Powdermonkey

Description

"Open Edition Reproduction

A boy and a cannon, on the gun deck of Nelson’s “Victory.” In good hands, the gun could fire three rounds in two minutes. Powder could not be kept nearby because of the risk of ignition from sparks. Therefore, the powder-monkey’s duty was to fetch bags from the lower deck (three levels down) each time. The boys were often orphans from areas such as the East end of London, pressed into service.

The Gunner used the implements above to ram home charges, ball and wadding (the latter prevented the ball from rolling out if the deck tilted). Any residual debris was cleared with the “corkscrew” and the barrel was wet-swabbed from the buckets to avoid pre-ignition when reloading. The ropes restrained the gun during recoil.