 1918 by the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield under the “Peddled Scheme” with its impressive sword bayonet. The letters SHT LE mean “Short Lee-Enfield” (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

78

6.6.

SMLE No. 4 Mk I* rifle with the new spiked bayonet made in Canada by Small Arms Limited, Long Branch Arsenal in 1943 (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

78

6.7.

The Muscat Levies armed with SMLE rifles in 1929 (Peyton 1983: 57).

79

6.8.

Enfield SMLE No. 1 Mk III (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

80

6.9.

Leather and fabric cartridge belts (photographs by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum).

80

6.10.

Cartridge belt decorated with silver thread. The two small pouches on either side of the buckle were used to keep small items like amulets or coins (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

81

6.11.

The cartridge belt was also used to suspend the khanjar, as showed in this photograph of an Omani guide at Al-Hazm in 1951 (Peyton 1983: 102).

81

6.12.

Chassepot rifle (from www.guns.wikia.com).

82

6.13.

The metallic cartridge of the Gras (on the left) compared with the linen self-consuming cartridge of the Chassepot (from www.fla-pawn.com).

82

6.14.

Gras model 74/M80 rifle (from www.wikimedia.org).

82

6.15.

Marks on a Gras rifle made by the Arsenal of Saint-Étienne (left); Marks on a Steyr rifle made for the Greek Army (right) (from www.armefrancaises.free.fr)

83

6.16.

Mod. 1874/80 rifle made by the Manifacture d’Armes St. Etienne in 1876. The rifle is almost in the original condition with only the iron band replaced with a brass one (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

83

6.17.

Carbine decorated with brass bands and a wooden pad added to the butt (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

83

6.18.

Paul and Wilhelm Mauser (from www.pinterest.com).

84

6.19.

Dreyse needle rifle (from www.collegehillarsenal.com).

85

6.20.

Mauser Mod. 1871 infantry rifle (from www.warrelics.eu).

85

6.21.

Mechanic of the Mauser Mod. 1871. The entire rifle only had 45 parts including the stock components (from www.sassik.livejournal.com).

85

6.22.

Kommissiongewehr Mod. 1888 (from www.thepaulkfamily.com).

86

6.23.

New smokeless 7.92 x 57 J cartridge (from www.militarycartridges.com)

86

6.24.

Mauser Karabiner Mod. 1898 A.Z. (from www.gunsamerica.com).

87

6.25.

Mauser Karabiner Mod. 98 k (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

87

6.26.

Mauser Standard Model (from www.forums.gunboards.com).

88

6.27.

Modified Mauser Standard Model rifles (photographs by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum).

88

6.28.

Turkish Mod. 1887 Mauser rifle (photograph by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum).

89

6.29.

Name of the factory and serial number stamped in Turkish Arabic (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum)

90

6.30.

Spencer rifle action (image from www.leverguns.com).

91

6.31.

Spencer rifle with its seven rounds tubular magazine (from welcometosteampunk.com).

92

7.1.

Horseman with handgun by Mariano of Iacopo (called the Taccola), De Machinis, Cod. Lat. Monacensis 28800 (BSBM), c. 75v (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich).

111

7.2.

German horseman armed with wheellock pistols (www.weaponsandwarfare.com).

112

7.3.

Balkan Ottoman flintlock pistol (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

113

7.4.

Pair of Albanian Ledenica kubur pistols with the stock entirely made of solid silver filigree (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

114

7.5.

Ramrod suma (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

114

7.6.

Early 19 century silver Ottoman Greek cartridge pouch palaska with two suspension rings on the sides and embossed decoration with stylized minarets amidst flowers and foliage (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

114

7.7.

Example of European travel flintlock pistol made for the Eastern market probably in Belgium. There is no provision for the ramrod while the flared muzzle made easier to reload on horseback or a moving carriage (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Adam Museum).

115

7.8.

False pistol (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

115

7.9.

Pair of French style pistols with percussion lock; these pistols, made in India, Pakistan, or Afghanistan, imitated the flintlock models exported to the Ottoman Empire from Belgium, France, and England in the 19th century (top); Jezail percussion musketoon of Indian or Afghan origin with the stock decorated with bone inlays; the lock and trigger guard are of a very poor manufacture and crudely nailed on (bottom) (photographs by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum).

116

8.1.

The earliest representation of a European cannon. Walter De Milemete, De Notabilitatibus, Sapientiis, et Prudentiis Regum (particular) (Library of Christ Church Collection, Oxford, n. 92, fol. 70.)

123

8.2.

Mortar of forged iron with a bore of 88 cm and a length of 2.59 m, made in Styria (Austria) in 1410; taken by the Ottomans, it was got back by the Habsburgs in 1529 (courtesy Vienna, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum).

124

8.3.

The siege of Orléans in 1428 where the English used fifteen breech loading cannons (from Les Vigiles de la mort de Charles VII by Martial d’Auvergne, about 1483, Bibliothèque nationale de France).

124

8.4.

The so-called “Mehmed II” (caliber 70 cm, length 4.2 meters); a 15th century bronze cannon of the same type was used by the Ottomans in the siege of Constantinople in 1453 (courtesy Museo Storico Nazionale d’Artiglieria, Turin).

125

8.5.

The so-called “Dardanelles gun” inscribed on the muzzle with “God protect Him - Sultan Mehmed Khan, son of Murad – work of Munir Ali – The month of Rejeb year 868 (March 1464)” (courtesy Royal Armouries of the Tower, London).

125

8.6.

A Veuglaire composed of a powder chamber and a tube (from the Dictionary of French Architecture from 11th to 16th Century by Eugène Viollet le Duc, 1856).

126

8.7.

Galleys, carracks, and caravels of the 16th century represented in the colored etching “La tres célèbre cité de Gennes 1571” (Raccolta Topografica Comune di Genova n. 1811).

128

8.8.

“In 1551, under Francis I, the artillery of the French army consisted of six pieces [...] The cannon was nearly 9 feet 10 inches long, weighed 5,300 lbs., carried a bullet 33¼ lbs., and was drawn upon a carriage by twenty-one horses. The great culverin was nearly 10 feet long, weighed 4,000 lbs., carried a bullet 15 lbs. 2 ozs., and was drawn by seventeen horses. The bastard culverin was 9 feet long, weighed 2,500 lbs., and carried a bullet

130

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xiii

weighing 7 lbs. 2 ozs.; it was drawn by eleven horses. The small culverin weighed 1,200 lbs., and carried a bullet weighing 2 lbs. The falcon weighed 700 lbs. and carried a bullet of 1 lb. 10 ozs.; and the falconet, which was 6 feet 4 inches long, weighed 410 lbs., and carried a 14-ozs. bullet” (Greener 1910: 30-31). 8.9.

xiv

Early 17th century 24-pounder bronze culverin, probably Flemish, commissioned by the Order of St. John of Malta; it was brought from Malta to England in 1800 (photograph by V. Clarizia, Royal Armouries of the Tower, London).

131

8.10.

Parts of a cannon (Peterson 2014: 192).

132

8.11.

Comparison between the four 16th century ordnances of the same bore (image by the author from Meide 2002).

132

8.12.

British 24-pounder iron howitzer on its original iron garrison carriage, cast around 1850 by Henckell & Co. in Wandsworth, London (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Royal Armouries of the Tower, London).

133

8.13.

Probable French naval cannon (length 247 cm, caliber 145 mm) (top); Swedish Finnbanker type cannon widely exported and probably bought from the East India Company to arm the Sultan’s war ships (length 220 cm, caliber 125 mm) (bottom). The carriages are modern reconstructions (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

136

8.14.

Small bronze cannon in the Al-Hazm Castle probably cast in Oman (from Vv. Aa. 2011: 86).

137

8.15.

Breech chambers recovered from the Esmeralda shipwreck discovered off Al-Hallaniyah island (from www.esmeraldashipwreck.com).

138

8.16.

Wrought iron breech-loading swivel guns (canhão de berço) from the Military Museum of Lisbon, probably comparable to those embarked on the Esmeralda and the São Pedro; these guns were used both on land and at sea and fired stones, grapeshots, or lead balls; their caliber is congruent with the ammunitions found at the wreck site (from www. silverhawkauthor.com).

138

8.17.

Ammunitions recovered from the Esmeralda shipwreck (www.esmeraldashipwreck. com).

139

8.18.

Smooth bore muzzle loading cannon in the Nizwa Fort. The Portuguese coat of arms is surrounded by the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleche (Ordem do Tosão de Ouro); only Kings Manuel I (1469-1521) and João III (1502-1557) were knights of the order. In these years the lifting handles consisted of simple rings (from Vv. Aa. 2011: 36).

139

8.19.

Portuguese naval smooth bore muzzle loading cannon in the Al-Hazm Castle; the rebuilt carriage shows the elevation adjustment system with wooden wedges; this carriage was inspired to the four-wheel English naval carriages while the Portuguese ship carriages had two wheels only (Salgado 1998: 279) (from Vv. Aa. 2011: 35).

140

8.20.

Portuguese/Spanish cannon in the Al-Hazm Castle with a pair of dolphins for lifting and a third dolphin decorating the cascabel; it has the same general appearance of most guns produced for King Felipe II of Spain (from Vv.Aa. 2011: 38).

140

8.21.

Spanish/Neapolitan cannon in the Al-Hazm Castle (from Vv.Aa. 2011: 83).

141

8.22.

The simple and elegant design of a 18-pounder Armstrong-Frederick gun with the characteristic cascabel (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

143

8.23.

18-pounder Blomefield pattern naval gun (top) (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum); use of the breech rope in a British cast-iron cannon supplied by the London company Wiggins and Graham (WG) for export to the Al-Hazm Castle in 1803 (bottom) (from Vv. Aa. 2011: 85).

144

8.24.

12-pounder cannon of the type that armed the Mirani Fort garrison (left) (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum); picture of the mid-1960s showing a cannon of the same type firing from the Mirani Fort terrace to welcome visiting vessels; the guns bear the arms of King George III who ruled the United Kingdom from 1760 to 1820 (left) (from Peyton 1983:21).

145

8.25.

Sultan Faisal turned some useless cannons sent by the Government of India into a barrier around Bait Graiza (from Peyton 1983: 117).

145

TABLES 4.1.

Comparison of the bullet weight, muzzle velocity, and kinetic energy for three models of Mauser (Fiscus 1987: 18).

42

4.2.

Theoretical Lethality Index (TLI) for the early weapons (Dupuy1980: 92).

42

8.1.

English ordnance at the time of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I (1558-1625) (Greener 1910: 31).

130

8.2.

Weight, diameter, and bore caliber of round cast iron shots of the Borgard system.

142

PLATES

2.1.

Matchlock Gun

24

5.4.

Martini Henry Rifle

71

2.2.

Matchlock Gun

25

5.5.

Peabody Martini Henry Rifle

73

2.3.

Matchlock Gun

26

6.1.

Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifle

93

2.4.

Matchlock Gun

27

6.2.

Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifles

94

2.5.

Matchlock Gun

28

2.6.

6.3.

95

Matchlock Gun

29

Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine Mk1*

2.7.

Matchlock Gun

30

6.4.

96

2.8.

Matchlock Gun

31

Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III Rifles

3.1.

Percussion Side-by-Side Gun

36

6.5.

97

3.2.

Percussion Gun

37

Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III Rifle

3.3.

Percussion Jezail

38

6.6.

98

5.1.

Martini Henry Rifle

66

Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III Rifles

5.2.

Martini Henry Rifle

67

6.7.

Short Magazine Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I*

100

5.3.

Martini Henry Rifle

68

6.8.

Gras Infantry Rifle

101

xv

xvi

6.9.

Gras Cavalry Carbines

102

6.10.

Gras Artillery Carbine

103

6.11.

Mauser Infantry Rifle Mod. 71

104

6.12.

Mauser Rifles

105

6.13.

Mauser 1924

106

6.14.

Turkish Mauser Model 1905 Carbine

107

6.15.

American rifles

108

6.16.

Turkish Mauser Model 1905 Carbine

110

7.1.

Pair of Kubur Pistols

117

7.2.

British Percussion Pistol

119

7.3.

Percussion Pistol

120

7.4.

“Khyber Pass” Pistols

121

8.1.

Portuguese Cannon

146

8.2.

American Cannon

149

8.3.

German Cannon

153

Acknowledgments

First of all, I wish to thank the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism of the Sultanate of Oman for having generously invited me to contribute to the Series “The Archaeological Heritage of Oman”. In particular, I would like to thank H.E. Salim bin Mohammed Almahruqi, Minister of Heritage and Tourism, H.E. Ibrahim bin Said Al-Kharusi, Undersecretary for Heritage Affairs, and the General Director for Archaeology, Mr. Sultan bin Saif Al-Bakri, and his staff. A special grateful and mindful tribute goes to the late Professor Maurizio Tosi, who with his activity promoted the study of the Omani historical heritage and offered me the opportunity to deepen the research on old Omani weaponry. This book would not have been possible without the support I received from the National Museum to assess their collections of arms and armours. For this reason, I would like to thank H.E. Jamal bin Hassan Al-Moosawi, Secretary General of the National Museum, and Mrs. Mouza bint Sulaiman Al-Wardi, Director of the Collections Department, who allowed me to study and photograph many of the objects that appear in this book. A special thanks also goes to Bait Al-Zubair Museum for its courtesy in allowing me to photograph and publish the pieces in its remarkable collection. For the image credits, I also thank the private collectors that made the pieces of their collections available for my research.

xvii

Introduction

Considering that weapons changed little from the times of antiquity through the period of the Middle Ages, the invention of gunpowder and firearms opened a new era in the warfare and marked an important step in the development of human history. Gunpowder was probably discovered in the East, but it was in Europe that its explosive power was applied to weaponry, leading to the supremacy of the European industrial and military power in the 19th century. The possibility offered by artificial weapons to increase the offensive or defensive area of their users was one of the first results of the development of these arms, which was achieved using projectiles that could be thrown: stones, shots, arrows, javelins, etc. However, effectively shooting an arrow or hurling a javelin required strength, skill, and practice. Sustaining skilled fighting men was a common problem, from Greek hoplites to English longbowmen. With the advent of the crossbow, which required less personal skill and strength, every man could shoot a knight in armor. Because of its intrinsic distancing from the rules of chivalry, the use of crossbows against Christians was forbidden by the Pope and only recommended against unbelievers. The Pope’s encyclical however had little to no effect, and all combatants regularly hired Genoese or German crossbowmen. More than crossbows, the introduction of portable firearms radically changed the social structure and caused the end of the feudal world. In warfare, it was the end of the chivalry that had based its supremacy on the warriors’ skills in the use of the arms, achieved after years of training. For this reason, firearms were first regarded as the “devil’s instruments” and fiercely opposed by the castes of warriors. The Mamluks in Egypt considered firearms a filthy and obnoxious innovation (Elgood 1995: 16), and the generalized refusal to use them among the Muslims is epitomized by the words that the defeated Mamluk Amir Kurtbay said to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I after the battle of Marj Dabiq in 1516: “you have brought with you this contrivance artfully devised by the Christians of Europe when they were incapable of meeting the Muslims’ armies on the battlefield. The contrivance is that bunduq which, even if a woman were to fire it, would hold up such and such a number of men. Had we chosen to employ this weapon, you would not have preceded us in its use. But we are the people who do not discard the Sunna of our Prophet Muhammad which is the jihad for the sake of Allah with sword and lance. And woe to thee! How darest thou shoot with firearms at Muslims?” (Ayalon 1956: 94, quoted in Elgood 1995:15). In 1544, after having seen the effect of the wars fought in Europe, German cosmographer Sebastian Münster wrote about gunpowder: “the villain who brought such a noxious thing to earth is not worthy of having his name retained on earth in the memory of man” (Guttman 1895: 1). Still, in the late 19th century, the majority of Zulu warriors did not use firearms: “the arms of a coward, as they said, for they enable the poltroon to kill the brave without awaiting his attack” (Bourquin 1978: 150). Another relevant change due to the introduction of firearms concerned the characteristics of the warriors themselves. Physical strength was not their main quality anymore,1 as nerve and discipline became more important than pugnacity. The bravery of the individual was thus more and more replaced by technology and organizational skills in a process that is, indeed, still ongoing.

xix

In addition, the emotional aspect changed: killing a man shooting him from a distance of 300 or more meters has a much less emotional impact than stabbing him in a hand combat, and recently the remotecontrolled drones have transformed war in a sort of tragic videogame. Nevertheless, the introduction of firearms was a slow process, and bows, crossbows and pikes remained in use for centuries. It was only towards the first half of the 17th century that muskets became prevalent in the infantry armament, also due to the appearance of the bayonet.2 In the East, the process was slower than in Europe and Ottoman army, so that bows, lances and swords were still in use at the end of the 18thcentury. The adoption of firearms by the Ottomans largely contributed to their victories over the Mamluks and the Safavids. In Europe, the improvement of firearms coincided with the development of the art of navigation and shipbuilding that enabled European vessels to sail the oceans. The evolution of artillery and ships proceeded with synergistic outcomes. New artilleries, lighter and longer than the mortars, and with higher muzzle velocities were developed, thanks to the discovery of new methods to produce gunpowder. These guns of unprecedented effectiveness began to appear aboard European warships at the end of the 15th century. In the same years, the caravel, with its speed and maneuverability, became an effective platform for the new gun ordnance. New tactics in the use of warship fleets, specifically built for guns, changed the sea warfare entirely. The heavy armed caravels3 and carracks4 (later galleons) played an important role in the colonization of the American continent and the expansion of European powers in the East: the Portuguese at first, the British and the Dutch later, thus becoming the instrument of European hegemony for over three centuries. Beginning in the middle of 19th century, the pace in the development of such weapons increased enormously thanks to the industrial revolution and the wide dissemination of technical journals that hastened the time it took for innovations in one discipline to have an impact in another related field. The result was a rapid development of weapons, more lethal and mass produced by machined factories. In Oman, as well as in other regions of the world, the concept of the right for every free man to be armed lasted until the 20th century. For this reason, swords, khanjars, and Martini Henry rifles are still present in the national culture and heritage. Because of its harbor, Muscat was a crossroad of trade routes that linked Persia with Egypt through the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea, and India with Africa via the Indian Ocean. Between 1890 and 1914, Muscat was the major rifles warehouse in the Arabian Gulf, with hundreds of thousand breech loading rifles being re-exported in the entire region up to Afghanistan and Persia.5 The Martini Henry rifle (and its variants) was by far the most common weapon, and Belgian made Martini Henry were specifically engraved for the Muscat market. The introduction of artillery in warfare undoubtedly had a more significant impact than portable firearms. From the 15th century, when trunnions and wheeled carriages made it possible to move and aim artilleries in every direction, battle tactics changed radically. Previously, arrows and charges of cavalry preceded the massive hand combat, where the strength of the troops and their compactness were decisive for the victory. With the introduction of cannons and the use of grenades invented in 1452, the troops were smashed from a long distance, and hand combat with swords and pikes became the last stage of the battle. Moreover, cannons had an important impact in war strategy: great efforts and commitment of resources became necessary to develop and maintain expensive artillery corps, and the existing fortresses suddenly became obsolete.

xx

This book offers a panoramic view on the Omani firearms used in the last four centuries, from the Portuguese cannon to magazine-fed rifles. Many of them are well preserved in the museums and forts of Oman, and the weapons described in this book are mostly from the National Museum and the Bait AlZubair Museum of Muscat. Given the great variety of topics involved, the description of the different types of firearms is necessarily not specialized, particularly for what concerns modern rifles and cannons to which hundreds of accounts are dedicated. The description of the different types of firearms is introduced by a synthetic description of their history and characteristics in order to provide readers with a general overview, since a detailed treatment of the topics is not the scope of this book. There are countless cannons scattered among over 1,000 forts, castles, towers and fortified buildings in Oman (Arms meet showcases Oman’s historical artillery collection, muscatdaily.com, October 7, 2012), originating from more than ten countries (Oman’s arms collection to open for limited viewing, muscatdaily. com, January 22, 2013, article by M. Najmuz Zafar quoting a speech by Christopher Roads). In this book, only a few of them will be discussed, selected from the most significant ones stored in the National Museum, in the hope that in the future the cannons of Oman can be studied and described more systematically, as they deserve.

xxi

Chapter 1

Gunpowder

Gunpowder is an inflammable mixture of saltpeter (75%), charcoal (15%), and sulfur (10%) used in old firearms as propellant for the projection of bullets.6 The actual date of invention of gunpowder is not known. The Chinese are said to have known it in ancient times and used their discovery for manufacturing fireworks, even if Marco Polo never mentioned this in his Travels. The Arabs learned how to make it around 1225-1250 AD (Von Romocki 1895: 38-39). An Andalus, Ibn al-Baytar, who died in 1248 AD, described saltpeter as the “Chinese snow”, and in his work the term barūd referred to saltpeter for the first time. Hasan Al-Rammah, an Arab inventor working in Syria, circa 1275-1290 AD, wrote the military treatise “The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices” (Al-Furusiyahwa al-munaseb al-Harbiya) in which he clearly indicated recipes for gunpowder, instructions for the purification of saltpeter from other salts by solution and repeated crystallization, and descriptions of gunpowder incendiaries and crackers. This treatise exists in two Arabic manuscripts now preserved in Paris, BN ancient fonds 2825 (old 1128) and fonds Asselin 643 (quoted by Zaky 1967: 48). In his work, he also gives instructions about the mixture that was needed to fill the midfa (gun): ten parts of barūd (saltpeter), two of charcoal, and one and a half of sulfur. The term he used for the mixture was dawā (remedy, medicament, or drug). It was only later that the term barūd became synonymous of gunpowder (Zaky 1967: 47). Some authors in the 19th century believed that saltpeter was related to Greek fire (Guttmann 1895: 3). Greek fire was an incendiary weapon originating in the Byzantine Empire. It is said to have been invented by a Syrian engineer, Kallinikos of Heliopolis, in the 7th century AD. The Greek fire was hurled on to their enemies’ ships from siphons or in pots launched by mangonels (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1. Illumination showing the use of Greek fire from the manuscript Skyllitzes Matritensis by Ioannes Scylitzes (National Library of Spain, Madrid). 1

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

It was reputed to be inextinguishable and could also burn on water. The exact composition of Greek fire was a secret that emperors handed down from one to the next for centuries. Its composition probably included naft,7 saltpeter, sulfur, resin, and quicklime, along with some other “secret ingredient”. In any case, in these early days, gunpowder was also considered as an incendiary and a rocket propellant, and its explosive property was regarded as a risk to beware. From the Moors of Spain the knowledge of gunpowder reached Europe where, in 1267, Roger Bacon described its effect and ingredients (Bacon 1618: 69). Yet the formula was written in cipher and only deciphered in the 19th century (Hime 1904: 157), thus the invention had no practical effect.8 In his 1280 treatise De Mirabilibus Mundi, the Bishop of Regensburg (Germany) Albertus Magnus detailed the composition of gunpowder. Afterwards, the use of purer materials in making gunpowder allowed to exploit its propulsive power instead of its incendiary properties only: this led to the invention of cannon and guns. In the Arabian Peninsula, firearms were brought by the Mamluks and the Ottomans to oppose the Portuguese presence in the Indian Ocean. The Arab word barūd for gunpowder, in Oman and Hadramawt, is pronounced like the Turkish barūt, thus proving the origin of the imported technology. Gunpowder was locally prepared finely grinding and mixing the components. Saltpeter (potassium nitrate) is a resource available in natural deposits, and purified nitrate crystals can be obtained boiling the salts with wood ashes, which precipitate the calcium and magnesium salts. Sulfur (kabrīt) was imported or extracted in local mines around Jebel Hafit and the Northern coast. 17th-18th century sulfur mining has been archaeologically confirmed on Jebel Dhanna, in the United Arab Emirates. Charcoal (fahm) was easily made using local woods, in particular the “Apple of Sodom” (Calotropis procera). Mixed together, the three ingredients made a cake that, when dried, was chopped in coarse grains.

2

Chapter 2

Matchlock Guns

The introduction of portable firearms took place almost at the same time as cannons. A 1326 city of Florence’s document mentioned the “canones de mettallo”, and only a few years later, in 1334, Rinaldo d’Este produced a great number of handguns and bombards (sclopetorum et spingardorum) (Muratori 1908: vol. xv, col. 396). This earliest form of gun consisted of a tube, closed at one end, with a touchhole from which the powder in the tube was ignited. Such rude barrels were at first secured to a wooden haft and held away from the shooter since they could be more dangerous for the user than for the enemy. The pole was held under one arm or stuck in the ground while the other hand was used to ignite the powder (Figure 2.1). At Crécy, in 1346, about twenty handgunners were present but the French totally ignored them and attributed their defeat to the English longbowmen. It took time before handguns became militarily significant. In the early years of their use, they produced more noise than damage, though gunshot wounds were usually fatal. The superiority of a skilled bowman over a handgunner was undeniable, and the former’s task was so uncertain that the latter had to be forcibly recruited from jails. On the battlefield, they were highly disregarded and often killed when captured. In 1498, warlord Paolo Vitelli cut off the hands of five gunners that had killed his crossbowmen. Nevertheless, the supply of skilled bowmen ran out. “To shoot a bow with skill takes practice from childhood, and to draw a bow that would pierce armor takes the muscles of an athlete. Crossbowmen or arquebusiers could be trained from raw recruits in short time” (Lindsay 1967: 42). Figure 2.1. Bellifortis, manuscript by Konrad Kyeser: Hand cannon fired from a stand and ignited using a hot iron rod (Niedersächsische Staats und Universitäts Bibliothek Göttingen, 2° Cod. Ms. philos. 63 Cim. 14021404).

Figure 2.2. 14th century French handgun (Musée de l’Armée, Paris).

3

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

The main problem with early guns was the impossibility to aim, as they were held away from the shooter’s face. It was only after years that the barrels were secured to stocks with metallic bands and the touchhole moved from the top to the side (Figure 2.2). To render the ignition of the powder easier, a little quantity of it was spread in a pan near the touchhole. Over time, different methods started to be used to fire the powder: burning coals, red-hot irons, and eventually burning matches. Another problem was that the ingredients of gunpowder tended to separate during transport and needed continuous shuffling. It was only in the 17th century that they began to be kneaded with liquid in a cake and then pulverized when dried, in a process called corning. In the first half of the 15th century, early handguns or hand bombards were replaced by arquebuses and muskets,9 using a non-manual ignition mechanism that probably originated from the crossbow releasing system (Figure 2.3). The matchlock is the earliest mechanical device for firing. It allowed the shooter to look at the target instead of the gun at moment of shooting. The first type of matchlock (sear lock) had no springs. An S-shaped lever (the serpentine), with the lower part heavier than the upper, pivoted to the stock near its center, being forked at its upper end to hold the match. By pressing the lower end of the lever, the match was forced down into the flash pan and ignited the priming. The flash from the primer travelled through the touchhole igniting the main charge of propellant in the gun barrel. The sear lock was gradually superseded by the trigger lock type in which the lever was made separate from the lock and shortened to a convenient curve for the forefinger. This allowed for an easier removal of the lock and encased the trigger in a guard to prevent accidental firing (Figure 2.4). In a late Indian version, the serpentine is connected to a long trigger protruding from the bottom of the gun that commands the movement of the serpentine held up by a spring. Pulling the trigger the clamp drops down. On release of the trigger, the spring-loaded serpentine would move in reverse to clear the pan (Figure 2.5). The match is a cord that would burn slowly but steadily. It was made of linen or hemp, washed with ashes and quicklime or boiled in a solution of water and lead acetate. It hung from the belt or was

Figure 2.3. Early crossbow-type ignition mechanism (Calamandrei 2003: 20).

Figure 2.4. Sear lock (left) and trigger lock (right) (Blackmore 1994: 19). 4

Matchlock Guns

Figure 2.5. Detail of the Indian (Central India) matchlock firing mechanism (Stone 1961: 441, fig. 562): A) Spring on the back of the trigger; B) Pivot for the trigger; C) Link; D) Match holder; E) Pivot for the match holder; F) Slot for the match holder in the stock; it is curved to move the match over the pan. carried wounded around the hat. Different needs led to the development of slow and fast burning matches. The match was often lit at both ends as a precaution against its extinguishing (Lindsay 1967: 38). In fact, an inherent weakness of the matchlock was necessary to keep the match constantly lit. Being the sole source of ignition for the powder, if the match was not lit when the gun needed to be fired, the mechanism would become useless, and the weapon would turn into nothing more than an expensive club. This was chiefly a problem in wet weather when a damp match cord was difficult to light and be kept burning. Another drawback was the burning match itself. At night, the match would glow in the darkness, possibly revealing the carrier’s position. The distinctive smell of burning match-cord was also a detector of the musketeer’s position. A match pipe was used to partly solve this problem. It is a small tube of copper, tin or iron, about 20-30 cm long, pierced with holes in which to carry the lighted match. It was used at night so that the lighted matches could not be seen. To quicken the loading of guns, the exact quantities of powder were kept in wood or horn cylinders covered with leather. The cylinders hung from bandoliers. Later, in the early 17th century, the correct amount of powder was wrapped together with the ball in a piece of paper from which it was called cartridge (from the medieval Latin for carta, “paper”) (Figure 2.6).10 Despite the appearance of more advanced ignition systems such as the wheellock11 and the snaphance,12 the low cost of production, simplicity, and high reliability of the matchlock allowed for its consistent use in European armies until about 1720 (Angelucci 1890: 407). Matchlocks were used until recent years in India, Tibet, and Central Asia and seems that matchlocks were still used by the Afghans against the Soviets in the 1980s. In the Islamic world, firearms were disliked because they diverted from the traditional military and social values. Moreover, they were in contrast with the Islamic tradition of warfare and seen as a Christian invention. In Mamluk Egypt the arquebus was introduced in 1490 by Sultan Qaitbay who armed a body of troops with al-bundukar-rasās (arquebuses) to use against the Ottomans (Iyas 1931 quoted by Zaky 1967: 56). His successors tried to organize a body of arquebusiers, but the opposition of high rank officers and the poor reliability of the new weapons convinced them to resign. “We shall not abandon the teaching of our Prophet [...] for adopting the new methods of the Christians”, stated Sultan Kansuhal-Ghawri in 1506 (Ibn Zunbul quoted by Zaky 1967: 57). The Ottomans had speedily recognized the value of firearms. The Janissary corps of the Ottoman army gradually adopted handguns called medfaa, coming from Hungary from the 1440s onwards, and introduced them into the Red Sea in response to the Portuguese (Figure 2.7). 5

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 2.6. Later engraving of a musketeer from about 1630 wearing the bandolier with wooden cylinders covered with leather to hold the powder charges. A bandolier had 12 cylinders called “apostles” and the bandolier “the twelve apostles”. The accouterments hanging from the bandolier included a primer flask, a leather bag with the shots, pieces of match, a cruet of tin with olive oil to lubricate the firing mechanism, oily rags, a needle to clean the vent hole, and a flint. He also had to carry a pipe to hide the lit match in the night, a scraper to be screwed to the musket’s rod to clean the barrel after firing, a fork for the support of the musket, the musket that weighted 7-8 kg, and a sword (Deutsche Fotothek Kriegskunde & Militär Waffe & Drill & Kavallerie & Muskete).

Figure 2.7. Illustration of an Arab gun medfaa from a manuscript by Schems Eddin Mohammed dated to 878 AH (1473-74 AD) copying an earlier manuscript (Manuscript N. C686, Cabinet of Manuscript, Institute of People of Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg) (Lindsay 1966: 157). 6

Matchlock Guns

The navy they equipped to counter the Portuguese forces carried, among other supplies, 300 firearms (Elgood 1995: 37). In 1516 and 1517, they defeated the Mamluks thanks to the use of firearms, thus ruling the Red Sea coasts and Yemen. In Yemen, matchlocks called bunduk or abu fitila (the gun with the match) appeared in 1515.13 In the Arabian Gulf, firearms were brought by the Portuguese, then allied with the Persian Safavids against the Ottomans. Portuguese matchlock-men played a relevant role in the conquest of the Portuguese Empire and the keeping of the strongholds. As happened in the conquest of the Aztec Empire by the Spanish led by Cortes, the psychological impact of firearms was largely greater than their actual effectiveness. The deafening noise and the acrid smoke of the new dire weapon spread terror even before death among the opponents. Furthermore, the wounds were often fatal because, even if they did not involve any vital part of the body, they would become infected and lead to death from gangrene. This allowed for a rather small number of men to take control of the trade links with India and the Far East. However, Portugal was then a small kingdom with not enough population to constantly supply their Empire with fresh forces, and the Portuguese soon experienced a lack of men to garrison their possessions. It seems that no more than 2,000 men per year left Europe for the East, and only half of them reached their destination in condition to fight. Therefore, they had to enroll mercenaries from all over Europe, and often also recruited Arabs, Indians, and Persians who consequently learned the skills to use firearms. Improved versions of the musket were then transported to India in 1526. In the Far East, matchlocks were introduced by the Portuguese that had established a production center in the armory of Goa in India. Unlike for cannons, there is no trace of these early Portuguese weapons in the region. Ottoman matchlock guns (tufenk) have also disappeared. However, matchlock guns had begun to spread since the 16th century in Asia, assuming different shapes (mainly for the butt) and names, yet ultimately maintaining the same mechanical structure, from Anatolia to Japan (Figure 2.8).

