GUNS AND GUNNERS
Breech-loaders--Cartridges--Powder--The gunner's art
Cannon were in use in Europe, it is thought, in the eleventh century;
for the art of making gunpowder came westward, from China, much earlier
than people have supposed. It is certain that gunpowder was used "in
missiles," before it was used to propel them. The earliest cannon were
generally of forged iron built in strips secured by iron rings. They
were loaded by movable chambers which fitted into the breech, and they
were known as "crakys of war." We find them on English ships at the end
of the fourteenth century, in two kinds, the one a cannon proper, the
other an early version of the harquebus-a-croc. The cannon was a mere
iron tube, of immense strength, bound with heavy iron rings. The rings
were shrunken on to the tube in the ordinary way. The tube, when ready,
was bolted down to a heavy squared beam of timber on the ship's deck. It
was loaded by the insertion of the "gonne-chambre," an iron pan,
containing the charge, which fitted into, and closed the breech. This
gonne-chambre was wedged in firmly by a chock of elm wood beaten in with
a mallet. Another block of wood, fixed in the deck behind it, kept it
from flying out with any violence when the shot was fired. Cannon of
this sort formed the main armament of ships until after the reign of
Henry the Eighth. They fired stone cannon-balls, "pellettes of lead, and
dyce of iron." Each gun had some half-dozen chambers, so that the
firing from them may have been rapid, perhaps three rounds a minute. The
powder was not kept loose in tubs, near the guns, but neatly folded in
conical cartridges, made of canvas or paper (or flannel) which practice
prevailed for many years. All ships of war carried "pycks for hewing
stone-shott," though after 1490, "the iron shott callyd bowletts," and
their leaden brothers, came into general use. The guns we have
described, were generally two or four pounders, using from half-a-pound,
to a pound and a quarter, of powder, at each discharge. The carriage, or
bed, on which they lay, was usually fitted with wheels at the rear end
only.
The other early sea-cannon, which we have mentioned, were also
breech-loading. They were mounted on a sort of iron wheel, at the summit
of a stout wooden staff, fixed in the deck, or in the rails of the poop
and forecastle. They were of small size, and revolved in strong iron
pivot rings, so that the man firing them might turn them in any
direction he wished. They were of especial service in sweeping the
waist, the open spar-deck, between the breaks of poop and forecastle,
when boarders were on board. They threw "base and bar-shot to murder
near at hand"; but their usual ball was of stone, and for this reason
they were called petrieroes, and petrieroes-a-braga. The
harquebus-a-croc, a weapon almost exactly similar, threw small cross-bar
shot "to cut Sails and Rigging." In Elizabethan times it was carried in
the tops of fighting ships, and on the rails and gunwales of
merchantmen.
In the reign of Henry VIII., a ship called the _Mary Rose_, of 500 tons,
took part in the battle with the French, in St Helens Roads, off
Brading. It was a sultry summer day, almost windless, when the action
began, and the _Mary Rose_ suffered much (being unable to stir) from the
gun-fire of the French galleys. At noon, when a breeze sprang up, and
the galleys drew off, the _Mary Rose_ sent her men to dinner. Her lower
ports, which were cut too low down, were open, and the wind heeled her
over, so that the sea rushed in to them. She sank in deep water, in a
few moments, carrying with her her captain, and all the gay company on
board. In 1836 some divers recovered a few of her cannon, of the kinds
we have described, some of brass, some of iron. The iron guns had been
painted red and black. Those of brass, in all probability, had been
burnished, like so much gold. These relics may be seen by the curious,
at Woolwich, in the Museum of Ordnance, to which they were presented by
their salver.
In the reign of Elizabeth, cannon were much less primitive, for a great
advance took place directly men learned the art of casting heavy guns.
