Tuesday, June 18, 2013
By Edward D. Murphy emurphy@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
PORTLAND – A more than 200-year-old cannon, originally on a British brig that was captured in the war of 1812, is on its way from Portland to Bath.
An engraving of the battle between the USS Enterprise and HMS Boxer in 1813 off of the coast of Maine.
The cannon from the HMS Boxer will be used in a display at the Maine Maritime Museum marking the bicentennial of the War of 1812. It was moved from a storeroom under the main staircase at Portland City Hall onto a truck for the trip up the coast early this morning.
The 1,200-pound cannon was donated to the Maine Historical Society in 1894 and immediately loaned to the city of Portland, probably because the society -- housed at the time in a couple of rooms of the Portland Public Library -- had no place to display it, said Holly Hurd-Forsyth, registrar of the society.
Hurd-Forsyth said she believes the city had displayed the cannon from time to time, but mostly it was kept in storage.
The Boxer was captured by the USS Enterprise in a major battle off Monhegan in September 1813. The only casualties of the battle were the two captains, who are buried together in Portland's Eastern Cemetery on Munjoy Hill.
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