Figure 2.8. Asian matchlock guns of Japanese type: 1, 2) Japan; 3) Malay (chased brass); 4) Tonkin (brass engraved and decorated with enamel); 5) Khamti, Assam (plain iron); Asian matchlock guns of Indian type: 6) Central India (with a removable clip hung to a string instead of the usual removable pan cover); 7) Hyderabad; 8) Sindh; 9, 10) China. (Not to scale) (Stone 1961: 442, fig. 563). 7

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 2.9. Omani matchlock gun (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 2.10. The essential mechanic of the matchlock gun made it reliable and simple to repair (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 2.11. Pierced trigger (photograph by V. Clarizia, Oman National Museum). 8

Matchlock Guns

Figure 2.13. The skin covering the stock (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 2.12. Rolled match holding the pipes. Notice the skin covering the stock near the pan (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Omani Matchlock Guns In Oman, and Arabia as well, matchlock guns slowly came into use, and lances, bows and swords remained the main weapons until the 18th century. Still, in 19th century, Bedouins were often armed with lances and swords only. Matchlocks were expensive, and passed from generation to generation as a sort of family heritage surviving longer than in Europe, only replaced by breech-loading Martini Henry and still in use well into the 20th century. The permanence of matchlocks for four centuries, while other types of locks succeeded in Europe (i.e., wheel-lock, flint-lock, and percussion), is due to some causes that were common to other areas. Surely, its intrinsic simplicity was an important factor of reliability. Flint-lock mechanisms were regarded with suspicion, and sometimes flintlocks were converted to matchlocks because they were less likely to misfire (Elgood 1994: 40). Another reason, also frequent in India, was the lack of flints in the region.14 The Omani matchlock guns are characterized by a typical crooked stock with an expanded butt (Figures 2.9 and 2.10), and long barrels with finely profiled pan and rear sight. The barrel is often fluted, with a swollen muzzle and deep silver or brass inlays. The length of these guns in general ranges between 140 and 170 centimeters, and the calibers between 12 and 16 millimeters. The brass trigger is profiled and pierced (Figure 2.11). The match cord is rolled up the stock, holding the brass match extinguisher and a perforated pipe to hold the lighted match (Figure 2.12). A goat or skin was often rolled around the stock near the match to avoid burning the wood. According to other sources, the leather cover had the function to reinforce the stock at the point where it is thinner. Likewise, the skin attained both the results (Figure 2.13). The stocks are made of Indian rosewood or, if Omani made, of Acacia arabica (goff) or Acacia vera (sumr). Some have butt plates of the same wood mounted perpendicularly to the stock to avoid cracks (Figure 2.14).

Figure 2.14. Rosewood buttstock (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). 9

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 2.15. Skin pads to reduce the recoiling effect. In some regions, wolf skin was used for talismanic purpose (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). The match, up at 2.5 meters in length, was usually made of plaited palm or bruised bark, sometimes woven with a strip of cotton cloth (Elgood 1994: 46). Also, twisted silk fibers from the fruit of the “Apple of Sodom” (Calotropis procera) could be used for matches. Originally, the black powder was not to generate high pressures in the long barrels, and this could explain slender stocks as compared to the European stocks of arquebuses. In any case, coarse gunpowder and excessive charges often rendered the use of matchlocks extremely uncomfortable, as witnessed by many travelers. When firing a heavy bore matchlock, Wyman Bury experienced “a kick like a transport mule, knocking me backwards and making my nose bleed” (Bury 1911: 299, quoted in Elgood 1994: 46). To reduce the effect of the recoil, sometimes a half-ball of leather was placed at the end of the butt (Figure 2.15).

Figure 2.16. Indian matchlocks (Stone 1961: plate IV).

10

Matchlock Guns

Figure 2.17. Early 18th century barrels of Omani matchlocks (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). The origin of these weapons is unknown, and Omani matchlocks have no corresponding in other parts of the world. This could suggest that they originated in Oman, probably assembling Indian barrels. The stock is inspired to those of India, resembling the Afghan gun Jezail (Figure 2.16). Elgood defines the crooked stock as “Tanjore” (Elgood 1994: 46), and almost all authors refer to the barrels as of Indian or Persian manufacture. Furthermore, the lock is very likely of Indian origin, and matchlocks with similar shaped stocks are described by Lord Egerton of Tatton as from “Bundelcund” (Bundelkhand) or “Indore” (Egerton 2002: 118 160). In 1835, Wellstead reported that in Muscat there was a Persian population from Bandar Abbas, Lar, and Menon that manufactured swords and matchlocks, for which there was a great demand in interior Oman (Wellstead 1838: I, 17). He also described the weapons of the Omani men as follows: “Their arms consist of a matchlock of the same description as those usually found throughout the East; the barrel of great length, and ornamented with inlaid gold and silver. Their sword is straight, double-edged, thin blade, about three feet in length, having a long handle, without any guard. The jambir, or dagger, is usually about ten inches in length, and the aft, with those who can afford it, richly ornamented with gold. Their shield measures about fourteen inches in diameter, and is usually attached by a leathern thong to the sword. The best kind, made from the skin of the hippopotamus, are brought from Abyssinia. Those who accompany the Sheikh on horseback carry with them a lance about fifteen feet in length, ornamented near the end with a tuft of feathers” (Wellstead 1838: I, 348-349). 11

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 2.18. Late 18th century Indian barrel with gold koftgari inlays of geometric foliage (top); 19th century Indian barrel with gold koftgari inlays of floral pattern (middle); 19th century Indian barrel with silver geometric koftgari inlays (bottom) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

12

Matchlock Guns

Figure 2.19. Religious inscriptions on the barrel of a matchlock gun: “I opened you a manifest victory” (top); “In the name of Allah the Merciful” (center); “When Allah’s victory and conquest come” (bottom) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

13

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 2.20. Manufacturer’s marks. The second from left still retains the gold sheet on the marks. Similar marked barrels can be found on Indian 18th century matchlocks toradar (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

German traveler Engelbert Kaempfer, who visited Muscat in 1688, offers a similar description of the weapons carried by the men of Muscat: “Their swords, very long and only seldom bent, is carried negligently over the shoulder or on the back. Often they put on their side a kandjar. All weapons are old-fashioned. Their muskets are long, like those of the Persians. If I remember right, they carry them in the belt above their coats” (Weisgerber 1979: 99). Regarding the barrels, the older ones probably date back to the late 17th-18th century. They have three stages with longitudinal deep fluting and swollen muzzle and are clearly derived from European arquebus barrels (Figure 2.17). In the 19th century matchlocks were still made with Indian barrels, often inlayed with silver or gold patterns (Figures 2.18). This technique, called koftgari, was popular in Iran and India from the 17th to the 19th century. The silver or gold wires are hammered in the etched pattern, heated, hammered again, after which the steel surface is polished with a stone. Sometimes the barrels are inlayed with religious inscriptions (Figure 2.19).

Figure 2.21. Fine 18th century barrel of an Omani matchlock (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). 14

Matchlock Guns

Figure 2.22. Examples of 18th century Italian barrels (di Carpegna 1997: plate I).

The maker’s marks that can be seen on older barrels are similar in shape to those marks which can be observed on barrels made in the Iberian Peninsula and Italy (Figure 2.20). Since the 16th century barrels from Brescia had been exported in large quantity in the East,15 and the firearms el-Lazzary, which were considered as the best ones, were in fact named after “Lazzarino Cominazzi” of the Brescian gunsmith family of Cominazzo (Figures 2.21 and 2.22). The muzzle can be fluted swollen, or lotus shaped (Figure 2.23). From a general point of view, there is a noticeable difference between the elegance of the barrels and the crudity of the stocks. This can be explained with the continuous use of these barrels for generations, restocking them when needed (Figure 2.24).

Figure 2.23. Fluted muzzle (left); lotus shaped muzzle (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, Oman National Museum).

Figure 2.24. Heavily used matchlocks (photographs by V. Clarizia, Oman National Museum). 15

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 2.25. Daguerreotype from “Omani Arabs of the Beni-m’hhacen tribe” showing an irregular soldier of the Sultan of Zanzibar. The warrior wears all typical Omani arms: the matchlock abu fitila, the sword saif, the dagger khanjar, and the shield terrs (Guillain 1857: pl. 10).

These barrels were highly esteemed not only for their beauty but, above all, for their excellence. In fact, the same methods of manufacture of high-quality sword blades used in India and Persia were transferred, with some modification, to the manufacture of gun barrels. Sindhi matchlock barrels were considered of superior quality (Egerton 2002: 136) and the older barrels could be likely of Sindhi origin. Sindh was once included in Afghanistan and is now in Pakistan.16 Sindh faces Oman on the other side of the Arabian Sea and is near the Makran coast and the enclave of Gwadar, part of the Sultanate of Oman from 1783 to 1958. It is then plausible that these matchlocks were introduced in Oman by Baluchi, that assembled local made parts with Sindhi barrels. Palgrave confirmed this hypothesis, when claiming that “of firearms I saw comparatively few in Oman except when carried by Belooches, Hurras or the like” (Palgrave 1865-1866: II, 375). The Baluchi served as mercenaries in Oman and played an important role in the army until recent years.17 The Baluchi from the coastal region of Makran were pushed from the extreme misery of their country towards Persia and the coasts of Arabia. They volunteered as soldiers, sailors, and bodyguards. In 1775, Imam Ahmad “was accustomed to import Jadgãl and other mercenaries from Makran” (Lorimer 1970: I, 417) (Figures 2.25 and 2.26).

16

Matchlock Guns

Figure 2.26. Baluchis in Oman (from www.pinterest.com).

When the barrel exploded because of its age or an exceeding charge, it would not be discarded, but often reused cutting the broken part and soldering to it another piece of barrel (Figure 2.27). The shortened barrels, called wasla, were (and still are) used as house alarm or for fireworks (Figure 2.28). Indo-Arab Matchlocks Another type of matchlock gun that can be found in coastal Oman is the so-called Indo-Arab matchlock. These guns, associated with Southern Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the adjacent areas of the Indian subcontinent, have the aspect of the Indian toradar with the distinctive feature of an enlarged buttpad of gazelle skin or wood (Figure 2.29). These guns often have a suspension ring on the left as they were used from horseback or camelback. The breech part of the stock is covered with iron or brass sheets, incised and decorated with brass or silver discs and rosettes (Figure 2.30). They were probably made in India and then exported in the Arabia peninsula, using long barrels imported from Italy, the Balkans, or made in India.

17

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 2.27. This matchlock has the original Indian old barrel soldered to a 19th century European barrel (photographs by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum). 18

Matchlock Guns

Figure 2.28. Shortened barrel wasla (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 2.29. Indo-Arab matchlock gun (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Adam Museum Muscat).

The origin of these matchlocks descends from the many connections and trades between Arabia and Southern India, namely Malabar. These trade routes existed since 2000 BC, and over the centuries groups of Arabs arrived with their trading dhows and settled in Malabar. Furthermore, many Arabs, particularly from Hadramawt, served as mercenary in the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad (Elgood 1995: 185). The Arabs came with their weapons that influenced the local matchlocks, thus leading to a hybrid design then taken back to Arabia, where they appear in all the littoral regions.18 Accessories of the Matchlock Marksmanship was highly considered among the Arabs, and even if home-made gunpowder and balls made accuracy difficult to achieve, the long-barreled guns enabled to shot light bullets at long range with precision, up to about 200 meters. As Burkhardt wrote, “A European would think it almost impossible to take sure aim with an instrument so rude as the Arab matchlock, which is often not worth more than one dollar. Yet by means of such guns, loaded with balls, I have seen crows, and even partridges killed” (Burckhardt 1831: 134).

Figure 2.30. Suspension rings on the left side of the stock (left) and stock covered with a decorated brass sheet (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection). 19

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 2.31. Bullet moulds kellab. The ones shown on the bottom and right cast twelve lead rounds but there were also moulds that cast up to twenty rounds at one time (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Even though matchlocks became obsolete after the introduction of breech loading guns, they were still in use in the early 20th century for hunting and as boy guns. For hunting, they were cheaper to fire than the breech loading guns thanks to their home-made ammunition that cost a fraction of the expensive brass cased cartridges of the Martini Henry. Furthermore, the small caliber balls were less devastating on small games than the powerful .577 bullet of the Martini Henry. The lead balls (rasasah) were cast in ball mould pliers called kellab or kalib (Figure 2.31). The molten lead was poured inside the closed mould through a small hole. After cooling, the bullets were filed into a perfect sphere to avoid diversion in the flight of the bullet. Sometimes stone bullets could also be used when necessary (Figure 2.32). The powder used was of two different grades. The ordinary one in coarse grains was used for the charge, whereas a much finer powder was used as a primer in the pan. Consequently, two types of powder flasks were in use. A bigger one, called qura, was made of wood with a long brass nozzle and a chained cap. Its shape derives from the European leather (cuir bouilli) powder flask of the 16th century. The wooden Omani version faithfully reproduces the welts of the stitching on the joints of the leather as well as the incised decoration of the original flasks (Figure 2.33). A brass powder measure was also carried with the flask, usually chained to it or suspended to the belt (Figure 2.34). Figure 2.32. Stone and lead projectiles (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

20

Matchlock Guns

Figure 2.33. Omani powder flasks qura with silver and brass cap (V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum). The powder was spilled in the measure and then put into the barrel. Then the bullet was rammed firmly into the barrel as no patches or wads were used. A smaller flask, called talahiq, was used for priming.19 It is made with a goat horn covered with silver mounts often decorated with filigree, chasing and embossing. Sometimes the flask is entirely made of silver (Figure 2.35). On one side there is a long spring to which the suspension ring is attached.

Figure 2.34. Powder measures (V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait AlZubair Museum).

Figure 2.35. Silver primer flask covered with fine silverworks (V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum). 21

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 2.36. Daguerreotype from “Omani Arabs of the Benim’hhacen tribe” showing irregular soldiers of the Sultan of Zanzibar. The one on the left shows that the talahiq was carried hang around the neck (Guillain 1857: plate 10). The talahiq was carried strapped to a short bandolier worn around the neck and hanging over the chest (Figure 2.36). The bandolier was in general decorated with silver threads. The function of the spring on the talahiq was to spark up and light the match using iron flints, called mudharba, that were carried suspended to the belt, together with the powder measure (Figure 2.37). Powder flasks, leather pouches for the lead balls, flint and measure were usually carried attached to a leather belt (mahzam) which could also hold the dagger khanjar (Figure 2.38).

Figure 2.37. Iron flints (V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

Figure 2.38. Powder flask, leather pouches for the lead balls, flint, and measure attached to a leather belt (mahzam) (V. Clarizia, Oman National Museum).

22

Figure 2.39. Leather cartridge holder of a type common from North Africa to the Middle East. The patrons are made from bone (V. Clarizia, private collection).

Matchlock Guns

Figure 2.40. Cartridge belt with pouches to hold wooden decorated patrons each containing the charge for one shot (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

Figure 2.41. Modern cartridges made with plastic tubes to fire the matchlock barrels (wasla) (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 2.42. Brass match pipe and match extinguisher (mutfa) tied to the buttstock (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

The charge of powder was usually contained in tubes, called patrons, to quicker the load of the matchlock. These boxes could be made of paper, wood, leather, tin, or bone (Figures 2.39 and 2.40). Modern cartridges made with plastic tubes to fire the matchlock barrels (wasla) are still used as signals and salute fires in some places of Oman (Figure 2.41). A brass match pipe and match extinguisher, called mutfa, was carried tied to the buttstock (Figure 2.42). The closed pipe was used to stub out the fuse and the drilled one to hold the match and keep it alight.

23

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Plate 2.1. Matchlock Gun

(Length 143 cm, Caliber 12.5 mm). An early 18th century barrel of Indian origin (Sindh) assembled with an Omani made stock. The barrel with spirals is tapered at the flaring muzzle. Silver inlays on the barrel. Brass sheet and barrel bands. Smith`s marks on the barrel. Old match, wooden stock and leather sling. National Museum, Muscat.

24

Matchlock Guns

Plate 2.2. Matchlock Gun

An interesting example of the use of an old 18th century barrel until 19th – early 20th century. A matchlock with a good chiseled and rifled barrel with flaring muzzle. Silver embossed sheet and barrel bands. Smith`s mark. Retaining its old match. To be noted the way of fixing the barrel to the stock with silver bands and wires. The trigger is pierced and leather covers the stock near the pan. (Length 160 cm, Caliber 12.3 mm). Despite its rough appearance and the coarse slow burning gunpowder, the long barrel could give a good velocity to the lead ball weighting a little more than 11 grams, allowing an unsuspected good precision. National Museum, Muscat.

25

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Plate 2.3. Matchlock Gun

(Length 148 cm, Caliber 12.8 mm). Matchlock with an old engraved barrel with smith`s marks. Brass sheet. Wooden stock of Acacia walnut. The rolled match holding the match extinguisher. The ramrod head is made with a brass case of a .303 British cartridge, made in 1915 by Kings Norton Metal Co. Ltd. of Birmingham (UK). This make it obvious that the gun was used still in the 20th century. The thickness of the barrel can be esteemed from the muzzle’s photograph. Persian barrels were strong and thick all along till the muzzle in order to carry the shot further and straighter. National Museum, Muscat.

26

Matchlock Guns

Plate 2.4. Matchlock Gun

(Length 149 cm, Caliber 13 mm). Gun with a two-stage octagonal and round barrel with silver and gold koftgari inlays of geometric patterns. Embossed silver and brass barrel bands and silver sheet under the barrel. Complete with the match holder, the match extinguisher and the vent hole cleaning pin. The fabric sling is decorated with silver embossed sheets and one-quart rupee coin dated 1940. A matchlock with a very similar barrel was presented to King George V in 1911 by the Abdali Sultan of Lahej, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, R.L. 301 Reserve Collection (Elgood 1994: 43). National Museum, Muscat.

27

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Plate 2.5. Matchlock Gun

(Length 175 cm, Caliber 14 mm). Long octagonal rounded barrel with silver inlays of Holy Quran phrases from the Basmala, the first verse of 113 chapters of the Holy Quran, and two other verses: chapter alFath 48:1 (the Victory, Conquest) and chapter al-Nasr 110:1 (the Help). Verily We have granted thee (O Muhammad), a manifest victory In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful When Allah’s victory and conquest come

ً‫إنا فتحنا لك فتحاً مبينا‬ ‫بسم اهلل الرحمن الرحيم‬ ‫إذا جاء نصر اهلل والفتح‬

Silver and brass bands and silver wires. Match pipes and rosewood stock. The brass trigger nicely pierced. National Museum, Muscat.

28

Matchlock Guns

Plate 2.6. Matchlock Gun

(Length 143 cm, Caliber 12.5 mm). Long round barrel with shaped muzzle. The rosewood stock is decorated with red and white inlays of coral and bone. The serpentine and the trigger are missed. This type of decoration is not common in Oman and the gun was likely assembled in Zanzibar using an Indian barrel. Elgood, quoting Lady Anne Blunt, reports that the wing bones of black buzzards, looking like ivory, were used for inlaying the stock of guns (Elgood 1994: 44). The exact attribution to such weapons is complicated because firearms were frequently assembled with components made in different places at different times, re-using worth parts like barrels and decorating them elsewhere. National Museum, Muscat.

29

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Plate 2.7. Matchlock Gun

(Length 164.5 cm, Caliber 18 mm). Matchlock with a two-stage octagonal barrel and fluted muzzle. An original example of a 18th – early 19th century Indian barrel with koftgari inlays. The barrel all inlayed with silver and gold decoration of floral patterns. Rosewood stock and barrel bands. National Museum, Muscat.

30

Matchlock Guns

Plate 2.8. Matchlock Gun

(Total length 154 cm, Barrel length 127 cm, Caliber 15 mm). An Indo Arab matchlock with a long two stages octagonal and round 18th century Italian barrel. The breech with an embossed cameo head and incised foliage scrolls. On the barrel the maker’s name “M FRANCIN”. The muzzle is also incised with scrolls.20 The name M. FRANCIN refers to the well renowned dynasty of Francini or Franzini active between the 16th and 19th century in Gardone and Brescia. The letter M is likely the initial of Maffeo (1730-1789) (Barbiroli 2012: 710). These type of barrels called alla greca (Eng. “Greek style”) were exported in great quantities from Brescia to Greece and Balkans. They had the typical muzzle “bocca trombina” and a quite small caliber in order to be allowed for export, because for the larger caliber barrels, classified as war barrels, the export to the East was forbidden (Gaibi 1968: 4-9). On the bottom right, near the saddle ring, is clearly visible the sign left by the impact of a bullet. The big pad of skin at the end of the butt had the function to reduce the effect of the recoil on the shoulder. Private collection.

31

Chapter 3

Flintlock and Percussion Guns

The evolution of the firing mechanisms developed by European firearms technology had little impact in Oman as well as in all the Arabian Peninsula, although in the Islamic world flintlock firearms were well established in the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and the Balkans, which were also important centers of firearm production. In Arabia, matchlocks were directly replaced by breech loaded rifles. The reason is likely connected with the more complex mechanism of the wheel lock and flintlock compared to the simple and reliable matchlock. Another important reason is the high esteem that the Arabs have always demonstrated for their long-barreled guns that, from a practical point of view, were not inferior to the flintlock guns, as the main fault of the match, that of being useless when raining, was irrelevant in the Arabian climate. Flintlock Guns In its first version, the snaphaunce, the flintlock mechanism probably appeared in Holland between 1540 and 1550. Ten or twenty years later an early type of flintlock, the miquelet lock, was invented and developed in Spain, to then spread all over the Mediterranean coasts, from Spain and Portugal to Italy, North Africa and Türkiye. The last development, called the true flintlock or the French lock, was invented around 1610, and lasted for about 200 years without considerable variations (Figure 3.1). In Europe, the transition to flintlocks in military use occurred towards the end of the 17th century. The Ottomans then followed some years later, yet preferring the miquelet version. The flintlock is composed by a hammer with jaws at the end to which a piece of wedge shaped flint can be secured.21 When the trigger is pulled, the flint strikes the steel facing it and releases sparks that light the priming powder that is in the pan. The flame comes into contact with the main charge of gunpowder in the barrel through a small hole in the pan, and the weapon fires. The advantages of this firing mechanism over the matchlock is that there is no need to carry a lit match to fire, so it is much safer to use, especially in confined spaces and near gunpowder reserves. It is also more reliable in rainy weather.

Hammer

Flint Frizzen

Frizzen spring Figure 3.1. Miquelet lock developed in Spain with a large diffusion in South Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. As proved by this lock made in South Italy in 1849 (left), it was still in use well after the invention of the French-type flintlock and the percussion lock. A true flintlock (right) invented in France in the early 17th century as the last form of flintlock (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection). 32

Flintlock and Percussion Guns

Figure 3.2. North African flintlock gun Moukahla (top) and the detail of its lock (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection). Nevertheless, the flintlock does not resolve the problem of the delay from the moment the flame lights the primer to when the gun actually fires (common to the matchlock), because the firing pan is still outside the barrel, and in order to reach the main charge the flame has to travel through the hole in the barrel. In the Ottoman Empire flintlock weapons were widely made in North Africa, the Balkans, and Greece (Figure 3.2). Some examples of flintlock guns reached the Arabian Peninsula through the Red Sea, carried by the troops of garrisons sent by the Turks in Arabia and Yemen. Of these, very few have survived because the tribesmen preferred to change them into matchlocks (Elgood 1994: 40). Other types of flintlock guns that can be found in Oman come instead from India and Afghanistan (Figure 3.3). Percussion Guns The percussion lock was the successor of the flintlock, and rather than using a piece of flint to strike a steel frizzen, it employed a percussion cap struck by the hammer to set off the main charge. The percussion cap works according to the properties of a shock-sensitive explosive material, the fulminate of mercury, discovered in 1798-1799.

Figure 3.3. Sindhi-Afghan gun Jezail (photographs by V. Clarizia, top private collection; bottom courtesy Bait Adam Museum, Muscat). 33

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

The first percussion system was developed Nipple cone by Scottish clergyman Alexander John Forsyth Barrel Hammer in 1807 to solve the problem of birds that would startle when smoke puffed from the powder pan of his flintlock gun, giving them sufficient warning to escape the shot. The mechanism consists of a hammer and a small tube (called nipple) located on top of the barrel, which holds a small percussion cap made of copper or brass, filled with fulminate Lock plate of mercury. When the trigger releases the hammer, it strikes the cap, causing the fulminate of mercury Figure 3.4. Percussion lock (photograph by V. Clarizia, to explode and ignite the main powder charge private collection). through the tube in the nipple (Figure 3.4). The percussion lock (or caplock) offered many improvements over the flintlock. The caplock was easier to load, more resistant to adverse weather conditions, and was much more reliable than the flintlock. Even if many makers soon started to improve this invention, it took some years for it to be used in military firearms. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, there were large stocks of flintlock guns in the European arsenals, and the governments could not afford to modernize their small ordnance. England, for example, had two million flintlocks left over from the war, plus three million flintlock replacement actions and one million replacement barrels (Lindsay 1967: 110). Since the conversion of flintlock weapons into percussion locks was rather simple, many flintlock guns started to be converted into caplocks. The French Army started to issue percussion guns in 1829, Sweden and the United States in 1833, Prussia in 1839. Among the many advantages of the percussion over the flintlock, the most relevant was its reliability. The British tested it in 1834 in a trial at the Woolwich Arsenal, firing six thousand rounds from six guns of each type of lock. The misfires for flintlocks were about a thousand, while the percussion guns misfired 36 times only (Lindsay 1967: 110).

Figure 3.5. 12-gauge double-barrel side-by-side gun. The buttstock is decorated with a deer head in bas-relief (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). 34

Flintlock and Percussion Guns

Figure 3.6. 16-gauge double-barrel side-by-side gun decorated with silver bands (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). Other historians report one misfire every seven shots for the flintlock against one every two hundred for the percussion (Dupuy 1980: 191). Despite these results, it took fourteen more years for the British army to issue the first actual percussion guns in 1848, thanks to a fire in the Grand Storehouse of the Tower of London in 1841 that destroyed a large amount of stored flintlock guns. Incidentally, percussion caps are still commonly used, embedded in the head of centerfire cartridges where they perform the same function. Percussion guns had little success in Oman and Arabia, probably because they were all made in European or American factories, thus being much more expensive than the Indian-made matchlock guns. Furthermore, the caps had to be imported in a region that lacked the technology needed to make them. For this reason, percussion guns were confined to hunting and recreational features that relegated them to the reputation of weapons for rather elitist users. This is well attested by the few guns in the Omani museums and collections. They are mostly double barrel side-by-side guns of English or Belgian origin, with a 16 or 12 gauge bore.22 The stocks are often carved with animal heads, and sometimes have a brass caps holder (Figure 3.5). The more refined guns have the lock plates engraved with floral designs and are locally decorated with silver bands and wires (Figure 3.6). The single barrel percussion guns are scarce and less refined. In some cases, military British locks of the Enfield 1853 type are used on long barreled hunting guns. The few military percussion guns are mostly Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle muskets (Figure 3.7).

Figure 3.7. Pakistan-made gun with an Enfield 1853 type lock (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). 35

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Plate 3.1. Percussion Side-by-Side Gun

(Lenght 116 cm, Caliber 15 mm). A Belgian double barrel gun. Damascus barrels. Silver wires and embossed silver bands in the Omani fashion. The walnut stock is sculpted on the bottom and has a caps holder with a brass shell shaped cover. On the lock plates are stamped the maker’s name “J. Ancion” and the maker’s logo: a crown over the letters JAC. The logo refers to the Belgian firm Jacques Ancion & Co. of Liege. In 1866, the firm merged with the Ancion & Co., founded by Jules Ancion in 1849 (from www.littlegun.be). National Museum, Muscat.

36

Flintlock and Percussion Guns

Plate 3.2. Percussion Gun

(Lenght 132.5 cm, Caliber 14.5 mm). Single barrel percussion gun made in Belgium. Two stages barrel with the Liege proof mark. Sculpted butt with a brass caps holder shaped like a shell. In the Principality of Liege in Belgium firearms appeared early (about 1350) and for many centuries the Liege region was relevant for the manufacture of small arms. During the “Golden Age”, between 1814 and 1914, the production increased to its maximum with hundreds of companies in activity and the weapons were exported all over the world thanks to the variety of the products and their moderate price. ELG (Epreuve de Liege) present on the barrel was the Liege proof mark used from 1853 to 1893. National Museum, Muscat.

37

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Plate 3.3. Percussion Jezail

(Length 130 cm, Caliber 15 mm). A Sindh percussion Jezail with the typical curved stock decorated with mother of pearl inlays. The lock is from a British Brown Bess flintlock gun converted to percussion. The plate is dated 1815 and the replacement hammer is very crudely made. Brown Bess is the nickname for the British Army’s Land Pattern Musket and its derivatives. The musket was the standard long guns of the British Empire’s land forces from 1722. From 1839, they were converted to percussion. Madha Museum.

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Chapter 4

Introduction of Modern Rifles in Arabia

Breech Loading Rifles In the middle of the 19th century, the black powder muzzle loading muskets were still inaccurate and slow firing, having an effective combat range of not more than 150 meters. The low muzzle velocity gave a markedly parabolic trajectory to the rounded balls, and to hit a target at 200 meters the musket had to be aimed 170 centimeters above it (Pope 1969: 168). Rifling the barrel improved the accuracy by giving greater stability in flight to the spinning bullet but increased the charging time because the ball had to be forced into the grooves of the barrel often using a mallet. The first step to resolve the problem was the adoption of cylindric-conoidal bullets for rifled muzzleloaders (Figure 4.1). The French Minié bullet was adopted in 1851, while the British adopted the Pritchett bullet in the Enfield Pattern 1853. The new bullets had greater stability and less air resistance thanks to their shape. They were also smaller in caliber and lighter than the previous ones. To ease their introduction in the barrel they were slightly sub-calibrated, and the rear expanded when fired, wedging it into the grooves of the barrel. The increased range “was that with the rifled musket every infantryman had a weapon with the same effective range as the largest and most powerful cannon – in other words to the limit of effective vision, or the crest of the next hill or ridge” (Dupuy 1980: 191). Almost simultaneously, in 1860, the black powder was compressed into high-density pellets to slower the rate of combustion. The progressive combustion built a constant pressure of the expanding gas during all the bullet’s run through the barrel, giving a higher muzzle velocity with lower breech pressure. In the meantime, the percussion cap, powder, and bullet were combined into a cartridge opening the way to the breech loaders (Figure 4.2).

Figure 4.1. Minié and other conical bullets (vicksburgstreasures. blogspot.com).

Figure 4.2. Paper cartridges used in the American Civil War, 1861-1865 (www.mcpheetersantiquemilitaria.com). 39

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 4.3. Dreyse needle rifle (courtesy Swedish Armémuseum). The first breech loaded rifle was the Prussian Dreyse needle rifle adopted in 1841 and introduced into service in Prussia in 1848 (Figures 4.3 and 4.4). It used a paper cartridge and had a needlelike firing pin with a bolt action. Its main defect, in addition to the paper cartridge, was that the percussion cap was positioned in front of the charge, just behind the bullet. The needle had to Figure 4.4. Dreyse needle firing pin (www.infobarrel.eu). pass through the charge to hit the primer, and the heat of the combustion, after several firings, crystallized the firing pin that often broke. The needle rifle was extensively used in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, where it allowed Prussian soldiers to fire five (or more) shots, even while lying on the ground, while their Austrian muzzle-loading counterparts would be busy reloading while standing. The use in the field of the Dreyse needle rifle caused a revolution in the European armies and accelerated the development of the breech loading rifles in all industrialized countries. In 1866, the French introduced the Chassepot rifle that proved superior in virtually all respects compared to the needle rifle, though it still featured a paper cartridge (Figures 4.5 and 4.6).