Until 1543, they had forged them; a painful process, necessarily limited
to small pieces. After that year they cast them round a core, and by
1588 they had evolved certain general types of ordnance which remained
in use, in the British Navy, almost unchanged, until after the Crimean
War. The Elizabethan breech-loaders, and their methods, have now been
described, but a few words may be added with reference to the
muzzle-loaders. The charge for these was contained in cartridges,
covered with canvas, or "paper royall" (_i.e._ parchment), though the
parchment used to foul the gun at each discharge. Burning scraps of it
remained in the bore, so that, before reloading, the weapon had to be
"wormed," or scraped out, with an instrument like an edged corkscrew. A
tampion, or wad, of oakum or the like, was rammed down between the
cartridge and the ball, and a second wad kept the ball in place. When
the gun was loaded the gunner filled the touch-hole with his priming
powder, from a horn he carried in his belt, after thrusting a sharp
wire, called the priming-iron, down the touch-hole, through the
cartridge, so that the priming powder might have direct access to the
powder of the charge. He then sprinkled a little train of powder along
the gun, from the touch-hole to the base-ring, for if he applied the
match directly to the touch-hole the force of the explosion was liable
to blow his linstock from his hand. In any case the "huff" or "spit" of
fire, from the touch-hole, burned little holes, like pock-marks, in the
beams overhead. The match was applied smartly, with a sharp drawing back
of the hand, the gunner stepping quickly aside to avoid the recoil. He
stepped back, and stood, on the side of the gun opposite to that on
which the cartridges were stored, so that there might be no chance of a
spark from his match setting fire to the ammunition. Spare match, newly
soaked in saltpetre water, lay coiled in a little tub beside the gun.
The cartridges, contained in latten buckets, were placed in a barrel by
the gun and covered over with a skin of leather. The heavy shot were
arranged in shot racks, known as "gardens," and these were ready to the
gunner's hand, with "cheeses" of tampions or wads. The wads were made of
soft wood, oakum, hay, straw, or "other such like." The sponges and
rammers were hooked to the beams above the gun ready for use. The
rammers were of hard wood, shod with brass, "to save the Head from
cleaving." The sponges were of soft fast wood, "As Aspe, Birch, Willow,
or such like," and had heads covered with "rough Sheepes skinne wooll,"
nailed to the staff with "Copper nayles." "Ladels," or powder shovels,
for the loading of guns, were seldom used at sea.
The guns were elevated or depressed by means of handspikes and quoins.
Quoins were blocks of wood, square, and wedge-shaped, with ring-hooks
screwed in them for the greater ease of handling. Two of the gun's crew
raised the base of the cannon upon their handspikes, using the "steps"
of the gun carriage as their fulcra. A third slid a quoin along the
"bed" of the carriage, under the gun, to support it at the required
height. The recoil of the gun on firing, was often very violent, but it
was limited by the stout rope called the breeching, which ran round the
base of the gun, from each side of the port-hole, and kept it from
running back more than its own length. When it had recoiled it was in
the position for sponging and loading, being kept from running out
again, with the roll of the ship, by a train, or preventer tackle,
hooked to a ring-bolt in amidships. In action, particularly in violent
action, the guns became very hot, and "kicked" dangerously. Often they
recoiled with such force as to overturn, or to snap the breeching, or to
leap up to strike the upper beams. Brass guns were more skittish than
iron, but all guns needed a rest of two or three hours, if possible,
after continual firing for more than eight hours at a time. To cool a
gun in action, to keep it from bursting, or becoming red-hot, John
Roberts advises sponging "with spunges wet in ley and water, or water
and vinegar, or with the coolest fresh or salt water, bathing and
washing her both within and without." This process "if the Service is
hot, as it was with us at Bargen" should be repeated, "every eighth or
tenth shot." The powder in use for cannon was called Ordnance or
Corne-powder. It was made in the following proportion. To every five
pounds of refined saltpetre, one pound of good willow, or alder,
charcoal, and one pound of fine yellow sulphur. The ingredients were
braised together in a mortar, moistened with water distilled of orange
rinds, or aqua-vitæ, and finally dried and sifted. It was a bright,
"tawny blewish colour" when well made. Fine powder, for muskets or
priming seems to have had a greater proportion of saltpetre.
The Naval Tracts of Sir W. Monson, contain a list of the sorts of cannon
mounted in ships of the time of Queen Elizabeth. It is not exhaustive,
but as Robert Norton and Sir Jonas Moore give similar lists, the curious
may check the one with the other.
