A cannon chainshot

[M ELEY]

Awesome comments, folks! This really gets the adventure rolling in me when I think about the excited and brutal battles at sea! I knew when ships got in a tight squeeze, just about anything might be put down a cannon's barrel to wreck havoc. If the ship were on the defensive and fleeing a predator, often they would throw all of the heavy goods over to lighten the load. This included armament and shot! (On a side note, marching armies did this as well to keep the troops on track. Cornwallis' army dumped loads of stuff in his pursuit of Nathanial Greene's army, especially while crossing the 'shallow ford' of the Yadkin River not far from my home. I have a small cannon ball retrieved from that very river bank!). If the fleeing ship decided to make a final stand, any type of shrapnel/lagrage might be used. But silver coins!!!? At least the guy hit by it could say 'Hey, I might be full of shot, but at least I'll die a wealthy man!'

Hot shot was another deadly maritime weapon. While most were not used between ships except on exceptionally rare occasions, coastal forts made good used of them against attacking marauders. It is one of the reasons that boarding axes took on the shape they had. Early spike axes or 'tomnahawks' as they were referred to in ship stores, had that wicked spike which made them a good weapon, great rigging clearance tool (see Gilkerson's excellent sketches of sailors using spike axes to drag fallen cordage off the deck), but also great pick axes! When coastal forts fired up a cannonball to furnace-red hot (a hotshot), they used small powder and a higher tragectory to essentially 'lob' the shot up and onto the deck of the enemy ship! This deadly shot could not be extinguished with simple buckets of sea water and its fearsome heat would smoulder and char the deck, threatening to set the whole vessel ablaze! (remember these wooden vessels were also covered in tar/pitch ropes, wood spars, cloth sails, etc. It's why fire was a sailor's worst nightmare!). Thus, we have a long-handled pickax to gouge away and pull out the near-molten shot and kick it over the side!!

Thanks for posting these amazing pics and for the information on the Benerson Little book. I'll definitely pick up a copy!

[fernando]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

When coastal forts fired up a cannonball to furnace-red hot (a hotshot), they used small powder and a higher tragectory to essentially 'lob' the shot up and onto the deck of the enemy ship! This deadly shot could not be extinguished with simple buckets of sea water and its fearsome heat would smoulder and char the deck, threatening to set the whole vessel ablaze!...!

Mark, you would have certainly seen this contemporary aquatint of the 1782 Franco-Spanish attack on Gibraltar. A Spanish Floating battery is shown exploding after the British defenders set it on fire with heated shot.


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[M ELEY]

Actually, I hadn't seen this amazing scene! I had read of it, but hadn't thought to look up any artwork associated with that battle. Again, thank you for that table of various specialty shot, particularly post#35, which shows some of my favorites, like the 'doorknob' type and wedge shape types.

Jim, I'm assuming that shot you mentioned was similar to the so-called partridge shot I've read about, basically small shot wrapped in cloth rather like a shotgun cartridge for cannons! This type of shot was popular to use in swivel/murderers for sweeping the deck-

Werecow, great pics! I think that first shot on the left is half a bar shot? They often broke when they impacked against a mast-

[werecow]

Something about it made me think that it was a wooden plug or something along those lines while I was there, but actually, looking at the picture now you might be right! I must confess I did not study it in great detail as there wasn't much time left before closing by the time I got to it.

[M ELEY]

I've seen other bar shot recovered with just the one ball and a 'spoke', if you will, of the remains of a bar.

Here's a wedge-shot (what I call them) that also proved these were deadly anti-personnel weapons as well-

https://ltwilliammowett.tumblr.com/p...isima-trinidad

[Rick]

I have often heard that French warships fired high during an engagement so as to disable the rig and save the hull for prize whereas the Brits tended to fire at the vessel's hull; I'm sure this needs a grain or two of salt to digest.

Still, I think the majority of injuries and death (pre boarding) were from the resulting splinters caused by the impact of the projectiles. Hence the gun deck(s) were referred to as the slaughterhouse. Imagine a raking broadside to the stern of the foe; the rounds went the entire length of the enemy vessel turning it into essentially an abattoir bowling alley with human pins.

