Rare cannon blasts into life on cue for TV documentary

More than 100 people crowded on to one of Auckland’s volcanic cones to witness a rare and thunderous event, the firing of a massive 19th-century cannon.

It was the third time the ‘‘disappearing gun’’, a British Armstrong 8-inch Mark VII cannon, perched atop Devonport’s North Head Maunganuika, was fired, at just after 11am yesterday.

The cannon pre-dates World War I and was mounted on top of the volcanic cone in the late 1800s out of fear of the Russian navy.

Packed with gun-powder and hooked to a remote detonator, after a 10-second countdown, a single shot was blasted in a southeasterly direction over the Waitemata Harbour, which was crested with a rainbow courtesy of the morning’s thunderstorm.

Its aftershock rumbled in the chests of nearby spectators, and its explosion was heard easily from St Heliers on the other side of the harbour.

The event was for a NZ on Airfunded documentary Heritage Rescue, which presenter and researcher Brigid Gallagher describes as ‘‘peeling back the layers’’ of Devonport’s past.

The cannon’s historic detonator was originally built in the 1890s. After having been used in the Suez Canal project, it arrived in New Zealand in the 1950s.

While all went off no problems, a more modern detonator lay waiting in the background, just in case the aged equipment wasn’t quite up to the task.

The ‘‘disappearing gun’’ appeared and was loaded earlier in the morning, before the guests had arrived on the muddy hillside.

The battery gun was designed to retract into the ground after firing in attempts to conceal its location, hence its nickname, the ‘‘disappearing gun’’.

Gallagher said that the disappearing gun was built as a part of a great defence system, but it didn’t have the accuracy.

Today, not only is the gun itself rare, but the ability to shoot it as well.

It is suspected the first time it was fired was 130 years ago in 1887 to test it worked.

It was fired a number of times during the 20th century before falling silent.

The last time it was fired was to celebrate the All Black’s Rugby World Cup win in September 2011.