I have a huge appreciation for these naval types of shot and it was never my intention to steer attention away from the primary focus. I assure all that if I had my way, I'd own all the specimens already presented (
), nor do I have a particular interest in post- Age of Fighting Sail armament. It's just that it's so frustrating and amazing that there is an absence of clarity of this area pertaining to the 19th c. I was hoping to find out for sure and thus, I posted here. I feel anyone who researches specialty shot may find this thread informative from beginning to end (i.e. early shot to it's extinction in the latter half of the 19th century).
Kronkew- thank you very much for those links. You bring my exact point to light with this, though. Here are manuals detailing every aspect of artillery from gunpowder grain, combustion forces, exact propulsion with estimation of droppage with firing, specific ordenance, the wood used to make cannon carriages, etc, etc. Yet, when it comes to our little friend, the bar and chain shot, there is a generic 4 or 5 word description. Understandably, these were on their way out, but still, no valid description for something still carried on ships and such? I just read an article on a land-based installation on the Atlantic coast that fired barshot at attacking ships circa 1860's, yet no pics, no descriptions? It's like this with every book and online source I've come across thus far. It's not just the Amer CW either. Other countries still carried forms of bar/chain shot. Were these just recycled from previous centuries, or is my guess right that with modern forging came easier models of barshot (two cannon balls braised to a round bar). That'ss my tirade for the night, just wish someone would definitively prove me right or wrong.
