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Ammunition
and Equipment - The Right Tools for the Job
Man
has always been pretty ingenious when it comes to finding ways to
hurt his fellow man. The
ammunition used by guns at sea was no exception.
Like most other features of gunnery using muzzle-loading
black powder guns, few of the ammunition, tools and other necessary
impedimenta relating to naval gunnery changed over the centuries.
As
for types of ammunition, the standard form was the “Roundshot”
(also called a “Cannonballs” by non-purists).
These were almost invariably made from cast-iron, and were
used to smash up the hull of an enemy ship When a roundshot struck
and penetrated an enemy hull it could dismount guns and rip off huge
jagged splinters of wood which would maim the crew.
“Bar
Shot” and “Chain Shot” both served the same purpose; to scythe
through the air and to cut down the rigging of the enemy ship.
This in turn could bring down her masts, enabling the firing
ship to get into a position to rake her, firing into the enemy while
she was unable to fire back.
“Cannister
Shot” and “Grape Shot” were used at point blank range, just
before an enemy tried to board.
They both contained a dozen or more mini-roundshot or large
musket balls, which were designed to cut down the enemy crew who
were gathered together to board the firing ship.
These anti-personnel rounds were augmented by the fire of
swivel guns firing similar types of ammunition and by marines firing
muskets.
Although
these were the most common types, several other variants existed.
Until the mid 17th century some ships carried “perriers”;
low velocity guns designed to fire stone cannonballs.
Although their use is unclear, they were probably designed so
split into stone shards at close range, acting a bit like wooden
splinters, cutting down the enemy crew.
“Spike Shot” was roundshot or bar shot with spikes at the
ends, designed to stick in the enemy hull, or to roll around its
decks (another name for the bar shot variety was “Trundle Shot”)
In some cases, spike shot was wrapped in pitch and sacking,
so it would ignite when fired, and set the other ship on fire.
Another type of anti-personnel ammunition was “Landgridge”;
a wooden case containing metal scraps, old nails and jagged pieces
of metal. When fired
the case would burst apart and the shot would fly out as if it was
scatter shot fired from a shotgun.
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Did
the type of ammunition used affect range?
Certainly.
If we take roundshot as the standard type of
ammunition, it had an effective range of about 1400 yards (for
an 18 pounder gun). Sometimes
guns were double-shotted (two roundshot in the barrel), which
reduced the range to 800 yards.
Bar shot and chain shot had an effective range of about
the same, while anti-personnel shot was only effective within
200 yards of the enemy. Smaller
sized guns had slightly smaller ranges, but the proportion of
ranges remained the same. |
Before
a sea battle began, a gun crew
would ensure they had sufficient supplies of powder and
ammunition at hand, and that they had all the tools they needed.
The following tools were the basics needed by any gun crew
from the 16th century on.
| Rammer |
(Used
for ramming the powder cartridge, shot and wadding into the
gun) |
| Worm |
(A
tool for removing unburned scraps of powder cartridge from
the barrel) |
| Sponge |
(Necessary
to extinguish any burning embers left after firing) |
|
Hanspike (2 needed) |
(Used to elevate or train the gun and carriage) |
| Pricker |
(The
pricker is thrust down into the touch-hole to pierce the
powder cartridge) |
| Wadding |
(Cloth
or felt padding used to secure the powder in palce, and to
seal the breech of the gun) |
| Powder
Cartridge |
(A
weighed and bagged charge of black powder) |
| Budge
Barrel or Cartridge Case |
(A
ready-use container to store one or more powder cartridges) |
| Linstock |
(A
stick with metal jaws attached, used to hold slowmatch) |
| Slowmatch |
(Cord
soaked in saltpeter, which burns steadily when lit.
Used to ignite the powder in the touch-hole) |
| From
the late 18th century, slowmatch and the linstock
was gradually replaced by: |
| Priming
Tube |
(
A quill tube filled with powder, stuck into the touch-hole
to prime the gun) |
| Gunlock |
(a
flintlock gun mechanism screwed to the gun and used to
ignite the priming charge) |
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