Cannon Cart from Roussillon

 

This heavy-duty cart built to transport gun tubes is inspired by a late 18th century model from the French historical and mountainous province of Roussillon, near the border with Spain.

Below are drawings of the original cart from the book Mémoires d'Artillerie, recueillis par M. Surirey de Saint Rémy, Lieutenant du Grand-Maître de l'Artillerie de France (1745).

Here's how the vehicle is described in the book:

"This cart is very good and very practical for carrying heavy loads in curves and in mountains, because it steers like a coach, and it turns in a very small space: we spent two years and more to make it perfect. We'll tell you the flaws that used to happen at the beginning. Everything depends on the axle cap, because if it's not installed properly, when going downslope the front train digs into the ground, and when going upslope it points towards the sky; which was very impractical and caused us a lot of trouble: but now, whether this cart goes up or down, it is always level: if it overturns, it is first straightened without disassembling the piece."

As you can see from the drawings and photos, the front axle is able to pivot entirely under the body of the cart giving the vehicle a very narrow turning radius and allowing it to U-turn almost on the spot. 

Besides the more common limbers and ammunition wagons (or caissons), artillery parcs (where cannons and vehicles were kept and maintained) were full of these types of less-common contraptions devised to help handle and move the very heavy artillery pieces. 

Of course, you would also find the present cart and similar models ont the roads to carry battle, siege or place artillery.

Gun tubes would be transported on such vehicles rather than their usual carriage because their carriage could've been damaged or if the barrel was destined to arm a fortress for example it might not have had a corresponding field carriage to haul it across long distances.

The Mémoires d'Artillerie give a few more reasons why carts were used to carry gun barrels:

"One makes carts to carry cannons, as much to relieve the carriages, as to employ fewer horses and to navigate more easily the bad countryside roads."

Indeed our cart with its massive rear wheels, its very high ground clearance, its unmatched maneuverability and general toughness is the ideal all-terrain transporter for its task.