Exercising the Guns

[Creed]

I'm reading the biography of Commodore John Paul Jones. During his tour of duty in the Delaware Bay onboard the Alfred while waiting for the ice to melt he would keep his crew in line by "Exercising the guns".

The Alfred's guns were 9-pounders and were mounted on wooden wheels carriages. In the exercise, the gun crews were assembled by drumbeat to man their posts (a predecessor to today's General Quarters). The Chief Gunner would check his equipment and ensure that the cartridge boxes were full. It was the responsibility of the younger crewmembers, actually most were boys, called "powder monkeys" to ensure that the powder cartridges were never empty. It took 11 orders to prep, fire and prepare a cannon to fire again. Their order of call went as follows:

1. Cast Loose Your Guns - muzzle lashings taken off guns and coiled; breach lashes secured and associated spikes, sponges, etc. put into place

2. Level Your Guns - the muzzle of the gun was made level with the deck.

3. Take Out Tampions - the stoppers, or tampions, were removed from the cannon's muzzle.

4. Load with Cartridge - a bag of powder with a wad behind it is placed in the muzzle and rammed in.

5. Shot Your Guns - the cannonball or other shot is rammed in.

6. Run Out Your Guns - the men bowse them outboard until the carriage hits the vessel's topsides and the muzzles are sticking out.

7. Prime - the touchhole is primed with gunpowder from a powderhorn

8. Point Your Guns - the cannoneer who attends the lighted slow match brings it near the breach, kneels down and blows gently on the match to keep it alight.

9. Elevate Your Guns to the Utmost - the other gun crew members, by means of a side sight, adjust the gun and draw a bead on the target

10. Fire - when the top sights of the cannon are on target, the cannoneer applies the lighted match to the touch hole and the cannon fires.

11. Sponge Out Your Guns - a sponge at the end of a stave or a stiffened rope dipped in water is rammed down the muzzle and twisted to extinguish any sparks and to remove and bits of cartridge.

After this, the gun is prepped again for firing.

Ref: John Paul Jones: A Biography by Samuel Eliot Morison

[Fox]

Interesting... Most other gunners, earlier and later include the order "worm your piece" between firing and wet sponge, and "dry swab your piece" after the wet sponge. the worm is a kind of double corkscrew on a pole to pull out the bits of crud and cartridge left behind (a sponge will not do this) and the dry swab is to dry the inside of the barrel after the wet sponge has been down - one doesn't want to wet the powder of the next charge.

I wonder if the ommission of these orders is an oversight on the part of Mr Morison or if they were left out of USN gun drill for some reason. Anybody know?

[the Royaliste]

World navies, Jeesh!!..Too busy talkin' when they shoulda been barkin'!...We'll stick to 'fire when you come to bear!' and leave alla the talk to the citizens!

[Creed]

Great pictures. I hope you sunk t'other ship on the first shot!

[the Royaliste]

'Bloomin' Bloody 'eck, seein's how the Coasties frown on us usin' live rounds, we just hafta keep a 'scorecard' 'o sorts!!..'Tis why we generally favor a lot 'o stern and bow shots!!......

[Coastie04]

On that last shot, it looks as if the Lady's backing up for a rake of your stern. Without drastic maneuvering (which I know is standard for those battle sails) you'd be tastin' her iron in a minute.

Coastie

[the Royaliste]

Actually, the only thing on her stern were photographic tourists with digital cameras, and this be just before RR second shot thru her rudder and framing!!...But your scenario woulda yielded more fun from us!!