k**0
发帖数: 1 | 1 The cascabel (the large ball at the rear of old muzzle-loaded guns) of
several cannon captured during the siege was said to have been used to make
the British Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the British
Armed Forces. However, Hancocks, the manufacturer, confirms that the metal
is Chinese, not Russian, bronze. The cannons used are in the Firepower
Museum in Woolwich and are clearly Chinese. There would be no reason why
Chinese cannon would be in Sevastopol in the 1850s and it is likely that the
VC guns were, in fact, British trophies from the China war in the 1840s
held in the Woolwich repository. Though it had been suggested that the VCs
should be made from Sevastopol cannons, it seems that in practice, they were
not. Testing of medals which proved not to be of Russian bronze has given
rise to stories that some Victoria Crosses were made of low grade material
at certain times but this is not so – all Victoria Crosses have been made
from the same metal from the start. |