Figure 4.5. Chassepot rifle in a 19th century Italian magazine. 40

Figure 4.6. Chassepot rifle cartridges (guns.wikia.com).

Introduction of Modern Rifles in Arabia

Figure 4.7. Enfield Pattern 1853 muzzleloader (left) and its Snider breechloader conversion (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

With the unification of Germany, the Dreyse needle gun was replaced by the Mauser Mod. 1871 rifle that had a metallic cartridge. By the late 1870s, the major armies in Europe were all armed with breech-loaders using metallic cartridges (Beachey 1962: 452). In England, the Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle was converted to a breech loader using Jacob Snider’s breech mechanism, while a specifically designed breech loading rifle was being developed. The Snider was a simple conversion: a Pattern 1853 rifle with a retrofitted hinged breech to take a .577” center fire cartridge. The hammer drove an integral central rod and firing pin contained in the Snider block, which in turn exploded the primer. To clear the spent round, the block slid back, and a claw pulled the cartridge case by engaging on the rim of the case (Figure 4.7). The next step was the introduction of magazine-fed breech loaders using metallic cartridges that could fire at a higher speed than single round rifles. A significant increase in fire speed (20-30 rounds per minute) was made possible by lever action rifles such as the Spencer 1863 and the Winchester 1866, while the single round Martini Henry could fire over 12 rounds a minute: an authentic revolution in the infantry warfare compared to muzzle-loading rifles. On the other hand, this resulted in a high consumption of ammunitions and, because the cartridges were still loaded with black powder, in a great quantity of smoke.23 The French invention of smokeless powder in 1884 soon rendered the first magazine rifles, introduced into Europeans armies, obsolete. The slow, progressive combustion of smokeless powder provided much higher muzzle speed than with black powder. The drastic reduction of the calibers and cartridges maintaining an effective energy of the bullet was possible thanks to the increase in speed of the bullet. Those results did not lead to lower expenses for ammunitions, but rather to a higher fire power and lethality on the battlefields. Magazine rifles could fire up to 30 shots per minute and hit at a far longer distance. Table 4.1 shows the changes in the bullet weight, muzzle velocity and kinetic energy, comparing three models of Mauser (Fiscus 1987: 18). The introduction of modern, magazine-fed breech loaded rifles dramatically changed the military strategy. Defensive positions and trenches were strengthened by the high rate of fire and range, but high provisions of ammunitions were required. A study conducted by the US Army in the years 1964-1965 compared the lethality of different weapons based on different factors such as effective range, accuracy, rate of fire, number of potential targets per strike, relative incapacitating effect, and reliability, and resulted in the calculation of a “Theoretical Lethality Index (TLI)” expressed in casualties per hour. Table 4.2 reports the calculated TLIs for early weapons (Dupuy 1980: 92)24and shows how their killing power had changed during the “long 19th century”.25

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Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Table 4.1. Comparison of the bullet weight, muzzle velocity, and kinetic energy for three models of Mauser (Fiscus 1987: 18). Model

Cartridge

Mod. 1871 – Single round

Bullet weight

Muzzle velocity

Energy

grains

grams

f/sec

m/sec

f/lib

Joule

Black powder 11 x 60 mm

660

42.8

1,427

435

2.985

4.059

Model 1887 – 8 Rounds Black powder 9,5 x 60 tubular magazine mm

284

18.4

1,758

538

1.949

2.651

Model 1890 – 5 Rounds Smokeless 7,65 x 53 internal box magazine

154

10

2.710

826

2.512

3.416

Table 4.2. Theoretical Lethality Index (TLI) for the early weapons (Dupuy1980: 92). Weapon

Period

TLI

Cutting and thrusting weapons (sword, pike, javelin)

Middle Age

23

Longbows

Middle Age

36

Matchlock muskets

16th century

19

Flintlock guns

18th century

43

Muzzle loading rifles (Baker rifle, Jäger rifle)

Early 19th century

36

Conoidal bullet muzzle loading rifles (Enfield Pattern 1853)

Mid 19th century

102

Breech loading single shot rifles (Snider, Martini Henry)

Late 19th century

153

Smokeless powder magazine fed rifles (SMLE, Mauser)

Early 20th century

495

World War I machine guns

Early 20th century

3,463

The increased killing power required changes in tactics and combat formations, not always implemented. In 1916 the refusal of British commanders at the battle of the Somme to change their practice of massed infantry attacks against entrenched positions armed with machine guns resulted in 54,000 men being killed or wounded in less than 10 hours. Muscat and the Arms Trade During the 19th century the development of firearms and the Industrial Revolution led to the expansion of European power in Asia and Africa. In the second half of the 19th century the rapid development in the technology of small arms made large stocks of obsolete weapons discontinued by European armies available on the international market. After the introduction of smokeless powder in 1887, large stocks of breech loading rifles recently put into service in Europe became obsolete. 42

Introduction of Modern Rifles in Arabia

In about twenty years, technology passed from muzzle loading to breech loading, then to the metallic cartridge and again to smokeless powder, and every step in the innovation caused the armies to replace hundreds of thousands of weapons. In Arabia, the introduction of modern arms involved a shift from muzzle loading guns to single shot breech loading rifles. The matchlock guns were directly replaced by breech loaded rifles as personal weapons of the tribesmen. At the beginning of the 20thcentury this trend was confirmed by Wyman Bury, who stated that “It cannot be clearly stated that among the tribes of Southern Arabia the matchlock is being rapidly ousted by the breech-loading rifle of modern pattern and ever increasing efficiency [...] There have been no intermediate stages, as in most other barbaric states, where the matchlock gives place to the flint-lock, and it to the M.L. [muzzle loading] percussion musket, which is replaced by the breech loading weapon of early pattern. No, there was a direct leap from the old binduk to the carbines and rifles of Le Gras, M.H. [Martini Henry] and Snider patterns” (Bury 1911: 296). The diffusion of modern rifles began in the early 1880s, as at the time of his travels in 1876-1877 Doughty noted that the matchlocks still represented the main fire weapons (Doughty 1926: II, 21). By the beginning of the 20th century, the Martini Henry and its variants had become the most common modern rifles not only in Arabia, but in all the Middle East, Persia, and Afghanistan. Some years later, following the introduction of magazine-fed repeating rifles, the Ottomans started to arm their allied tribes in Arabia using their stocks of obsolete Snider and Peabody Martini rifles after purchasing Mausers. This increased the demand for modern arms in Arabia, Persia, and on the northwest Indian border, where local disputes or resurgent nationalism required the substitution of muzzle-loading gun with modern rifles. The result was that thousands of modern breech-loading rifles flooded into Arabia and the region around the Arabian Gulf between 1880 and World War I, and for more than two decades Muscat became the main center of firearms import in the region (Figure 4.8).

Figure 4.8. The fishmarket and harbor of Mutrah in a photograph taken by Hermann Burchardt in 1904. In 1900, Mutrah was the commercial center of Oman with 14,000 residents and its harbor was an important trading center in the Arabian Gulf (Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin). 43

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 4.9. The harbor of Muscat and the British Consulate Figure 4.10. The French Consulate in Muscat in an old in an old postcard. postcard.

The growth and maintenance of the arms trade in the region was boosted by the Anglo-French rivalry that gave treaty protection to French arms dealers (Figures 4.9 and 4.10). At the 1890 conference in Brussels, organized to control the arms trade in Africa, most European countries feared that the introduction of modern arms in Africa would make the colonial control of the continent difficult or impossible. The Brussels Conference Act of 1890 included a section designed to control the arms trade in most African countries (Lorimer 1970: I, 2558), but did not extend such control to Arabia, with the result of shifting the arms trade from Africa to the Arabian Gulf. Because the French refused to sign those articles allowing the warships of the other signatories to inspect merchant vessels in international waters, local vessels involved in the arms trade to Omani ports could avoid any real restriction only when flying the French flag. The use of the French flag to protect the arms trade was questioned by the British until World War I. Traditionally, the flag used in the Arabian Gulf by the Arab sailors of both Oman and Kuwait was the red Turkish flag, and only in the 20th century were distinct local flags put into service (Busch 1967: 272). Since the British Navy was allowed to inspect suspected Turkish ships, Arab sailors began “to conceal their operations by use of the French flag, which secured them against search by British vessels” (Phillips1971: 156157). When the French Consul in Muscat started to distribute French papers to local Arabs, British control was practically impeded, and after 1883 the arms trade began to emerge strongly. By 1891, use of the French flag was common in the Sultanate of Oman and present-day UAE. In the 1890s, the British controlled most of the Gulf littoral although the Sultanate of Oman formally maintained its independence thanks to international treaties signed by Sultan Said bin Sultan with the United States in 1833, Britain in 1839, and France in 1844. At that time, the Sultan of Muscat ruled both Oman and Zanzibar, thus controlling much of the shipping trades in the Indian Ocean region. However, at his death in 1856, both his sons Majid and Thwaini claimed for the succession. At the instance of the British and to avoid a civil war, they agreed to arbitration by the Viceroy of India Lord Canning, who in 1861 issued his award according to which the Omani Empire was divided into an African part, ruled by Zanzibar, and an Arab Persian part, ruled by Muscat. As the African part was richer than the Arab part, the award sanctioned an annual payment of 40,000 Maria Theresa thalers by the Sultan of Zanzibar to the Sultan of Muscat to compensate the loss of income by the African part. The division of the Sultanate clearly aimed at weakening its position for the advantage of 44

Introduction of Modern Rifles in Arabia

Figure 4.11. The large trading dhow (ghanjah) Fatah Al-Khair in the Maritime Museum of Sur (photograph by V. Clarizia). the British who, after 1866, took on the responsibility to pay for the compensation, thus deeply interfering with the internal affairs of Oman, despite the fact that, in 1862, the British and the French had signed a document agreeing to ensure the independence of Oman and Zanzibar. The French tried to disrupt the British influence in Oman to protect their interests. They wanted to open a coaling station near Muscat and support the arms trade through Djibouti and Muscat. In 1891, the French consul at Aden, Obock, and Zanzibar started to issue French sailing documents and flags to the Omani vessels of Sur. Later, from 1894, the French consul in Muscat too issued French papers and flags to the dhows of Sur (Figures 4.11). To obtain French papers, Suri vessel owners only had to purchase some land at Djibouti, which they reached once a year (Beachey 1962: 463). Thanks to the protection provided by the French flag, the arms trade fostered the main entrepots of Djibouti and Muscat (Figure 4.12). From there, the arms were then delivered by Arab dhows in the final ports of destination. Beachey, a professor at the University of East Africa at Makerere (Uganda), offered a description of these trade routes: “This new pattern of the arms trade, as seen by British Residents at Aden, Muscat, and Berbera, was as follows: Suri Arabs, from Sur, south of Muscat, were engaged in carrying dates from Sur, Bassorah, and other ports on the Arabian coast, to Aden and then to the North Somali ports. After discharging their dates, they would proceed to Jibouti, where the trade in arms was practically unchecked, though no doubt contrary to French orders. At Jibouti the dhow masters purchased arms with the proceeds from their sales of dates. These arms were then taken down and sold at the Benadir coast ports on the way to Zanzibar, where they usually went for a return freight for the south-west monsoon, which gave the dhows a fair wind back to Sur and the Arabian Gulf. The whole operation might entail up to a year. It was lucrative and the work was not arduous. Profits were high” (Beachey 1962: 462-463). 45

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 4.12. The port of Djibouti with sail dhows in an old postcard.

After the Third Afghan War (1878-1881), the British became more and more concerned with the arms reaching the North-West Frontier of India through Persia and Baluchistan. In 1891, guns were imported mainly at Gwadar (Makran) and Chahbar (Persia) and consisted of old American muskets shipped from Zanzibar and Muscat (Lorimer 1970: I, 2557), but the trade quickly increased and shifted to more modern arms. The role of Muscat as the centre of the trade grew rapidly because both Persia and India had prohibited the commerce, and the arms had to be smuggled to minor ports of the coast by Omani dhows. After the decline of the legal shipping trade of Oman, in the years1865-1900, due to the division of the Sultanate and the competition of European steamers, smuggling remained the main source of income for vessels based at Sur and Wudam. The main Omani port for internal trade was Al-Masnaah on the Batinah coast, from which they reached Rustaq and Nizwa by a caravan route. Sohar was often used for trading to Persia. At first, the trade ran primarily from Zanzibar to Muscat and involved the steamers of the Sultan of Zanzibar and the three principal Khoja merchants of Mutrah. More than half of the arms received were then re-exported from Muscat to Kuwait, Bahrain, and other ports in the Arabian Gulf (Lorimer 1970: I, 2558). From 1890 to 1892, 11,500 firearms were unloaded at Muscat. The arms trade in Muscat expanded quickly, providing the Sultan with large profits coming from import duties. In the years 1895-1896, 4,350 rifles and 604,000 cartridges were imported, and only one year later, in 1896-1897, 20,000 rifles and 2,777,000 cartridges reached Muscat. Phillips reports that in 1897 more than 30.000 breech loaded rifles were imported into Muscat (Phillips 1971: 156-157). The guns imported during these years were almost entirely of British origin (Snider and Martini Henry), but also included Belgian rifles made in Liege, and a small number of guns from France (Lorimer 1970: I, 2556). In 1897 and 1898, the Birmingham gun trade claimed to have supplied 30,000 weapons per year to the Gulf Region since 1880 (The Times, 18 July 1898). Still in 1910, 25,000 rifles reached Muscat from Britain (The Times, 6 July 1911). 46

Introduction of Modern Rifles in Arabia

Similar gun trades were carried at Aden and Djibouti. Profits were high, and weapons purchased in Muscat could be sold to the Afghans at ten times the price. In 1908, the Indian Chief of Staff estimated that 30,000 rifles and 3,000,000 rounds reached the North-West Frontier (Busch 1967: 278). The most popular weapon to be sold in the gun trades was the Martini Henry. About 60% of the imported arms were sold in the Persian region where the “Martini Khan” ruled. The favorite ones were the Belgian Martini Francotte rifles. Other Belgian firms produced the same rifles with the inscription “Martini Muscat” instead of “Martini Francotte”. Lorimer recounts the distribution of weapons imported at Muscat as follows: “Some were disposed of locally to tribesmen from the interior of Oman, some to visitors from other parts of the Gulf, and some to Nakhudas (captains) of coasting vessels; but the greater quantity were re-shipped to Trucial Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, or were smuggled into Persian and Turkish territory in the Gulf concealed in bales of goods and cases of Halwa or dry limes; while a few were even dispatched to minor ports in the Red Sea at which there were no customs houses” (Lorimer 1970: I, 2556).In proportion, about 55% were shipped to Persia, 5% remained in Oman, and 40% were shipped to Kuwait, Bahrain, and present-day United Arab Emirates (Lorimer 1970: I, 2566). Since 1901, French firms had started to enter the market, and French arms, carried by Omani vessels flying the French flag, raised to 40% of the total in 1905 (Lorimer 1970: I, 2566). The trade from Djibouti was very active, and dhows carried rifles to Muscat and other Arabian ports. In just four weeks in 1902, about 20,000 rifles arrived at Djibouti with five steamers: three were French, one British, and one Belgian. The dhows leaving Djibouti shipped about 80-100 rifles each, and about 100 rounds for gun (Beachey 1962: 466). During the first half of 1902, import duties on 8,732 rifles were paid at Muscat, and in the years 1904-1905 Lorimer estimates that over 20,000 rifles were imported (Lorimer 1970: I, 2566) (Figure 4.13).

Figure 4.13. John Gordon Lorimer was a British colonial administrator commissioned in 1903 to compile a handbook for British diplomats and agents operating in the Arabian Gulf region. After twelve years, he produced the Gazetteer of the Arabian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia, a 5,000 page two-volume book that was classified as “secret” and circulated only among the British officials until it was declassified in 1955 (from www.bbc.co.uk). 47

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

In 1906, 45,000 rifles passed through the port of Muscat. In 1907-1908 the Muscat arms trade that passed through Omani customs reached a peak of 43% of the total value of imports with about 80,000 rifles, and this was only the legal trade, not including the smuggled arms. Muscat had become “the greatest market for arms of precision in the Middle East” (Lorimer 1970: I, 303). Two hundred rifles a week were shipped to Makran. In these years, the Lee-Enfield that in the British Army had been just replaced by the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) were added to the Martini Henrys. The French role in the trade was vital as French flags were granted to the inhabitants of Sur. The French attempted to establish a coal depot in Bandar Jissah, south of Muscat, and to undermine British influence and extend their own (Abdullah 1978: 28). The protection they provided to the activity of the French arms dealers in Muscat was not only caused by economic interests but also to respond to a “similar British trade in Morocco which allowed the infiltration of weapons through the Algerian frontiers” (Abdullah 1978: 28). It must be noted that the British interest in the control of the arms trade was only driven by the practical reason to prevent weapons from reaching tribes that were hostile to them in the Gulf or on the North West Frontier, whereas they were actively involved in the arms trade that reached Turkish Arabia from Kuwait. Despite the high expenses for the British naval blockade, the situation of the Muscat trade was well considered by Lorimer in 1907 (Figure 5.13): “Since 1902 the arms trade has been nominally prohibited at every port, except Masqat, in the Gulfs of Persia and Oman; but smuggling and connivance at breaches of the law are so universally prevalent that arms and ammunition continue to be distributed from Masqat over the length and breadth of the Gulf region, [...] the importations at Masqat [...] are still on the same scale as before the general prohibition of the trade in 1902; but they now represent the whole, or nearly the whole, instead of part only of the trade. It has been proved, at the cost of immense expenditure of energy by British establishments, that the illegal dissemination of arms from the free port of Masqat cannot be prevented, or even appreciably hindered, by naval means; also that measures, however efficacious, taken in British Baluchistan do not and cannot influence the course of the Afghan traffic; while officers who have studied the question on the spot in Persia agree that the Government of that country are incapable of putting down the trade across Persia between Masqat and Afghanistan” (Lorimer 1970: I, 2586). Again, in 1911, “practically the whole trade was conducted by French firms, though many of the rifles and some of the ammunition were made in Germany” (Busch 1967: 275). The solution to control the export of all arms from Muscat was to establish a bonded warehouse with the Sultan Faisal’s agreement in 1911. All arms and ammunitions entering the Sultanate had to be stored in the warehouse and could only be withdrawn with a special license issued by the superintendent of the warehouse and signed by the Sultan. The reaction to the control came both from the local Sheikhs and the French government. In October 1914, the Sheikhs of the interior and the newly elected Imam of the Ibadi school of Islam, Salim bin Rashid Al-Kharusi, roused against the Sultan and attacked the fort of Bait Al-Falaj near Muscat. The British defended the Sultan with Indian Regiments and, in January 1915, a battle was fought in Muscat between the Imam’s army and the Sultan’s and British troops. The civil war lasted until 1920. The French reaction based on the treaties with the Sultan ended with the acceptance of a compensation for the French arm dealers, but above all the growing tension in Europe leading to the First World War reconciled French and British interest in the area. The new controls blocked the trade of private arms through Muscat, and about 9,000 rifles were confiscated. The naval blockade ended in August 1915. However, with the war, new and more modern weapons entered the region, supplied to their allies both by the Turks and the British.

48

Introduction of Modern Rifles in Arabia

Firms Involved in the Trade Before the arrival of European traders, there was a close relationship between Mumbai and Muscat. When the export of Arabian dates to the Unites States declined, Indian merchants in Muscat converted to the new arms trade to satisfy the demand on the Indo-Afghan frontier for arms and ammunitions. Muhammad Fadl, Ratansi Purshottam, Damodar Dharamsi and Gopalji Walji were the most prominent Khoja merchants engaged in the arms trade connected with European firms, Zanzibari intermediaries, and Afghan traders (Crews 2014: 129). Ali Musa Khan was a Baluchi arms trader active in Muscat in the last decade of the 19th century. In 1911, after the opening of the warehouse, he was banned from Muscat for five years. The British firm Joyce & Kynoch was the main arms dealer in Muscat between 1891 and 1897 (Lorimer 1970: I, 2556). Fracis, Times & Co., a Parsi and English house, opened an office at Bushire in 1887, in Bahrain in 1895, and in Muscat in 1896. Martini Henry rifles and ammunitions marked Fracis, Times & Co. were available between 1898 and 1901. Their weapons were identified by the marks “F.T.C.” and a double-headed eagle. In 1898, the steamer Baluchistan was intercepted by HMS Lapwing outside of Muscat, and the cargo of 7,856 rifles and 700,000 cartridges owned by the firm was seized. After legal challenge, the Company lost suits and was driven into bankruptcy (Figures 4.14 and 4.15). In 1899, Monsieur Goguyer arrived in Muscat and became the major French arm dealer in the Gulf using Omani dhows flying the French flag. In 1908, his firm was responsible for 60% of the French trade, i.e., 30% of the total arms trade. British authorities estimated that in 1909 Goguyer’s warehouse “held not less than 100,000 arms of many different types, including most patterns of modern magazine rifles, and certainly not less than 10,000,000 rounds of ammunitions for those arms” (Austin 1926: 13-14).

Figure 4.14. HMS gunboat Lapwing launched in 1889 (from www.history.navy.mil).

49

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Other French firms were Baijeot & Co. of Djibouti that opened an office in Muscat in 1906 (Lorimer 1970: I, 2566), and the firm of Dieu, active in Muscat, to which a compensation was paid after the establishment of the weapon warehouse in 1914 (Busch 1967: 301). The Russian firm Keverkoff & Co. of Odessa opened an office in Muscat in 1903 (Lorimer 1970: I, 2566). Also, Belgian and German activity in the trade at Muscat were recorded between 1906-1908 and 1912-1914 (Busch 1967: 394). The German firms O’Swald & Co. and Hansing & Co. were shipping arms from Zanzibar to Muscat at a rate of 1,000 rifles per month (Beachey 1962: 462).

Figure 4.15. HMS Lapwing firing the steamship Baluchistan in a sketch by the Lapwin’s surgeon Bernard Ley (The Illustrated London News, March 5, 1898).

Types of Rifle Reports from contemporary witnesses seldom give details about the type of rifles imported at Muscat. Some information about the distribution of the rifle models can be obtained by the weapons present nowadays in Oman. One of the available sources is the report of the annual conference of the International Committee for Museums of Arms and Military History (ICOMAM) at Nizwa compiled by Christopher Roads and published in the Muscat Daily in 2012. From 1996 to 2002, Roads covered most of the country in search for historic ordnance and small arms. From his exploration it emerges that the greatest concentration of Martini Henrys was in the area around Muscat, and the lowest around Salalah. “Ex-French military arms are far more frequent at Mirbat, Sadah and Taqah castles near Salalah than anywhere else in the country.” (The Muscat Daily, by M. Najmuz Zafar, October 15, 2012). These French rifles are single shot Gras like the ones captured at Aden and dated 1874 (Beachey 1962: 463). By far, the most common rifles present in the forts are the Martini Henrys. Of about 400 rifles found in forts and castles, more than 80% are Martini Henry with some Gras, Werndl, Mauser 1898, and Lee-Enfield. “Sniders are rare in the sultanate’s castles, but not in the country. All those encountered are of BSA 1875 make and believed to have been originally intended for Portuguese-occupied West Africa. A large number, perhaps exceeding 1,000 were in one of the royal armouries and today they are common on the walls of officers’ messes” (The Muscat Daily, by M. Najmuz Zafar, October 15, 2012). The only Winchester 1866 found perhaps came from Türkiye via Yemen or Arabia. Few other Winchesters 1866 located in the Military Museum in Muscat probably have the same origin. Another source are the rifles in the collection of the National Museum in Muscat. The Martini Henrys are by far the most numerous also here, followed by the British Lee-Enfield, the French Gras, and the German or Turkish Mauser.

50

Chapter 5

Martini Henry Rifles

In 1865, the British War office held a prize competition to select a proper breech loading military rifle utilizing a projectile smaller than the .577” with greater ballistic accuracy and velocity. In the same year, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the Providence Tool Company signed a contract with Henry O. Peabody for patent rights to his cartridge breechloader. Despite the success of the Peabody rifle with the US government breech loading trials, it was never ordered by the Federal Army and the company sold Peabody rifles only to foreign countries, such as Canada, Switzerland, Romania, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, and France. In Switzerland, Austro-Hungarian inventor Friederich von Martini experimented some modifications to the Swiss Peabody rifles that increased the rate of fire, keeping the basic Peabody breech block design. The Martini system was presented at the British competition, together with various well-known names in gun manufacture. However, none of the prototypes achieved the desired performance criteria, although two examples were worthy of interest: the Martini for the action, and the Henry for the rifling of the barrel. Martini had devised a block that held an enclosed striker. The action of the under lever dropped the block, cocked the mechanism, and ejected the spent round in one action (Figures 5.1 and 5.2). His selected cartridge was a .450” caliber boxer brass round, very similar in design to the American .45/70. Edinburgh gunsmith Alexander Henry presented a rifling system that consisted of a seven-groove polygonal rifling with one twist in 22” (56 cm). Barrel length was to be 33.2” (84.2 cm). The Henry rifling system was found superior in all trials, as well as more accurate and powerful. The bore was .450” caliber. Putting together the best attributes of each design led to the birth of the Martini Henry rifle. The first 200 Pattern 1871 Martini Henry rifles were manufactured by the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield for trials. The cartridge experimented by Eley had a bottle shaped boxer round. To achieve a satisfactory velocity at 400 meters per second, the chamber was designed in .577”/.450” caliber. The increased load and shorter chamber requirement of this new cartridge provided the Martini with significant accuracy and velocity. The cartridge was to contain 85 grains26 of FFg27 black powder and measured 3.15” when loaded. The bullet was a 480-grain unjacketed lead slug, measuring .450” diameter and paper patched to .458”. Between 1871 and 1874, the Martini Henry was trialled throughout the Empire ad officially adopted by the British Army on September 28th, 1874.

Figure 5.1. Longitudinal section of a Martini Henry lock Figure 5.2. Cutaway of a Martini Henry used by the Royal (Routledge 1881: 132). Irish Constabulary (www.victorianwars.com). 51

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 5.3. Martini Henry Mk I rifle (from www.bidsquare.com).

Figure 5.4. Martini Henry Mk I Cavalry Carbine (from www.allaboutenfields.co.nz).

Since then, the Martini Henry protected and served the British Empire for over 30 years. The receiver is of a solid box type, with the breech block and firing pin operated by a long lever acting as trigger guard. On the right side, shaped like a large drop, there is an indicator of armed striker. The rear sight is graduated up to 1,300 yards. The total length of the gun depends upon the length of the butt mounted on and varies between 1.245 and 1.258 millimeters. There were four main versions of the Martini Henry rifle: the Mark I, produced between 1871 and 1876 (Figure 5.3), the Mark II, produced between 1877 and 1881, the Mark III, produced between 1879 and 1888, and the Mark IV, produced between 1888 and 1889. In addition, a cavalry carbine was introduced in 1877 (Figure 5.4), as well as a garrison artillery carbine with improved models (Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III). The cavalry carbine has a length of 955 millimeters and the rear sight graduated up to 1,000 yards. The British-made Martini Henrys are marked on the receiver right side with the Royal crowned cypher VR (Queen Victoria), the production year, its manufacturer, and the model (Figure 5.5). The Martini Henry remained the main weapon of British infantry until it was replaced by the Lee Metford and its successive versions in the 1890s. The Martini Henrys were produced at Enfield and Birmingham.

Royal Cypher “Victoria Regina” Manufacturer Year of Manufacture Lock Viewer’s Mark Mark of Arm Class of Arm

52

Figure 5.5. Martini Henry marks (from www.martinihenry.com).

Martini Henry Rifles

Figure 5.6. The first type of sheet brass cartridge (left) and a later solid brass cartridge (right) (from www.bidorbuy.co.za). The original .45” caliber black powder cartridge case was made of a thin sheet of brass rolled around a mandrel, which was then soldered to an iron base. These cartridges were assembled by the orphaned children of British soldiers and were relatively cheap to produce. However, they were found to be vulnerable to being easily damaged and produced inferior muzzle velocities. Later, the rolled brass case was replaced by a solid brass version which resolved both problems (Figure 5.6). A milder load of the cartridge was used in the carbine, with a 410 grain bullet and 70 grains of black powder (instead of the 480 grain bullet and 85 grains of powder used in the infantry rifle load), because the severe recoil of the rifle load when fired in a carbine. Martini Henrys were widely produced for the civil market also by Belgian factories. The Austrian factory Steyr manufactured Martini Henrys for Bulgaria, Portugal, and Romania. In 1896 Westley Richards made an “improved version” of the Martini Henry rifle for the ZAR - the Zuid Afrikaanshe Republiek (the Transvaal or South African Republic of the Boers) under President Paul Kruger, at a time when relations between the Boers and the British were still good. The rifles used an action improved by Auguste Francotte in Liege, Belgium, that also manufactured the rifles (Figure 5.7). The Francotte action could be dropped out in one piece and there was no cocking indicator on the side of the action, but it was integrated to the falling block. Francotte made Martinis also for the Persian Empire. A variation of the Martini action coupled to the Henry barrel was the Swinburne Henry, which was similar to the Martini Henry with a much more prominent indicator lever to show that the weapon was cocked. It was used by the Natal Mounted Police (Figure 5.7). A variant known as the Gahendra Martini, externally very similar to the British Martini but with the action based upon the Peabody Westley Richards action, was produced in Nepal (Figure 5.8). In 1920, the British gun maker W.W. Greener developed the Greener Police shotgun that used a Greener improved Martini action with a safety catch for the colonial police. The guns used a patented gauge shell and were used by police and prison officers across the British Empire in Egypt, Burma, India, and Australia, with over 60,000 guns being produced until the mid-1960s.

Figure 5.7. Francotte action (from www.gunboard.com) (left); Swinburne Henry (from www.tapatalk.com) (right). 53

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Figure 5.8. Nepalese Gahendra Martini (from www.tapatalk.com). Turkish Peabody Martini Henry The Ottoman Empire was one of the leading military countries during the mid- to late 19th century, but it lacked the industrial capability in the modern arms manufacture, so the Ottomans purchased large numbers of rifled muzzle loaders from Belgium, France, and Britain: from the British a large numbers of SniderEnfield (200,000 or 300,000, according to sources) were also purchased. When the Martini Henry appeared on the scene, the Turks wanted to buy them; however, since the entire British production was intended to rearm British troops, they were unable to purchase Martini Henry rifles from the British themselves. They then turned to the Providence Tool Company located in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, asking for an exact duplicate of the British Martini Henry Mark I (Figure 5.9). The Ottomans purchased more than 600,000 Peabody rifles that differed from the Martini Henry only in the markings. The Turkish rifle is marked on the left of the receiver with a label saying “PEABODY & MARTINI PATENTS, MAN’F’ED BY PROVIDENCE TOOL CO. PROV. R.I. U.S.A.”, and holds a Turkish serial number and Turkish crest on the right side of the receiver (Figure 5.10). The most significant difference with the British Martini Henry is that the Turkish rifle is chambered in its own unique cartridge, the 11.3x59R, which is known as the .45 Turkish. In the USA the Ottomans had already bought a large number of Winchester lever action carbines and rifles model 66 in caliber .44. Peabody and Winchester rifles were effectively used against the Russians in the 1877-1878 war where, at the siege of Plevna, relatively few Turks stopped the Tsar’s troops, armed in turn with Colt Berdan rifles and Krnka conversion muskets. The attacking men were hit by the heavy .45 caliber bullets of the PeabodyMartinis at 2,000 meters (Russian reporters said 3,000 meters). Once the Russians had advanced to 200 meters, the Turks put down their Peabody-Martinis and took up their .44 caliber Winchester lever actions, thus slaughtering the Russian ranks.

