S6 NAVAL SCIENCES. 



they are, however, little used, as, on account of their irregular shape, they 

 cannot be fired with accuracy, and seldom hit the mark. PL 21, Jig, 5, 

 shows a starboard battery furnished with guns, as it appears when the ship 

 is cleared in day-time ; Jig. 4 shows a starboard battery, at night, when the 

 sailors are asleep in their hammocks, which in the daytime are stowed away 

 in the netting (Jig. 3, right hand above). 



Carronades are a kind of ordnance which take their name from the Carron 

 iron-works in Scotland, where they were first made. They were first used by 

 the British navy in the revolutionary war with North America. The carron- 

 ades have a chamber for the powder like mortars. They discharge larger 

 shot than the common cannon, which are much longer and heavier, and 

 carry further with a more certain aim. They are now used but seldom, as 

 Paixhans' mortars are far superior. (See Projectiles, in Military Sciences.) 

 They are of various sizes and calibres. A 68-pounder weighs 3600 to 3900 

 pounds; a 44-pounder weighs 2227 pounds; a 32-pounder, 1714; and there 

 are also 24-pounders, 18-pounders, and 12-pounders. Carronades {pi. 22, 

 Jig. 3) have a projection at the breech, through which a stout bolt passes, and 

 on this the barrel is moved up and down. The breech tackle is rigged through 

 a kind of ring in its upper part, and the direction given by means of a screw. 

 The carriage turns with its frame upon a heavy bolt passing through the 

 frame and the beam of the deck, and consequently carronades suffer no 

 recoil, and do not require train-tackle or side-tackle. On account of the 

 shortness of the tube, it can be loaded on the outside of the port-hole. 

 Fig. 3 shows a carronade on the middle deck ; pi. 21, Jig. 1, is the aft star- 

 board carronade battery, with the officer on duty. Fig. 3 shows the middle 

 deck on the starboard side, with the main hatch, the long boat standing on 

 the boat-chocks, the carronade battery, and the hammocks stowed in the 

 nettings under the netting sails. 



Swivels are small Ij to 2 pound cannon w^ith a movable frame con- 

 sisting of a thick wooden beam, to the upper part of which a pair of cheeks 

 are attached, which support the trunnions of the gun. The beam passes 

 through a round hole in a timber fastened on the ship's side, and stands in 

 an iron box on the deck. Small swivels are called swans' necks, because 

 they are hung to a strong curved iron fork. They are usually loaded with 

 several musket balls and small shot. Blunderbusses are guns of a wide bore, 

 which discharge grenades. Swans'-necks and blunderbusses are used on 

 the lops. Other weapons are muskets, pistols, pikes, hangers, and pole-axes. 

 Hangers are adapted both to cut and thrust ; they are short, similar to cut- 

 lasses, and usually without a sheath. Pole-axes are like the common axe in 

 front, but on the other side they have a stout point, three or four inches 

 long (pi. U, Jig. 20). 



Mortars are used on board ship for projectiles. These, with their blocks, 

 have been already described under the head of Military Sciences. The mor- 

 tars stand on the fore quarters of the upper deck ; the deck beams must be 

 strongly propped up for them, as they exercise a great downward pressure 

 when they are discharged- Roding proposes that mortars should be placed 

 on a strong floor of rope -work, the elasticity of which would diminish the 

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