Weight Weight Weight Point Length
Bore of of of Blank Random in
Cannon Shot Powder Range Feet
ins. lb. lb. lb. paces paces
Cannon Royal or
Double Cannon 8½ 8000 66 30 800 1930 M.L. 12
Cannon or
Whole Cannon 8 6000 60 27 770 2000 " 11
Cannon Serpentine 7 5500 53½ 25 200 2000 " 10
Bastard Cannon 7 4500 41½ 20 180 1800 " 10
Demi-Cannon 6½-7 4000 33½ 18 170 1700 " 10
Cannon Petro or
Cannon Perier 6 4000 24½ 14 160 1600 " 4
Culverin 5-5½ 4500 17½ 12 200 2500 " 13
Basilisk 5 4000 15 10 230 3000 " 4
Demi-Culverin 4 3400 9½ 8 200 2500 " 11
Bastard Culverin 4 3000 7 5¾ 170 1700 " 11
Saker 3½ 1400 5½ 5½ 170 1700 " 9 or 10
Minion 3½ 1000 4 4 170 1700 " 8
Falcon 2½ 660 3 3 150 1500 " 7
Falconet 2 500 1½ 1¼ 150 1500 " 6½
Serpentine 1½ 400 ¾ ¾ 140 1400 " 4½
Rabinet 1 300 ½ ½ 120 1000 " 2½
To these may be added bases, port pieces, stock fowlers, slings, half
slings, and three-quarter slings, breech-loading guns ranging from five
and a half to one-inch bore.
Other firearms in use in our ships at sea were the matchlock musket,
firing a heavy double bullet, and the harquabuse[21] or arquebus, which
fired a single bullet. The musket was a heavy weapon, and needed a rest,
a forked staff, to support the barrel while the soldier aimed. This
staff the musketeer lashed to his wrist, with a cord, so that he might
drag it after him from place to place. The musket was fired with a
match, which the soldier lit from a cumbrous pocket fire-carrier. The
harquabuse was a lighter gun, which was fired without a rest, either by
a wheel-lock (in which a cog-wheel, running on pyrites, caused sparks to
ignite the powder), or by the match and touch-hole. Hand firearms were
then common enough, and came to us from Italy, shortly after 1540. They
were called Daggs. They were wheel-locks, wild in firing, short, heavy,
and beautifully wrought. Sometimes they carried more than one barrel,
and in some cases they were made revolving. They were most useful in a
hand-to-hand encounter, as with footpads, or boarders; but they were
useless at more than ten paces. A variation from them was the
hand-cannon or blunderbuss, with a bell-muzzle, which threw rough slugs
or nails. In Elizabethan ships the musketeers sometimes fired short,
heavy, long-headed, pointed iron arrows from their muskets, a missile
which flew very straight, and penetrated good steel armour. They had
also an infinity of subtle fireworks, granadoes and the like, with which
to set their opponents on fire. These they fired from the bombard
pieces, or threw from the tops, or cage-works. Crossbows and longbows
went to sea, with good store of Spanish bolts and arrows, until the end
of Elizabeth's reign, though they were, perhaps, little used after 1590.
The gunner had charge of them, and as, in a way, the gunner was a sort
of second captain, sometimes taking command of the ship, we cannot do
better than to quote from certain old books concerning his duties on
board. Mr W. Bourne, the son of an eminent mathematician, has left a
curious little book on "The Arte of Shooting in Great Ordnance," first
published in London, in 1587, the year before the Armada. Its author, W.
Bourne, was at one time a gunner of the bulwark at Gravesend. The art of
shooting in great guns did not improve very much during the century
following; nor did the guns change materially. The breech-loading,
quick-firing guns fell out of use as the musket became more handy; but
otherwise the province of the gunner changed hardly at all. It is not
too much to say that gunners of Nelson's time, might have studied some
of Bourne's book with profit.
[Footnote 21: or caliver.]
"As for gunners that do serve by the Sea, [they] must observe this order
following. First that they do foresee that all their great Ordnannce be
fast breeched, and foresee that all their geare be handsome and in a
readinesse. & Furthermore that they be very circumspect about their
Pouder in the time of service, and especially beware of their lint
stockes & candels for feare of their Pouder, & their fireworks, & their
Ducum [or priming powder], which is very daungerous, and much to be
feared. Then furthermore, that you do keep your peeces as neer as you
can, dry within, and also that you keep their tutch-holes cleane,
without any kind of drosse falling into them."
The gunners were also to know the "perfect dispart" of their pieces:
that is they were to make a calculation which would enable them in
sighting, to bring "the hollow of the peece," not the outer muzzle rim,
"right against the marke." In the case of a breech-loader this could not
be done by art, with any great exactness, "but any reasonable man (when
he doth see the peece and the Chamber) may easily know what he must doe,
as touching those matters." In fighting at sea, in anything like a
storm, with green seas running, so that "the Shippes do both heave and
set" the gunner was to choose a gun abaft the main-mast, on the lower
orlop, "if the shippe may keepe the porte open," as in that part of the
vessel the motion would be least apparent.