Figure 5.9. Turkish Peabody Henry rifle Mod. 1874 (from www.militaryrifles.com). 54

Martini Henry Rifles

Figure 5.10. Marks on the receiver (left) (from www. militaryrifles.com); the Sultan’s tughra and the serial number in Arabic (right) (V. Clarizia, private collection).

Martini-Enfield The production of the Martini Henry rifle ended in the year 1889, and by then many Martini Henrys had been converted re-chambering the rifle to use it with the new .303 British (7.7 x 56 mm) cartridge that used black powder as a propellant. The converted rifles used Metford rifled barrels and were known as Martini Metford rifles. With the introduction of smokeless cordite/nitrocellulose cartridges in1895, the rifles were newly manufactured with an Enfield rifled barrel which was more suitable for use with the smokeless ammunition. The Martini–Enfield was in service from 1895 to 1918. In 1914, the Home Guard units were issued with Martini-Enfields with which to shoot down enemy airships over London and were widely used on African and Middle Eastern scenes during World War I in the hands of Native Auxiliary troops. Arab Irregulars also used them during the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918. They remained in charge of the “Home Guard” until 1940 as well as in the reserve army throughout the British Empire well until the end of the World War I. It was seen in use by some Afghan tribesmen as late as the Soviet invasion. Early in 2010 and 2011, the United States marines recovered at least three from various Taliban weapons. Martini Metford and Martini-Enfield rifles and carbines were manufactured or converted by Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield, London Small Arms Co., Birmingham Small Arms & Metals Co. (BSA), Henry Rifle Barrel Co., National Arms & Ammunition Co. Khyber Pass Copies The Martini Henry was copied on a large scale by North-West Frontier Province gunsmiths between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The chief manufacturers were the Adam Khel Afridi, who lived around the Khyber Pass. The British called such weapons, “Khyber Pass made rifles”. The design was somewhat more advanced than the baseline Martini Henry, but the rifles were produced by hand, making the quality extremely variable and of a lower level compared to those made in European factories.

Figure 5.11. Khyber Pass Martini Henry with fake British marks (from www.martinihenry.com). 55

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

The local craftsmen tried to copy the stampings and markings from their original source, but backwards letters and misspellings are common (Figure 5.11). One of the most common is the “N” in ENFIELD written backwards “И”. The Martinis were still made in the Khyber Pass probably until the late 1940s. Martini Henry in Oman and Arabia In Oman and Arabia these weapons first came with the Ottomans. They were soon valued for their power, accuracy, and fast fire, and their popularity grew in the entire Middle East, replacing the matchlock guns. The Peabody Martini, the Martini Henry, and their numerous variations, were the weapons most frequently imported in Muscat in the decades around the turn of the century. By the late 1890s, many weapons entered the local Arab market through import points like Muscat and Ajman. Locally, they are named Sommah or Sum. The importance of the market of Muscat led some firms to make a special, generally more refined version marked “Martini Muscat”, “Martini Mascat” or “Martini Mascate”, the latter showing the French name for Muscat (Figure 5.12). Unsurprisingly, the Omani modified the rifles to suit the local needs and tastes. As they did not use bayonets, the bayonet lugs were removed from the military rifles and the barrels often shortened. Cutting it made the rifle lighter and much easier to carry, with very little loss of accuracy or power. Silverworks were added to the barrel, stock, and butt with wires and embossed sheets in the local fashion. In 1912, Danish traveler Barclay Raunkiaer gives a description of the way in which the Martini Henrys were modified by the Bedouins: “No sooner has an Arab taken possession of such a carbine than he sets about making alterations. As a result it assumes a distinctly Arab character, while at the same time it loses most of its value as a firearm. First and foremost the backsight an offense to the Arab’s sense of beauty – is knocked off, the foresight goes the same way, and where the sights have been, strips of tin or brass are bound round the barrel and kept polished. After thus making short work of the means of sighting, the Arab pursues the process of embellishment by paring as much wood as ever he can off the weapon, to make it lighter, and after the stock has finally assumed its form, he studs it with innumerable little nails with brass heads disposed in various patterns. That done, the formidable arm is Figure 5.12. Different Martini Muscat inscriptions (top, put safely in the leathern holster, which has its place photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection; center, on the camel saddle behind the rider” (Raunkiaer photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum; 1969: 71-72). bottom, from British Militaria Forums). 56

Martini Henry Rifles

Figure 5.13. Belgian-made Martini Henry rifles in caliber .577”/450 (11.43 mm) decorated with silver bands, silver wires, and silver sheets (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

These extensive changes probably occurred among the Bedouins, but they do not seem to have been made in Oman. All the rifles in the Muscat Museums have their sights in place and the butt stocks unchanged. Almost all of them are civilian rifles made in Belgium, without bayonet lugs and with reduced stocks (Figure 5.13). Their length is lesser than that of the British rifles, ranging between 100 and 115 centimeters for the rifle (against 125 of the British model), and between 90 and 95 centimeters for the carbine (against 95 of the British model). The silver decorations generally consist of several embossed bands on the barrel and silver wires around the stock behind the receiver (Figure 5.14). The decoration on the stock can be very simple, with only a silver band at the end of the action or may lack completely (Figure 5.15). Depending on the taste and possibilities of the owner, richer silver decorations can be found (Figure 5.16). The silver was obtained by melting silver coins, mainly Maria Theresa Figure 5.14. Silver decoration around the stock (photograph by thalers (qrsh). V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). 57

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 5.15. Peabody Martini Henry with shortened forearm (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Furthermore, coins were sometimes used to decorate the stock, imitating the unit stock disk of the British military rifles (Figure 5.17). The action plates present a great variety, from the standard British marks to very fine incisions (Figure 5.18). In some cases, the incisions are of good quality, likely made in Europe, and often related to hunting subjects (Figure 5.19). More often the incisions are simple and locally made (Figure 5.20). Some rifles for the Persian market have the “Lion and Sun” chiseled on the action plate with different grades of quality (Figure 5.21). The “Lion and Sun” has been one of the main emblems of Persia since the 12th century and became a national emblem during the Qajar dynasty; between 1846 and 1980 it was an element of Iran’s national flag.

Figure 5.16. Different silver decorations (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

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Martini Henry Rifles

Figure 5.17. British Martini Henry carbine Mk III disk (left); George VI East Africa coin dating from 1937 to 1945 screwed on the stock of a Belgian Martini Francotte with octagonal barrel (center); Ten Omani Baisa coin dated to 1400 AH (1979 AD) on the stock of a Belgian Martini Henry (right) (V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 5.18. Mk IV Martini Henry made by the Enfield factory in 1887 (top left); Khyber Pass Martini Henry with fake British marks (top right); Floral and geometric incisions (center); Floral incision with the formula Mash’Allah (What God has willed) (bottom) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). 59

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 5.19. Well-incised tigers on the action plate (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

Figure 5.20. Arabian gazelle (left) and a crescent (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 5.21. Fine floral incision probably made in Belgium with a lion representing Ali holding his saber Dhu al-Faqar (left) (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection); Original Persian lion smaller than the African lion that replaced it (center); Locally made (in Oman?) incision of the mid-19th century with the larger African lion replacing the Persian lion (right) (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). The sling is often shorter than the original and at times decorated (Figure 5.22). Sometimes, original military slings were used with added silver buckles, but emergency slings could also be used (Figure 5.23). The shorter sling is due to the fact that the local inhabitants have a peculiar way of carrying the rifles, hanging upside down under one arm from the shoulder (Figure 5.24). In this way, the weapon is quickly ready for use and does not slap on the back of the camel. 60

Martini Henry Rifles

Figure 5.22. Slings decorated with silver buttons (courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 5.23. Military type leather sling (top), canvas sling (center), plastic sling (bottom) (top and center photographs by V. Clarizia, top and center courtesy Oman National Museum, bottom courtesy Madha Museum). 61

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 5.24. Bedouins photographed by Wilfred Thesiger in 1949-50 (from web.prm.ox.ac.uk). Martini Henry rifles armed the Imam’s forces raised against the Sultan after his decision to centralize the rifle trade in a bonded warehouse. In January 1915, during the battle of Muscat, about 3,000 tribesmen from the interior were defeated by the Sultan’s Army and the British garrison of sepoys with about 1,000 well-armed men (with the Short Lee-Enfield) and two machine guns. In the Imam’s army, some men carried rifles while others carried swords and protected themselves with breastplates and small shields. Little could the value of the tribesmen against the modern weapons, and they had over 300 warriors killed or wounded while the British only suffered few casualties. The effect of modern gunfire forced dissidents to revise their tactics and weaponry. Nevertheless, Martini Henry rifles were still used through the 1940s and 1950s in the caliber .303”, and were slowly replaced by the SMLE, called Canad. Accessories of the Martini Henry Breech loading rifles required the use of cartridges with a brass case that had to be imported (Figure 5.25). As they were rather expensive, the spent cases were usually locally reloaded, re-capping them and replacing the powder and the bullets. The bullets were moulded in casting moulds, called qalib or kellab, melting lead bars, or spent bullets (Figure 5.26). Figure 5.25. Original package of Martini Henry ammunitions made by the Indian Government Ammunition Factory of Kirkee, near Pune, India (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait AlZubair Museum).

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Martini Henry Rifles

Figure 5.26. Bullet casting mould (qalib or kellab) (courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 5.27. Leather cartridge belts with .577 ammunitions. The spent cases were recapped and reloaded for many times during their life (photographs by V. Clarizia, top courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum, bottom courtesy Oman National Museum).

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Figure 5.28. Cartridge belt woven with silver thread. The two small silver pouches on either side of the buckle were used to keep safe small items like amulets or coins. A fire striker called mudharba once used to spark up and light the fuse of the matchlock is attached to the silver chains. This belt (80 cm long) is one of the longest found in Oman. The usual length between 70 and 80 cm give an idea of the smaller frame of the Omani men of the time (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum)

Figure 5.29. Silver bullet-shaped containers mikāhil. The first two on the left are shaped as a .577 Martini Henry cartridge, the one on the right is shaped as a .303 British cartridge (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum). 64

Martini Henry Rifles

In each village or tribe camp there was a mechanic able to repair rifles and manufacture cartridges (Musil 1927: 132). However, these local made cartridges were less valued than the imported ones, as described by Bertrand Thomas near Sahār in 1930:“[it] left a stream of light behind, a report like a squib and stinks like one: at night it revealed the position of the user to his enemy. But what can you do, said the Badu riding at my side, when new European ammunition costs a rupee for three rounds at Dubai or Abu Dhabi, whereas you can get then of the local sort for the same money if you will only bring your empty cartridge cases” (Thomas 1931: 204). The bullets were often modified for hunting, chopping them in half, since the big full-sized round had a devastating effect on birds or hare, leaving nothing much to cook. To spare the precious cartridges, muzzle loaders were sometimes preferred for hunting since “over the average distances involved in hunting a well made and smoothed ball is sufficiently accurate” (Doughty 1926: I, 456). Belts called al-mazham, worn on the waist, started to be used to carry the cartridges. They were made of leather and/or fabric, sometimes richly decorated with silver (Figures 5.27 and 5.28). The Martini Henry cartridge was copied to make traditional bullet shaped containers (mikāhil) for khol and steel spike eyeliner (Figure 5.29). The containers, made of silver, are often highly decorated with floral or geometric designs. The mikāhil was carried chained to the waist belt. Khol (or khul) is an ancient eye cosmetic based on lead sulfide. It was applied by men to their eyes with an eyeliner to protect them from the sun. It was probably also effective against conjunctivitis.

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Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Plate 5.1. Martini Henry Rifle

(measures not available). A luxury Martini Henry rifle with a good chiseled frame. It is called “Sultaniyah” and was made for the Persian market since the presence of the “Lion and the sun”. This excellent rifle well represents the key role of Muscat in the arms trade at the end of the 19th century, as evidenced by the “MARTINI MASCAT” inscription. Mascat is the French name for Muscat and the rifle was made in Belgium at Liege. It shows on the barrel the proof marks of Liege. The letter “R” with a crown on the far left was used for rifled arms and revolvers. The column in the center (the Perron) is an inspection mark. It is the earliest datable control mark and recalls a monument in Liege that symbolize freedom and justice. To the rifle were added the usual silver embossed decorations and a sling with silver threads. The cross head screw on the action plate is clearly a modern replacement. Private collection.

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Martini Henry Rifles

Plate 5.2. Martini Henry Rifle

(Lenght 95.5 cm, Caliber .577/450 - 11.43 mm). A short Martini Henry made probably in Belgium for the civilian market. Silver embellished stock and barrel with floral decorations and wireworks. On the frame floral engravings and the word “MASH’ ALLAH” (God has willed it). The length is similar to the military carbine and suitable to be used on horse or camel. These rifles were largely imported through Muscat in the Arabian Peninsula, Persia and Afghanistan. They were (partially) replaced only in the 20th century by the smokeless modern repeating rifles, such as the Enfield SMLE (Canad). Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Muscat.

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Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Plate 5.3. Martini Henry Rifle

Left action’s plate

Right action’s plate

A British Martini-Enfield Cavalry Carbine Mark II. These Carbines were converted from the Martini Henry Mark II Infantry Rifles shortening the barrel to 21.35 inches. Among other, a unit identification disk was added to the buttstock. The right side of the action shows that it was made in the Enfield Lock arsenal. This is confirmed by the “Lock Viewer’s Mark” of the military Martini manufacturers with an arrow under a crown. The year of production is partially cancelled (188...). Directly below the Lock Viewer’s Mark is the “Mark of Arm” with the Roman numeral “II” since it was a Mark II rifle. Another mark is the “Class of Arm”. Martini Henry were placed in two classes. First class arms were current frontline weapons, second class arms were those obsolete or more used. On the left side of the action there are the marks for the rifles converted to the .303 caliber. Again, after the Royal Crown and the factory (Enfield) there is the year of the conversion to a MartiniEnfield (barely readable could be 1900). Lower, there is the caliber (.303) preceded by two letters: M.E. if the weapon was converted to a Martini-Enfield (i.e. with the Enfield pattern rifling) or M.M. (i.e. with the Metford pattern rifling). In this example the code seems to be M.E. indicating a MartiniEnfield conversion. Number “II” indicates that the weapon was converted to a Martini-Enfield Mark II pattern, and number “I” indicates that the rifle is a “First Class” weapon. The absence of a lock viewer’s mark means that the conversion was done after 1897, since it was abolished in 1897. ... ...

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Martini Henry Rifles

Lock Viewer’s Marks (from www.martinihenry.com)

Left side cyphers of a converted MartiniEnfield (from www.martinihenry.com)

At the top of the barrel there are other marks. The “SH” is probably the mark of the armourer that did the conversion and the two opposing broad arrows28 mean that the weapon was released from Military service and “Sold Out of Service”. It was common, mainly in the colony, to sell these rifles to the civilian market or to rifle clubs. The unit identification disk on the buttstock should indicate an improvement to the Mark III in 1918. The letters “D” and “H” could be referred to the cavalry corps Dragon and Hussars.

... ...

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Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

(Lenght 95 cm, Caliber .303 British - 7.7mm). The rifle has a rich decoration with silver embossed bands and wires, denoting it belonged to an high rank man. Attached with a silver chain there are a silver ring, a silver khol container (mikāhil), and a pair of tweezers. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 5.4. Martini Henry Rifle

(Lenght 113 cm, Caliber .303 British - 7.7 mm). This rifle has an unusual nickel steel barrel and action and was made in Belgium. The mark LLH on the barrel is the mark used by the company “Laurent Lochet-Habran & G. Brother and Sister” of Jupille, a little town near Liege. Founded in 1860 the Lochet-Habran company manufactured weapons and barrels under various corporate names until 1951. In 1900 the firm employed 500 workmen and produced 600,000 barrels per year. The trademark LLH was registered in 1904. Oman National Museum.

... ...

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Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Laurent Lochet and his wife Jeanne Habran (from www.littlegun.be)

As shown by the advertisement, Lochet-Habran produced rifles and barrels in nickel steel as for this Martini Henry. In addition to the silver decoration and wires, on the buttstock there is an Omani ten Baisa coin dated 1400 AH (1979 AD) recalling the unit identification disks of the British military rifles. It testifies to an use of the rifle up to recent years.

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Martini Henry Rifles

Plate 5.5. Peabody Martini Henry Rifle

(Lenght 113 cm, Caliber .45 Turkish - 11.3 mm). A Turkish Peabody Martini Henry M. 1874 Type “B”. The rifle was modified removing the forearm and the rear sight. The type “B” differs from the type “A” for the lack of the safety removed to reduce the cost of production. The type “B” were made from february 1877 onward. Private collection.

On the left side of the receiver is scarsely readable the original mark” PEABODY & MARTINI PATENTS, MAN’F’ED BY PROVIDENCE TOOL CO. PROV. R.I. U.S.A.” On the upper left the inspection mark with the crescent moon and star over the letter “M”. On the right side the serial number in Arabic (415700) and the tughra (the Sultan cypher) of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II who ruled from 1876 to 1909. The serial number puts the rifle under the second contract, since the serial numbers of the first contract range from 1 to 200,000, of the second contract from 200,001 to 500,000, and of the third contract from 500,001 to 600,000.

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The Turkish Peabody Martini was widespread in all the territory under the Ottoman Empire from Lybia to Syria, Arabia and Yemen. In 1880 Russia sold to Japan 9,000 Turkish Peabody Martini seized to the Turks in 1899. These rifles were for the Nippon Kaigun (Japanese Navy) that in 1874 had bought 5,000 Martini Henry made by Braendlin Armoury Co.

Type A with the safety lever (from www.martinihenry.com)

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Chapter 6

Repeating Rifles

With the invention of smokeless powder in France in 1886, portable firearms had a dramatic improvement in their effectiveness. Smokeless powder eliminated the clouds of white smoke produced by black powder and increased muzzle velocities with smaller bullets, resulting in a flatter trajectory over longer distances. It was now possible to engage the enemy at distances up to 800 or even 1,000 meters. By the end of the 19th century all main armies had adopted modern magazine-fed rifles, and after a few years they also appeared in the Middle East and Africa. The rapid evolution of infantry rifles in Europe and the resulting availability of older models on the world market led to a large-scale introduction of modern arms in Arabia. As described in Chapter 5, at the turn of the 19th century Muscat was one of the main firearms trade centers, and the new weapons were largely imported by local established firms. Another important improvement was the increased rate of fire of bolt action magazine fed rifles compared with the single shot Martini Henry. While with the Martini Henry the rate of fire could reach 12 aimed shot per minute, with the new magazine rifles it could be up to 30 aimed shots in the same time.29 The increased fire rate could be a problem for the extra use of ammunition in places where cartridges were used even with parsimony. The attitude to spare ammunitions is well described by Musil in a conversation with the Ruwala Sheikh Al-Nuri in 1908: “Al-Nuri showed me a Mannlicher carbine of the 1898 Model which I had given him. Being used to the Martini rifle, he could not accustom himself to the Mannlicher lock and had it changed to the Martini type. This pleased him beyond measure and made him boast that his carbine carried much farther and better than the Martini. To my mild reproof that he could have loaded the original Mannlicher with five cartridges, while now he had to be satisfied with only one, he replied that at least he would not have to waste so much ammunition as before” (Musil 1928: 111). The circulation of different types of modern rifles in Arabia was affected by several factors related to the areas of influence of European manufactures, the availability of obsolete stocks from major powers, the availability of ammunitions, and their reputation among the local population. In Northern and Central Arabia, where the Turkish rule was present, Mausers were esteemed and widespread. After the outbreak of World War I, a Ruwala prince told Musil that “the best modern weapons were made by the Alman (Germans), and the next best by the Namsa (Austrians)” (Musil 1927: 442). In the Sultanate of Oman and Trucial Oman (now UAE), where the British and French influence was strong, Enfield and Gras rifles prevailed on Mauser. British Lee-Enfield In 1888, the British adopted the bolt action magazine-fed Lee Metford rifle (Figure 6.1). The Lee Metford rifle combined the locking bolt system developed by the American James Paris Lee with an innovative rifled barrel designed by the British William Ellis Metford. The new bolt action rifle had a detachable magazine holding 6 cartridges in a single stack and replaced the single shot Martini Henry. The development and trials had required nine years, and the rifle was conceived to fire a cartridge in caliber .303 that had a compressed load of 75 grains of black powder. As previously mentioned, the Metford barrels were also retrofitted on Martini rifles, and carbines converted to the .303 caliber. 75

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 6.1. Lee Metford rifle (from ww1.westernfrontweapons.weebly.com).

Figure 6.2. Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle – MLE (from www.ar15.com).

Between 1892 and1895, about 600,000 Lee Metford rifles were produced at the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield, the Royal Small Arms Factory of Sparkbrook, the Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited, and the London Small Arms Co. Ltd. (Pagani 1991: 142). When the British perfected their own version of smokeless powder, the cordite, they found that high temperatures generated with the cordite would cause a rapid erosion of the Metford rifling, and in 1895 the rifles and carbines were re-barreled with a new Enfield rifled barrel better suited for the new powder. The Lee-Enfield line remained the standard rifles of the British Army until 1957 since its official adoption in 1895. With the new barrel and the smokeless powder cartridge both range and accuracy were improved, with the effective range up to 800 meters.30 The Lee action cocked the striker on the closing stroke of the bolt, making the opening much faster and easier compared to the “cock on opening” of the Mauser Gewehr 98 action. A new 10 round detachable magazine equipped the rifle. The adoption of a detachable magazine was a modern development for the time, and more surprisingly so because it was chosen (not without some opposition) by the conservative British military bureaucracy. The fears that a soldier could lose the magazine during field campaigns led to the use of a short chain to secure the magazine to the receiver for the Lee Metford and the early models of Lee-Enfield (Skennerton 2007: 60). The magazine was manually loaded from the top, one round at a time or with five-round chargers. The .303 caliber rifle Magazine Lee-Enfield or MLE (Figure 6.2), affectionately called “Emily”, was produced from 1895 to 1926 at the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield, the Royal Small Arms Factory of Sparkbrook, the Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited, and the London Small Arms Co. Ltd. in about 900,000 specimens for all the Mk I and Mk I* models (Pagani 1991: 143). The Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine Mk I or LEC, a shorter version, was introduced in 1896, with a 540 mm barrel instead of the 770 mm barrel of the rifle (Figures 6.3 and 6.4). It has the spherical end of the bolt lever flattened. The MLEs were first used by the British army in the second Boer War (South Africa) in the years 1899-1902, and the Boers armed with Mauser rifles often exceeded the British on the battlefield. During the campaign the major improvements that were requested were less weight, a charger to load the rifle faster, and improved sights. 76

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Figure 6.3. Advertisement of the Birmingham Small Arms Company with the different model of Lee-Enfield carbines (from www.rifleman.org.uk).

Figure 6.4. Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine – LEC (from www.allaboutenfields.co.nz).

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Figure 6.5. SMLE Mk III* assembled in 1918 by the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield under the “Peddled Scheme” with its impressive sword bayonet. The letters SHT LE mean “Short Lee-Enfield” (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

Figure 6.6. SMLE No. 4 Mk I* rifle with the new spiked bayonet made in Canada by Small Arms Limited, Long Branch Arsenal in 1943 (photographs by V. Clarizia, private collection).

In 1900, a shorter version was proposed by the Superintendent of the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield. The new rifle was heavily based on the current Lee-Enfield and its production was possible using the existing tooling at quite the same cost of the MLE. The great innovation was the introduction of a rifle for all troops outdoing the common military policy of a long rifle for the infantry and a carbine for cavalry and artillery. Despite some resistance, the Small Arm Committee organized a trial with 1,000 rifles. Each test was carried out in parallel with the Long Lee-Enfield to ensure that they could be compared under similar conditions (Petrillo 1992: 11-12). After some changes and more testing, the rifle Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mark I (SMLE) was officially approved on 23 December 1902. The SMLE (“smelly” for the troops), other than a shorter and lighter barrel had a new magazine and charger, a new rear sight, and a special blunt nose on the forend that is distinctive of the rifle, with only the bayonet boss protruding a small fraction of an inch beyond the nose cap. The new barrel was 640 mm. long with five-grove rifling. It was further improved during the following years, and in 1907 it became the SMLE Mk III, featuring a simplified rear sight arrangement and a fixed charger guide. The design of the hand guard and the magazine were also improved, and the chamber was adapted to fire the new Mk VII High Velocity spitzer .303 ammunition. During World War I, the SMLE Mk III and Mk III* (a variant introduced in 1915 to simplify the production) proved to be a high-quality rifle, quite accurate, reliable, and suitable for rapid and precise firing. As the increasing demand for rifles could not be satisfied by the main manufacturers (RSAF Enfield, Birmingham Small Arms Co., and London Small Arms Co. Ltd.), the production of whole rifles and rifle components was contracted out to several shell companies under the so called “Peddled Scheme” (Skennerton 2007: 171-172) (Figure 6.5). The SMLE Mk III* (renamed rifle No.1 Mk III* in 1926) saw extensive service throughout the Second World War with British and Commonwealth forces. The SMLE rifle was produced until 1955 in more than 6 million pieces at the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield, the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd., the London Small Arms Co. Ltd., the Lithgow Small Arms Factory in Australia, and the Ishapore Rifle Factory in India. With the outburst of World War II, the need for new rifles grew, and in 1941 the rifle No. 4 Mk I, easier to mass produce than the SMLE, was officially adopted. The No. 4 rifle was heavier 78

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Figure 6.7. The Muscat Levies armed with SMLE rifles in 1929 (Peyton 1983: 57). than the No. 1 Mk III, largely due to its heavier barrel that protruded from the end of the forend without the nose cap of the SMLE. During the War, the No. 4 rifle was further simplified for mass-production with the creation of the No. 4 Mk I* in 1942. The production centers in England were the Royal Ordnance Factory Fazakerley, the Royal Ordnance Factory Maltby, the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd., and the Birmingham Small Arms Factory (Shirley) for about 2.5 million rifles produced. The No. 4 Mk I* was produced only in North America, by Long Branch Arsenal in Canada (about one million), and Savage Stevens Arms Co. in the USA (one million) (Figure 6.6). All the Savage made rifles have the label “US PROPERTY” stamped on the left side of the receiver as they were part of the Lend-Lease program. The origin of the Lee-Enfield in Oman is clearly connected with the British presence. Local gendarmeries and palace guards (Al-Askaris) got the new issued weapons when the Martini Henry began to be obsolete (Figure 6.7). SMLEs were, among other, the ordnance of the Sultan’s Army until 1969, when they were replaced by the FN FAL. The Lee-Enfield are still used in the country for hunting. The local name for the .303 Long Enfield is Meyzah, while the name for the SMLE is Canad, probably because they initially came from Canada. They have been locally modified, shortening the barrels and decorating them with silver or brass bands and silver wires (Figure 6.8). The cartridge belts al-mazham used to carry the ammunitions are similar to those used for the Martini Henry, and mostly made of leather and/or fabric (Figure 6.9 and 6.10). They were also used to hold the khanjar (Figure 6.11). French Gras In 1874, the French adopted their first military rifle using a metallic cartridge: the Gras rifle. Previously, in 1866, they had issued a bolt action breechloader rifle designed by Antoine Alphonse Chassepot (Figure 6.12). The Chassepot fired a combustible linen cartridge of 11 mm and performed very well in its first appearance on the battlefield at Mentana (Italy) in 1867. 79

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Figure 6.8. Enfield SMLE No. 1 Mk III (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Al-Zubair Museum).

Figure 6.9. Leather and fabric cartridge belts (photographs by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum).

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Figure 6.10. Cartridge belt decorated with silver thread. The two small pouches on either side of the buckle were used to keep small items like amulets or coins (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

In the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) it proved greatly superior to the German Dreyse needle gun introduced in 1840. The Chassepot was lighter, handier, and boasted a better breech seal via a rubber gasket. With a smaller caliber than the Dreyse (15.4 mm), it had a higher muzzle velocity resulting in a flatter trajectory and a longer range (1,100 meters). Despite its superiority, France’s defeat led to changes in the military strategy, including the adoption of a new bolt-action rifle chambering a metallic cartridge (Figure 6.13). The Chassepot employed a special Indian rubber seal to seal the bore, but continued firing caused it to wear, losing its breech sealing capabilities. In the meantime, other European armies were experimenting metallic cartridges after Colonel Boxer had invented them in 1866: the British started in1870 with the Martini Henry rifles, followed by the Germans with the Mauser in 1871. General Basil Gras (1836-1901), engineer and shooting instructor of the French army, began to test the new 11 x 59 mm cartridge modifying the Chassepot, thus giving birth to the Model 1874 Gras (Fusil Gras Modèle 1874). Being a single shot bolt action rifle, it represented a transition from France’s first breechloader (Chassepot 1866) and its first repeater (Lebel 1886). Similarities to the Chassepot allowed the latter rifle to be easily converted to the Gras rifle system modifying the chamber and altering the bolt. As it fired metallic cartridges, an extractor was now required to remove the cartridge once the shot had been fired, as that was not needed in the Chassepot firing a self-consuming cartridge. The sights were also newly designed to satisfy the ballistic capabilities of the new cartridge. Many Chassepots were converted to the Gras system, while the large majority of Gras rifles were directly made as Gras. The converted Gras rifles were identical to the Chassepot. Distinctive features of the purposemade Gras were a more rounded stock and a Figure 6.11. The cartridge belt was also used to suspend the different bayonet lug. In addition, Gras rifles were khanjar, as showed in this photograph of an Omani guide at Al-Hazm in 1951 (Peyton 1983: 102). blued, while Chassepots were left in the white.

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Figure 6.12. Chassepot rifle (from www.guns.wikia.com).

Figure 6.13. The metallic cartridge of the Gras (on the left) compared with the linen self-consuming cartridge of the Chassepot (from www.fla-pawn.com).

Figure 6.14. Gras model 74/M80 rifle (from www.wikimedia.org).

The Gras rifle cartridge of 11 mm caliber was charged with 77 grains of black powder. It had a slightly bottlenecked brass case, an external Berdan primer, and a 386 grain lead bullet. The performance was similar to that of the British .577-450 Martini Henry and surpassed that of the German 11 mm Mauser and the Austro-Hungarian 11 mm Werndl. In 1880, Gras actions were modified with a cut in the bolt and in the action to vent gases in case of a ruptured primer. Such rifles are marked “M80” (Figure 6.14). In addition to the “Fusil d’Infanterie M.le 1874”, other models were developed: • A Cavalry Carbine called “Carabine de Cavallerie M.le 1874” with a barrel of 71.5 cm instead of the 82 cm of the rifle. It has two assembly bands (one in the rifle) and the bolt handle bent and flattened. The furnishing is of brass. • A Gendarmery Carbine, the “Carabine de Gendarmerie à pied M.le 1874”, a shortened version of the rifle with the same dimension of the Cavalry Carbine, but with only one assembly band. The bolt hand is the same as the rifle. • An Artillery Carbine called “Mousqueton d’Artillerie M.le 1874”. It is practically a Gendarmery Carbine with the barrel shortened to 50.9 cm. The Gras rifle was replaced by the Lebel rifle in 1886 (the first rifle to use smokeless gunpowder and with a new revolutionary small caliber 8 mm bullet), but continued in service, especially in the French Colonies, well into World War I. In 1914, a number of model 1874 M. 80 rifles were transformed into 8 mm rifles by replacing the original barrel with one similar to that of the Lebel. These are referred to as the Mod. 1874/80 M. 14. From 1874 through 1887, about 400,000 Gras rifles were manufactured by the French factories of Saint-Étienne, Chatellerault, and Tulle, and by the Austrian factory Steyr (Pagani 1997: 88) (Figure 6.15). 82

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Figure 6.15. Marks on a Gras rifle made by the Arsenal of SaintÉtienne (left); Marks on a Steyr rifle made for the Greek Army (right) (from www.armefrancaises.free.fr)

Conversions from Chassepot rifles were also made by the Kynoch Gun Factory of Aston (Birmingham UK) (Pagani 1997: 88). The Kynoch Gun Factory was a branch of the famed Kynoch Ammunition Factory. It had a short life, from 1885 to 1889, and was set up to market to supply large quantities of arms to the Transvaal. The conversion of the Chassepot to Gras was intended for the trade market in developing nations, as by the time Kynoch started to turn out Gras type rifles, such large bore single shots were becoming obsolete in Europe. Additionally, the British firm Joyce & Kynoch was the main arms dealer in Muscat between 1891 and 1897. The Kynoch conversion has a different bolt arrangement than the French Arsenal conversion. Other than in the 11x59 R Gras M1874 cartridge, the Kynoch guns were chambered for the slightly different (and not interchangeable) 11x60R M1871 Mauser cartridge. The Gras rifle was also used in Greece, Colombia, Chile, and Russia. The name of the Arsenal and the model are stamped on the left side of the receiver. The converted Chassepots have the date “74” added to the indication of the model, 1866.