Here's a 18th century engraving of the encounter between HMS Pearl and the French frigate L'Esperance; you'll notice that her mizzen has been shot off, possibly as a result of bar or chain shot we have been discussing.
Found in the wilds of Maine and presented here just for grins, and possibly as an illustration of the effectiveness of projectiles used to disable the rigging.

A description of the action in 1780:
The action of 30 September 1780 was a minor naval engagement off the Bermudas, where HMS Pearl captured Espérance, a French frigate of 32 guns launched in 1779.[1]

HMS Pearl under the command of George Montagu was sent out to North America, and on 30 September 1780, soon encountered a frigate off the Bermudas. As Pearl closed Montagu cleared for action and engaged close for two hours, then maintained a running fight for a further two hours and more when the frigate struck.[2][3]

The prize turned out to be the French frigate Espérance of about 850 tons of thirty-two guns consisting of twelve- and six-pounders, nearly 200 men and with a valuable cargo heading from Cape Francois to Bordeaux. Espérance lost 20 killed and 24 wounded as well as the crew and marines captured, while Pearl's losses were six killed and ten wounded. The captured French frigate was put into Royal Naval service and renamed HMS Clinton.

[fernando]

Ho my ... Rick !
The HMS Pearl looks like a colander !!!



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[fernando]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

... Here's a wedge-shot (what I call them) that also proved these were deadly anti-personnel weapons as well-
https://ltwilliammowett.tumblr.com/p...isima-trinidad

According to the Spanish blog, that version (as 'D' in post #35) was originaly used by the British and, in such case, they were simple prisms or cones joined by a thick bar. This type was apparently the most accurate when it comes to 'palanquetas', so the Spanish navy ended up using them.

[Jim McDougall]

Capn, it seems I had heard the term partridge shot, it seems more toward shotguns' ammo, clearly for gaming . Most of the entries I have seen use the term 'hail shot' (perhaps a French term as translated?) This was small shot as well as often added 'burr' from the sprues of casting from round shot.

This was indeed most popularly used on the swivel guns on deck, and it seems was found in the breech block of one of those found on QAR. It seems these guns typically are not found in shipwreck sites as they are typically taken away in initial salvage (quickly accessed being on upper decks). It seems the sling type (as opposed to the shorter, stubby 'murderer' was more prevalent, especially later into 18th c.

Rick I totally agree that the primary purpose of destroying rigging and mast structure was to render the vessel stationary for boarding before the main engagements . Shooting high seems well placed, as that damage would literally bring down considerable and notably heavy spars etc on crew causing initial carnage as well as damage. I suppose that the objective in a battle would be of consideration.....with pirates and privateers the objective was plunder....where in the case of a naval situation, destroying the mark and taking it out of the equation strategically would be key.
Great analogy on the 'bowling alley' thing!!!
Thats exactly what these low velocity round shot were as they slowly traveled through the air, and bounced and rolled as they made contact (pretty much like MY bowling rolls before they found the gutter

[fernando]

A transcript of written accounts of this amunition in my neck of the woods ... in the 1600's.

... For shorter distances, a hollow load filled with musket balls was used: the small-bullet bags. Quite effective against cavalry, as reported by Mateus Rodrigues, still on the subject of Telena's campaign in 1645:
(…) Soon the enemy came with all the cavalry, carrying us with great force and bringing two pieces between the same cavalry, with six mules each piece, who ran with them like the same cavalry, and as soon as they arrived at fire, they charged with them which did a lot of damage, because all our people were on a pinecone and couldn't help but kill many people, because due to the shot at close range.
Twenty years later, in the battle of Montes Claros, the use of hollow-load projectiles by Portuguese artillery is recorded:
(…) And the Count of S. João and the artillery general (…) ordered the artillery pieces, which were loaded with bags of small bullets, not to give the first charge, until the enemy was in the distance of fifty steps (…); and the damage they suffered was so remarkable that the battalions of the right flank, forced by fear, turned the half bodies of the horses with the appearance of wanting to flee (…).