"Then if you doe make a shotte at another Shippe, you must be sure to
have a good helme-man, that can stirre [steer] steady, taking some marke
of a Cloude that is above by the Horizon, or by the shadowe of the
Sunne, or by your standing still, take some marke of the other shippe
through some hole, or any such other like. Then he that giveth levell
[takes aim] must observe this: first consider what disparte his piece
must have, then lay the peece directly with that parte of the Shippe
that he doth meane to shoote at: then if the Shippe bee under the lee
side of your Shippe, shoote your peece in the comming downe of the
Gayle, and the beginning of the other Ship to rise upon the Sea, as near
as you can, for this cause, for when the other shippe is aloft upon the
Sea, and shee under your Lee, the Gayle maketh her for to head, and then
it is likest to do much good."
The helmsman also was to have an eye to the enemy, to luff when she
luffed, and "putte roomer," or sail large, when he saw her helmsman put
the helm up. If the enemy made signs that she was about to lay the ship
aboard, either by loosing more sail, or altering her course, the gunner
had to remember certain things.
"If the one doe meane to lay the other aboorde, then they do call up
their company either for to enter or to defend: and first, if that they
doe meane for to enter ... then marke where that you doe see anye
Scottles for to come uppe at, as they will stande neere thereaboutes, to
the intente for to be readie, for to come uppe under the Scottles: there
give levell with your Fowlers, or Slinges, or Bases, for there you shall
be sure to do moste good, then further more, if you doe meane for to
enter him, then give level with your fowlers and Port peeces, where you
doe see his chiefest fight of his Shippe is, and especially be sure to
have them charged, and to shoote them off at the first boording of the
Shippes, for then you shall be sure to speede. And furthermore, mark
where his men have most recourse, then discharge your Fowlers and Bases.
And furthermore for the annoyance of your enemie, if that at the
boording that the Shippes lye therefore you may take away their
steeradge with one of your great peeces, that is to shoote at his
Rother, and furthermore at his mayne maste and so foorth."
The ordering of cannon on board a ship was a matter which demanded a
nice care. The gunner had to see that the carriages were so made as to
allow the guns to lie in the middle of the port. The carriage wheels, or
trocks, were not to be too high, for if they were too high they hindered
the mariners, when they ran the cannon out in action (_Norton_, _Moore_,
_Bourne_, _Monson_). Moreover, if the wheels were very large, and the
ship were heeled over, the wheel rims would grind the ship's side
continually, unless large skids were fitted to them. And if the wheels
were large they gave a greater fierceness to the impetus of the recoil,
when the piece was fired. The ports were to be rather "deepe uppe and
downe" than broad in the traverse, and it was very necessary that the
lower port-sill should not be too far from the deck, "for then the
carriage muste bee made verye hygh, and that is verye evill" (_Bourne_).
The short cannon were placed low down, at the ship's side, because short
cannon were more easily run in, and secured, when the ports were closed,
owing to the ship's heeling, or the rising of the sea. A short gun,
projecting its muzzle through the port, was also less likely to catch
the outboard tackling of the sails, such as "Sheetes and Tackes, or the
Bolynes." And for these reasons any very long guns were placed astern,
or far forward, as bow, or stern chasers. It was very necessary that the
guns placed at the stern should be long guns, for the tall poops of the
galleons overhung the sea considerably. If the gun, fired below the
overhang, did not project beyond the woodwork, it was liable to "blowe
up the Counter of the Shyppes Sterne," to the great detriment of gilt
and paint. Some ships cut their stern ports down to the deck, and
continued the deck outboard, by a projecting platform. The guns were run
out on to this platform, so that the muzzles cleared the overhang. These
platforms were the originals of the quarter-galleries, in which, some
centuries later, the gold-laced admirals took the air (_Bourne_).
Sir Jonas Moore, who published a translation of Moretti's book on
artillery, in 1683, added to his chapters some matter relating to
sea-gunners, from the French of Denis Furnier.