Figure 6.16. Mod. 1874/80 rifle made by the Manifacture d’Armes Saint-Étienne in 1876. The rifle is almost in the original condition with only the iron band replaced with a brass one (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Figure 6.17. Carbine decorated with brass bands and a wooden pad added to the butt (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). 83

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The origin of these French firearms in Oman can be referred to the strong presence of French firms in Muscat involved in the arms trade, as described in Chapter 5. The French political influence is also demonstrated by the coaling facilities that Sayyid Faisal bin Turki, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, granted the French for their fleet at Bandar Jissah, near Muscat, in the years between 1888 and 1899. The Gras examples found in Oman are mostly of the carbine model, but rifles are also present though often shortened. Almost all of them are the Mod. 1874/80, and probably came from Djibouti as trading rifles. The weapons were worked in Belgium after the French government had sold them, and refitted to be exported all over the world, often mixing spare parts or rebuilding them, so that it is possible to find rifles with brass fittings and carbines with iron parts (Figure 6.16). Sometimes the rifles are modified to match the local fashion (Figure 6.17). German Mauser In 1811, Friedrich I of Württemberg established a royal weapons factory in Oberndorf, a small town in the German Black Forest. One of the gunsmiths working in the factory was Franz Andreas Mauser, father of Wilhelm (1834-1882) and Paul (1838-1914) (Figure 6.18). In 1867, Wilhelm and Paul Mauser invented a rotating bolt system for breechloaders that was simpler and quicker to operate than other systems currently in service. In those years, all European powers were considering breech-loading rifles for their army, and the French adopted the Chassepot in 1866. The Dreyse needle gun, the first breech-loading rifle using a bolt action to open and close the chamber, was in service from 1848 in the Kingdom of Prussia (Figure 6.19). Although it played an important role in the Prussians’ victory in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War as the Austrians were still armed with muzzle loading rifles, in the subsequent Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) it was outperformed by the Chassepot which proved to be superior in virtually all respects compared to the needle gun. The Dreyse could fire 4-5 rounds per minute, while the Chassepot rifle could easily double that fire rate. Moreover, its paper cartridges were easily damaged.

Figure 6.18. Paul and Wilhelm Mauser (from www.pinterest.com). 84

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Figure 6.19. Dreyse needle rifle (from www.collegehillarsenal.com).

Figure 6.20. Mauser Mod. 1871 infantry rifle (from www.warrelics.eu). In the years 1870-71, many different rifles were trialed to replace the Dreyse gun and the weapon designed by the Mauser brothers surpassed the 1869 Bavarian Werder, which was the Mauser’s chief competitor. Thus, in 1871, the most recent version of their design became the standard infantry rifle of the new German Reich, created in 1871 from the unification of twenty-seven German states. The rifle, known as Infanterie Gewehr Mod. 71 (Figure 6.20), was a single shot with a bolt action lock, chambered for a 11.15 x 60 mm metallic cartridge with a 375 grains bullet, and charged with 77 grains of black powder. The Mauser bolt lock was simple and extremely strong, with an action that was made up of just 35 parts inside a forged steel receiver (Figure 6.21).

Figure 6.21. Mechanic of the Mauser Mod. 1871. The entire rifle only had 45 parts including the stock components (from www.sassik.livejournal.com). 85

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Figure 6.22. Kommissiongewehr Mod. 1888 (from www.thepaulkfamily.com). The bolt has three locking lugs, two at the bolt head and one at the rear part of the bolt. The bolt handle is rigidly attached to the bolt body. The infantry rifle had an 85.5 cm barrel with four rifling and a total length of 134.5 cm. A shooter musket (Jägerbuchse Mod. 71) with a shortened barrel of 75 cm was introduced in 1876. It was designed for selected sharpshooters and riflemen, but also assigned to the colonial troops in Africa. A cavalry carbine and an artillery carbine with a barrel of 51 cm were issued in 1875. Another shorter version with a barrel of 62.5 cm. called the Grenzaufsehergewehr Mod. 79 was issued in 1880 for the border guards. It shot an 11.15 × 37.5 mm cartridge (Grenzaufseherpatrone), a trimmed down version of the full-power military cartridge. About one million rifles were manufactured until 1885 in the arsenals of Danzig, Spandau, Erfurt, and Amberg, and by the private contractors Mauser at Oberndorf, Spangenberg & Sauer at Suhl, VCS-VC Schilling at Suhl, the National Arms and Ammunition Company at Birmingham, and Austrian Arms-Manufacturing Company at Steyr. In 1884, the rifle was updated with an eight-round tubular magazine inside the wooden stock, designed by Alfred von Kropatschek. The new version was named Gewehr M.71/84. The rifle Gew. 71 was also adopted in Türkiye, Serbia, China, Japan, and Honduras. In 1874, after an agreement with the Württemberg government, the Mauser brothers partnered with the Württemberg Vereinsbank of Stuttgart to acquire the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik to produce 100,000 Mod. 1871 rifles. In 1884, following William Mauser’s death two years earlier, the partnership became a stock company with the name of Waffenfabrik Mauser. Forty years later, over half the world’s armies were equipped with a Mauser designed rifle, including the US Army. After the invention of the smokeless powder by French chemist Paul Vieille in 1884, the French Army replaced their black powder rifle Gras with the modern Lebel rifle, adopted in 1886. The new bolt action repeating rifle with an eight-round tubular magazine and a revolutionary 8 x 50 mm smokeless powder cartridge put the French Army at the forefront of the armament for individual troops, making all the existing black powder rifles obsolete. The Germans soon searched for a rifle to modernize their Mauser Gewher 71/84, and the Army Commission chose a Manlicher type clip loading magazine rifle adopted as Kommissiongewehr Mod. 1888 (Figure 6.22). It was chambered for a new small-bore cartridge loaded with nitro powder, named 7.92x57J, that became one of the most successful cartridges in the world, and is commonly known as the 8 mm Mauser (Figure 6.23). Figure 6.23. New smokeless 7.92 x 57 J cartridge (from www.militarycartridges.com) 86

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In the following years, Paul Mauser continued to work on bolt action rifles, designing new models that were sold all over the world. Spain and Türkiye purchased the Model 93; Brazil and Sweden the Model 94; Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, the South African Republic, China, and Iran the Model 95. In 1898, the German army, which was using the Gewehr 88, also adopted the last version of the Mauser rifle that incorporated all the improvements of the earlier models. It entered service as the Gewehr 98 and became the most famous of the Mauser rifles. The Model 98 rifle is a manually operated, magazine-fed, bolt action rifle. The magazine has a detachable floorplate and can be topped with single rounds or five round clips. After loading, the empty clip is automatically ejected when the bolt is closed. The bolt has gas vent holes that are designed to move the hot gases away from the shooter’s face. A famous feature of the model 98 bolt is the extractor designed to engage the cartridge rim as soon as the cartridge leaves the magazine, and to hold the cartridge case firmly until it is ejected by the ejector. The bolt group can be easily removed from the receiver simply by pulling out the bolt stop, and then by rotating and pulling the bolt out. The safety switch is located at the rear of the bolt and can be easily operated by the right thumb. It has three positions: in the left position the sear and the bolt are locked; in the middle position only the sear is locked, and the bolt can be operated to load and unload the rifle; in the right position the rifle is ready to fire. The barrel is 74 cm long with four right riflings. The wooden stock is one piece, with a semi-pistol grip, and its total length is 125 cm. A “spitzer” bullet with a pointed tip instead of the rounded profile named 7.92 x 57 JS was introduced in 1905. Most of the existing Model 98s were re-chambered for the new round and have the letter S and the caliber 7.92 punched on the barrel. A shorter version with a barrel of 60 cm. named Karabiner Mod. 1898 AZ was introduced in 1908. The letters AZ stand for Aufplanz und Zusammensetzvorrichtung which means “with bayonet attachment and stacking hook”, and this hook is the distinctive characteristic of the rifle (Figure 6.24). This type was widely used by the German soldiers in World War I. An even shorter version, the Karabiner Kurz, known as Kar 98 k, was introduced in 1935 and served as the primary German infantry weapon until the end of World War II (Figure 6.25). It has a barrel of 60 cm. for a total length of 111 cm.

Figure 6.24. Mauser Karabiner Mod. 1898 A.Z. (from www.gunsamerica.com).

Figure 6.25. Mauser Karabiner Mod. 98 k (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

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Figure 6.26. Mauser Standard Model (from www.forums.gunboards.com).

From 1900 until 1918, about 5 million Gewher 98s were produced in the arsenals of Danzig, Spandau, Erfurt, and Amberg, and by the private contractors DWM, Mauser, C.G. Haenel Waffen, V.C. Schilling, Simson & Co. Waffenfabrik, Kornbusch & Co., Waffenwerke Oberspree. One and a half million Karabiner 98 AZs were produced between 1908 and 1918 in the arsenals of Danzig, Erfurt, and Amberg. The Kar 98 k is probably the world’s most popular bolt-action rifle with about 11.5 million examples produced from 1936 until 1945 in more than ten factories. In Czechoslovakia, its production continued until 1950. A commercial model almost identical to the Kar 98 k was produced by the Mauser factory from 1924 until 1933 to be exported and sold all over the world. As the Treaty of Versailles after the end of the World War I forbade the production of rifles in Germany, Mauser bought a factory in Switzerland to assemble the parts produced in Germany and export the rifles from Switzerland, bypassing the prohibitions of the treaty. It was the Standard Model (Figure 6.26) and differs from the Kar 98 k for the straight bolt handle (bent in the Kar 98 k) and for the sling swivels.

Figure 6.27. Modified Mauser Standard Model rifles (photographs by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum). 88

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In Arabia, they were highly esteemed since “All modern rifles are called Mausers by the Bedouins [...]. The original Mausers, especially the Mannlichers, cost 50-60 megidijjiat ($45-$54)”. At the time, the cost of an English military gun was 40 to 45 megidijjiat ($36-$40.50) (Musil 1928: 31-32). In Oman, the Mauser rifles got the name Mania from the Arab name of Germany (Al-Maniah). Sometimes they are also called Abu Hamsah (the one of 5) from the five rounds (hamsa) in its magazine. They usually have the Standard Model stock but with the bent handle bolt of the Kar 98 k. As usual, the stocks were often reduced and some silver decorations added (Figure 6.27). Turkish Mauser With the Convention of Balta Liman in1838, the Ottoman Empire completely opened its market to Western products when the European industrial revolution was starting to make available great quantities of products at low prices. This led to a collapse of the industry of the Near East, unable to compete with European manufactures (Elgood 1995: 64). Consequently, the Ottomans became increasingly dependent upon imported arms to modernize their army during the Tanzimat.31 In the years after the Crimean War (1855), the Ottoman government bought a great quantity of weapons from the British (Enfield Sniders) and from the USA (Peabody Martinis and Winchesters). In 1883, a German mission led by Colonel von der Goltz32 arrived at Istanbul on request of the Sultan Abdul-Hamid II to help the Ottoman Empire reorganize its army after its defeat against Russia. His improvements to the Ottoman army were significant. From 1883 to 1895, von der Goltz trained the so-called “Goltz generation” of Ottoman officers, many of whom would then play prominent roles in Ottoman military and political life (Akmeșe 2005: 24). He was given the title of “Pasha” and was named Mushir (Field Marshal) in 1895. He placed orders for arms and ammunition with German companies, particularly Mauser (Elgood 1995: 65). It was largely due to von der Goltz Pasha that the Ottoman State chose Germany over the UK and France as the source for about 1 million rifles to modernize its army, becoming one of Mauser’s major customer. In 1887, the Turkish placed a first order with Waffenfabrik Mauser for 500,000 rifles and 50,000 cavalry carbines. The Turkish 1887 rifle (Figure 6.28) was essentially a Gew. 71/84 bolt-action rifle with an eightshot tubular magazine and some improvements, such as the action strengthened by the addition of a single locking lug. The rifle, chambered for the smallest black powder military cartridge adopted by any nation (the 9.5 x 60R) was the last black powder cartridge rifle manufactured by Mauser. Except for the bolt numbers, the rifle was completely marked in Turkish, including the sight distances. The company name “Waffenfabrik Mauser Oberndorf am Neckar Deutsches Reich” appears in Turkish on the receiver (Figure 6.29).

Figure 6.28. Turkish Mod. 1887 Mauser rifle (photograph by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum). 89

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Figure 6.29. Name of the factory and serial number stamped in Turkish Arabic (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

As in those years all European countries were adopting small caliber smokeless powder cartridge rifles, the Ottomans terminated the contract after accepting 270,000 rifles. In fact, the Turkish contract specified that if any other nation had ordered rifles with a more advanced technology, that design would have replaced the Model 1887. This clause was utilized after Belgium adopted the Mauser Model 1889 rifle, chambered for a smokeless cartridge, and the Ottomans changed the remainder of the order with a new smokeless powder rifle, the Model 1890, chambered for the 7.65 x 53 mm Argentine rimless cartridge. 280,000 Model 1890 rifles were supplied to Türkiye, and in 1893 another stock of 150,000 Model 1890s and 201,000 Model 1893s were ordered, in caliber 7.65 mm. The Model 1893, derived from the Spanish Model 1892, is the only issued smokeless Mauser with a magazine cut-off. The cut off allows to single load the rifle keeping the magazine full. All Model 1893s were made between 1894 and 1896. After the development of the German Gewehr 1898, the Ottomans ordered new rifles in the pattern of the Gew. 98. These were still chambered for the 7.65x53 cartridge, with an action 6 mm shorter than the 7.92 Gew. 98 action, and other few changes. The rear sight was calibrated from 200 to 2,000 meters, in Arabic numerals. Two carbine versions were also introduced, called Model 1905, with barrels of 55 and 45 cm, and a turned down bolt handle. From 1933, the Turkish Republic re-barreled their old rifles to fire the far more common and powerful 8 mm Mauser, in a configuration commonly known as the Model 1938, even if the Turks never used this denomination. The Model 1938 is not really a single model, but rather a common set of features. Virtually every rifle was converted to 8 mm, including the 1890, 1893, and 1903 Models. From 1939, new receivers were also produced in Turkish arsenals and assembled with old barrels. The receivers are marked with the letters T.C. for Turkiye Cumhuriyeti (Republic of Türkiye), ASFA for Askari Fabrika (Military Factory), ANKARA, the arsenal name that can be K. Kale for Kirikkale Tufek Fabrikast (Kirikkale Rifle Factory), or ATF for Ankara Tufek Fabrikast (Ankara Rifle Factory), and the year of production ranging from 1939 to 1946. The presence of Turkish Mausers in Arabia is related to two main channels. The first was the distribution of weapons to client tribes by the Ottomans to strengthen them and keep them under their influence. This was especially frequent in the years before World War I. The other source was the private sale of weapons by Ottoman troops in Arabia. As they were not regularly paid, they often needed to sell weapons to survive.

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Figure 6.30. Spencer rifle action (image from www.leverguns.com).

American Spencer The Spencer repeating rifle is a lever-action, seven shot repeating rifle produced in the United States between 1860 and 1869. It was designed by Christopher Spencer (1833-1922), an inventor and technician who developed it in his free time after work. His carbine version was one of the most popular firearms in the Civil War and the most advanced military weapon of the time. The Spencer rifle, patented in 1860, was also the first practical repeater in the world. It fired a metal rimfire cartridge, which prevented any gas leakage from the back because the brass case expanded when fired sealing the chamber. The action had a rotating block activated by the trigger guard that acted as a lever. Lowering it opened the breech and extracted the spent cartridge. After raising the lever, a new cartridge was pushed into the chamber and the block locked. The seven shot magazine was into the stock, and the rounds were pushed by a spring (Figure 6.30). The case caliber of the cartridge was the .56-56 Spencer, with a 350-grain bullet, and charged with 45 grains of black powder. The two numbers mean the diameter at the bottom and the top of the case of the cartridge, while the actual bore of the barrel was .52” (13 mm). During the Civil War, rifles and carbines were also made in the calibers 56-52 and 56-50 Spencer, but with a barrel bore of .50” (12.7 mm). The length of the barrel was 76 cm for the rifle and 56 cm for the carbine. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Spencer proposed his rifle to the military authorities and after two years of tests the rifle was issued in 1863. The armed forces found the Spencer to be an excellent weapon. The Spencer was preferred to his main rival, the Henry rifle, for its strength, power, and durability. In battlefields, its firing rate was often crucial to grant the victory to the Unionists. With its seven rounds magazine it could be loaded and fired in a fraction of the time that was necessary for the other gun in use, like the .58-caliber Springfield or the .52 Sharps. Moreover, a cartridge box containing soldered iron tubes loaded with seven cartridges allowed for a more rapid reloading (Figure 6.31).

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Figure 6.31. Spencer rifle with its seven rounds tubular magazine (from welcometosteampunk.com).

Of the 144,500 Spencers made, 107,372 were acquired by the Federal Government during the war. It became the most popular of the carbines for cavalry use by the Union Army and was widely used in the West after the Civil War. Mainly issued for the cavalry, the carbine displays the typical saddle ring on the left side of the receiver. A shorter version of the carbine with a barrel of 51 cm. and the caliber .56-.50was issued in 1865. The Spencers were produced by the Spencer Repeating Rifle Company of Boston and the Burnside Rifle Co. of Providence. The presence in Oman of a Spencer Carbine is probably related to commercial missions in the last quarter of the 19th century. The relations between the Sultan of Oman and the Americans date back to the beginning of the 19th century when American whalers first called at the Island of Zanzibar. In 1830, the American firm John Bertram settled in Zanzibar selling cotton goods and hardware (Brode 1911: 1). In 1833 the United States made a commercial treaty with the Sultan, and three years later they established a trading consulate at Zanzibar (Brode 1911: 2). In 1838 the Sultan signed a treaty of amity and commerce with the United States, negotiated at Muscat by Mr. Roberts, Plenipotentiary of the US Government, who arrived with the sloop-of-war Peacock. It was the first treaty concluded between the ruler of Oman and the chief government of a great power, and it became the model of the subsequent British and French commercial treaties in1839 and 1844 (Lorimer 1970: 468). Oman was also the first Arab nation to recognize the United States, sending an envoy in 1841. In 1880, a Consul at Muscat was appointed by the United States of America in the person of a British merchant named Mr. Maguire (Lorimer 1970: 525).

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Plate 6.1. Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifle

(Lenght 126 cm, Caliber .303 - 7.7 mm). An original Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle almost complete, retaining the bayonet lug. It was made by the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield in 1903. The Royal Cyphers E. R. mean Edward Rex. Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910. This rifle is a Mk I* pattern as in 1899 both rifle and carbine underwent a minor upgrade series becoming the Mk I*. Because among the changes there was the omission of the cleaning rod, the one on the rifle is likely a later added. The sling is also a modern replacement. Madha Museum.

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Plate 6.2. Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifles

(Lenght 110.5 cm, Caliber .303 - 7.7 mm). A Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle made by the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd., with the barrel and forend shortened. Four silver embossed bands. National Museum, Muscat.

(Lenght 111 cm, Caliber .303 - 7.7 mm). A Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle made by the London Small Arms Co. Ltd. for the civilian market. It has the barrel shortened and a civilian walnut stock. The London Small Arms Co. Ltd., active from 1866 to 1935, was a contractor to the British Armed forces and produced many British service rifles, as well as sporting arms and shotguns. LSA Co. never managed to achieve high levels of production, preferring to focus on maintaining a greater level of workmanship on their firearms but, unable to compete with the more efficient factories of BSA and RSAF Enfield, it closed down in 1935. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 6.3. Magazine Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine Mk1*

(Lenght 100 cm, Caliber .303 - 7.7 mm). A Magazine Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine Mk1* made by the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield in 1900. The stock is shortened with a brass embossed sling band on the forend. The above picture shows the long-range rear sight. The Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine (LEC) was the last British cavalry carbine. It was produced between 1896 and 1904 by the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield in about 50,000 pieces. On the right side of the butt socket the marks are: the Royal Cyphers (V.R. or E.R.), the factory name Enfield, the year of production, the model acronym L.E.C. and the mark type (I or I*). The LEC was extensively used during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) by both British and Empire units. Thanks to their short length and a weight of 3.5 kilograms they were well suited and handy weapons for use by mounted troops in a campaign in which flying columns and patrols were a common feature to combat the guerilla of the mounted Boer commandos. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 6.4. Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III Rifles

(Lenght 113 cm, Caliber .303 British - 7.7 mm). Two Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III rifles retaining the whole original stock. The first dated 1908 and was made by the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd. It has an elegant and sober silver wires decoration on the stock. The second, bearing the mark of the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield, is dated 1915. Despite its length was not excessive its weight of about four kilos made it not easy to handle for small framed men. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 6.5. Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III Rifle

(Lenght 109 cm, Caliber .303 British - 7.7 mm). Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III rifle with heavily modified stock. The forend is shortened without the nosecap and the stock is covered with silver chiseled bands and wires of good quality, which contrast with the rawness of the leather butt cover. The rifle was made by the Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd. Factory in 1908. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 6.6. Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III Rifles Three examples of Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III rifles with the stock “sporterised” reducing or removing the forearm to make it lighter. Because of its wide diffusion and the availability of surplus ammunition, the SMLE is very popular as hunting and target shooting rifle. The commercial .303 British ammunition with soft point are especially effective on medium sized game like the Arab gazelle.

(Total length 104 cm, Barrel length 54.5 cm, Caliber .303 British - 7.7 mm). Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III. Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield. Year 1914. Shortened barrel with a new sight. Crude silver wires on the forend. Madha Museum.

(Total length 111.5 cm, Barrel length 62 cm, Caliber .303 British - 7.7 mm). Short Magazine Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk III*. Year 1952. Ishapore Rifle Factory, West Bengal, India. The acronym RFI for “Rifle Factory, Ishapore”, was adopted after the independence of India in 1947. The mark is in Arabic numerals as they replaced Roman numerals for official designations in 1944. The Ishapore Rifle Factory produced the SMLE in both .303 British and 7.62×51 mm NATO calibers until the 1980s. Madha Museum. ... ...

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(Total length 111.5 cm, Barrel length 62 cm, Caliber .303 British - 7.7 mm). A “Peddled Scheme” Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III* made in 1918. The “Peddled Scheme” rifles were partially manufactured by subcontractors to increase the rate of production between 1916 and 1918. In the “Scheme” the Standard Small Arms (SSA) of Birmingham was instructed to produce four parts: body with charger guide, bolt, bolt head and trigger guard. The barrels were to be subcontracted to Westley Richards. Other firms were contracted to produce less specialist parts. The sets of components were delivered to Enfield for assembly. In 1918 the SSA was taken over by the Ministry of Munitions and renamed National Rifle Factory No. 1. Approximately 200,000 SMLE were produced, with unique marks, bigger than the standard ones, on the right side of the butt socket. Instead of the manufacturer’s name, after the year of production there are the letters SHT.L.E. (Short Lee-Enfield) followed by the mark. The maker’s name, if present, is located on the left rear of the receiver and is simply SSA or NRF. Madha Museum.

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Plate 6.7. Short Magazine Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I*

(Total length 111.5 cm, Barrel length 62 cm, Caliber .303 British - 7.7 mm). Short Magazine Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I*. Savage Stevens Arms Co. Year 1942. During the Second World War, the No. 4 rifle was simplified for mass-production with the creation of the No. 4 Mk I* in 1942. It was produced only in North America, by Long Branch Arsenal in Canada and Savage Stevens Arms Co. in the USA. The rifles made by Savage were supplied to the UK under the Lend-Lease program and are all stamped “US PROPERTY”. The Savage Stevens Arms Co., located at Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, made also most of the Thompson submachine guns used in World War II. Private collection.

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Plate 6.8. Gras Infantry Rifle

(Total length 124.5 cm, Caliber 11 x 59 mm). A Gras Infantry Rifle Mod. 1874-80. The barrel is shortened by more than six centimeters. The stock was modified cutting away the forearm and adding a wooden pad to the butt. These weapons were worked in Belgium after French Government sold them and refitted to be exported all over the world. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 6.9. Gras Cavalry Carbines

(Length 118 cm, Caliber 11 x 59 mm). Three Gras Cavalry Carbines Mod. 1874-80. The first one is in its original condition while the last two have the stock shortened in the same way and with very similar silver decorations. The same silver design on the sling band suggests that they were likely modified by the same artisan. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 6.10. Gras Artillery Carbine

(Length 99 cm, Caliber 11 x 59 mm). Two Gras Artillery Carbine Mod. 1874/80. Their length under one meter made them very wieldy on horseback and camelback. The first one had the iron bands replaced, a leather cover over the barrel, and no provision for the sling. The second one was customized for hunting. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 6.11. Mauser Infantry Rifle Mod. 71

(Total length 114 cm, Barrel length 63 cm, Caliber 11.15 mm). A Mauser Infantry Rifle Mod. 71. The barrel and the forearm are shortened. On the receiver’s left side is stamped the model in Ghotic characters “I. G. Mod 71” (Infanterie Gewehr Model 1871). On the barrel’s breech are stamped the arsenal name “SPANDAU”, the Royal Cyphers “FW” for Fredrik William I of Prussia, the serial number “1333”, and the inspector’s crowned marks. The production year “1874” is stamped on the receiver’s right side. The presence of Belgian proof marks of Liege on the receiver proves that the rifle was traded as surplus by a Belgian firm. In the 1920s large stocks of M. 71 and M. 71/84 were available from Europe for export, complete with cartridges, at low prices as showed by the advertisement from the 1927 Bannerman Catalogue of Military Goods. Madha Museum.

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Plate 6.12. Mauser Rifles

(Total length 111 cm. Barrel length 60 cm, Caliber unknown). A Mauser Sporter based on the Karabiner 1898-08 rifle, marked on the receiver “Waffenfabrik Mauser A. G. Oberndorf A/N 1910”. The letters A/N are for “am Neckar”. Oberndorf am Neckar, in Wüttemberg (Germany) was the historical site of the Mauser factory. Madha Museum.

(Total length 125 cm, Barrel length 74 cm, Caliber 8 mm Mauser). A Mauser Gewehr Mod. 1898 rifle, marked on the receiver “Waffenfabrik Mauser A. G. Oberndorf A/N 1917”. Shortened fore end and leather sling. Madha Museum.

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Plate 6.13. Mauser 1924

(Total length 95 cm. Barrel length 45 cm). A Carbine Model 1924 with the Mauser 98 action. After the World War I the new Republic of Czechoslovakia bought from Mauser a whole factory to produce the Gew. 98. Reducing the barrel to 60 cm. they developed the model 1924 that soon became a commercial success being sold to many countries, including China. Also the Belgian Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre (FN) started to produce an own model 1922 and 1924. All were copies of the Model 98 with shortened barrels and simplified sights. The patent for the Mauser was owned by the merchant bank Ludwig Loewe & Co. shareholder both of the Mauser Waffenfabrik and of the Belgian FN, so the latter was involved in the production of Mauser rifles since 1889. This short carbine has the same lenght of the Colombian Carbine Mod. 1924 in caliber 7 x 57 mm made by FN and adopted by Colombia in 1930. Madha Museum.

(Total length 110 cm, Barrel length 60 cm, Caliber 8 mm Mauser). A Mauser 1924 Standard Model. On the stock, the Chinese stamp of the People’s Militia. How this weapon reached Oman is not clear. It may have been sold on the international market by the Chinese Government or maybe it was supplied to the communist rebels in Dhofar in the late 1960s. Madha Museum.

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Plate 6.14. Turkish Mauser Model 1905 Carbine

(Total length 103.5 cm, Barrel length 53 cm, Caliber 7,65 x 53 mm). A Mauser Model 1905 Carbine. The Carbine derived from the Model 1903 rifle with a shortened barrel and turned down bolt handle. The forearm is shortened and typical silver decoration have been added. On the receiver on the right, the tughra of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II and, in Arabic Turkish, the factory name of Waffenfabrik Mauser AG, Oberndorf, Germany, the year 1326 AH (1908 AD) and the serial number (12237). The absence of the notch at the bottom of the receiver denotes this Carbine is in the original 7.65 mm caliber. The weapons converted to the 7.92 mm cartridge have the receiver slightly notched to allow the loading of the longer rounds as can be seen for the receiver on the left. Madha Museum.

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Plate 6.15. American Rifles

(Total length 94 cm, Barrel length 51 cm, Caliber .56-50 Spencer).

(Total length 117 cm, Barrel length 66 cm, Caliber .500-95 Express). A Spencer Carbine Model 1865 (top). This Carbine was the same as the Model 1863 except for the 51 cm barrel and the caliber 56-50 Spencer. These weapons are also called “carbine cal. 52” to distinguish them from the weapons made later in the Civil War in the calibers 56-52 and 56-50 Spencer with a barrel bore of .50” (12.7 mm) and called “carbine cal .50” (Pagani 1997: 302). This carbine was also adopted by the cavalry of the Mexican Republic. Except for the buttstock covered with leather the carbine is in the original condition and maintains the saddle ring on the left of the stock like almost every carbine used in the Civil War. Its purpose was to secure the carbine, carried with the muzzle in a socket, while riding. The presence of such uncommon carbine in Muscat could be related with another American weapon in the Muscat National Museum (center and bottom). It is a 1876 Deluxe Winchester Rifle, Second Model, chambered for the powerful .50-95 Express cartridge. This expensive big game hunting rifle was produced in limited quantity (63,871) mainly for the English market. ... ...

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Chester Alan Arthur (1829 - 1886) was the 21st President of the United States from 1881 to 1885. Elected vice president of the United States became president after the assassination of the president James A. Garfield (from www.lov.gov). Turki bin Said (1832 - 1888) was Sultan of Muscat and Oman from 1871 to 1888. He was the fifth son of Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman (from en.wikipedia.org). The rifle was a present to Sultan Turki bin Said by the president of the United States Chester A. Arthur, as reported on the brass label on the stock “Presented by Chester A. Arthur President of United States to His Majesty SEYUD TOORKEE EN SEYOUD Sultan of Muskat in token of friendship”. The rifle has no visible serial number, since it was specifically ordered to the factory. It has a finely engraved nickel frame with scenes of hunting and wild animals and a very good walnut stock. It is likely that the Spencer carbine was presented in the same occasion by a member of the mission that brought the Winchester. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 6.16. Turkish Mauser Model 1905 Carbine

(Total length 104.5 cm, Barrel length 53 cm, Caliber 7.65 x 53 mm). A Mauser Model 1905 carbine almost unmodified. These carbines are very rare in their original caliber 7.65 x 53 mm, as the Turkish modified all their rifles in the 8 mm Mauser in the late 1930s. On the receiver the tughra of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the factory name, the year 1326 AH (1908 AD) and the serial number 7571. The rear sight is in Arabic numerals. On the buttstock is nailed a 10 paisa Indian aluminium coin of the 1978 “Food & Shelter for All” program, proving an use of the carbine still in recent years despite its obsolete caliber. Madha Museum.

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Chapter 7

Pistols

The use of firearms shorter than the arquebuses has been recorded since1364 in the Cronaca Perugina, claiming that the town of Perugia (in central Italy) ordered 500 one hand long bombards (about 17.5 cm) (Angelucci 1890: 454). A horseman with a handgun (Eques sclopetarius) was drawn in a 1469 treatise by the Italian inventor Taccola from Siena (Figure 7.1). The term “pistol” (from French pistolet) probably derives from pistallo (pommel) (Demmin 1869: 549) and not from the city of Pistoia in Italy, as often claimed. Since it was mainly used by the cavalry, its use only spread in the 16th century, when the wheellock became available, as the use of matchlock guns when riding a horse was definitely unpractical (Figure 7.2).

Figure 7.1. Horseman with handgun by Mariano of Iacopo (called the Taccola), De Machinis, Cod. Lat. Monacensis 28800 (BSBM), c. 75v (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich).

