The tools used to operate the ordnance had a variety of functions. The
wet sponge swabbed out the cannon to make sure all sparks were
extinguished. The ladle dumped the exact amount of powder needed into
the chamber. The scraper removed any powder residue. The worm removed
unfired bits of cartridge and wadding. The point was to make sure the
cannon was clean before it was loaded and fired.
[Illustration: 1. Sponge]
[Illustration: 2. Powder ladle]
[Illustration: 3. Scraper]
[Illustration: 4. Worm]
[Illustration: 5. 24-pounder cannon]
[Illustration: 6. 16-pounder cannon]
[Illustration: 7. 12-pounder cannon]
[Illustration: 8. Grape shot, side view]
[Illustration: 9. Tongs for handling hot shot]
[Illustration: 10. Garrison carriage, top view]
[Illustration: 11. Garrison carriage, side view]
These illustrations come from Tomás de Morla’s _A Treatise on
Artillery_
Basically all artillery falls into two categories: mortars and guns.
Mortars were designed to fire the largest and heaviest projectiles on a
curved trajectory. They could shoot over obstacles or fortifications,
landing on, and perhaps piercing, the deck of a ship, or hitting a pile
of powder kegs or other supplies behind fortified walls, or just
wreaking havoc and demoralizing the people. Guns fired their projectiles
in a flat trajectory, and their effectiveness in turn depended upon the
weight of the shot: the greater the weight of the shot, the greater the
muzzle velocity—the speed at which the shot exited the gun—and the
farther the shot would go and the deadlier it would be.
The first artillery pieces were made of forged iron. The greatest
concern was in producing a weapon that could contain the explosive force
of the gunpowder, hurl the projectile at the enemy, and not blow up in
the faces of the gun crew. Once guns could be cast in a single piece in
either brass or bronze, great strides were made in the effectiveness of
the artillery pieces. By the 18th century bronze seems to have been the
metal of choice. The guns and mortars were highly decorated. All bore
the coat of arms of the sovereign. Usually the maker was identified in
some way; the name might be part of the base ring or shown in a cipher
below the sovereign’s arms. Garlands of flowers, animals, and mythical
creatures sometimes decorated the piece. All Spanish guns were
named—_Vindicator_, _Invincible_, _Destroyer_ are a few examples—and the
authorities made sure that each gun’s whereabouts was always known. This
has been invaluable for present-day historians investigating what guns
were used where and when. Guns were classified by the weight of the
projectile: a 12-pounder gun shot a 12-pound ball. The kinds of
projectiles varied greatly: solid shot, canister shot (a container full
of bullets), grape shot (cloth container full of bullets), and bombs or
grenades (hollow shot filled with gunpowder) fired from a mortar.
Sometimes solid shot was heated until it was red hot. If it landed on a
ship, hot shot could set a wooden ship afire. Ordnance enabled a
fortification to meet the potential the military engineers had hoped for
when they sited and built it.
The tops of the ponderous vaults were leveled off with a fill of coquina
chips and sand. Tabby mortar was poured onto the surface, and tampers
beat the mixture smooth. After the first layer set, others were added
until the pavement was six inches thick. The whole roof was thus made
into a gun deck, and cannon were no longer restricted to the bastions
alone. For unlike the old raftered roof, the new terreplein was
buttressed by construction that could take tremendous weight and
terrific shock; and masonry four feet thick protected the rooms
underneath from bombardment. In San Carlos bastion, by mid-January of
1740, they had finished the tall watchtower and the new parapet.
It was the English settlement of Georgia that had spurred all this
activity. In fact, Spain’s plan for recovery of Georgia and other
Spanish-claimed land was well past the first stages. Troops were
assembling in Havana and reinforcements of 400 had already come to
Florida. The situation came to a head when Spanish officials boarded
Capt. Robert Jenkins’ ship _Rebecca_, believing the English mariners to
be illegally carrying goods to Spanish settlements, an enterprise
forbidden by Spanish law. In the ensuing scuffle, Jenkins’ ear was
sliced off. Jenkins, back in London, reported to Parliament that the
Spanish officer who handed him back his ear said: “Carry it to your King
and tell his majesty that if he were present I would serve him in the
same manner.”
Alexander Pope, the couplet maker, smiled and said: “The Spaniards did a
waggish thing/Who cropped our ears and sent them to the King.” But
others were not amused, and England and Spain declared war in 1739. It
was called, of course, the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
England’s main target was the Caribbean, with Havana at center with
Portobelo, Cartagena, and St. Augustine on the perimeter. Admiral Edward
Vernon quickly won fame with his capture of Portobelo in 1739.
Oglethorpe tried to imitate him in Florida. Already he had probed the
St. Johns River approaches; St. Augustine would be next.
Governor Montiano, however, was fully aware of weaknesses. “Considering
that 21 months have been spent on a bastion and eight arches,” he
pointed out, “we need at least eight years for rehabilitation of the
Castillo.”