Tough Jobs: Firing a 32 Pound Cannon

Imagine yourself on the lower gun deck of the HMS Victory. A French ship of the line is just swimming into view through the gunport in front of you. You are one of eleven men, exhausted, powder-smoke covered and running with sweat, standing around a ten foot long, steaming-hot black iron cannon. The deck vibrates beneath your feet as the cannon behind you roars off another shot, its crew yelling like madmen. Your head swims in the heat and excitement, and you duck instinctively to the sound of the French iron round shot hitting the hull above you.

“Reload!” roars your gun captain, and your instantly stirred back to your duty.

It reads like fiction, but it was part of a British sailor’s life during the Napoleonic wars (1790-1815). Napoleon was determined to invade England, one of the very few European powers able to resist his attempt to take over the continent. It fell to the Royal Navy to defend the island nation. While English soldiers fought all over Europe, it was the Royal Navy that finally put an end to Napoleon’s invasion plans.

By the end of the 1700’s, the ultimate fighting ship, the heavy weapon of the day, was the ship of the line. A prime example of this extreme warship was the British HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson’s flagship at the battle of Trafalgar in 1804. Ranked among the largest warships of the day, she was 226 feet long from bowsprit to taffrail, and carried over 100 cannons.

The heart of Victory’s firepower, and this is indeed true for virtually all of the ships of the line regardless of nationality, was the 32 pounder cannon. This nearly ten foot long iron behemoth, the barrel alone of which weighed six and half tons, could hurl a 32 pound iron ball a mile and a half! Sea fights were most frequently fought at a considerably closer distance, of course, sometimes at literally point blank range, and the damage done by these guns was absolutely immense. Properly aimed and at the right range, a 32 lb ball could beat through two feet of solid oak, causing untold destruction on its way.

The 32 pound cannon was heavy, weighing 7,280 pounds when mounted on its wooden carriage, long, and very dangerous to maneuver. When fired, the cannon’s recoil threw it backwards 17 feet across the gundeck, until its progress was checked by a rope no less than seven inches in diameter. If you were anywhere in the gun’s path during recoil, your day was over. If the breeching tackle came loose, the gun could roll unchecked across the deck, crushing anything or anyone in its path. If it fell through a hatchway it would plummet right through the bottom of the ship! An overheated cannon, or a gun which had not been properly cleaned out prior to reloading, could go off in its loaders’ faces. Tremendously powerful weapons, the 32 pounders took a lot of training and practice to fire safely.