French shell casing markings

[Kildonan]

Following on from my previous thread (Can anyone identify these gun components) where the gun was identified as a Hotchkiss machine gun. 

 

The attached photographs are of the shell casings recovered from the wreck.

 

The majority of the casings are 75mm, long ones with pelletised cordite and short ones with strip cordite, tied in bundles with three pieces of string. Usually the only part of the shell which remains is the base which is easily removed on the seabed and the cordite left on the wreck with the rest of it. The rest of the shell has corroded away over the past 100 years or so. Despite this sometimes the remains of wooden boxes are found with 6 shells in. There are also a few 105mm short casings.  

 

Some of the bases are marked SMA, some St. Chammond. I assume that these are the manufacturers? What the significance is of the Roumannie is I have no idea.

There are also some stamped with letter markings, "L" etc. These look like they were applied post manufacture, manually?

 

Just in case anyone is wondering, the detonator/primer is not "live", what can be seen in the base is only 1/8" thick and 100% brass!

 

Is there anyone here that can narrow down any of the markings to a month in 1916?

 

All help greatly appreciated.

 

Spike

[trajan]

I have never found a good source for French cases...

 

But Roumaine is French for Romania, and the middle case on the bottom row is dated " MAI 1916". Weren't your catridges also 1916?

 

According to Google - so might be fact! -  at: https://www.bulgarianartillery.it/Bulgarian Artillery 1/Testi/T_Romanian Strenght.htm - "In winter 1916-17 the Romanian Army was reorganized by a French Military Mission, composed by 1150 French officers and men commanded by gén. de division Henri Berthelot." The page discusses the use of French artillery pieces... Note also that the Romanian army used a variety of French-supplied rifles... Perhas your ship was en-route there when it sank?

[trajan]

Well, in a very rare idle moment (I jest not), having worked out that the French for "WW1 artillery shell-case marking" was something like "Première guerre mondiale en laiton d'artillerie coque marquages"(!), I stumbled upon a French equivalent to GWF, named "Forum Pages 14-18"... I did a quick look through and found at: https://forum.pages14-18.com/viewtopic.php?t=50698  - "MA I est un code attribué à la Société Française de Munitions (Issy) pour le marquage des douilles" and "Je viens de trouver dans un manuel de 1918 relatif aux marquages que MA.I signifie en fait: Société de Fabrication de Matériels d'Artillerie, usine d'Issy. Ce n'est donc pas la célèbre "SFM" (Société Française de Munitions) d'Issy, peut-être une filiale?"

[Kildonan]

Thanks for your help Trajan.

 

The ship has now been identified thanks to the help of some very knowledgeable inputs from members here on the GWF.

 

For anyone that is interested the story of how the last resting place of a British ship, which has been missing for 102 years, came to be identified, can read about here:

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/260770-lloyds-list-and-a-ship-lost-without-trace-a-request/

 

Many thanks for all your help.