| The Columbia Story
(continued)
Guns On land they're known as cannons, but on ships they are guns, regardless of
size. Naval guns are sized according to the weight of their shots, so a
12-pounder would refer to a gun that fires a 12-pound round shot; the actually
weight of a 12-pounder may actually be thousands of pounds!
One of Columbia's deck guns. The gun itself cannot fire--it's
made of fiberglass! While it may not be real, its details are accurate. Photo courtesy Matt Walker.
These black powder guns are simple in principal. You load in your charge,
usually a canvas bag of black powder, through the muzzle (front end of the gun)
and use a long stick to ram it "home" to the breach (rear end). How
much charge you use depends on the size of the shot, the range, and intended
damage. Following the charge would be the shot itself, and again rammed home.
Finally, you ram in the "wad," a sticky, tarry wad of frayed marlin
used to hold the shot and charge in place against the rolling of the ship.
While the firing mechanism varied and improved over the year, eventually to the
"hammer" you see in Master and Commander, the Columbia in
1787 would have used the "prick and prime" method.
With the charge rammed home, a "prick" (a long brass pin) is pushed
through a small hole (called "touch hole")
at the breach of the gun to puncture the canvas, exposing the black powder
charge. Then a fast-burning black power is poured through this hole,
overfilling it slightly to allow the excess to be contacted with flame. The gun
is now primed, and to set it off is a simple matter of touching the exposed
powder with flame.
One of two 3-pounders on the Lady Washington. At the left is the breach, and the touch hole at the top. The muzzle at
the right is plugged in when not in use. The silver plate resting on the gun is
the "breast plate," used to protect the exposed powder through the
touchhole from the wind, water, and accidental firing. The entire gun is
mounted on a carriage called the "truck." On the right, between the
truck and the bottom of the gun's breach, is the "Quoin", a wooden
wedge used to adjust the gun's vertical elevation. Whether it's a 3-pounder or
a giant 22-pounder, all guns are similar in anatomy and operation.
The gun must also be tied down to arrest its recoil. In larger guns, where the
force of the recoil can be deadly, this is done through a system of tackles and
pulleys to handle the large force. With the gun run in from the recoil, the gun
crew can reach out to the front of the muzzle and reload the gun. But the gun
must be hauled out board again before it can be fired, hence "run out the
gun".
Merchant vessels like the Columbia would not have invested too great a
deal in deck firearms as they were not interested in combat. They do carry guns
for the sake of protection, but the guns are entirely defensive. A merchant
vessel like the Columbia might have between 4 to 12
deck guns (the recorded spiel claims 10 guns), accompanied by up to 12 swivel
guns.
This is one of Columbia's swivel guns. A 12-gauge shotgun shell
blank provides the necessary "bang" when saluting Fort Wilderness. Photo courtesy Matt Walker.
Swivel guns are smaller, generally a "half-pounder" to a
"1-pounder", and they're mounted on top of the cap rail instead of
the truck, but everything else is similar to the deck guns. And while swivel
guns are much lighter, they are aimed much easier because they can turn, hence
the swivel. The swivel is quite effective against small crafts (or in the 1787,
perhaps the Native's canoes), but its most important role is in navigation and
mapping.
Imagine you're sailing in a thick fog, and there are islands and inlets
surrounding you--certainly not hard to imagine if you're sailing in the Puget
Sound in the Pacific Northwest. How would you know where to steer to keep clear
of the islands and land? Using the simple principle of echo-location, you can
set off a swivel gun at the bow, and listen for the returning echo. If you
don't hear an echo directly ahead, you're safe. If you do hear returning echo
from ahead, you might want to rethink your course.
A Lady Washington crewmember demonstrates how to fire one of her swivel
guns. Photo courtesy Preston Nirattisai.
This same principle can be used for mapping uncharted coasts as well, by
applying the speed of sound, and the number of seconds to hear the echo divided
by half, you now know how far away that cliff is.
Columbia "fire's away!" Photo courtesy Matt Walker.
Bell The ship's bell is traditionally used
for keeping time and "watches" at sea, and if necessary, in an
emergency as a loud, rapid alarm to alert the crew. Each watch at sea lasts 4
hours, from 8-12, 12-4, and 4-8 (morning, afternoon and night) and the bell is
rung by an officer one time every 30 minutes, giving a maximum of eight bells
in a watch, signaling the changing of the watch. Sailors and officers would
stand their assigned watch (four hours), take the next watch off to eat and
rest, and report back at the next watch. In this system, sailors would only get
a maximum of four hours of sleep between watches.
A 30-minute sand glass would generally be hung next to the bell so that the
watch officer could keep track of the time.
Visitors can ring the Columbia's brass bell. Photo
courtesy Matt Walker.
While both replicas have the bell on deck, only the Lady has a true
ship's bell, while the Columbia has a cheaper mock up--this is easily
discernable through listening to each bell. The Lady's bell is loud and
clear, easily heard over the winds and storms, while the Columbia's tone
is rather dull and flat.
On the Columbia, like most ships, the bell is located somewhere between
the foremast and the mainmast. This suggests that Midshipmen, the lower,
younger ship's officers, were in charge of the bell and changing of the
watches, because these young and new officers were stationed forward, while the
older and experienced officers were stationed near and on the quarterdeck, at
the stern of the ship.
Here's the Lady Washington's bell; her name engraved into the
polished brass. Photo courtesy Preston Nirattisai.
The Lady Washington, being a smaller vessel, does not require
Midshipmen and her bell is located at the forward end of the quarterdeck, so
that it can be rung by an officer on watch at the quarterdeck. It's also
customary for the ship's bell to be engraved with the ship's name. The
Columbia also features this detail, but the engravings have been worn over
time, and today are nearly invisible.
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