"The Gunner, whom they call in the _Straights Captain_,
_Master-Canoneer_, and in _Bretagne_ and _Spain_, and in other places
_Connestable_, is one of the principal Officers in the Ship; it is he
alone with the Captain who can command the Gunners. He ought to be a man
of courage, experience, and vigilant, who knows the goodness of a Peece
of Ordnance, the force of Powder, and who also knows how to mount a
Peece of Ordnance upon its carriage, and to furnish it with Bolts,
Plates, Hooks, Capsquares [to fit over the Trunnions on which the gun
rested] Axletrees and Trucks, and that may not reverse too much; to
order well its Cordage as Breeching [which stopped the recoil] and
Tackling [by which it was run out or in]; to plant the Cannon to purpose
in the middle of its Port; to know how to unclow[22] it [cast it loose
for action], make ready his Cartridges, and to have them ready to pass
from hand to hand through the Hatches, and to employ his most careful
men in that affair; that he have care of all, that, he be ready
everywhere to assist where necessity shall be; and take care that all be
made to purpose.
[Footnote 22: This word unclow may be a misprint for uncloy. To uncloy
was to get rid of the spike, or soft metal nail, thrust into a piece's
touch-hole by an enemy. It was done by oiling the spike all over, so as
to make it "glib," and then blowing it out, from within, by a train of
powder.]
"He and his Companions [the gunner's mates] ought with their dark
Lanthornes continually to see if the Guns play, and if the Rings in
Ships do not shake." (That is, a strict watch was to be kept, at night,
when at sea in stormy weather, to see that the cannon did not work or
break loose, and that the ring-bolts remained firm in their places.)
"If there be necessity of more Cordage, and to see that the Beds and
Coins be firm and in good order; when the Ship comes to Anker, he
furnisheth Cordage, and takes care that all his Companions take their
turn [stand their watch] and quarters, that continually every evening
they renew their priming Powder [a horn of fine dry powder poured into
the touch-holes of loaded cannon, to communicate the fire to the
charge], and all are obliged to visit their Cannon Powder every eight
dayes, to see if it hath not receiv'd wet, although they be well stopped
a top with Cork and Tallow; to see that the Powder-Room be kept neat and
clean, and the Cartridges ranged in good order, each nature or Calibre
by itself, and marked above in great Letters the weight of the Powder
and nature of the Peece to which it belongs, and to put the same mark
over the Port-hole of the Peece; that the Linstocks [_or forked staves
of wood, about two and a half feet long, on which the match was
carried_] be ready, and furnished with Match [_or cotton thread, boiled
in ashes-lye and powder, and kept smouldering, with a red end, when in
use_], and to have alwaies one lighted, and where the Cannoneer makes
his Quarter to have two one above another below [_this last passage is a
little obscure, but we take it to mean that at night, when the gunner
slept in his cabin, a lighted match was to be beside him, but that in
the gun-decks below and above his cabin (which was in the half-deck) lit
matches were to be kept ready for immediate use, by those who kept
watch_], that his Granadoes [_black clay, or thick glass bottles,
filled with priming powder, and fired by a length of tow, well soaked in
saltpetre water_] and Firepots [_balls of hard tar, sulphur-meal and
rosin, kneaded together and fired by a priming of bruised powder_] be in
readiness, and 3 or 400 Cartridges ready fill'd, Extrees [?] and Trucks
[_wheels_] to turn often over the Powder Barrels that the Powder do not
spoil; to have a care of Rings [_ring-bolts_] and of the Ports [he here
means port-lids] that they have their Pins and small Rings."
Sir William Monson adds that the gunner was to acquaint himself with the
capacities of every known sort of firearm, likely to be used at sea. He
also gives some professional hints for the guidance of gunners. He tells
us (and Sir Richard Hawkins confirms him) that no sea-cannon ought to be
more than seven or eight feet long; that they ought not to be
taper-bored, nor honey-combed within the bore, and that English
ordnance, the best in Europe, was sold in his day for twelve pounds a
ton.
In Boteler's time the gunner commanded a gang, or crew, who ate and
slept in the gun-room, which seems in those days to have been the
magazine. He had to keep a careful account of the expenditure of his
munitions, and had orders "not to make any shot without the Knowledge
and order of the captain."
_Authorities._--N. Boteler: "Six Dialogues." W. Bourne: "The Art of
Shooting in Great Ordnance"; "Regiment for the Sea"; "Mariner's
Guide." Sir W. Monson: "Naval Tracts." Sir Jonas Moore. R. Norton:
"The Gunner." John Roberts: "Complete Cannoneer."