The cannon was originally part of the armament of the Frigate HMS Foundroyant ex HMS Trincomalee.
The cannon and refurbished gun carriage were presented to the City of Portsmouth on 10 July 1974.
The Leda Class Frigate Trincomalee was ordered on 30 October 1812 and built in Bombay, India in teak due to oak shortages in Britain due to the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was named Trincomalee after the 1782 Battle of Trincomalee off the Ceylon (Sri Lanka ) port of the same name.
With a construction cost of £23,000 she was launched on 12 October 1817 and soon after completion was sailed to Portsmouth where she arrived on 30 April 1819.
After being fitted out at a further cost of £2,400 she was placed in reservee until 1845 when she was re-armed had her stern reshaped and was reclassified as a sixth rate spar decked corvette. Between 1847 and 1849 she served in North America and the West Indies. In 1849 she was despatched to Newfoundland & Labrador before being recalled to Britain in 1850. In 1852 she sailed to join the Pacific Squadron on the West coast of America.
Trincomalee finished her Royal Navy service as a training ship, but was placed in reserve again in 1895 and sold for scrap two years later in May 1897. She was then purchased by an entrepreneur restored, and renamed Foudroyant in honour of HMS Foundroyant his earlier ship that had been wrecked.
She was used as an accommodation ship, a training ship, and a holiday ship. and remained in service until 1986 after which she was again restored and in 1992 renamed back to Trincomalee, she remains afloat as a museum ship.
Leda Class Frigates were 1065.63 Tons, had a length of 45.83m and a 38.28m beam. Her complement consisted of 315 officers and men.
Armament consisted of 46 guns including carronades.