The News
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According to the Times of Malta, Unesco is thinking of adding the last 2 surviving examples of 100 ton Armstrong guns to their list of World Heritage Sites. The executive director of the Malta Heritage Trust, Mario Farrugia, mentioned the fact while addressing a tour of Malta's historic Fort Rinella, home of one of the guns. Originally two guns were installed in Malta and two in Gibraltar in the late 1870's. The Rinella gun was last fired in 1905 with a full load. Even Jules Verne was a fan, he remarked on a visit in 1878 that the fort was a marvel of the industrial age, and would render Malta safe forever. Well, it has been pretty safe since then, but it did get temporarily beaten up in WW2, but not defeated!
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William Armstrong was a man of the 19th century. He tamed electricity, hydraulics, heavy machinery and whatever else to build his empire. He invented the modern rifled built up gun to which navies of the world still use, and gave it to the British Government. Patriotic to a fault, he also had so many other interests and the means to pursue them. His house at Cragside was the first to be powered by hydroelectricity. He built shipyards and could build everything for the battle cruiser in house. His hydraulic machinery even powers the London Bridge. He is one of the men who built our modern world. There is a new book about Sir William Armstrong's life by Henrietta Heald, the "Magician of the North" and it is available on Amazon .