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Figure 7.2. German horseman armed with wheellock pistols (www.weaponsandwarfare.com). Compared to the matchlock, the wheellock represented a significant improvement because it was immediately ready to fire and did not reveal the burning match in the dark. This, and the possibility to mount it on short guns, made it the preferred weapon for criminals and murderers and wheellock pistols were often forbidden to private citizens.33 On the other hand, the mechanism was very complex and expensive to produce and maintain, and only few very specialized artisans could work on it. This limited its military use to selected and well-trained corps, as special forces, or artillery trains. In general, they were mainly issued to mounted units as reiters and dragoons. 112

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Figure 7.3. Balkan Ottoman flintlock pistol (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

Pistols widely spread when the flintlock (at first in the snaphaunce and miquelet types) made them cheaper to make and easier to maintain. The miquelet lock became the standard in all Islamic countries, the Ottoman Empire, part of Italy, the Spanish Empire, Crimea and the Caucasus.34 The Ottomans issued pistols to the cavalry only when miquelet locks became available, because the wheellock mechanisms were too complicated to manufacture and maintain for the local smiths. Nevertheless, sipahis (Ottoman horsemen) did not take firearms into further consideration until the 18th century, preferring lances and bows “having an opinion that in the field they make more noise than execution” (Knolles 1687-1700: book III, 88). In the 18th and 19th century, Bulgaria and the Balkans were the main centers of firearms manufacture for the Ottoman Empire until about 1875. After that date, the manufacture moved to Liege in Belgium, from where modern factory facilities supplied the Near East and the Asian market. The locks were usually of the miquelet type although, in the late 18th century, French flintlocks started to be imitated. In Albania, Montenegro, and Greece, pistols were very popular and widely owned (Figure 7.3). From the late 18th through the middle of the 19th century, the pistols produced in the Balkans followed the form of the early 1700 flintlock continental horse pistols, with long smoothbore barrels and bulbous grips. The horse pistols of the Balkan Ottomans, called kubur, have heavily decorated stocks, sometimes entirely made of brass or solid silver filigree (Figure 7.4). Barrels and flintlocks could be made locally or imported from Europe. The locks produced in the Ottoman Balkans are characterized by a grooved frizzen instead of the smooth frizzen of European-made locks. This was a reminder of the first Spanish miquelet locks that commonly had the frizzen grooved vertically with the valleys between the ridges guiding the sparks into the priming pan (Lindsay 1967: 73). Ottoman locks are also often punched with the thugra of the Sultan. Albania was a region in the Ottoman Empire that produced great quantities of rat-tail pistols. Particularly ornate pistols, called Ledenica, were made in the town of Risan, on the coast of Albania, and Kotor in Montenegro (Tirri 2004: 160). Their allmetal brass or silver stock is richly decorated with engravings and filigree. It seems that they were made by Jewish silversmiths banished from Spain and all the other kingdoms ruled by Philip III of Habsburg in the second expulsion period in 1605.35 Many of these Jews resettled in North Africa and in the Ottoman regions, including Albania. Mercenaries from Albania, Montenegro, and Greece were enrolled in the Ottoman army and carried their kubur pistols in all the Empire, North Africa, and Arabia. 113

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Figure 7.4. Pair of Albanian Ledenica kubur pistols with the stock entirely made of solid silver filigree (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

Figure 7.5. Ramrod suma (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

Figure 7.6. Early 19th century silver Ottoman Greek cartridge pouch palaska with two suspension rings on the sides and embossed decoration with stylized minarets amidst flowers and foliage (photograph by V. Clarizia, private collection).

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Figure 7.7. Example of European travel flintlock pistol made for the Eastern market probably in Belgium. There is no provision for the ramrod while the flared muzzle made easier to reload on horseback or a moving carriage (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Bait Adam Museum).

These pistols tended to use false or decorative ramrods, since the Ottomans, to avoid losing the ramrod when fighting on horseback, carried the ramrods (suma) separately from the pistol and hanging from a sash tied around the waist or suspended with a throng around the neck (Tirri 2004: 163). When present, the socalled false ramrod pipe at the bottom of the forend was just a conventional design. The suma is shaped as a tubular rod with a pommel and an arched suspension (Figure 7.5). Sometimes it can be threaded to conceal a stiletto blade or a pair of tweezers. Another accoutrement used with pistols in the Ottoman Empire was a cartridge pouch, called palaska, made of silver or brass, chiseled and embossed (Figure 7.6). Pistols appeared in Arabia in the 19th century and were generally of European origin, mostly Belgian or British. However, they were rare among the Bedouins, and only shaikhs seldom had pistols (Figure 7.7). The cause of this scarcity is probably due to some factors, such as for example the price, that was comparatively higher than a rifle, and the problems related to the management of a flintlock or capslock gun, i.e., provision for flints or caps, maintenance, and repairs of the locks.

Figure 7.8. False pistol (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum). 115

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Figure 7.9. Pair of French style pistols with percussion lock; these pistols, made in India, Pakistan, or Afghanistan, imitated the flintlock models exported to the Ottoman Empire from Belgium, France, and England in the 19th century (top); Jezail percussion musketoon of Indian or Afghan origin with the stock decorated with bone inlays; the lock and trigger guard are of a very poor manufacture and crudely nailed on (bottom) (photographs by V. Clarizia, Madha Museum). In addition, they were of little value in desert raids as, at long distance, the matchlock guns (or the Martini Henry later) were much more effective, while in hand combat spears or swords were more useful and economic. For these reasons, pistols were regarded more like status symbols than actual weapons, and sometimes even fake pistols, unable to fire, were carried just as an attribute of rank. The example of the flintlock pistol in Figure 7.8 looks credible at a first sight. At a closer inspection, it reveals to be a fake gun not able to fire. Probably, it was locally made for a customer who wanted to show to have a pistol but could not (or would not) afford to purchase a real one. The lock, trigger, and trigger guard are of soft iron, the springs are not of tempered steel, there is no vent hole on the barrel to ignite the powder, and nails were used instead of screws. Furthermore, the seemingly bone inlays on the stock are made of gypsum. The pistols found in Oman are seldom of good quality, or in good condition. This is likely to happen because most of them were of the cheapest types, imported from Pakistan or India. The workmanship of these pistols is very poor even considering that they were probably made with hand tools only (Figure 7.9). 116

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Plate7.1. Pair of Kubur Pistols

... ...

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(Total length 56 cm, Barrel length 36 cm, Caliber 16 mm). A luxury pair of Albanian Ledenica kubur pistols. The stock of solid silver is decorated with a fine floral scrollwork chased in relief and is gilded with an amalgam of mercury. The miquelet lock is covered to protect the external mechanism. The barrel is incised with floral and geometrical patterns. The trigger with an en suite openwork. Even the heads of the screws are finely fluted. On the back of the grooved frizzen the hexagonal struck of the maker’s mark. Private Collection.

(Height 14.5 cm, Length 10.5 cm, Width 4 cm, Weight 369 g). An Ottoman Greek cartridge box palaska of cusped rectangular shape of chiseled and embossed solid silver. The front shows two lions separated by an elaborate flower vase, all within rope twist borders. The hinged lid is surmounted with an open-work panel which shows two griffin like animals facing a scallop shell motif. On the back a plain silver plate with a belt loop. This fine example of palaska is in the style of Ioannina silver works with high relief and elaborate motifs. Ioannina, in North-western Greece, was an important centre for silversmithing. Private Collection.

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Plate 7.2. British Percussion Pistol

(Total length 37 cm, Barrel length 22 cm, Caliber 11.8 mm). Often the pistols show the signs of a long operating life like this British percussion pistol converted from flintlock. The brass round barrel is marked “LONDON”, with Birmingham’s proof marks. The trigger and the ramrod are missed. This pistol in origin was a trade pistol made for the North America fur trade market by Ketland. Thomas Ketland was a Birmingham gun maker founder of the T. Ketland & Co., active between 1760 and 1821. The peak of the export market was in the years 1790-1805. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 7.3. Percussion Pistol

(Total length 41 cm, Barrel length 26.5 cm, Caliber 12 mm). A percussion pistol with rifled octagonal damascened barrel and fluted walnut stock. Silver wires on the stock and one embossed silver band. Not visible markings. This pistol was likely made in Belgium at Liege for the East market. This is confirmed by the lack of the notch for the ramrod underneath the barrel, since Eastern users preferred to carry the ramrod separately hanging from the belt. The Liege origin is suggested by the fluted stock and the damascened barrel. By 1830, false Damascus was used by the Liege barrel makers particularly for export arms and by the end of 19th century almost thirty different types of true Damascus pattern barrel were available in Liege (Elgood 1995: 60). In the second half of 19th century, Liege was the biggest arms production center of the world. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 7.4. “Khyber Pass” Pistols

Two examples of “Khyber Pass” pistols. The lock plates have the mark of the English East India Company, a lion, rampant-gardant, holding a crown. This mark was adopted early in the 19th century by the Company, replacing the so called “four mark”, an heart shaped shield quartered by a diagonal cross with the initials V.E.I.C. (United East India Company) in the quarters (Blackmore 1994: 135-136). Even if of not too bad quality, the locks are not Birmingham made because the date are poorly stamped with bad spacing, different height of the numerals and using fonts without serif, while the fonts in use in the 19th century almost always had the serifs. The protruding screw heads of the internal lock mechanism of the second pistol are also not like the smooth British originals. On the right, the East India Company “Four mark” and the “Lion mark”. The original cross above the heart was modified in a “4” to not offend the Muslim troops serving in India with a Christian symbol. Private collection.

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Chapter 8

Cannons

The history of the cannon is strictly related to the history of firearms. In its modern sense the term cannon includes all types of artillery pieces, even if “ordnance is the most accurate and acceptable generic term which hembraces all those weapons of war which use an explosive charge to propel a missile in the direction of the enemy, and which are larger than those which can be used as personal arms” (Hughes1969: 1). The term cannon derives from the Italian word cannone, meaning large tube, which came from the Latin canna (reed). It designated a class of forged iron breech loaders guns that evolved in the same years of the large bombards with longer barrels, ranging in general from twenty to thirty calibers. They were designed to maximize the velocity and range of the projectile instead of its mass, like for the bombards. Development of Artillery As mentioned in Chapter 1, the composition of gunpowder was known since the 13th century. In Europe, the use of gunpowder is attested in the siege of Seville (1247) and Cordoba (1280) in Spain. The Moors used guns against the defenders of the Alcazar in 1343 and in a naval action between the Moors and the Spanish in 1351, the ship’s cannon won the battle (Lindsay 1967: 32). From the last years of the 13th century, these so-called “firearms” started to be used in Europe, but only to burn the besieged places and the war machines of the besiegers. The idea of putting a projectile into a tube and ejecting it using the propulsive power of gunpowder seems to have originated in Europe, where gunpowder had been described since the middle of the 13th century. It was probably an accident that suggested using the powder to throw objects through a tube: cracking the saltpeter, the sulfur, and the carbon in a mortar, the mixture exploded launching away the pestle. The first European guns were mortars with a little hole at the bottom to ignite the powder standing on the back, without (too much) risk for the gunner. There is little doubt that at first the chief advantage supposed to be possessed by these firearms was the terror and confusion produced by their use (Greener 1910: 23). In 1314, the Commercial Records of Ghent contain more than one entry demonstrating that guns and powder had been dispatched to England that year. The use of bombards is mentioned in the siege of Metz in 1324 and in a document in the city of Florence in 1326 (Provvisioni all’anno, Febbraio 11 1326, Archivio di Stato di Firenze, fol. 65). In England, the depiction of a cannon can be found in the 1327 Millemete manuscript in which one of the images shows a vase-shaped tube lying on a trestle, with a large arrow coming out of the muzzle and a warrior lighting the touch-hole (Figure 8.1). The new weapon soon spread throughout Western Europe, and cannons were employed by English ships in 1338. In the Arab world, artillery was first developed by the Mamluks and the Ottomans in the middle of the 14th century. In his book at-Ta’arif bi Mustalah ash-Sharif, written in 1340, Ibn Fadl Allah Al-Umari describes a weapon called makāhil al-barud which could be used both for throwing fire (nār) and for shooting projectiles (banadik) (quoted in Zaky 1967: 53). In 1366, artillery was in use both in the Mamluk navy and into siege warfare on land, as witnessed by contemporary historians, and in 1389-1390, during the skirmishes for the accession to the throne, artillery was present in the sieges of the Cairo citadel and Damascus. 122

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Figure 8.1. The earliest representation of a European cannon. Walter De Milemete, De Notabilitatibus, Sapientiis, et Prudentiis Regum (particular) (Library of Christ Church Collection, Oxford, n. 92, fol. 70.) After that, the employment of artillery constantly increased, and became part of the warfare of the kingdom. Sultan Qythāy (1468-1496) provided his fortress in Alexandria with a large number of guns, and Sultan alGhāwri established a foundry of cannons in Cairo. The Ottomans encountered firearms through the Balkans. The Venetians and the Hungarians took cannons in the Balkans in the mid-14th century, and from 1378 cannons were manufactured in Ragusa (now Dubrovnik in Croatia) (Petrović 1975: 169). A few years later, cannons were also manufactured in Bosnia and Transylvania, but Venice and Ragusa remained the major suppliers in the region. The Ottomans used firearms at the battle of Kosovo in 1389 and at the first siege of Constantinople in 1395-1402. Under Sultan Murad II (1404-1451), they started to cast bronze siege cannons, but it was only with Mehmed II (14511481) that the Turkish artillery became the most powerful in the world. Around the middle of the 14th century, improvements in smelting methods made the construction of tubular barrels of hammer welded hoops and staves eventually possible. These heavy muzzle loading artilleries called bombards had relatively short barrels of five or six calibers, and powder chambers with internal diameters smaller than the bore (Figure 8.2). Because of their relevant weight, these first guns were mainly used in fixed positions to attack or defend fortifications (Figure 8.3). Bombards could throw stone balls, the same projectiles used with throwing machines (ballistas, onager, trebuckets), and the only material available for giant cannons at the time. Bombards and cannons reached very large dimensions: the “Faulle Mette”, made of forged iron in Braunschweig (1411), had a caliber of 90 cm and a length of 3.6 meters; the “Dulle Griete” of Ghent, dated about 1455, had a caliber of 62 cm, and a length of 4.96 meters; the “Mons Meg” of Edinburgh had a bore of 49.5 cm and a length of 4 meters; the bronze “Tsar-pouchka” of Moscow had a bore of 89 cm, a length of 5.34 meters, and was cast in 1586 (Deroko 1963: 169-170). They shot granite balls weighting more than 320 kg (Lindsay 1967: 29). A bronze bombard cast in Innsbruck in 1404 and now in the collection of the Musée de l’Armée in Paris, weighs 4,581 kilograms and threw a 219-kilograms stone ball. Before the conquest of Constantinople the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II had already arranged the cast of large bronze cannons by European founders. Two huge bombards, made by Urbanus of Transylvania for the Ottomans, in fact played an important role in the siege and conquest of Constantinople in 1453 (Figure 8.4). 123

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Figure 8.2. Mortar of forged iron with a bore of 88 cm and a length of 2.59 m, made in Styria (Austria) in 1410; taken by the Ottomans, it was got back by the Habsburgs in 1529 (courtesy Vienna, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum).

Figure 8.3. The siege of Orléans in 1428 where the English used fifteen breech loading cannons (from Les Vigiles de la mort de Charles VII by Martial d’Auvergne, about 1483, Bibliothèque nationale de France). 124

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Figure 8.4. The so-called “Mehmed II” (caliber 70 cm, length 4.2 meters); a 15th century bronze cannon of the same type was used by the Ottomans in the siege of Constantinople in 1453 (courtesy Museo Storico Nazionale d’Artiglieria, Turin). Probably one of the most remarkable Turkish cannons is the so-called Dardanelles gun in the Tower of London. It weights almost 9,000 kilograms with a bore of 63.5 centimeters and a length assembled (is cast in two parts) of 518 centimeters (Blackmore 1976: 172) (Figure 8.5). Given the impossibility to transport such huge cannons on the inaccessible roads of the Balkans, the Turks used to cast them where they were to be used, carrying the metal ingots by caravans. Having served their purpose, they were broken up and moved to other sieges (Greener 1910: 28) (Deroko 1963: 170).

Figure 8.5. The so-called “Dardanelles gun” inscribed on the muzzle with “God protect Him - Sultan Mehmed Khan, son of Murad – work of Munir Ali – The month of Rejeb year 868 (March 1464)” (courtesy Royal Armouries of the Tower, London). 125

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Figure 8.6. A Veuglaire composed of a powder chamber and a tube (from the Dictionary of French Architecture from 11th to 16th Century by Eugène Viollet le Duc, 1856). Later, smaller cannons were also made of two pieces with a tube opened at both ends and assumed different names: veuglaires in French; swivel in English, bombardetas in Spanish; bombardella da braga in Italian; schlangen in German (Figure 8.6). The gunpowder charge was usually put in a separate movable breech-block or chamber. Each cannon was usually supplied with two or more extra chambers. The first ordnances were made of iron bands welded together and strengthened by hoops and covered with boiled leather. From a passage of the De remediis utriusque fortunae written by Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) in 1382 it seems that wooden cannons existed in Italy, while leather covered cannon, lined with copper tubes hooped with iron, were used by the Swedish in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Bronze cannons are recorded in 1378, when thirty pieces were cast in Augsburg (Germany) by the foundry Aarau (Demmin 1869: 78). The bronze used contained 90% of copper and 10% of tin. In 1380, Venice commissioned the German founder Constantin Anklitzen to produce huge cannons to protect the city against the (Lindsay 1966: 133). At first, stone balls were used as projectiles, but in 1365 the artillery of the Duke of Brunswick had already employed lead balls, and the new projectiles were thus successfully used by German gunners in service with the Venetians at the siege of Chioggia in 1380.36 Iron cannon balls were used by the French when they invaded Italy in 1494. In the early 17th century, ball and powder were combined into a fabric bag or cartridge, making the loading of guns quicker and safer. Furthermore, explosive projectiles with powder filled shells were developed in the 17th century. In the 15th century cannons started to be mounted on wheeled gun carriages, and around the middle of the 15th century trunnions were introduced in Germany. These innovations dramatically improved the effectiveness and efficiency of the cannon since they could be quickly pointed in every direction and moved around on the battlefield. With a delay of half a century, ordnance also started to be used aboard. The reasons of this delay are due to both technical and socio-economic problems. Among the technical problems, there were the extreme vulnerability of ships to fire, and the quality of the gunpowder. The main component of the gunpowder is saltpeter (i.e., potassium nitrate), the quantity of which could vary according to the different recipes but is 126

Cannons

generally around 75%. The earliest methods to obtain saltpeter mainly produced calcium nitrate, with some potassium and manganese nitrates. Because calcium nitrate is more hygroscopic than potassium nitrate, it was of little utility in the very wet environment of naval service, becoming deliquescent when absorbing the atmospheric humidity. It was only when, around 1400, aqueous saltpeter was treated with wood ash to precipitate out calcium and manganese salts, that producing relatively pure potassium nitrate suitable for service afloat became possible. Among the socio-economic problems, a significant role was played by the continental crisis of the 14th century. Famines, the Black Plague, and the Hundred Years’ War had wiped out a great part of the European population. Capital was scarce and maritime traffic reduced. Only when maritime commerce resumed, maritime armaments attracted investments, and it is not accidental that Venice and Portugal, for whose economy sea trades were strategic, played a leading role in the development of naval ordnance. Although references to shipboard ordnance are seldom present in the 14th century, it was only from the beginning of the 15th century that the presence of naval artillery became increasingly common. Around the same years, black powder began to assume its definitive form with the appearance of corning, the process of compounding the ingredients wet and forming the powder into grains (Guilmartin 2007: 660). Before corning, guns used slow burning powder that merely burns without detonating, so it was suitable for early, weak cannons. It needed relatively long barrels for a complete combustion of the powder for the produced gases to give maximum velocity to the projectile while still in the barrel. In corned powder, the elements are kneaded together into grains, creating a detonating burning which releases the gases much more rapidly, making gunpowder about 30% stronger. When gunpowder explodes, it increases in volume about 4,000 times, producing a highly compressed gas behind the cannonball in a very short time.37 Thus, shorter barrels could allow the projectile to reach its maximum possible speed. With the use of the new propellant, the design of the ordnances had to change, but only in the first half of the 16th century did founders learn how to cast guns which could withstand the pressures of the new gunpowder even with shorter barrels. After the 1880s, black powder was replaced by nitrocellulose. This substance naturally burns slowly, making it a good propellant and producing little smoke, which gave it its name of smokeless powder. The war vessels of the early sixteenth century were of two distinct types: galleys and full rigged ships like caravels and carracks (Figure 8.7). Galleys could be armed with heavy ordnance, positioned in the main centerline bow, and mounted on sliding carriages capable of absorbing the recoil. Galleys, however, were expensive to build and, above all, to operate, due to the large crew they needed. Moreover, they were inapt for oceanic navigation and had little commercial utility. The full rigged ships, instead, were mainly armed with small cannons which were fixed to the decks and fired through ports in the bulwarks. This ordnance consisted of wrought iron bombards on sledge or trestle mounts and swivel guns, mostly wrought iron breech loaders (Guilmartin 2007: 663). The caravels, although smaller than the carracks, could carry heavier guns, thanks to their low freeboard that allowed to mount them near the waterline. The result was a greater damage to the enemy hulls and a lower risk of instability. Some carracks carried heavy ordnance as well but mounted low in the stern and firing rearward through ports to avoid compromising the structure and stability of the vessel. With the invention of watertight gunport, attributed to a Frenchman named Descharges in 1501 (Anderson 1926: 127) (Cipolla 1965: 82; Robertson 1921: 7), it was possible to mount heavy shipboard ordnance low in the hull near the waterline, thus avoiding stability problems and causing significant damage to the hull of the opponent vessel.38 127

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Cannons

Galleys, carracks, and caravels of the 16th century represented in the colored etching “La tres célèbre cité de Gennes 1571” (Raccolta Topografica Comune di Genova n. 1811).

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Figure 8.8. “In 1551, under Francis I, the artillery of the French army consisted of six pieces [...] The cannon was nearly 9 feet 10 inches long, weighed 5,300 lbs., carried a bullet 33¼ lbs., and was drawn upon a carriage by twenty-one horses. The great culverin was nearly 10 feet long, weighed 4,000 lbs., carried a bullet 15 lbs. 2 ozs., and was drawn by seventeen horses. The bastard culverin was 9 feet long, weighed 2,500 lbs., and carried a bullet weighing 7 lbs. 2 ozs.; it was drawn by eleven horses. The small culverin weighed 1,200 lbs., and carried a bullet weighing 2 lbs. The falcon weighed 700 lbs. and carried a bullet of 1 lb. 10 ozs.; and the falconet, which was 6 feet 4 inches long, weighed 410 lbs., and carried a 14-ozs. bullet” (Greener 1910: 30-31). Ordnances assumed many names, depending on their dimension, charging system and country (Figure 8.8 and Table 8.1). The medieval system of naming and classification of the wide range of calibers and lengths extant was complex and often confusing. They were often named after birds for their swiftness, like the Falconet, Falcon, Saker, Merlin, etc., or after beasts of prey for their cruelty, as the Basilisk, Culverin, Serpentine, Aspic, Dragon, Syrene, etc. During the 16th century, European countries started to claim the newly discovered lands in the attempt to acquire them. “The establishment of the great national states with big armies and navies and their incessant wars, together with geographical exploration and overseas expansion, all added to the demand for cannon” (Cipolla 1965: 26). European rulers established their own arsenals allocating a great deal of resources. The improvement in the gun founding was often boosted bringing master founders from other countries to produce guns and to teach native craftsmen to cast guns. A manual that describes step-by-step how to produce a cast bronze cannon titled De la Pirotechnia was written in 1540 by the Italian master Vannoccio Biringuccio and became a technical reference for founders all over Europe.39 Table 8.1. English ordnance at the time of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I (1558-1625) (Greener 1910: 31). Bore of gun (inches)

Weight of gun (pounds)

Cannon royal Cannon Cannon serpentine Bastard cannon

8.50 8.00 7.00 7.00

8,000 8,000 5,500 4,500

Demi-Cannon

6.75

Cannon Petro Culverin Basilisk

6.00 5.50 5.00

Name

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Bore of gun (inches)

Weight of gun (pounds)

Demi-Cuverin Bastard Culverin Sacar Minion

4.00 4.00 3.50 3.50

3,400 3,000 1,400 1,000

4,000

Falcon

2.50

660

4,000 4,500 4,000

Falconet Serpentine Rabinet

2.00 1.50 1.00

500 400 300

Name

Cannons

Figure 8.9. Early 17th century 24-pounder bronze culverin, probably Flemish, commissioned by the Order of St. John of Malta; it was brought from Malta to England in 1800 (photograph by V. Clarizia, Royal Armouries of the Tower, London). With the increasing demand for ordnance, the cast guns spread around the world, serving as powerful weapons, and often remained into foreign lands through alliance or capture. Because bronze cast cannons were expensive,40 the ships were armed with all available ordnances including those captured or purchased from foreign foundries (Figure 8.9). This often caused problems to the gunners to supply guns with the correct size of shot and amount of powder, because of the great variety of bore sizes, barrel length and thicknesses, powder charges, and projectile weights. Due to their cost, bronze guns were employed until they could no longer be of use, with a life span which could reach 150 years. The Swedish Royal Ship Kronan, which sank in 1676, had one gun on board that was cast in 1514. The lack of standardization was a problem already remarked by Biringuccio in his work De la Pirothechnia (Biringuccio 1540: 78) and by the middle of the 16th century European sovereigns began making attempts to standardize the design and production of ordnances (Figure 8.10). This problem was partially solved by the mid to late 17th century, when the various types of ordnances started to become standardized in terms of caliber, and named by the weight of the shot they fired instead of by names such as culverin, cannon, and minion, which could refer to different size ordnances. Therefore, they started to be referred to as 12 pounders, 18 pounders, 32 pounders etc.; however, as the weight of the pounder was different in the various countries, standardization was only approximate.41 Despite their variety, the 16th and 17th century ordnances can be classified in five main categories: the culverin, the cannon, the mortar, the perrier, and the swivel (Figure 8.11). The first four categories are based on the ratio of the caliber to length. The culverins were the longest guns with a 32 to 34 caliber to bore ratio, and sometimes 40 or more. Their calibers ranged from 3.8 to 14 cm. (1½” to 5½”). The cannon had shorter barrels, from 15 to 28 calibers long, and fired heavy shots, from 10 to 60 pounds. They became the standard naval weapons on galleons after 1650. The mortars were the shortest of the muzzle loaders, from 1½ to 3 calibers in length, with large bore designed to fire large and heavy projectiles. The perriers were short and stubby, and usually measured between 6 and 8 calibers in length with a relatively large bore. They originally fired stone shots (hence their name), and sometimes were breech loaders. the swivel gun, mounted on a swivel bracket, derived from the smallest perriers. These small guns were often breech loaders and were made of bronze or wrought iron. They usually fired stone balls. 131

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Figure 8.10. Parts of a cannon (Peterson 2014: 192).

Figure 8.11. Comparison between the four 16th century ordnances of the same bore (image by the author from Meide 2002). 132

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Figure 8.12. British 24-pounder iron howitzer on its original iron garrison carriage, cast around 1850 by Henckell & Co. in Wandsworth, London (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Royal Armouries of the Tower, London). A new artillery developed in the 18th century was the howitzer (Figure 8.12). The howitzer was basically a cross between the cannon and mortar with a length at about 5 to 10 calibers. It could fire large shells at a medium to high trajectory and being lighter than a mortar it could be mounted on a carriage, greatly increasing its mobility. Howitzers were never widely used at sea, especially after the introduction of the carronade, whose attributes made it extremely effective for close ship-to-ship action. Cannons in Oman At the beginning of the 16th century, thanks to naval guns mounted aboard ships, the Portuguese took hegemony in the Indian Ocean and emerged as a world power. The Portuguese maritime sea power originated from Dom Henrique o Navegador (Prince Henry the Navigator, 1394-1460 AD) who founded the first nautical school and observatory at Sagres, in Portugal. This school became the centre of geographical studies and the world’s first academy of nautical astronomical science and chart making, gathering the most skillful pilots and scientific experts of the time. Thanks to Dom Henrique’s efforts, the Portuguese developed the art of navigation and shipbuilding, and were the first to use the astrolabe for navigation. They discovered not only new lands but also the greatest part of the route of oceanic navigation. In Oman, cannons were already present when, in 1507, the Portuguese with a fleet of six vessels led by Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Muscat on their way to Hormuz. From the accounts written by de Albuquerque and published by his son Bras in 1576, it appears that the city of Calayate (Qalhat), at the time under the Kingdom of Hormuz, had a tower with four bombards (de Albuquerque 1922: 82). During the assault of Curiate (Quriyat), the Portuguese were fired by four large bombards (bombardas grossas) (de Albuquerque 1922: 66), and after the conquest they found twenty-five pieces of artillery in the city (de Albuquerque 1922: 69). Bombards were also used by the defenders of Muscat, where “multas armas, arcos, frechas, lanças, e outras armaduras de ferro a seu modo, e muito cobre, trinta bombardas antre grandes, e pequenas” (many arms, bows, arrows, lances, and other iron armours of their type, much copper, and thirty bombards, both large and small) were found (de Albuquerque 1922: 80).

