Tall Ships Festival Screw up with live cannon fire !

[oderlesseye]

Eye was at Toshiba Tall Ships Festival as the Gunner with the Jolly Boat pirates in port, at Dana Point CA.

We were performing against the a British Group who are the (Naval Historical Foundation) to free our captain Jean Laffette.

We were using Black Powder extensively through out this skit both on the Jolly Boat and on board

the Pilgrim ( Which stayed in port during the incident ) and were supervised very closely by the coast guard whom kept other boaters in the area away from us during our performances. So we had a bunch of fun on Saturday.

However, by Early Sunday Morning, word reached us, that the Ocean institutes Black Powder Permit had been pulled

which kinda put the kabosh on our performance..The Shows went on anyhow with out BP and we went on with the boarding action,sword fighting and shouting..improvising the best we could.

Of Note is that we were committed to safety and did nothing wrong, yet were adversely affected by some one else actions, most likely due to lack of training. The Ocean institute use to out source all BP firings off their ships by a friend eye know who has a licence and the experience to do this stuff safely. However in order to save money, the institute let him go a few years ago and thought to train their sail crew to perform BP duties. This incident sorta points out the fact Why there is the designation/position of Gunner on board a ship, whose soul attention was weapons/ordinance and not sailing a ship. Personally eye think the distractions can be many if you are being duely charged with responsibilities.

It makes no sense to me why live ammo was present at the institute or on Board a tall Ship.

Any how, more importantly was that no one was seriously hurt in the incident during the cannon battles they have out at sea, but two persons were in fact sprayed with what they think was Bird shot during the Tall ships cannon battles at sea.

Here is the link to the article about this mishap.

http://losangeles.cb...ships-festival/

Edited September 10, 2012 by oderlesseye

[HBlackthorne]

It boggles my mind why someone would have a 12 gauge shell packed with their muzzle-loader gear in the first place. Personally, even when I store my ML gear here inside the house it is nowhere near any of the other firearms/gear,..I keep it totally separate. I am just glad noone was seriously injured in all of this.

[Captain Jim]

Blackthorne, I think that the ship in question was using one or more signal cannon that fire 12 guage blanks and not muzzle-loaded black powder. Live ammo got mixed up with the blanks. Still, this is gonna be a black eye we in the re-enactment community can ill afford. Designated and certified gunners for all crews are an absolute necessity, with all ammunition (blanks, BP, ball and shot) under lock and supervision of that gunner or gun captain. I truly hate it when someone, through negligence, malice, lack of training or stupidity does something like this.

[HBlackthorne]

Did not realize that those little signal cannons used 12gauge blanks,..always figured they were pre-loads [just smaller] like our BP crew use for the 3 pounder,......

[Captain Jim]

This is a problem when one gets into "mixed" munitions. One year at Pyrates in Paradise we had a guy using pyrodex pellets in a caplock. As he was standing BEHIND the front line he managed to come VERY close to spraying people with bits of burning pellets. One of our line actually heard the difference in his gun and shut him down. We ALL need to be aware of conditions on the line and be aware that the FIRST rule of any firing line is that ANYONE AT ANYTIME CAN CALL A HALT TO FIRING FOR SAFETY! Even in the middle of a battle or scripted demonstration, if safety is in any way questionable, call a hold. And anyone, ANYONE, from gun captain to new recruit, to, yes, even audience member, if they call for a halt, DO IT! You can always begin again. You can never recall a fired round.

Still, that doesn't address mixing up live rounds with blanks. Only the ship's gunner can do that.

[Silver]

scarey!!!

[peglegstrick]

When I did Civil War reenacting....one year at the Battle of Olustee in Florida an idiot actually shot someone with a black powder revolver. Scary stuf if you dont check your weapons!

[oderlesseye]

Here is a live video about the incident..It shows the type cannon used and how closely a blank and a live round look..

It also shows how deep the bird shot went into the Woman's leg..

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/09/09/2-people-injured-by-live-ammo-at-tall-ships-festival/

[Hawkyns]

Oderlesseye- question. Why was the black powder permit pulled. As a master gunner and safety inspector, an accident happening so soon after a permit being pulled makes me wonder.

Hawkyns

Master Gunner

[Captain Jim]

From my reading and viewing, it's my understanding that the permit was pulled after the bird shot incident, after which the event continued without any BP (or modern shotgun shells, for that matter.)

[oderlesseye]

Captain Jim has it correct

[Cascabel]

^{I was never a fan of those toy-looking shotgun shell firing cannons anyhow. And as the video shows, it's easy to mistake a live load for a blank.}