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Firing
Drill - Or how to make things go with a bang
Gun firing drills varied in detail over the
centuries, but at least for muzzle-loading artillery, the basic
principles didn’t change very much.
To show what differences there might have been, we’ll
contrast the earliest recorded drill from William Eldred’s “The
Gunner’s Glass” of 1646, and the gunnery drill used by the Navy
in 1824
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Did William Eldred write the first artillery handbook?
Not really. The first came
out around 1588, at the time of the Spanish Armada.
While these were written by Englishmen (or Italians
working in England), other Italian and French manuals followed
quickly after.
Eldred was the master gunner in England’s Dover castle for over twenty
years during the mid 17th century.
Although employed to serve King Charles I, when the
English Civil War broke out in 1642 he sided with Parliament,
and his gunnery manual was published right after the end of
the first period of Civil War, where the Royalists were
defeated by the Parliamentarians.
The beauty of his book is that it was written by a practical and
experienced gunner, not a gunfounder, scientist or ballistics
expert. He
favored a practical approach, and his text was therefore
peppered with anecdotes and sensible advice.
His gunnery drill was no exception; a straightforward,
practical approach that developed into the standard for all
gunnery drills from the late 17th century on.
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| William
Eldred’s Gun Firing Drill |
Step
1
Put Back your Piece |
(pull
it back from the ship’s side or land defenses) |
Step
2
Order your Piece to load |
(give
the command to start the loading process) |
Step
3
Search your Piece |
(use
a metal “Worm” to make sure the barrel is empty) |
Step
4
Sponge your Piece |
(swab
the barrel with a “Sponge” to extinguish any burning embers) |
Step
5
Fill your Ladle |
(Scoop
the exact amount of powder you need into your “Ladle”) |
Step
6
Put in your powder |
(push
the upright ladle down the barrel of the gun) |
Step
7
Empty your Ladle |
(tip
the powder out at the base of the breech) |
Step
8
Put up your Powder |
(using
a “Rammer”, compress the powder against the back wall of
the breech) |
Step
9
Thrust home your Wad |
(Ram
a securing “Wad” against the powder charge) |
Step
10
Regard your Shot |
(Make
sure your shot is a true sphere, unblemished by lumps or rust which might interfere with its flight) |
Step
11
Put home your shot gently |
(Roll
the ball down the barrel) |
Step
12
Thrust home your last Wad with three strokes |
(Place
another “wad” down the barrel and ram it home against the ball). |
Step
13
Gauge your Piece |
(Aim
the gun at the target) |
The
gun is then ready to fire. Eldred
explained in detail what each step entailed, and who performed it.
The only real modification in the later 17th
century on involved the use of gunpowder.
It became increasingly rare to handle loose gunpowder, and in
most cases, the gun crew would use pre-measured cloth bags
containing gunpowder. This
meant that instead of loading with a Ladle (as in Steps 5 to 8), at
Order 5 would be “Put in your Powder (the bag would be placed
inside the barrel) and Step 6 would be “Put up your Powder”
(the bag would be pushed back against the breech end of the
gun). That means that
Step 9 would become Step 7, reducing the drill to 11 rather than 13
steps.
What
he didn’t describe in the sequence was the firing process.
A “Vent Pricker” or wire would be pushed down the
touch-hole to pierce the cartridge inside the barrel.
The gun would then be primed using loose priming powder
poured into the touch-hole. Any
last-minute changes would be made to the gun’s elevation and
training, then on the given order the gun captain would set off the
priming charge using a “Linstock” ( a stick with a clamp at the
end which held burning “slowmatch” (cord soaked in saltpeter).
As soon as the gun was fired the reloading process would
begin again (Step 3 onwards).
The
next sequence comes from 1824, and emphasizes the changes in gunnery
during the previous 175 years.
| William
Eldred’s Gun Firing Drill |
Step
1
Clear for Action |
(The
crew prepare their gun and lay out their tools, powder charges
and shot) |
Step
2
Cast loose the Guns |
(The
gun is unlashed from the side of the ship and the gunports are
opened) |
Step
3
Load |
(A cartridge is pushed into the barrel followed by a shot and a wad.
All three are rammed home against the breech end of the
gun). |
Step
4
Run Out |
(The crew man side tackles and roll the gun forward so the muzzle
sticks through the gunport) |
Step
5
Prick the Cartridge |
(A
“Pricker” is forced into the touch-hole to prick the
cartridge) |
Step
6
Prime |
(The gun captain inserts the firing tube into the touch-hole) |
Step
7
Point |
The
gun is trained towards the target and elevated if necessary) |
Step
8
Make Ready |
(The gun captain cocks the “Gun Lock”) |
Step
9
Fire |
(The
gun captain pulls a lanyard attached to the gunlock and fires
the piece) |
Step
10
Stop the Vent |
(A
plug is stuffed into the touch-hole to prevent the escape of
gas which might burn out the vent itself) |
Step
11
Sponge |
(The gun is sponged to extinguish any smoldering embers.
Every fourth round
the gun is also searched with a Worm.) |
The
two drills are remarkably similar, and the only real defenses
reflect the introduction of new firing mechanisms in the late 18th
century.
Gunlocks were introduced to guns at sea around 1780, and
remained in use until just before the American Civil War (1861-65).
A priming tube was a quill
tube, filled with gunpowder, which replaced the pouring of
loose powder into the vent.
When the lanyard attached to the gunlock was pulled the
flintlock mechanism of the gunlock went off, creating a spark which
ignited the powder.
Slowmatch and linstocks were rarely used after 1800.
From around 1850, the gunlock was replaced by a “Friction
Tube”, a combination of priming tube and ignition system.
When a lanyard was pulled, the friction tube set off the main
charge.
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