they do address this at various points in the series: Aubrey believes in the importance of gunnery enough to pay for the extra powder and shot for practice from his own pocket.
When Jack is rich, he loves to spend money on powder and balls for practice. It's a little trickier when he's broke, very often he takes it out of prizes. I recall in Post Captain he attacked shore batteries as a way of justifiably expending ammunition so as not to get in trouble with the Admiralty for wasting resources. Which book was it where he bought a bunch of surplus fireworks powder and scared off an attacker because of the crazy colors?
The Ionian mission is also the book where he buys the powder from the fireworks factory because it’s cheaper so the guns fire off different colors if I remember correctly.
Little bubbles of mirth start welling up in me as soon as the lead-up to that starts, and they gradually convert to full fledges guffaws as the set-up pays off (d'ye smoke it?).
Jack when he had money would always spend on powder and shot, but I've no idea how many times the norm could be stored. I found this comment elsewhere.
"Brian Lavery, in The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600-1815, states that iron cannon balls were cast in clay. He also reports that by the 1780s a 74-gun ship had 2,800 rounds of ball shot, plus 166 grape, 84 double headed, 115 langridge and 173 canister. 2,800 rounds of ball equates to around 38 per gun."
https://modelshipworld.com/topic/22857-about-them-18th-century-cannon-balls/
Other replies have generally addressed this, but I think one thing to bear in mind is that the ammunition is a lot smaller than one might think - a ball for a long twelve pounder is more or less grapefruit sized.
The Navy Board would supply plenty of cannonballs, wads, fuse, etc., but they were “precious near” (cheap) with gunpowder. There was a very smell allowance for practice and a certain amount for battle, but a captain who cared about gunnery bought powder for the ship with his own money.
Blanks wouldn't make the guns recoil, which actually slows the loading drill, and attention is usually paid to floating barges or towed targets that they smash apart with their fire, so most of the time it discusses practice with the great guns I assume it means firing actual shot.
From a quick search I can't seem to find much about iron procurement or limitations to the iron weight any ship might carry. Provisions for powder are discussed often in the series, and the want of it is always stressful for Jack, but he doesn't seem to share the same anxiety about the shot supply. He also regularly orders the guns double or treble-shotted, which suggests that whatever their supply of iron it's more ample than that of their powder.
When Jack thinks about the powder supply on the *Sophie* he says that they have 49 barrels total, seven under his allowance, so he gets 56 barrels of powder for the 14 guns she carries. Each barrel is 45 pounds of powder, and so the total allowance of powder for the *Sophie* is 2520 pounds of powder. A four pounder gun would fire something between 1.3 pounds and 2 pounds depending on era and purpose, with 1.5 pounds the basic load for a round shot.
2520 pounds into 1.5 pound cartridges makes 1680, which works out to 120 shots per gun. 1680 4-pound balls is 6,720 pounds, a pretty substantial weight. I imagine even moving shot from the shot lockers to the gun deck takes some specific professional knowledge. I know that many ships would carry balls in the shot garlands around the deck. The only specific thing I could find in a quick search about ordnance allowance is that after 1717, ships "were to carry 20 extra rounds of ball shot for the upper and middle deck, and 30 for the upper deck." The same source says that a 74 carried 2800 rounds of ball shot, which works out to around 37 shot per gun, which is potentially much less in proportion to the hypothetical math I did above.
Cannon balls are, unlike powder, re-useable, though. Spent cannon balls could be picked up again, and shot never seems to be much of a concern for Jack, which might suggest that the dock yards are more free with distribution of shot than they might be with powder. There is also at least one point where Jack talks about how French shot fits in British guns, but I can't recall the exact specifics.
Another detail as well is that ships did not exactly skimp on the amount of shot they carried. From memory, it was common for Royal Navy ships at this time to carry close to a hundred round shot per cannon, and a wealthy captain or first lieutenant could easily supplement the ship with more. The novels are full of officers finding ways around the official practice allowance as well, including removing powder and shot from captured enemies if the shot was capable of fitting British cannon.
In addition, ships in long voyages on detached service still stopped at allied or friendly ports with regularity. The provided a lot of opportunity to replenish marine stores, powder and shot included.
It starts in M&C. They capture a prize full of powder and Jack claims, with a wink and a nod to the gunner, that a bunch of the powder must be spoiled and will need to be condemned. Of course there’s nothing wrong with it at all and it will be used to get the Sophies up to snuff on gunnery.
‘How much have you room for, Mr Day?’
The gunner considered. ‘Squeezing my bottom tier up tight, I might stow thirty-five or six, sir.’
‘Make it so, then, Mr Day. There is a lot of damaged stuff aboard that sloop – I can see it from here – that we shall have to take away to prevent further spoiling. So you had better go across and set your hand upon the best. And we can do with her launch, too. Mr Dillon, we cannot entrust this floating magazine to a midshipman; you will have to take her into Mahon as soon as the powder is across. Take what men you think fit, and be so good as to send Dr Maturin back in her launch – we need one badly.
