Canons to salute anniversary of Admiral Lord Collingwood's death

Feb 23 2010 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

CANNONS used in the Battle of Trafalgar will be “fired” on the anniversary of the day on which Admiral Lord Collingwood died 200 years ago.

Details were released yesterday of events which will mark the key date of Sunday, March 7 – the high point of this year’s Collingwood bicentennial events.

The four cannons on the Collingwood Monument in Tynemouth came from the Admiral’s ship the Royal Sovereign, which led the British fleet into action at the battle in 1805.

The guns will be “fired” at 3pm on March 7 using modern pyrotechnics, as they are no longer in working order.

Tributes will be laid at the monument and there will be a gunfire salute from the Royal Navy warship HMS Cumberland, which is visiting the Tyne as part of the Collingwood bicentenary events, and from field guns of 101 Regiment Royal Artillery on shore.

The event will be attended by Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, Chief of the Naval Staff.

Captain Stephen Healy, chairman of the Collingwood 2010 Festival Committee, said: “The presence of HMS Cumberland and exchange of gun-salute on the Tyne in the shadow of the Collingwood Monument promises to be a moving and spectacular event to commemorate Collingwood’s death at sea 200 years ago.”

The Royal Sovereign cannons weigh almost three tonnes each and originally fired 32lb cannonballs.

They were brought to the Tyne in July 1848 as an ornamental addition to the monument and also to form part of coastal defences.