Weapons
The Maxim .303 Machine Gun
One of 2 RCRI's two Maxim guns in camp in
South Africa, mounted on its Dundonald Galloping Carriage, with limber.
Note the armour shield to protect the gunners.
The British Army first adopted the Maxim machine gun in 1891.
Designed by the American-born inventor, Sir Hiram Maxim, it was the
first machine gun to operate entirely by mechanical means. With gas
generated by the propellant channelled into operating the moving
mechanisms, it could fire 650 rounds a minute from a continuously fed
belt of ammunition. Water circulating within a surrounding brass
enclosure kept the barrel cool.
Soon thereafter, the Canadian government acquired Maxim guns from
Great Britain. The North-West Mounted Police used them in the Canadian
west, and two went north with the Yukon Field Force in 1898. By the
time of the outbreak of the South African War in October 1899, Canadian
militia authorities deemed them important enough that, in conformity
with British practice, every Canadian unit was equipped with two Maxim
guns.
The Canadian Maxims taken to South Africa were mounted on a
lightweight "Dundonald Galloping Carriage," consisting of a steel
frame and trail, large wooden wheels with steel rims, and an armoured
shield to protect the gun crew. When travelling it was attached to an
ammunition limber pulled by at least four horses.
Opinions of the Maxim's performance in South Africa were mixed. On
the first day of
Paardeberg, the
2nd (Special Service) Battalion, Royal
Canadian Regiment of Infantry, was able to get only one of its
Maxims across the Modder River but, according to
Lieutenant-Colonel William Otter, it
"did most excellent service (being in a position to keep down the fire
of the enemy on our left." Later, in the fighting at
Doornkop, Otter detailed a Maxim gun
to protect an exposed flank, and within an hour it "was safe". On the
other hand,
Lieutenant-Colonel François-Louis Lessard
of the Royal Canadian Dragoons
probably reflected the views of the more mobile mounted rifle units when
he declared the Maxim "too heavy and cumbersome." He was also critical
of its tendency to jam, and of the need for the "water jacket to be
filled continually with water." By the time it left South Africa, his
unit had replaced its Maxims with the lighter-weight air-cooled
Colt machine gun, which could be
pulled by only one horse, could be brought into action close to the
enemy quickly, and, declared Lessard, "never clogs."