That is an incredible piece of shot! I have a chain-shot in my collection, but I'd love to one day find a great bar or split shot like this one! The occasional one that pops up for auction are always very small and seem like they'd do minimal damage to rigging, but who knows. I prefer the larger (and rarer) examples larger than 10". As far as shot being used against personnel, it did happen on occasion, used to 'clear a deck'. On the battlefield, the effects of attached shot had very mixed results and would have been a rarity-
Here's one that did some damage!
https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/ob...c-object-36931
And here's an example that never made it past the experimental phase-
https://www.accgov.com/86/Double-Barreled-Cannon