Knox your Block Off (3)

Having examined the British force at Fort Knox, and the historical precedents that TFSmith uses to justify the loss of British ships there, we now conclude by considering the sinkings themselves.



There are a number of problems with the sinking of Magicienne. Firstly, the weaponry is wrong. We are told that Magicienne was 'well within range of the Fort’s water battery' and that she was fired at with '8 inch Parrotts and howitzers'. However, the water battery of Fort Knox contained 32pdrs, and was only made capable of taking larger weapons after a lengthy and expensive reconstruction that concluded in 1863.

Moreover, as we have already shown, there shouldn't be any 8in Parrotts: the man in charge of casting them has been transferred away from West Point Foundry. As Executive Document 99 shows, there were only three 200pdr rifles produced in the whole of 1862- two in April, and one on 30 September. If there are '8 inch Parrots' (multiple) in Fort Knox in September 1862, this should be all the guns available to the Union. However, we have already seen 8in Parrots at Fort Gorges in Portland, which makes this section all the more unbelievable. TFSmith believes that Parrott could make more guns simply because the Union was at war with Britain; the fact that Parrott and the government had an understanding 'that he shall continue their manufacture as rapidly as his works will permit' suggests otherwise.

Secondly, the ranges are overstated. As we can see, the water battery is 3.4 miles (5,984 yards) from Odom Ledge:

The 1862 United States Army ordnance manual includes range tables for the 8-inch sea coast howitzer. With a maximum 8lb charge and a 5 degree elevation, the range was 1,800 yards. Even the 8in Columbiad, with a 10lb charge and a 30 degree elevation, only ranged 3,873 yards. According to experiments, the 200pdr (8in) Parrott rifle ranged 4,272 yards at almost 12 degrees elevation with a 16lb charge. As such, TFSmith's claim that 5,984 yards is 'well within range' is patent nonsense. He is claiming that the Union army can obtain second-round hits with muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon at a range of more than three miles, when in reality the defences of San Francisco were unable to hit a moored ship at two miles.

There is a third problem with this description. TFSmith has previously said that:

Maps - and Google Earth - are great reality checks. The "terrain" feature is really helpful, as well. Puts the "waves" (as in topo lines) back into handwavium...;).

Unfortunately, he neglected to take his own advice. A few seconds checking would confirm that you cannot actually see Odom Ledge from the water battery of Fort Knox, because Verona Island is in the way.

As is patently obvious, even the westernmost gun of the water battery has no line of sight on the very westernmost point of Odom Ledge:

The use of Google Earth also highlights a problem with the beaching of HMS Stork. There is no reason for Stork to sail into the 'shoals south of Porcupine Island', because it is quite clear that they are south of an island. Indeed, it requires Stork to actively turn into the bank rather than continuing in the river channel:

From the captain's perspective, the choice makes even less sense:

Why would its captain do this? For TFSmith, the answer is simple: because he is British, and therefore incompetent.


In many respects, this little battle encapsulates Burnished Rows of Steel. The British manage to fit two years' worth of errors into a single battle, even though this requires British captains to steam directly into the shoreline. At the same time, the Union fire guns they have not got, from emplacements that could not take them, at ranges the guns could not reach, at targets that should be invisible. Under these circumstances, it is astonishing that the British hold out as long as they do.