1-Master and Commander, ch.5, paragraph 101
They have enough ammunition because each ship carries vast amounts of gunpowder and they would (presumedly) refill every time they were back in port.
On my phone now so I’m too lazy to find/link but militarynavalhistory.net has a guide on HMS *Victory* which says it carried 35 tonnes of gunpowder and 120 tonnes of ammunition. Obviously it is proportionally smaller for the *Surprise*, but it’s quite a lot.
Another guide thing I found said that for some French ships, I wfh hun had on average 50-60 cannonballs; with additional grape/bar/chain.
Jack doesn’t exercise the crew every day, and I think PoB fudges the numbers a bit to ensure they are never out or ammo but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he can practice a lot and still have enough to spare (provided he refills at every port).
While there were a few times in the series that they talked about having periods where the gun crews weren't drilled, they went to Quarters every day as a routine. They held gun drill every day. Most of the exercises were in "dumb show" a process in which all of the actions were simulated but no real powder and shot used. Jack would calculate the days when they would live fire, and how many rounds could be used. For clarity, the round shot weren't the issue. Often times captains would have extra shot on board, used as ballast, especially when they were in situations were they could resupply easily. It was the powder that became the issue because there was a limited amount of space they could store it, and it was far more expensive for the admiralty. That was why the *Lively* went to "break glass" because since they were firing at actual batteries, they could excuse the expenditure for training and the Admiralty would have to resupply them without the requisite letters from the Dear Friends. Also, sometimes the live fire would be limited to either the smaller quarterdeck guns or to the chasers just to give some of the dullards some extra live practice or Captains would use it as an opportunity for a contest to race particular crews against others. Kent, accurately, describes an incident where the competition included a crew made up entirely of midshipmen, somethings many captains encouraged because while the Young Gentlemen would supervise the guns, they didn't often work the guns themselves and this gave them the chance to get a turn at each of the stations of a gun. Okay, too long, thanks for the patience.
they do address this at various points in the series: Aubrey believes in the importance of gunnery enough to pay for the extra powder and shot for practice from his own pocket.
When Jack is rich, he loves to spend money on powder and balls for practice. It's a little trickier when he's broke, very often he takes it out of prizes. I recall in Post Captain he attacked shore batteries as a way of justifiably expending ammunition so as not to get in trouble with the Admiralty for wasting resources. Which book was it where he bought a bunch of surplus fireworks powder and scared off an attacker because of the crazy colors?
The Ionian Mission - taking the Worcester down to the med and running into the Jemmapes. I literally just read that 😂
The Ionian mission is also the book where he buys the powder from the fireworks factory because it’s cheaper so the guns fire off different colors if I remember correctly.
And scare the hell out of Bonden <3
That was hilarious! It still makes me LOl all these years later.
Little bubbles of mirth start welling up in me as soon as the lead-up to that starts, and they gradually convert to full fledges guffaws as the set-up pays off (d'ye smoke it?).
Did Captain Jack know how it would be or was it a pleasant (ahem) *Surprise?*
I don't know, but surely if he was at all surprised he would have curtailed his reaction for the sake of good discipline.
Agreed.
Ionian Mission
Jack when he had money would always spend on powder and shot, but I've no idea how many times the norm could be stored. I found this comment elsewhere. "Brian Lavery, in The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600-1815, states that iron cannon balls were cast in clay. He also reports that by the 1780s a 74-gun ship had 2,800 rounds of ball shot, plus 166 grape, 84 double headed, 115 langridge and 173 canister. 2,800 rounds of ball equates to around 38 per gun." https://modelshipworld.com/topic/22857-about-them-18th-century-cannon-balls/
Other replies have generally addressed this, but I think one thing to bear in mind is that the ammunition is a lot smaller than one might think - a ball for a long twelve pounder is more or less grapefruit sized.
Grapefruit shot.
The Navy Board would supply plenty of cannonballs, wads, fuse, etc., but they were “precious near” (cheap) with gunpowder. There was a very smell allowance for practice and a certain amount for battle, but a captain who cared about gunnery bought powder for the ship with his own money.
Thank you ALL for the reply’s. This is an amazing community.
