lint stock slow match

[Silver]

i have read that upon clearing for action all fires and lantrens are extinguished except the light for the powder room and the sickbay. has anyone ever read how you would go about relighting your slow match if it ever got blown out by the back blast of the vent.

[Red Cat Jenny]

I'm not an expert, but if you were "clearing for action" I would think there might be more than one linstock in use..or perhaps a flint and steel ducked below the gunnle.

[Jas. Hook]

Hummmm... If it were puffed out and not doused with water I would think it could be easly relit from another linstock, just as people share a lit cigarette to light another.

Jas. Hook

[Dorian Lasseter]

Exactly...

Been there, done that...

In many cases you would have both ends of a piece of slowmatch in you linstock lighted, just incase of such a situation...

There have been many occasions where weather conditions caused issue, along with the vent-blast blowing the coal off the end of the match...

[MarkG]

Hummmm... If it were puffed out and not doused with water I would think it could be easly relit from another linstock, just as people share a lit cigarette to light another.

Jas. Hook

If you have a charred end then you can light it with flint and steel. If not then you can light a bit of tinder and light it from that. You can sort of see someone lighting a slowmatch in the movie Black Robe. It is actually a bit of movie trickery. The soldier picks up match, flint, and steel then puts his hands below the camera and comes up with lit match. I'm sure that someone switched matches when his hands were out if sight. Regardless, that inspired me and other musketeers to prove that we could light match with flint and steel.

Mark

[Jas. Hook]

I've heard/read of slowmatch belt-safes but can't find the reference.

The original question of having the coal on the slowmatch blown off by vent blast and that the ship was 'cleared for action' condition, I wonder just how cool and calm I'd be to relight the match by flint n' steel as the Dons returned fire.

Jas. Hook

[Silver]

thanks for all of your inputs, you have my mind going now. say you are manning a swivel in the tops, a breezy place to be. do you think a slowmatch could be relit by a pistol muzzle flash? i have seen cannons fired by shooting a plank round into the vent. i did some more digging and i see that some linstocks have 2 matchheads as a backup system. the reason i asked this question is, when i'm firing the cannon i use one lit matchhead and some time may pass between shots so i will clip the coal off during the lag time. to relite i keep a small lantern a "safe distance" away from the gun. i was looking through a book called "adventure of sail 1520-1914" by donald macintyre pub. 1975. a pin and inck drawing on pg.159, from a 18th century naval manual(1726) show a gunner sighting his gun and in the background is a small trianglar object on short leg sitting on the deck with smoke coming out of the top and what looks like belaying pin protuding from it. the script next to the drawing says it is an apparatus for heating the linstocks. i have never seen anything like it. i do think something like that would be unsafe on board ship during a battle but in the 1700's who knows.

[the Royaliste]

Well, here's my take, and you may do as you will,but....we've probably used up 3 or 4 hundred feet of slow match, in various sizes and styles of linstock over the years. We have since moved on to the not quite correct, but safety approved by the CG caplocks...Sometimes, slow match can be very finicky; so I'd blow off any 'Hollywood' ideas of relighting. Moisture in the air is the big decider, not the method used. Unless you are just fantasy thinking, sails are everywhere, and they take on burn spots easily....( we have ton's of specks in our mains'l from this, and touch hole backpressure)....So, just carry a bic in your slop for relight, it'll save a lot of sail repair, and whoever's vessel it is, they will appreciate it.....

[callenish gunner]

Match Case

These were often carried by the master gunner from what I've read; as he was often called on to make sure the gunners could deliver their shot. If you check out most period linstocks they were double sided to keep a spare coal lit in case one end was snuffed or blown out.

[Jas. Hook]

Here is a piece I came across -

The drawings didn't copy though. The 'Portfire' is a new one on me.

The web site is New Zealand Permanent Force Old Comrads Asso. www.riv.co.nz/rnza/hist/gun/firing.htm

Some interesting info on the site regarding smothbore guns.

Jas. Hook

The Gun - Smoothbore Era 1550-1860: Firing the Gun

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Guns were first fired by a red-hot iron thrust down the vent. This method worked well but required a fire on the gun position, rather dangerous with loose serpentine powder, the dust from which could be ignited by the smallest spark or even by friction. Next came the 'slow match', a cord soaked in spirits or some mixture which enabled it to burn very slowly. It was held by a linstock. At first the slow match was taken to the gun on the linstock and applied to the vent, the latter having been primed with loose powder. Flame from the priming in turn ignited the propellant charge in the chamber.

The methods described caused progressive erosion of the vent, leading to a reduction in propellant gas pressure with a consequent loss in muzzle velocity. To repair the damage, vents had to be bored out and re-bushed, a time-consuming process in the smooth-bore era. To overcome the problem, in 1697 metal tubes were introduced. At first they contained quickmatch but this was later replaced by powder. The tube was inserted in the vent and the contents ignited in the same way as loose priming. The use of the tubes also enabled the rate of fire to be increased.

Linstocks

In 1700 the 'portfire' (from the French 'porte feu' = carry fire) was introduced. It consisted of a half-inch (12.7mm) paper tube filled with a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, mealed powder and antimony sulphide, carried in a portefire holder. At 'Preparation for Action' a linstock was placed in rear of each section, and its slow match ignited. Firing numbers ignited their portfires at the linstock, then used them to fire their guns. At 'Cease Firing' they cut off the burning ends of the portfires with the cutters on each trail and extinguished them. The image to the left is of a portfire and holder.

Edited February 22, 2010 by Jas. Hook

[Silver]

thanks for that info jas. hook that put some pieces together, got to love the reserach. just went to the site and veiwed the drawings. i thought i had read somewhere about gun being fired by a hot iron but wasn't sure that could be what the object in the book was becuse it had what looked to be belaying pins stuck in it, they were likely iron rods with handles on them. like short fireplace pokers. thanks again

[Jas. Hook]

thanks for that info jas. hook that put some pieces together, got to love the reserach...

Why thankee, Sir. Glad to be of service.

Your Servant,

Jas. Hook