Ian B Posted July 9, 2014 Share #1 Posted July 9, 2014 Hi Does anyone know or can give me an educated guess as to where and how the cannon balls were stored on deck for the main cannons? I would like to add this detail to my Billings Bounty. Cheers Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stockholm tar Posted July 9, 2014 Share #2 Posted July 9, 2014 Ian, I think there would usually have been racks, ie. thick planks with hollows to take the balls, around the edge of the hatches. Check out some of the Bounty logs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Griffith Posted July 9, 2014 Share #3 Posted July 9, 2014 hi Ian, according to John McKay, in his AOS book 'The Armed Transport Bounty', ISBN 087021280x, there were no racks on the weather deck, at least my scanning of his book found none. This makes sense as the Bounty was not a warship. Hope this helps. Duff WackoWolf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UdoK Posted July 9, 2014 Share #4 Posted July 9, 2014 Hi Ian, Duff is right, a armed merchant ship at this time didn't carry any Canon balls or other Firing Equipment on deck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian B Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share #5 Posted July 9, 2014 ah thanks Guys, that explains a lot.... so no cannon balls on deck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyCity Frankie Posted July 10, 2014 Share #6 Posted July 10, 2014 people viewing your completed model will feel a tiny bit cheated if they can't see a cannonball somewhere. You could perhaps have all the guns save one housed or sea stowed or whatever, with lashings holding them in place as I image they would spend most of their time on Bounty, then have one run out for firing with the gear out of deck for the sake of the viewers expectations. Plausibly, the crew could be exercising with this gun. Ian B 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wq3296 Posted July 10, 2014 Share #7 Posted July 10, 2014 Greetings Ian, Ever hear the expression "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey"? It does not mean what you may think. It is my understanding that a monkey was a brass holder with reliefs in it to accommodate iron shot. Apparently, when it got cold enough, the brass would contract more than the iron shot, causing the shot to roll off the monkey. Probably will not answer your question, but a good story. wq3296 Ian B 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian B Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share #8 Posted July 10, 2014 And here I am in absolute blazing sunshine today )))) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelpsutton2 Posted July 11, 2014 Share #9 Posted July 11, 2014 If you are going to have the cannon on the man deck . You might consider a small rack against the bulkwarks between the guns with 3 or 4 shot in each one. But no more than that. I think it highly unlikely that there were shot garlands around the deck structures such as are found on Naval vessels. I don't think that the Bounty's carriage guns were ever fired except as signals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian B Posted July 11, 2014 Author Share #10 Posted July 11, 2014 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah now I am in two minds LOL!!! I just might make a small rack holding a few balls .. depends how easy I can get hold of them.. I shall first rummage in the garage for any old ball bearing races that might make a good doner.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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