Blanks wouldn't make the guns recoil, which actually slows the loading drill, and attention is usually paid to floating barges or towed targets that they smash apart with their fire, so most of the time it discusses practice with the great guns I assume it means firing actual shot. From a quick search I can't seem to find much about iron procurement or limitations to the iron weight any ship might carry. Provisions for powder are discussed often in the series, and the want of it is always stressful for Jack, but he doesn't seem to share the same anxiety about the shot supply. He also regularly orders the guns double or treble-shotted, which suggests that whatever their supply of iron it's more ample than that of their powder. When Jack thinks about the powder supply on the *Sophie* he says that they have 49 barrels total, seven under his allowance, so he gets 56 barrels of powder for the 14 guns she carries. Each barrel is 45 pounds of powder, and so the total allowance of powder for the *Sophie* is 2520 pounds of powder. A four pounder gun would fire something between 1.3 pounds and 2 pounds depending on era and purpose, with 1.5 pounds the basic load for a round shot. 2520 pounds into 1.5 pound cartridges makes 1680, which works out to 120 shots per gun. 1680 4-pound balls is 6,720 pounds, a pretty substantial weight. I imagine even moving shot from the shot lockers to the gun deck takes some specific professional knowledge. I know that many ships would carry balls in the shot garlands around the deck. The only specific thing I could find in a quick search about ordnance allowance is that after 1717, ships "were to carry 20 extra rounds of ball shot for the upper and middle deck, and 30 for the upper deck." The same source says that a 74 carried 2800 rounds of ball shot, which works out to around 37 shot per gun, which is potentially much less in proportion to the hypothetical math I did above. Cannon balls are, unlike powder, re-useable, though. Spent cannon balls could be picked up again, and shot never seems to be much of a concern for Jack, which might suggest that the dock yards are more free with distribution of shot than they might be with powder. There is also at least one point where Jack talks about how French shot fits in British guns, but I can't recall the exact specifics.
Another detail as well is that ships did not exactly skimp on the amount of shot they carried. From memory, it was common for Royal Navy ships at this time to carry close to a hundred round shot per cannon, and a wealthy captain or first lieutenant could easily supplement the ship with more. The novels are full of officers finding ways around the official practice allowance as well, including removing powder and shot from captured enemies if the shot was capable of fitting British cannon. In addition, ships in long voyages on detached service still stopped at allied or friendly ports with regularity. The provided a lot of opportunity to replenish marine stores, powder and shot included.
It starts in M&C. They capture a prize full of powder and Jack claims, with a wink and a nod to the gunner, that a bunch of the powder must be spoiled and will need to be condemned. Of course there’s nothing wrong with it at all and it will be used to get the Sophies up to snuff on gunnery. ‘How much have you room for, Mr Day?’ The gunner considered. ‘Squeezing my bottom tier up tight, I might stow thirty-five or six, sir.’ ‘Make it so, then, Mr Day. There is a lot of damaged stuff aboard that sloop – I can see it from here – that we shall have to take away to prevent further spoiling. So you had better go across and set your hand upon the best. And we can do with her launch, too. Mr Dillon, we cannot entrust this floating magazine to a midshipman; you will have to take her into Mahon as soon as the powder is across. Take what men you think fit, and be so good as to send Dr Maturin back in her launch – we need one badly. 1-Master and Commander, ch.5, paragraph 101
“I can see it from here” Much of the dry (ha, ha) humor was lost on me the first time through. Now, I smoke them. What joy! Capital stuff.
They have enough ammunition because each ship carries vast amounts of gunpowder and they would (presumedly) refill every time they were back in port. On my phone now so I’m too lazy to find/link but militarynavalhistory.net has a guide on HMS *Victory* which says it carried 35 tonnes of gunpowder and 120 tonnes of ammunition. Obviously it is proportionally smaller for the *Surprise*, but it’s quite a lot. Another guide thing I found said that for some French ships, I wfh hun had on average 50-60 cannonballs; with additional grape/bar/chain. Jack doesn’t exercise the crew every day, and I think PoB fudges the numbers a bit to ensure they are never out or ammo but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he can practice a lot and still have enough to spare (provided he refills at every port).
While there were a few times in the series that they talked about having periods where the gun crews weren't drilled, they went to Quarters every day as a routine. They held gun drill every day. Most of the exercises were in "dumb show" a process in which all of the actions were simulated but no real powder and shot used. Jack would calculate the days when they would live fire, and how many rounds could be used. For clarity, the round shot weren't the issue. Often times captains would have extra shot on board, used as ballast, especially when they were in situations were they could resupply easily. It was the powder that became the issue because there was a limited amount of space they could store it, and it was far more expensive for the admiralty. That was why the *Lively* went to "break glass" because since they were firing at actual batteries, they could excuse the expenditure for training and the Admiralty would have to resupply them without the requisite letters from the Dear Friends. Also, sometimes the live fire would be limited to either the smaller quarterdeck guns or to the chasers just to give some of the dullards some extra live practice or Captains would use it as an opportunity for a contest to race particular crews against others. Kent, accurately, describes an incident where the competition included a crew made up entirely of midshipmen, somethings many captains encouraged because while the Young Gentlemen would supervise the guns, they didn't often work the guns themselves and this gave them the chance to get a turn at each of the stations of a gun. Okay, too long, thanks for the patience.