[MR] Piracy in period - The Guns of the Mary Rose

[sigrune at aol.com]

-----Original Message-----
I recall seeing one of her guns in an exhibit in Portsmouth, VA.
Called a Hailshot Piece, it's a swival gun with a tapering
rectangular bore.  It was found loaded with cubes of lead, about
the size of dice.  The design was apparently experimental and
didn't last long, literally and figuratively.
They had an unfortunate tendency to explode.

Donal
-----------------------------------

IIRC the Puckle gun, (circa 1718) came with a both a round and square 
bore barrel,
and a set of square and round bore chambers.  Research speculation said 
the square bores
produced nastier wounds, and as such were prohibited from being used on 
Christian enemies.

How true this is, or if it is a Victorian or later idea is unknown to 
me... but it is interesting that the piece is swappable.

-Takeda






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