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The origin of these artilleries is unknown, since there are no remains of them. At the time, this part of the Arabian Peninsula was part of the Kingdom of Hormuz, which in turn was vassal of the Persian Empire. Hence, the bombards should have been supplied by the Persians. In effect, Uzun Hasan (1423-1476) of the Aq Qoyunlu dynasty that ruled Persia between 1453 and 1478, was in contact with the Christian countries of Europe that saw him as an ally against the common enemy, the Ottoman Empire. In 1471, the Senate of Venice sent ambassador Josafa Barbaro to Uzun Hasan to assist the Persians against the Turks with four galleys loaded with “artillerie, certein bombardes, springards, and hangonnes with powder, shott, waggens, and other irons, of divers sortes” (Barbaro 1873: 37), but the fleet stopped at Cyprus and the Ambassador Barbaro alone reached the Shah only in 1474. In his description of the army of the King there is no mention of firearms, as well as in the account by his fellow citizen Ambrogio Contarini sent to Persia in 1473. The lack of artillery in the Persian army is confirmed by the fact that in 1473 at Terjan the Turkish army defeated the Persians also thanks to their guns. Until the rose of the Safavid dynasty with the Shah Isma’il, the only reference to the use of artillery by the Persians is at the siege of Arantelia in 1507. The master gunner was one Hamzabeg from Trebizond (Kaushik 2014: 105). The presence of significant artillery in Persia and cannons is attested only after 1515. For these reasons, it is highly unlikely that the bombards found by the Portuguese in Oman in 1507 originated from Persia. Excluding the Ottomans that were at war with Persia, the only other Muslim power with artillery was the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo. The use of artillery in the Mamluk Sultanate took place between the sixties and the early seventies of the 14th century (Zaky 1967: 52). In 1479, Sultan Qaitbay (1468-1496) built a fortress in Alexandria that was surrounded by a large number of guns (Zaky 1967: 52). However, in 1498 there were only “few heavy guns in the country”, as witnessed by the German knight Arnold von Harff (Letts 1946: 104, quoted by Elgood 1995: 24). A few years later, the Sultan Qansuh Al-Ghawri, ruling between 1501 and 1516, aware of the need to modernize his army, bought cannons abroad and started casting cannons at large scale in a foundry in southern Cairo with the help of foreign founders. Many of these guns were transported to the ports of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea for coastal fortifications or to be used on board of ships, to defend them against the Portuguese and the Ottomans (Zaky 1967: 58). After Vasco da Gama’s expedition, the Portuguese took control of the spices trade in the Indian Ocean, competing with the Mamluks and Venice that saw their rich business threatened by their presence. Venice could not openly support the Arab merchants of India against a Christian state and sent a secret embassy to Egypt soliciting the Sultan to react. There is no official proof about arms supplied by Venice to the Mamluks, but some scholars claim that Venice indeed supplied galleys and cannons (Clot 2009: 238-239). Nevertheless, a Mamluk fleet sailed from Suez to counter the Portuguese in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean in 1505. The fleet was composed by twelve ships with artillery and many men aboard (Sanudo 1879-1903: VI, 311). With the help of Malik Ayyaz, the governor of the city of Diu, and the guns he had recovered from the shipwreck of Esmeralda and São Pedro, this fleet defeated the Portuguese in the battle of Chaul, in March 1508. It is then possible, though impossible to demonstrate, that some of the cannons carried by the Mamluk fleet were left in Oman and used against de Albuquerque. For over a century after their conquest, the Portuguese maintained a hold on Muscat and other sites on the coast, where they built or restored many forts. Throughout the 16th century, the Portuguese were the strongest sea power from the Sea of Oman to the southern tip of Africa. Through a chain of forts and fortified sites positioned in key strategic points around the Indian Ocean, they managed to control the flow of trade during the sixteenth and the early years of the seventeenth century, though frequently challenged

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by the Ottoman navy and the Safavid Persians. Nonetheless, the Portuguese did not have the power nor the interest to extend their power outside some key places on the coast, thus the interior remained under the rule of the local nobles. During their conflict with the Portuguese for the control of the trades in the region, both the British and the Dutch supplied the Omanis with gunners, cannons, and ammunitions. Under the leadership of Imam Nasser bin Murshid, who power in 1624, the Omanis started a campaign in 1625 against the Portuguese in 1625, which led Imam Sultan bin Saif to retake Muscat in 1650, and his son Saif bin Sultan to extend the conflict onto the African coast, culminating with the Omani seizure of the Portuguese Fort of Mombasa in 1698. The Omanis organized their fleet with ships influenced by the English and Dutch ships, and emulated the size and weight of their armament, making their own fleet a formidable naval power in the Indian Ocean, and creating the basis for the Omani maritime empire (Elgood 1995: 85-86). “In 1695 the fleet of the Masqat Arabs, as they were then called by strangers, comprised five considerable vessels carrying 1,500 men; and in 1715 it consisted of one ship of 74 guns, of two of 60 and of one of 50, besides 18 smaller vessels carrying 32 to l2 guns, and some Trankis or rowing vessels of 8 to 4 guns, an imposing naval force with which the officers of the Imam terrorized the shores of the Indian and Arabian oceans from Cape Comorin to the Red Sea” (Lorimer 1970: I, 403). In 1775 the Imam’s navy gave assistance to Türkiye during Karim Khin’s attack on Basrah, “consist[ing] of no less than 34 vessels, of which four, built at Bombay, carried 44 guns each, five were frigates of 18 to 24 guns, and the rest ketches and galliots mounting from 11 to 8 guns apiece” (Lorimer 1970: I, 412). After the British and the French unsuccessfully tried to obtain permission to establish political agents at Muscat in 1785, the war between the British and the French altered the balance of power in the region, threatening British commercial and political interests in the Indian sub-continent. The result were the 1798 and 1800 treaties with Britain, which de facto excluded the French and Dutch from Muscat during the war and gave the British the right to erect a fort at Bandar Abbas. Thanks to the strong position of Oman from Makran to the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba on the East African Coast, the treaties established a special relationship with Britain based on equality rather than a protectorate, which provided Al Bu Said leaders with concrete commercial and political advantages. In these years, the flagship of Sultan Sayid’s fleet was the Gunjava, a vessel weighting 1,000 tons and carrying 32 guns of various calibers. In 1800, he had three others rigged armed in the European manner, each equipped with more than 20 guns (Lorimer 1970: I, 435). His successor Sayid II owned a line battleship, the Liverpool, which he sometimes commanded in person, with 74 guns and two decks. In 1836, he presented the Liverpool, too large for the service of Muscat, to the British King William IV, receiving in return a handsome yacht, the Prince Regent (Lorimer 1970: I, 467). In the same year, Wellstead reported that “His navy consists of four heavy frigates, two of fifty guns; three corvettes, from twenty-two to eighteen guns; and several smaller vessels of war” (Wellstead 1838: I, 400) (Figure 8.13). In 1847, he possessed about fifteen war vessels, one of which, the Shah ’Alam, carried 54 guns (Lorimer 1970: I, 469). The British Government concluded various treaties with Sultan Sayid. After the expulsion of the Portuguese, many of their cannons remained in Oman to which many others were added, originating from several different countries: Portugal, Portuguese colonies (Goa, Macao), Spain, Italy, England, Sweden, France, Germany, the USA, etc. Some cannons seem to have been also cast in Oman (Figure 8.14). At present, the exact number of old cannons extant in Oman is unknown, since there has not been a complete national inventory yet. Undoubtedly, there is a large number spread all over the country, mainly stored in the myriad of its fortress.

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Figure 8.13. Probable French naval cannon (length 247 cm, caliber 145 mm) (top); Swedish Finnbanker type cannon widely exported and probably bought from the East India Company to arm the Sultan’s war ships (length 220 cm, caliber 125 mm) (bottom). The carriages are modern reconstructions (photographs by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

Portuguese Bronze Cannons Naval artillery was the greatest advantage that the Portuguese held over their rivals in the Indian Ocean, and the Portuguese crown was committed to procuring and producing the best naval guns available at the time. In particular, a great number was addressed to develop the local industry with new, more durable, and far more accurate bronze cast technology replacing the older, less accurate, wrought cast iron. By 1500, Portugal was a leading producer of advanced naval artillery, importing large amount of copper.

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Figure 8.14. Small bronze cannon in the Al-Hazm Castle probably cast in Oman (from Vv. Aa. 2011: 86).

The crown industry, not particularly concerned about the costs, aimed to reach the best quality with the most advanced technology, thus attracting the best European founders and gunners with high wages and premiums. Caravels and carracks (nau) were heavily armed with bombards, falconets, and swivel guns. From 1489, King João II of Portugal introduced a small, specialized artillery crew of around ten gunners (bombardeiros) on every ship under the command of a constable (condestável). Because of their privileged status and good pay, mercenary gunners from all Europe were also often enrolled on their ships. The older cannons present in Oman are those left by the Portuguese or captured on their ships, and cover a period of more than a century, from the early 16th century to the 1640s. They are almost all bronze cast cannons coming from foundries in Portugal and the Portuguese colonies. The oldest vestiges of Portuguese cannons are probably those found in the Al-Hallaniyah island from the 1503 shipwreck of the two nau (carrack) Esmeralda and São Pedro. The two ships were part of a fleet of three carracks and two caravels led by Vicente Sodré, Vasco da Gama’s uncle, who was determined to conduct piracy off the coast of India. While they were recovering on the Al-Hallaniyah island off the southern coast of Oman, the two carracks under the command of Vicente Sodré himself and his brother Bràs were smashed against the rocky shoreline by a storm and sunk. Most men on the São Pedro survived, but all the crew of the Esmeralda perished, including Vicente Sodré. Among the over than 2,800 artifacts recovered from the wreck site, there are 20 breech chambers, one of iron and 19 of bronze (Figure 8.15). The recovered chambers are all similar, about 305 mm long, and with a 45 mm internal bore. These breech chambers, named câmara by the Portuguese, were used to fire breech loading swivel guns (berços). Generally, each gun was provided with at least two breech chambers for quicker reload. The found chambers have a tapered neck, with the chamber-mouth that, in many of the recovered breeches, have wooden tampions still sealed tightly in place. This shows how the chambers were kept charged ready to use, and likely gunpowder may still be found within these sealed chambers (Mearns 2016: 8). Their number is consistent with the supply of the Esmeralda that sunk in deep waters, while those of the São Pedro

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Figure 8.15. Breech chambers recovered from the Esmeralda shipwreck discovered off Al-Hallaniyah island (from www.esmeraldashipwreck.com).

could have been recovered with the artilleries at the time of the shipwreck. Seventeen ordnances from the ships were salvaged by the survivors and handed over to de Albuquerque in India by captain Pêro d’Ataíde in 1503. The others were recovered by Malik Ayyaz, governor of the city of Diu, and used against the Portuguese in the battle of Chaul in March 1508, when the Egyptian Mamluk fleet, joined to Malik Ayyaz’s, defeated the Portuguese fleet. From a letter dated 1508 to the first Viceroy of India Dom Francisco de Almeida, those guns comprised 50 or 60 berços, two bombardas grossas and one falcao (Mearns 2016: 3). Hence, the ordnances recovered at the time from the two ships should be a total of 70-80. According to Gaspar Correa (Correa 1858: I, 330), an armed carrack of da Gama’s 4th Armada in 1502 had six heavy guns (bombardas), eight falconets (falcãos), several swivel-guns (berços) (Figure 8.16), and two fixed forward-firing guns before the mast. Considering that a caravel had ten swivel-guns, it is reasonable to suppose the presence of approximately 20 swivel-guns for a bigger carrack, which means about 36 pieces for each ship. This number matches the 70-80 ordnances recovered at the time from the shipwreck. Each berços had at least two breeches for a quick load, and the 20 breech chambers recovered in 2014-2015 could be the spare endowment of the swivel-guns of the Esmeralda. In addition to the breech chambers, a large number of ammunitions of lead, iron, and stone has also been recovered from the wreck site (Figure 8.17). Their calibers range from 23-62mm to 94 mm for the iron shots, and from 40 to 220 mm for the stone balls.

Figure 8.16. Wrought iron breech-loading swivel guns (canhão de berço) from the Military Museum of Lisbon, probably comparable to those embarked on the Esmeralda and the São Pedro; these guns were used both on land and at sea and fired stones, grapeshots, or lead balls; their caliber is congruent with the ammunitions found at the wreck site (from www. silverhawkauthor.com). 138

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Figure 8.17. Ammunitions recovered from the Esmeralda shipwreck (www.esmeraldashipwreck.com).

As for the Portuguese bronze cannons in Oman, the older have two couples of lifting rings on the barrel instead of the dolphins used later (Figure 8.18 and 8.19). Examples of these cannons are displayed at the Nizwa fort as well as Al-Hazm Castle. These heavy bronze battery pieces for siege and shipboard use were called camelo (camel) by the Portuguese. They normally fired stone projectiles from 18 to 24 pounds (Peterson 2014: 183). The use of the term camelo has been attested since1513 (Barker 1996: 59), and probably derived from a decoration with a stylized camel sometimes found on the barrel. From the 16th century, lifting handles placed at or near the center of gravity of the piece, often decorated in the forms of animals, started to widespread, probably from Germany (Moretti 1665: 2). As the most common form was that of dolphins (Figure 8.20), the lifting handles have always been called “dolphins” (Carman 1955: 41). In Portugal the dolphins began to be used after the King of Spain Felipe II of Hapsburg inherited the crown of Portugal in 1580, thus becoming Felipe I of Portugal. The union of the crowns of Spain and Portugal under the person of the Hapsburg King in the so-called Philippine Dynasty42 offered the opportunity to share the resources of the Spanish as well as the Portuguese Empire, together with the skills and technologies already existing in all the dominions of the crown. Among them, there were the County of Flanders, the Kingdom of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, and the Duchy of Milan,43 all celebrated for their activity as gun foundries.

Figure 8.18. Smooth bore muzzle loading cannon in the Nizwa Fort. The Portuguese coat of arms is surrounded by the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleche (Ordem do Tosão de Ouro); only Kings Manuel I (1469-1521) and João III (15021557) were knights of the order. In these years the lifting handles consisted of simple rings (from Vv. Aa. 2011: 36). 139

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Figure 8.19. Portuguese naval smooth bore muzzle loading cannon in the Al-Hazm Castle; the rebuilt carriage shows the elevation adjustment system with wooden wedges; this carriage was inspired to the four-wheel English naval carriages while the Portuguese ship carriages had two wheels only (Salgado 1998: 279) (from Vv. Aa. 2011: 35).

Figure 8.20. Portuguese/Spanish cannon in the Al-Hazm Castle with a pair of dolphins for lifting and a third dolphin decorating the cascabel; it has the same general appearance of most guns produced for King Felipe II of Spain (from Vv.Aa. 2011: 38). 140

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Figure 8.21. Spanish/Neapolitan cannon in the Al-Hazm Castle (from Vv.Aa. 2011: 83).

A bronze cannon in the Al-Hazm castle was made in Naples (Italy) in 1600 (Figure 8.21). The inscription on the barrel reads: “JUAN VAZQUEZ DE ACUNA CAPITAN GENERAL DI L’ARTILLERIA DEL REINO DE NAPLES”. Don Juan de Acuña y Vela was Capitan General de Artilleria (Master General of Ordnance) for the Kingdoms of Spain, Portugal, and Naples, from 1586 to 1606 (De Salas 1831: 65). In the Spanish possessions, guns were cast under the authority, and occasionally bearing the name, of the local Captain General of the Artillery (Peterson 2014: 250). The ordnances produced in Naples in the “Real Fonderia” (King’s Foundry) were all esteemed of excellent quality, and the culverins in particular were largely exported (Peirce 2008: 9). Iron Cannons During the 16th century, forged iron guns were falling out of favor while those of cast bronze grew in number. Bronze was lighter than iron and non-corrosive, two important properties aboard. Bronze cannons were also much safer, as an iron gun would explode without warning, while a bronze gun would crack before bursting. The only defect of the bronze was its propensity to absorb and retain heat, whereas iron is more resistant to high temperatures. This means that bronze guns overheat from repetitive firing and, when firing a great number of shots in continuous action, the bronze was prone to become soft and susceptible to sagging or damaging. That concurred to the low firing rates of the time as 20 to 60 minutes would eventually be necessary to reload naval guns (Alves Salgado 1998: 281-282). 141

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The main problem of bronze guns was their price and when, with improvements in iron casting techniques, the price of iron began to fall by the turn of the century, the difference in cost steadily increased, so that by 1670 iron cost a tenth than bronze (Lavery 1987: 84). As the demand for ordnances quickly increased in number, European rulers started to fund experimentation in iron gun founding to improve the quality of iron ordnances. England, whose increasing maritime power required more armed war ships, lacked copper which in turn had to be imported at great expense, but was rich in iron ore. At the end of Elizabeth’s reign, England was able to produce functional iron guns at a price that made them highly requested by nations that had trouble meeting their own artillery requirements. By the 1630s, both England and Sweden were exporting iron guns of good quality (Cipolla 1965: 43). Conversely, the arsenals continued the production of bronze guns for many years during the period of transition from bronze to iron, after which the latter became increasingly common. From the mid-17th century, the navies of England, France, the Netherlands, and other principal maritime powers progressively armed themselves with iron guns, and by the 1770s most navies had abandoned bronze cannons (Lavery 1987: 87). In England, Albert Borgard, a divisional engineer of the Survey of Ordnance, was commissioned to oversee the standardization of artillery and gun carriages in 1716.44 He was the first one who forsook the naming of ordnances as cannon, culverin, minion, etc., introducing a standardized naming after the weight of the round iron shot that the guns fired. The round shots were standardized to 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 32, and 42 pounds. The diameters of the iron cannonballs were chosen as multiples of the half-inch (i.e., 3”, 3½”, 4”, 4½”, etc.), and their weights were close to the values 4, 6, 9, 12, 18 lb. The weight of a cast-iron cannonball in pounds is 0.136 times the cube of its diameter in inches. Borgard rounded the weights to the nearest pound, and consequently the ball diameters varied a bit from their original “correct” values. Table 8.2 shows the shot diameter and the bore caliber of the gun for the weight of each shot. The Borgard system was redesigned many times by the Surveyor General of Ordnance, Colonel John Armstrong, and his successors from 1722 until 1760, with the aim of lightening the guns. The last design proved successful in 1760 and was adopted as the regulation design in 1764. It is known as the ArmstrongFrederick design, and the ordnances can be easily identified by the characteristic “Armstrong cascabel” (Figure 8.22). Together with the Armstrong-Frederick design, a new technique was introduced in gun founding, casting solid barrels and drilling out the bore instead of casting hollow barrels and reaming them to the right bore size. The new technique produced stronger barrels greatly reducing the flaws in the casting.

Table 8.2. Weight, diameter, and bore caliber of round cast iron shots of the Borgard system.

Round Shot Weight lb (kg) 45 4 6 9 12 18 24 32 42 142

(1.82) (2.72) (4.07) (5.45) (8.17) (10.90) (14.53) (19.07)

Round Shot Diameter inches (mm) 46 3.05 3.50 4.00 4.40 5.04 5.55 6.10 6.68

(77.47) (88.90) (101.60) (111.76) (128.02) (140.97) (154.94) (169.67)

Bore Calibre inches (mm) 47 3.20–3.18 3.67–3.65 4.20–4.17 4.62–4.52 5.29–5.16 5.82–5.68 6.41–6.25 7.02–6.84

(81.28–80.77) (93.22–92.71) (106.68–105.92) (117.35–114.81) (134.37–131.06) (147.83–144.27) (162.81–158.75) (178.31–173.74)

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Figure 8.22. The simple and elegant design of a 18-pounder Armstrong-Frederick gun with the characteristic cascabel (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum).

The simplification to reduce the work needed in the production of these guns led to the abandonment of ornaments in relief in favor of engraved decorations, and the “dolphins” became just simple handles. Significant alterations to the Armstrong design were proposed by Thomas Blomefield, Inspector of Artillery in 1780. The most evident is the ring added to the cascabel used for the breech rope which restricts the gun’s recoil aboard ship (Figure 8.23). In 1787, cast iron guns of Blomefield’s own design started to be used, and by 1792 the new pattern ordnance became the standard for almost all gun founders. In the 18th century, a new, successful type of naval ordnance was introduced: the carronade. It was developed by the Carron Iron Company in Scotland in 1778,48 and soon became the standard ordnance of the Royal Navy. Carronades were shorter and lighter than cannons with the same caliber, making them easier to handle aboard ship and suitable for use on upper decks. Although they had a short range, they were well suited for the new naval tactics with close quarters combat and could fire a ball four times heavier than that of a cannon of equal weight. By the early 1800s the Royal Navy maintained a fleet of about 800 ships with 30,000 guns (Anonymous 1800: 221-225), most cast since 1790. The naval battles of the Napoleonic Wars were largely fought with Blomefield guns and carronades. In the Indian Ocean, the economic interest in the spice trade controlled by the Portuguese attracted the British and the Dutch that tried to take over in the trade. The British in particular helped the local rulers to rise up against the Portuguese, and in 1650 Imam Sultan Bin Saif expelled the Portuguese from Muscat.49 He then fostered trade and sent agents into different countries to obtain a supply of arms, horses, etc. In the following years, Oman strengthened its position in the Gulf creating its own empire in the Indian Ocean with an extraordinary development of naval power. This gave Oman commercial and financial freedom. In 1659, the Imam denied the British East India Company any right to establish an English station and a garrison of 100 men at Muscat to strengthen their position in the Gulf against the Dutch and Persian governments (Lorimer 1970: I, 404). The removal of the British Agency from Bandar Abbas in 1763 was very advantageous to Muscat, which by 1775 had become the principal entrepot of trade between the Arabian Gulf, India, and the Red Sea. In these years, the relations between the East India Company and Oman were friendly, but their policy generally neutral, so the ordnance needed to arm the fleet and the land fortress of Oman were likely bought on the market. During the 19th century both the Royal Navy and the British Army intervened to help the Sultans of Oman against the tribes from the interior, yet unlike the Portuguese, they never left permanent troops in Oman nor ordnances until the establishment of the protectorate in 1891. 143

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Figure 8.23. 18-pounder Blomefield pattern naval gun (top) (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum); use of the breech rope in a British cast-iron cannon supplied by the London company Wiggins and Graham (WG) for export to the Al-Hazm Castle in 1803 (bottom) (from Vv. Aa. 2011: 85). 144

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Figure 8.24. 12-pounder cannon of the type that armed the Mirani Fort garrison (left) (photograph by V. Clarizia, courtesy Oman National Museum); picture of the mid-1960s showing a cannon of the same type firing from the Mirani Fort terrace to welcome visiting vessels; the guns bear the arms of King George III who ruled the United Kingdom from 1760 to 1820 (left) (from Peyton 1983:21).

Figure 8.25. Sultan Faisal turned some useless cannons sent by the Government of India into a barrier around Bait Graiza (from Peyton 1983: 117).

The British cannons present in Oman are mostly of cast iron with flared or bell-shaped muzzle. They are probably of naval origin, once used on warships and then placed in the forts after having been disembarked. In 1887 the British Government presented the Sultan Turki bin Said with two batteries of 12 pounder guns, with complete carriages and ammunition, for the defense of the Muscat forts (Lorimer1970: I, 522), and in 1896 the government of India offered two 5½ inch mortars with ammunition to Sultan Faisal bin Turki (Lorimer1970: I, 551). A few years later, after the failure of the 1898 rebellion, the Sultan strengthened the defense of Muscat and Mutrah with seven 12 pounder guns to be mounted on Fort Mirani (Figure 8.24) and five on Fort Jalali (Lorimer1970: I, 545). These cannons must have been quite old, as ten years later, in 1908, the official of the Indian Civil Service, John Gordon Lorimer, wrote that “At present only the Mirāniand Jalāli forts are occupied; their armament consists of a number of old muzzleloading guns in bad order, fit only for firing salutes” (Figure 8.25) (Lorimer1970: II, 1181).

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Plate 8.1. Portuguese Cannon

(Length 151 cm, Caliber 50 mm). A Portuguese bronze falconet (falconete) made in the foundry of Macau in 1643. On the neck an elaborate design with acanthus leaf border repeated, with slight changes, above the first and second reinforce, on the breech and on the cascabel. The two dolphins are in form of dogs of clear Chinese influence. ... ...

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Under the second reinforce the inscription “VIVA EL REI DO IOAO 40”(Long life to the King John 4°). On the breech a warrior in armor standing astride over a globe in which are inscribed “MACAO - ENCAZA - DA POLVRA - 1643”. Portuguese established a foundry in their Chinese possession of Macao between 1557 and 1623. From 1626 it was directed by the master founder Manuel Tavares Bocarro. The foundry employed chinese workers other than Portuguese and the raw material were imported from China and Japan (copper). Manuel Tavares Bocarro arrived in Macao in 1625 from Goa, where he had learned his craft from his father Pedro Tavares Bocarro, head of the Goa foundry and descendant from a family of founders. Manuel Bocarro was Governor of Macao from 1654 to 1664 and died in 1672. The production of the foundry must have been relevant as it supplied the defenses of Macao with 126 pieces. Other cannons were sent to Portuguese possessions and in 1641 two hundred cannons were sent to Lisbon as a gift for the King João IV (Garret 2010: 147). The Sino-Portuguese foundry went on to become one of the world’s best cannon foundries, famous for its metallurgical techniques where Eastern and Western expertise converged. Bocarro’s cannons became famous throughout Asia for their beauty as well as their efficiency. Thanks to the quality and the low cost of the Chinese workers the cannons were also largely exported to China, Siam, Japan and the Philipines. The legend says that Marshal Wellington used a number of the cannon made by Bocarro during the Peninsular War (1807-14) that proved to be still effective.50 ... ...

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The exploded breech



Bocarro’s cannon cascabel (courtesy Lisbon Army Museum) João IV o Restaurador (1603 – 1656) was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1640 to his death. He was the first king of the Braganza dynasty who re-established the independence of the Portugal after sixty years of Spanish domination. Even if the Portuguese lost Malacca in 1641 and Muscat in 1650, on the eve of his death in 1656 the Portuguese Empire reached its maximum extension. This little ordnance with a caliber of 50 millimeters was cast only few years before the Imam Sultan bin Saif recaptured Muscat in 1650. Its weight and dimension made it suitable for naval use aboard dhows and is mounted on a good two wheels reproduction carriage of the type used on Portuguese ships. The cascabel knob is missed but it is likely that the knob may have had the shape of a lotus flower resembling that of a cannon made by Bocarro in the Military Museum of Lisbon. There is a hole around the vent hole for an explosion. Overcharging a gun would cause the metal at the breech to be under excessive stress. In addition, the metal around the vent tends to be consumed for the acidic effect of the gases creating a cone around the vent hole. Under excessive pressure the tube can burst in this weakened point. These cannon were fired in Oman until recent days to welcome visitors and, even if well made, they cannot tolerate charges with modern smokeless powder. In 1955, Jan Morris reported that a Portuguese gun at Nizwa blew up for a too much powerful charge when it was fired to greet the arrival of the Sultan (Morris 2008: 84). National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 8.2. American Cannon

(Length 218 cm, Caliber 180 mm). A 42 pounds (7”) smooth bore muzzle loading bronze cannon of the Paixhans-Dahlgren howitzer type. The cascabel ending with the “shark’s jaw” for the elevating mechanism. On the barrel, among some unreadable inscriptions there is “MAUM OF MUSCAT” - “BOSTON”, “No. 611 52 US”. The cannon was made in the United States of America in the city of Boston where the only foundry was the South Boston Iron Co. Foundry of Cyrus Alger, probably in 1852. The number 611 should be the serial number. ... ...

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The cascabel is threaded to receive a large screw used to elevate the gun for correct aim. The structure at the top of the breech is for the percussion lock. The Paixhans gun was developed by the French general Henri-Joseph Paixhans in 1822-1823. It was the first naval gun designed to fire explosive shells and led to the end of the wooden war ships replaced by ironclad ships. The explosive shell guns proved to be lethal for wooden planking exploding and igniting the hulls, while solid shots were much more less effective as ship destroyer.

Dhalgren cannon showing the elevating screw (from www.robertfinch14.org)

In the battle of Trafalgar (1805) thousands of shot were fired at close range without sinking a single ship, while at the battle of Sinop in 1853, during the Crimean War, the Russian ships destroyed a Turkish fleet with their Paixhans shell guns (Potter 1981: 157). The Paixhans gun was further improved by John A. Dahlgren in 1849 to use safely both solid shots and shells. While in 1816 the British army officially declared heavy caliber bronze pieces obsolete, in America bronze field artillery were used extensively still during the Civil War. By its large bore, light weight and short barrel this gun seems not to conform to any standard U.S. artillery pattern, so it probably was made for export, specifically for the Sultanate of Oman as the inscription on the barrel suggests. ... ...

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The Alger’s Iron Foundry in 1852 and Cyrus Alger (from goodoldboston.blogspot.com)

Cyrus Alger, born in 1781, learned metal casting from his father. He set up a foundry in Easton, and in 1809 moved to South Boston. During the War of 1812 furnished the government with shots and shells. In 1817, he started the South Boston Iron company which at an early date was known locally as Alger’s Foundry and later became Cyrus Alger & Co. He was one of the leading cannon manufacturer of his time and patented many improved processes. He made the first rifled gun in America in 1834 and supervised the cast of the mortar “Columbiad”, the largest gun of cast iron that had then been made in the United States. In the 1850s, the foundry of Cyrus Alger was quite aggressive about seeking non US military customers for its cannons. At his dead, in 1856, the firm was directed by his son Francis, until 1864. The cannons of the foundry were signed with “C.A. & Co., Boston, Mass.” or, rarely, “C. Alger & Co., Boston, Mass.” Also the initials “S.B.F.” (South Boston Foundry) occasionally may be found on cannon. Likely one of these signatures could be among the unreadable inscriptions on the barrel. National Museum, Muscat.

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Plate 8.3. German Cannon

(Length 150 cm, Caliber 100 mm). A German muzzle loading rifled bronze cannon caliber 100 mm On the barrel near the breech the royal Hohenzollern eagle. On the breech the inscription “SPANDAU” “1886” “N.2”. The barrel is further incised with a geometric decor composed of mirrored Arabic calligraphy that reads “Ya Fattah” (Oh the Victory Giver), and the cartouche of Sayyid Khalifa bin Said al-Busaid (1852-1890), Sultan of Zanzibar from 1888 to 1890, and the date “1306 AH” (1889 AD). ... ...

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After the expulsion of the Portuguese, Omani influence increased in the East African Coast thanks to the sea power of the Omani fleet. In 1840 the Sultan Sayid II moved his capital to Zanzibar and after his death the Sultanate was divided into Oman and Zanzibar. After the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the new German Reich addressed its interest to East Africa and in the 1870s the German sea trade with Zanzibar was second only to that of Britain (Phillips 1971: 115). In 1888 the Sultan granted a lease of his mainland possessions lying south of the Umba river (the Tanganyika mainland) to the German East African Company and in the same year the German East Africa Company took over the administration of the tax revenues of Zanzibar in the name of the Sultan Bargash (Weisberger 1989: 61). After his death his brother Said Khalifah, who succeeded in 1889, sent a special delegation to Berlin to Kaiser Wilhelm II to convey congratulations on his access to the throne, bringing as presents costly weapons and gold jewelry (Weisberger 1989: 63). To reciprocate the Kaiser sent to Zanzibar a chalice and a tankard of silver and gold, but the presents reached Zanzibar only after the Sultan’s death in 1890. In the same year with the Helgoland – Zanzibar treaty, the British took over the protectorate on Zanzibar in exchange of the island of Helgoland near the German coast that belonged to Britain since 1807. The cannon, for a naval use, was probably specifically made for the Sultan of Zanzibar in the light of the excellent relations between the Sultan and the German Reich, as the engravings on the barrel suggest. This hypothesis is strengthened by the consideration that in 1886 this type of artillery was rather obsolete in Germany where the Krupp’s breech-loading steel ordnances were already into use. Spandau, a borough of Berlin, in the 19th century was a centre of the German arms industry, with arms and munitions factories and cannon foundries. A powder’s mill is attested at Spandau early in 1344 (Hime 1904: 187). National Museum, Muscat.

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Endnotes

Although the first arquebuses had a firing rate thirty times lesser than the bows, a key factor seldom taken into consideration was the physical effort needed for long archery actions. The strength to draw a war bow was of about 30-35 kilograms, and after throwing hundreds of arrows the fatigue for the archer became unbearable. During the battle of Lepanto in 1571, many Ottoman bowmen died from the effort (Cianci 2015: 132).

1

Because of the limited range and slow rate of fire of the muskets, the bayonet played a significant role on the battlefield causing about a third of all the casualties during the Napoleonic and U.S. Revolutionary Wars. 2

A caravel was a small, two-masted vessel with lateen sails developed by the Portuguese in the first half of the 15th century. As a highly maneuverable sailing ship – the lateen sails gave it the speed and capacity for sailing windward – it was extensively used by the Portuguese for the oceanic voyages of the 15th and 16th centuries. 3

The carrack was a three or four masted sailing ship developed in the 15th century. Carracks were carvel built, large enough to be stable in heavy seas, and roomy enough for a large cargo. They were ocean ships used for long voyages. Carracks were usually square rigged on the foremast and mainmast, and lateen rigged on the mizzenmast. 4

The most reliable source on the role of Muscat and Oman in the arms trade is the “Gazetteer of the Arabian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia”, particularly Appendix N: “The arms and ammunition traffic in the Gulf of Persia and Oman”. The Gazetteer was compiled by John Gordon Lorimer and other officials of the British Government in India during the first decade of the 20th century. The Gazetteer then comprised two volumes of over 5,000 pages, covering historical and geographical aspects of the Gulf region. When the Gazetteer was printed, in 1908 and 1915, it was classified as “Secret” and “For Official Use” and distributed in a few copies only to British government departments and agencies. It was declassified in 1955 and reprinted in 1970. 5

6

According to the 1781 British Ordnance formula.

7

Bitumen.

Bacon firmly believed scientific knowledge to be hurtful to the people. In his works he opposed the dissemination of scientific information. 8

The arquebus consists of an iron barrel, charged with gunpowder and a lead ball, mounted on a wooden stock with a mechanism to ignite the powder. The musket was similar to the arquebus, but heavier and of a greater range. It had to be placed on a fork to be used. The name comes from the Musket, a young male sparrow hawk. 9

According to the tradition, King Gustav Adolf of Sweden invented the cartridge and it was then used by the Swedish Army during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).

10

In the wheellock the spark is produced by holding a piece of pyrites or flint against a revolving serrated wheel, on the same principle as a cigarette lighter. It was a complicated and expensive mechanism that had to be perfectly realized to be fully effective. 11

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12

The snaphance was a first type of flintlock, probably of German origin.

