Brass Cannons or Black?

[Kelp]

Were ship's cannons in the Spanish navy of the late 1600's/early 1700's made of brass?  The San Felipe kit comes with brass cannons and I'm not sure if they should be blackened or left as a brass finish. 

 

Also, are there any references for Spanish warships of this period you recommend?

 

Thanks,

Don

[grsjax]

Depends on the ship and type of gun.  Guns may have been made of iron or brass (actually bronze) and a ship might have both kinds aboard.  However it was common practice to paint guns black to make maintenance easier.  Bronze guns are a bear to keep shiny in a marine environment and unprotected iron will rust quickly.  I am sure there were captains that insisted on keeping all that bronze nice and shiny but most would take a practical approach and keep them painted.

[Kelp]

grsjax,

 

Thanks for your response.  The San Felipe had approximately 80-100 cannons aboard.  I can see where polishing 100 cannon would leave no time to do anything else on the ship.

 

Don

[allanyed]

Don

 

I am not sure about Spain, but the English were converting to iron, at least on large vessels, before 1650.   Cost of iron was 1/4 the cost of brass, or less, and the Royal House was in fact cost conscious so liked the idea.  After all, it was the Kings Navy.   Lavery gives a good history of and reasoning for and  against the conversion in his  Arming and Fitting book.  

Allan

[robboxxx]

A gun was never made out of brass. Only shipkits have brass guns.

 

 

http://www.modelships.de/San_Felipe_1690_authenticity/San_Felipe_1690_authenticity.htmIs a good reference for spanish ships.

[allanyed]

Robboxxs

You are right, the compound that was used and called brass in Lavery's Arming and Fitting was, as he states, more akin to bronze with 85 to 90 percent copper with portions of tin, zinc and other metals.  Bronze is typically made with 12 percent tin and some other metals including zinc.  Brass is an alloy which is primarily copper and zinc rather than tin as the main secondary metal.

Allan

[Bob Cleek]

"Yellow metal" guns were made of what came to be called "naval brass," which is actually a bronze. (Copper and tin.)  Never brass. (Copper and zinc.)  Bronze oxidizes to a dark brown color and needs no further maintenance.  While bronze can be polished, it is quite a job and given the good looks of "natural bronze" in the marine environment, it's hard to believe any captain would paint a bronze cannon.  Iron cannon might be painted black (or "blacked" with lampblack and oil,) but as bronze cannon were prized as "finestkind," I doubt anyone would ever want to conceal that fact by painting it black.  At small scale, however, (or at a distance,) cannon would appear black in any event.