The term abu fitila is often literally translated as “father of the match”, which does not make much sense, yet the term abu is also used as a pronoun referred to a person or object, hence the correct translation “the one (gun) with the match”. 13

Flints were consumables. In 1684 a second-rate ship of the British Navy had an endowment of 4,000 flints for about 170 firearms embarked (Blackmore 1994: 32). 14

In a 1562 letter to the Venetian Senate, the Governor of Brescia (Italy) claimed that every year about 25,000 gun barrels were exported from the Val Trompia to foreign countries. (Morin 1980: 20). 15

Until the Constitution of Pakistan of 1956, the formerly known name was Sind. The spelling of its official name as Sind was discontinued in 2013 by an amendment passed in the Sindh Assembly. 16

Oman announced that it would recruit Baloch youths in its army from the Gwadar, Kech, and Panjgur districts of Makran, as published in Dawn, November 26th 2014. 17

These guns were photographed by Wilfred Thesiger in the Tihama (Saudi Arabia) and Dhofar (Oman), and by Freya Starkin in the Hadramawt (Yemen). 18

19

The act of filling the pan is called priming and the flask to hold the finer powder is the primer.

A very similar barrel mounted on an Albanian flintlock gun is housed in the Stibbert Museum of Florence, inv. N. 4951. 20

21

Flint is a hard mineral quartz that produces sparks when struck against steel.

Gauge refers to the diameter of the smooth shotgun bore. Gauge is determined by the number of lead balls of size equal to the approximate diameter of the bore that it takes to weigh one pound. This means that in a 16 gauge bore gun enters a one sixteenth pound lead ball. 22

In the black powder, carbon is the fuel, and the process is quite inefficient as only about 50% of its mass turns into gas as propellant. The rest is solid residue that is forced out of the muzzle as white smoke or left in the bore as corrosive fouling crud. 23

24

The study examines all modern weaponry including tanks, missiles, and nuclear bombs.

The long 19th century, as defined by Eric Hobsbawm, begins with the French Revolution in 1789 and ends with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. 25

A grain is a unit of measurement of mass equal to 64.79891 milligrams and is commonly used to measure the mass of bullets and propellants. 26

The “F” designation is related to the grain size (coarseness) of the powder, and scales from FF to FFFF. The grain size controls the burn rate. FFFF black powder is the faster to ignite and was used as a primer in matchlocks and flintlocks. 27

28

The broad arrow is the symbol of the British War Department.

For the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald used a bolt action Italian carbine Model 91/38 made in 1940. From modern analysis of a digitally enhanced Zapruder film it emerged that the three shots at 53, 73 and 81 meters were fired in 8.3 seconds and at least two of them hit the President. 29

30

The effective range means that the shooter can hit a human target in 50% of the shots.

The Tanzimat (lett. reorganization) of the Ottoman Empire was a period of reforms that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitution in 1876. It was promoted by reformist sultans like Mahmud II and Abdülmecid I and was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire. 31

155

32

Wilhelm Leopold Colmar von der Goltz (1843-1916).

A1518 edict of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I forbade the use of “self-lighting” weapons in all the Empire, and clearly referred to wheellock systems. 33

The miquelet locks were also used in Louisiana, that consisted of a vast territory in the center of North America and was under Spanish rule from 1762 to 1801.The Native Americans had Spanish pistols with miquelet locks. 34

35

They were expelled from the Spanish Empire as well as the Portuguese Empire and a large part of Italy.

36

A city near Venice.

The products are 40% gaseous and 60% solid. The solid fraction is expelled as a dense white smoke, which gives away the position of a battery as soon as it is fired. 37

The English vessel Mary Rose was wrecked around1545. Overpowered by the weight of the ordnances, it sank together with her commander and 600 men. 38

The book was a complete manual on metallurgy and chemistry and contains instructions on how to obtain saltpeter and make gunpowder. 39

40

The cost of a bronze ordnance was from three to four times one of the same caliber made of iron.

As a way of example, the weight of the pound in grams (rounded) was 454 in England, 500 in France and Germany, 460 in Spain, 344 in Portugal, and between 300 and 350 in Italy. 41

From the names of the three kings that ruled Portugal from 1581 to 1640: Philip I the prudent (1581-1598), Philip II the cruel (1598-1621), and Philip III the oppressor (1621-1640). 42

The Milanese architect Giovanni Battista Cairati was sent to Muscat in 1586 to improve the defenses of the city according to the advanced principle of the current Italian military architecture. He enlarged the al Mirani and al Jalali forts and added batteries at sea level. 43

44

Albert Borgard was a Danish mercenary who joined the English Army in 1692.

45

1 lb = 0.454 kg.

46

1 in = 25.4 mm.

The bore caliber could vary depending on the windage of the guns which could be 1/20 of the ball diameter in the Armstrong-Frederick guns, 1/24 in the Blomefield guns, and 1/34 in the carronade guns. 47

It seems that the carronade was invented by General Robert Melville (1723–1809), the son of a Scottish minister, who persuaded the Carron Company in Falkirk on Firth of Forth to manufacture the guns, from which they were later named. 48

In 1622, the English East India Company supported the Persian Shāh Abbās with its fleet to expel the Portuguese from Hormuz, thus receiving permission to establish a trading post in the coastal city of Bandar ‘Abbās. 49

It seems that the only problems were due to the excessive heating of the barrels caused by the improved rate of firing. 50

156

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Index

Abdali Dynasty of Lahej, 27 Abdul-Hamid II, Ottoman Sultan, 73, 89, 107, 110 abu fitila matchlock, viii, 7, 16 Acacia arabica, 9. See also goff Acacia vera, 9. See also sumr Adam Khel Afridi (arms factory), 55 Aden (Yemen), 45, 47, 50 Afghanistan, xx, 5, 11, 16, 33, 43, 4649, 55, 67, 116 Africa, xx, 22, 32, 33, 42, 44, 45, 50, 59, 75, 76, 86, 113, 134, 153 Al-Askaris corp, 79 Albania, 113 Albertus Magnus, Bishop, 2 Alexandria (Egypt), 123, 134 Al-Hallaniyah Island (Oman), 137, 138 Al-Hazm Castle (Oman), 81, 137, 139-141, 144 alla greca barrel, 31 Al-Maniah, 89. See also Germany Al-Masnaah (Oman), 46 al-mazham cartridge belt, 65, 79 Al-Rammah, Hasan, 1 Al-Umari, Ibn Fadl Allah, 122 Amberg (Germany), 86, 88 ammunitions, 41, 48, 49, 62, 63, 75, 79, 135, 138 Anatolia, 7 Ankara (Türkiye), 90 Ankara Rifle Factory (arms factory), 90 Apple of Sodom, 2. See also Calotropis procera Aq Qoyunlu Dynasty, 134 Arabian Gulf, xx, 7, 43-47, 143, 154 Argentine, 90 armor, xix, 3, 147 Armstrong-Frederick gun design, xiv, 143 arquebus, 3, 5, 14, 154 — al-bundukar-rasās, 5 Askari Fabrika (arms factory), 90 Assam (India), vii, 7 Atlantic Ocean, 51 Augsburg (Germany), 126 Australia, 53, 78 Austrian Arms-Manufacturing Company (arms factory), 86 Aztec Empire, 7 Bacon, Roger, 2 Bahrain, 46, 47, 49

Baijeot & Co. (arms factory), 50 Bait Al-Falaj (Oman), 48 Bait Graiza (Oman), 145 Balkans, 113 Balta Liman Convention, 89 Baluchistan, 17, 46, 48-50 Bandar Abbas (Iran), 11, 135, 143 Bandar Jissah (Oman), 48, 84 bandolier, 5, 6, 22 barrel, 3, 4, 6, 9-39, 51-59, 66-72, 7579, 82, 86, 87, 90, 91, 92, 94, 98, 99, 101-108, 113, 116-123, 127, 131, 139, 141, 142, 149, 150-154 Basrah (Iraq), 135 bedouin, 9, 56, 57, 62, 89, 115 Belgium, xx, 35-37, 46, 47, 50, 53, 54, 57, 59, 60, 66, 67, 71, 84, 90, 101, 104, 106, 113, 115, 116, 120 Bellifortis manuscript, 3 Biringuccio, Vannoccio, 130 Birmingham (UK), 26, 46, 52, 55, 7679, 83, 86, 94, 96, 97, 99, 119, 121 Birmingham Small Arms Co. (arms factory), 50, 55, 76-79, 94, 96, 97 Blomefield, Thomas, 143 bombard, 3, 4, 111, 122, 123, 127, 133, 134, 137 Borgard system, 142 Bosnia, 123 Boston (USA), 92, 149, 151 Braendlin Armoury Co. (arms factory), 74 Braunschweig (Germany), 123 Brazil, 87 breech chamber, 138 Brescia (Italy), 15, 31, 155 Brussels (Belgium), 44 Bulgaria, 53, 113 bullet casting mould, 63 — kalib, 20 — kellab, 20, 62, 63 — qalib, 62, 63 bullet, 1, 19, 20, 21, 31, 39, 40-42, 51, 53, 54, 62, 64, 65, 75, 82, 85, 87, 91, 130, 155 — Minié, 39 — Pritchett, 39 bullet-shaped container, 65 bunduk matchlocks, 7 Burma, 53 Burnside Rifle Co. (arms factory), 92 Bushire (Iran), 49 buttstock, 9, 23, 34, 68, 69, 72, 108, 110

Byzantine Empire, 1 Cairo (Egypt), 122, 123, 134 Calotropis procera (Apple of Sodom), 2, 10 Canada, 51, 78, 79, 100 cannon, xx, xxi, 2, 3, 7, 39, 122-127, 130-153 — Blomefield, 143, 144, 156 — cascabel, 140-150 — falcon, 130 — falconet, 130, 146 — Finnbanker, 136 — Veuglaire, 126 caplock mechanism, 34 caravel ship, 127, 128, 137 carbine, 52, 53, 56, 57, 59, 67, 68, 7578, 82-86, 90-95, 103, 106-110, 155 — Gras artillery, 103 — Gras cavalry, 102 — Kar 98 k, 87, 88, 89 — Karabiner Kurz, 87 — Karabiner Mod. 1898 AZ, 87 — Lee Enfield Cavalry Carbine MK1*, 95 — Martini Henry MK III, 59 carrack ship, 127, 128, 137 carronade, 133, 143, 156 cartridge, 5, 22, 26, 39, 40, 41, 43, 5155, 63, 64, 65, 75-91, 107, 108, 114, 115, 118, 126, 154 — .303 British, 26, 55, 62, 64, 68, 70, 71, 75-79, 93-100 — 7.92 x 57 JS, 87 — M1871 Mauser, 83 — M1874 Gras, 83 — .56-56 Spencer, 91 — .577 Martini Henry, 20, 41, 51, 57, 63, 64, 67, 82 cartridge belt, 23, 63, 64, 79-81 cartridge pouch, 114, 115, 118. See also palaska Caucasus, 113 Central Asia, 5 C.G. Haenel Waffen (arms factory), 88 Chassepot, Antoine Alphonse, 79 Chatellerault (France), 82 Chaul (India), 134, 138 Chester, Alan Arthur, 109 Chile, 83, 87 China, 1, 7, 86, 87, 106, 146, 147 Chioggia (Italy), 126

163

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

Colombia, 83, 106 Cominazzi, Lazzarino, 15 Constantinople, 123, 125 Contarini, Ambrogio, 134, 157 Cordoba (Spain), 122 Crécy (France), 3 Crimea, 89, 113, 150 crossbow, xix, 3, 4 Cuba, 51 culverin, 130, 131, 141, 142 Czechoslovakia, 88, 106 d’Este, Rinaldo, 3 da Gama, Vasco, 134, 137 dagger, 11, 16, 22 Damascus (Syria), 36, 120, 122 Danzig (Poland), 86, 88 de Albuquerque, Afonso, 133, 134 Dhofar (Oman), 106, 155 dhow ship, 19, 45, 46, 47, 49, 148 Dhu al-Faqar sword, 60 Dieu (Muscat) (arms dealer), 50 Diu (India), 134, 138 Djibouti, 45-47, 50, 84 dolphin, 139, 140, 143, 146 Dom Francisco de Almeida, 138 Dom Henrique o Navegador, 133 Dubrovnik (Croatia), 123 East India Company, 121, 136, 143, 156 Edinburgh (Scotland), 51, 123 Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom, 93 Egypt, xx, 5, 53, 134 Elizabeth I, Queen of the United Kingdom, 130 Enfield (UK), 35, 39, 41, 42, 48, 5055, 59, 62, 67, 68, 69, 75-80, 89, 93-100 England, 34, 41, 79, 116, 122, 131, 135, 142, 156 Erfurt (Germany), 86, 88 Esmeralda (Portuguese carrack), 134, 137-139 Europe, xx, 2, 7, 9, 32, 41, 42, 48, 58, 75, 83, 104, 113, 122, 130, 134, 137 Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre (arms factory), 79, 106 fahm, 2. See also charcoal Faisal bin Turki, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, xv, 48, 145 false pistol, 115 Far East, 7 Fatah Al-Khair (dhow) ship, 45 Felipe II, King of Spain, 139, 140 fireworks, 1, 17 Flanders Region (Belgium), 139 flintlock, 32-35, 38, 113, 115, 116, 119, 155 — Moukahla, 33

164

Florence (Italy), 3, 122, 155 Forsyth, Alexander John, 34 Fracis, Times & Co. (arms dealer), 49 France, 32, 34, 39-51, 54, 56, 66, 75, 79, 81-86, 89, 92, 101, 111, 113, 116, 124, 126, 130, 135, 136, 142, 150, 155, 156 Franco-Prussian War, 81, 84 Francotte action, 53 Francotte, Auguste, 53 Fredrik William I, King of Prussia, 104 Friedrich I, Duke of Wurttemberg, 84 frizzen, 33, 113, 118 galleon ship, xx, 127, 128, 131 Gardone (Italy), 31 Genoa (Italy), xix, 126, 128 George III, King of the United Kingdom, 145 George V, King of the United Kingdom, 27 George VI, King of the United Kingdom, 59 Germany, xix, 2, 14, 41, 48, 50, 81-90, 105, 107, 112, 126, 134, 135, 139, 153, 155 ghanjah ship, 45 Ghent (Belgium), 122, 123 Goa (India), 7, 135, 147 goff (Acacia arabica), 9 Gras, Basil, 81 Great Britain, xx, 26, 34, 35, 38-59, 62, 64, 68-83, 89, 92-100, 115, 119, 121, 133, 135, 143-145, 150, 153-155 Greece, xix, 1, 2, 31, 33, 83, 113, 114, 118 Greek fire, 1, 2 Gunjava Omani ship, 135 gunpowder, xix, xx, 1, 2, 4, 10, 19, 25, 32, 82, 122, 126, 127, 137, 154, 156 — barūd, 1, 2 — barūt, 2 — dawā, 1 Gwadar (Pakistan), 16, 46, 155 Habsburg Dynasty, 124 hand cannon, 3 handgun, 3, 4 — medfaa, 5, 6 Hansing & Co. (arms dealer), 50 Henckell & Co. (arms factory), 133 Henry Rifle Barrel (HRB) Co. (arms factory), 55 Henry, Alexander, 51 Honduras, 86 Hormuz Strait, 133, 134, 156 howitzer, 133, 149 Hungary, 5, 123 Hyderabad (India), 7, 19

Iberian Peninsula, 15 Imam Nasser bin Murshid, 135 Imam Sultan bin Saif, 135, 148 India, xx, 2, 4-19, 24, 29, 30, 33, 35, 43- 49, 53, 62, 78, 81, 93, 98, 110, 116, 121, 133-138, 143, 145, 154, 156 Indian Ocean, xx, 2, 44, 133-136, 143 Indian rosewood, 9 Indore (India), 11 Iran, 14, 58, 87 Ishapore Rifle Factory (arms factory), 78, 98 Italy, 15, 17, 31, 32, 40, 79, 111, 113, 122, 126, 130, 135, 141, 155, 156 Jacques Ancion & Co. (arms factory), 36 James I, King of the United Kingdom, 130 Janissary corp, 5 Japan, 7, 74, 86, 147 javelin, xix Jebel Dhanna (UAE), 2 Jebel Hafit (UAE), 2 João II, King of Portugal, 137 João III, King of Portugal, 139 João IV, King of Portugal, 148 John Bertram (arms dealer), 92 Joyce & Kynoch (arms dealer), 49, 83 kabrīt, 2. See also sulfur Kaempfer, Engelbert, 14 Kallinikos of Heliopolis, 1 Ketland & Co. (arms factory), 119 Ketland, Thomas, 119 Keverkoff & Co. (arms dealer), 50 Khamti (India), 7 khanjar, 16, 22, 79, 81 Khoja merchants, 46, 49 khol, 65, 70 Khyber Pass (Pakistan), 55, 56 Kingdom of Hormuz, 133, 134 Kings Norton Metal Co. (arms factory), 26 Kirikkale Rifle Factory (arms factory), 90 koftgari inlays, 12, 14, 27, 30 Kosovo, 123 Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik (arms factory), 86 Kuwait, 44-48 Kyeser, Konrad, 3 Kynoch Ammunition Factory (arms factory), 83 Kynoch Gun Factory (arms factory), 83 Lapwing, HMS gunboat, 49 Lar (Iran), 11 Liege (Belgium), 36, 37, 46, 53, 66, 71, 104, 113, 120 Lisbon (Portugal), 138, 147, 148

Index

Lithgow Small Arms Factory (arms factory), 78 Liverpool (UK), 135 Lochet-Habran (arms factory), 71 London (UK), 35, 50, 55, 76, 78, 94, 125, 131, 133, 144 London Small Arms Co. (arms factory), 55, 76, 78, 94 Long Branch Arsenal (arms factory), 78, 79, 100 longbowmen, xix, 3 Lord Canning (Viceroy of India), 44 Lorimer, John Gordon, 47, 145, 154 Lybia, 74 Macao, 135, 146 mahzam belt, 22 Makerere (Uganda), 45 Makran, 16, 46, 48, 135, 155 Malabar (India), 19 Malay Peninsula, 7 Malta, xiv, 131 Mamluk Sultanate, xix, xx, 2, 5, 7, 122, 134, 138 mangonel, 1 mania Mauser rifle, 89 Manifacture d’Armes St. Etienne (arms factory), xii, 83 Manuel I, King of Portugal, 139 Marco Polo, 1 Maria Theresa thalers, 44, 57. See also qrsh Marj Dabiq (Syria), xix Martini Francotte, xi, 47, 59 matchlock, 4-35, 43, 56, 64, 111, 112, 116, 155 — abu fitila, 7, 16, 155 — bunduk, 7 — Indo-Arab, 17, 19 — toradar, viii, 14, 17 — tufenk, 7 — wasla, 17, 19, 23 Mauser, Franz Andreas, 84 Mauser, Paul, 84, 87 Mauser, Wilhelm, 84 Mauser Waffenfabrik (arms factory), 86, 89, 105, 107 Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan, xiii, 123, 125 Menon (Iran), 11 Mentana (Italy), 79 Metford, William Ellis, 75 Metz (France), 122 Mexico, 51, 87 Middle East, 22, 43, 48, 56, 75 midfa gun, 1 mikāhil bullet-shaped container, 64, 65, 70 Milan (Italy), 139 minion, 131, 142 miquelet lock, 32, 113, 118, 156 Mirani Fort (Oman), 145 Mombasa (Kenya), 135

Montenegro, 113 mortar, xx, 122, 124, 131, 133, 145, 151 Moscow (Russia), 123 Moukala flintlock gun, 33 mudharba fire striker, 22, 64 Mumbai (India), 49 Münster, Sebastian, xix Murad II, Ottoman Sultan, 123 Muscat (Oman), xx, xxi, 11, 14, 19, 24-30, 33, 36, 37, 42-50, 56, 57, 62, 66, 67, 70, 75, 79, 83, 84, 9297, 101-103, 108, 109, 119, 120, 133-135, 143, 145, 148, 151-156 Muscat Levies corp, 79 musket, xx, 4, 6, 7, 14, 35, 38, 39, 42, 43, 46, 54, 154 — Jägerbuchse Mod. 71, 86 musketeers, 5, 6 musketoon, 116 — Jezail, 11, 33, 38, 116 mutfa match extinguisher, 23 Mutrah (Oman), 43, 46, 145 muzzle, xx, 9, 14, 15, 24-26, 29, 30, 31, 39, 40-43, 53, 54, 65, 75, 81, 84, 108, 115, 122, 123, 125, 131, 139, 140, 145, 149, 152, 155 naft, 2 Naples (Italy), 139, 141 Napoleonic Wars, 34, 143 National Arms & Ammunition Co. (arms factory), 55, 86 Near East, 32, 89, 113 Nepal, 53 Netherlands, xx, 135, 143 Nizwa (Oman), 46, 50, 139, 148 North-West Frontier Province (Pakistan), 46, 47, 55 O’Swald & Co. (arms dealer), 50 Obendorf am Neckar (Germany), 84, 86, 89, 105, 107 Oberspree Waffenwerke (arms factory), 88 Odessa (Ukraina), 50 Ordem do Tosão de Ouro, 139. See also Order of the Golden Fleche Order of St. John of Malta, 131 Order of the Golden Fleche, 139. See also Ordem do Tosão de Ouro Orléans (France), 124 Ottoman Empire, xix, xx, 2, 5, 7, 32, 33, 43, 54, 56, 73, 74, 89, 90, 107, 110-118, 122-125, 134, 135, 154, 155 Pakistan, 16, 35, 55, 116, 155 palaska cartridge pouch, 114, 115, 118 patron, 22, 23 Peabody Westley Richards action, 53 Peabody, Henry Oliver, 51

Peacock ship, 92 Peddled Scheme, 78, 99 Pemba (Mozambique), 135 perrier, 131 Perugia (Italy), 111 Petrarca, Francesco, 126 Petrarch, 126. See also Petrarca, Francesco Pistoia (Italy), 111 pistol, 112-121, 156 — Khyber Pass, 121 — kubur, 113-118 plastic, 23, 61 Plevna (Bulgaria), 54 Portugal, xx, xxi, 2, 5, 7, 32, 50, 53, 127, 133-143, 146-148, 153-156 potassium nitrate, 2, 126, 127 powder flasks, 20, 21. See also qura primer flask, 6, 21 Prince Regent ship, 135 Providence (USA), 51, 54, 92 Providence Tool Company (arms factory), 51, 54 Prussia, 34, 40, 81, 84, 104 Pune (India), 62 Qaitbay, Sultan of Egypt, 5, 134 Qalhat (Oman), 133 Qansuh Al-Ghawri, Ottoman Sultan, 134 qrsh, 44, 57. See also Maria Theresa thalers quicklime, 2, 4 qura powder flasks, 20, 21 Quriyat (Oman), 133 ramrod, 26, 115, 119, 120 rasasah lead ball, 20 Red Sea, xx, 5, 7, 33, 47, 134, 135, 143 Rhode Island (USA), 54 rifle, — American Spencer, 91 — Abu Hamsah (Mauser), 89 — Canad, Short Model LeeEnfield (SMLE), 62, 67, 79 — Chassepot, 40, 79, 81-84 — Dreyse needle gun, 40, 41, 84, 85 — Enfield Pattern 1853, 35, 37, 39, 41, 42, 150 — Gahendra Martini, 53, 54 — Gewehr 1898, 90 — Gewehr 71/84, 89 — Gewehr 88, 87 — Gewehr 98, 76, 87, 90, 106 — Gras, 79, 81, 82, 83 — Infantry Rifle, 101 — Model 1874, 81, 82 — Model 74/M80, 82 — Grenzaufsehergewehr Mod. 79, 86 — Kommissiongewehr Mod. 1888, 86

165

Ancient Weapons of Oman – Firearms

— Lebel 1886, 81 — Lee-Enfield, 48, 50, 62, 75-79, 93-100 — Magazine Lee-Enfield (MLE), 76, 78 — Mk1*, 95 — Short Magazine (SMLE) — Mk I, 52, 54, 76, 78 — Mk I*, 76 — Mk II, 52, 68 — Mk III, 52, 59, 69, 78, 96-98 — Mk III*, 78, 99 — Mk IV, 52, 59 — No. 1 Mk III, 79, 80 — No. 1 Mk III*, 78, 98 — No. 4 Mk I, 78 — No. 4 Mk I*, 78, 79, 100 — Lee-Metford, 52, 75, 76 — Mania (Mauser), 89 — Martini-Enfield, 55, 68, 69 — Martini Francotte, 47, 59 — Martini-Henry, — Mark I, 52, 54, 78 — Mark II, 52, 68 — Mark III, 52, 69 — Mark IV, 52 — Mk I, 52, 76, 78, 79, 93, 100 — Mk I*, 76, 78, 79, 93, 100 — Mk III, 59, 96-99 — Mk IV, 59 — Khyber Pass, 55, 59 — Martini Metford, 55 — Martini Muscat, x, 47, 56 — Mauser, — 1924, 106 — Karabiner Mod. 1898 A.Z., 87 — Karabiner Mod. 98 k, 87 — Mod. 1871, 41, 42, 85, 6 — Mod. 71, 104 — Model 1889, 90 — Model 1890, 42, 90 — Model 1892, 90 — Model 1893, 90 — Model 1905, 90, 107, 110 — Model 1938, 90 — Model 93, 87 — Model 94, 87 — Model 95, 87 — Mauser Model 98, 87, 106 — Mauser Standard Model, 88 — Mauser Turkish Mod. 1887, 89 — Meyzah .303 Long Enfield rifle, 79 — Mod. 1874/80, 82-84, 103 — Nepalese Gahendra Martin, 54 — Peabody Henry, 54

166

— Turkish Mod. 1874, 54 — Peabody Martini, 89 — Peabody Martini Henry, 73 — Spencer, 41, 91, 92, 108, 109 — Steyr, 83 — Swinburne Henry, 53 — Swiss Peabody, 51 — Winchester, 50, 89 Romania, 51, 53 rosette, 17 rosewood, 9, 30 Royal Navy (United Kingdom), 143 Royal Ordnance Factory Fazakerley (arms factory), 79 Royal Ordnance Factory Maltby (arms factory), 79 Royal Small Arms Factory (arms factory), 55, 76, 78, 93-98 Russia, 74, 83, 89 Rustaq (Oman), 46 Safavid Dynasty, xx, 7, 134, 135 Sagres (Portugal), 133 Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, 44 Saint-Étienne (France), 82, 83 saltpeter, 1, 2, 122, 126, 127, 156 São Pedro (Portuguese carrack), 134, 137, 138 Sardinia Island (Italy), 139 Savage Stevens Arms Co. (arms factory), 79, 100 Sayyid Turki bin Said, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, 109 Scotland, 34, 143, 156 Scylitzes, Ioannes, 1 Selim I, Ottoman Sultan, xix Serbia, 86 Seville (Spain), 122 Shah ’Alam ship, 135 shield, viii, 11, 16, 121 — terrs, 16 shotgun Greener Police, 53 side-by-side gun, 34, 35, 36 Simson & Co. Waffenfabrik, 88 Sindh (Pakistan), 7, 16, 24, 38, 33, 155 Skyllitzes Matritensis manuscript, vii, 1 sling, 24, 27, 60, 61, 66, 88, 93, 95, 102-105 snaphance, 5, 155 Snider breech-loading mechanism, 41-46, 54 Snider, Jacob, 41 Sodré, Vicente, 137 South African Republic of the Boers, 53, 87 Spain, 1, 2, 7, 32, 51, 87, 90, 113, 122, 126, 135, 139-141, 148, 156 Spandau (Germany), 86, 88, 153 Spangenberg & Sauer (arms factory), 86

Spencer, Christopher, 91 Spencer Repeating Rifle Company (arms factory), 92 Steyr Arms (arms factory), 53, 82, 83, 86 stock, 4, 5, 9, 11, 17, 19, 24-30, 36, 38, 56-59, 67, 81, 85-102, 106-109, 113, 114, 116, 118, 120, 154 Stuttgart (Germany), 86 Suez (Egypt), 134, 153 Suhl (Germany), 86 sulfur kabrīt, 2 sulfur, 1, 2, 122 suma ramrod, 114, 115 sumr (Acacia vera), 9 Sur (Oman), 45, 46, 48 Sweden, 34, 40, 87, 126, 131, 135, 136, 142, 154 Switzerland, 51, 88 sword, xix, xx, 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, 42, 62, 78, 116 Syria, 1, 74 talahiq flask, 21, 22 terrs shield, 16 Theoretical Lethality Index (TLI), 41, 42 Tibet, 5 tiger, 60 Tonkin (Vietnam), 7 toradar matchlock, 14, 17 touchhole, 3, 4 Tower of London (UK), 35, 125 Trafalgar (Spain), 150 Transvaal, 53, 83 Transylvania (Romania), 123 Trebizond (Türkiye), 134 tufenk matchlock, 7 tughra, 55, 73, 107, 110 Tulle (France), 82 Türkiye, 2, 32, 44, 47, 48, 50, 54, 7375, 86-90, 107, 110, 123, 125, 134, 135, 150 Turki bin Said, Sultan of Muscat and Oman 145 United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), 44, 75 United East India Company, 121 United Kingdom (UK), 93, 145 United States of America (USA), 34, 41, 44, 54, 55, 79, 89, 91, 92, 100, 109, 119, 135, 149, 150, 151, 156 Uruguay, 87 V.C. Schilling (arms factory), 88 Venice (Italy), 123, 126, 127, 134, 156 Versailles (France), 88 Vitelli, Paolo, 3 von der Goltz, Wilhelm Leopold Colmar, 89, 156 von Kropatschek, Alfred, 86 von Martini, Friedrich, 51

Index

W.W. Greener (arms factory), 53 wasla matchlock, 17, 19, 23 wheellock pistol, 112 wheellock, 111-113, 154, 156 William IV, King of the United Kingdom, 135 Woolwich Arsenal (arms factory), 34 World War I, 42-44, 55, 75, 78, 82, 87-90, 106, 155 World War II, 78, 87, 100 Yemen, 7, 17, 33, 50, 74, 155 Zanzibar, 16, 22, 29, 44-46, 50, 92, 135, 152, 153 Zulu, 157

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OmanMHT

OmanMHT

OmanMHT

OmanMHT

This bookapresents a detailed overview of the firearms used in Oman over presents detailed overview of the firearms used in the last four centuries. Portable firearms were brought the Arabianinto t our centuries. Portable firearms wereinto brought Gulf by the Portuguese, there isis no no trace trace of these early weapons the he Portuguese, butbut there of these early w region. Inthe Oman,typical the typical matchlock matchlock guns with decorated Indian n Oman, guns with decora barrels wereesteemed highly esteemedand and they were were passed from generation to ere highly they passed from ge as a family heritage. Matchlock guns were replaced only byrepla n asgeneration a family heritage. Matchlock guns were th breech-loading Martini Henryrifles rifles at the of the 19 of century, ading Martini Henry at end the end thewhen 19th cen Muscat became the major firearms’ entrepot in the Arabian Gulf with ecame the major firearms’ entrepot in the Arabian hundreds of thousands of breech loading rifles re-exported throughout of thousands of breech loading rifles re-exported the wholeup region to Afghanistan and Persia. Martini Henry e region toupAfghanistan and The Persia. The Mar rifle and its variants far the most common weapon and Belgian ts variants were were by by far the most common weapon a Martini were Henry were specifically engraved for the Muscat rtinimade Henry specifically engraved formarket. the Mus Cannon entered the countryin in great number mostly as ordnances ntered the country great number mostlyonas or Royal Navy shipsthey and they are now now keptkept in forts,in towers and fortified vy ships and are forts, towers a buildings the entire Oman. The weapons described in this book are in th across theacross entire Oman. The weapons described mostly from the National Museum and Bait Bait al Zubair in Muscat. om the National Museum and alMuseum Zubair Museum

Vincenzo Clarizia is aiscollector of ancient weapons from all over Vincenzo Clarizia a collector of ancient weapon the world. He started started beingbeing interestedinterested in ancient weapons the world. He inbefore ancient w was twenty, studying, restoringrestoring and collecting and edged weapons he washe twenty, studying, collecting e and firearmsfrom from Europe, Africa and the Middle East.the Since Middle 1996, he and firearms Europe, Africa and East approached the study of Japanese swords in bothswords their technical approached the study of Japanese in and both the practical aspects. HeHe is currently practicing Japanese sword martial practical aspects. is currently practicing Japanese arts Iaido, Battodo and KatoriKatori Shinto Ryu, and he restores and collects arts Iaido, Battodo and Shinto Ryu, and he resto Japanese blades and armours. He was alsoHe consultant the National Japanese blades and armours. was for also consultant Museum Oman, forfor whichwhich he assessed, and described Museum of of Oman, hecatalogued assessed, catalogued its large collections of edged weapons, weapons, firearms and cannons. its large collections of edged firearms and c

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