The Evolution of Naval ArmamentRobertson, Frederick Leslie
History
The Evolution of Naval Armament
Robertson, Frederick Leslie
Naval art and science -- History; Ordnance, Naval -- History; Warships -- History
According to another account the first English cast-iron guns were
made at Buxted, in Sussex, by one Ralph Hogge in 1543. Peter Bawd,
the French founder, was an assistant who had come to this country to
teach him the method. But it seems that his connection with Hogge was
not of long duration; for, “John Johnson, covenant servant to the said
P. Bawd, succeeded and exceeded his master in this his art of casting
ordnance, making them cleaner and to better proportion. And his son,
Thomas Johnson, a special workman, in and before the year 1595 made
42 cast pieces of great ordnance of iron, for the Earl of Cumberland,
weighing 6000 pounds, or three tons a-piece.”[48]
The advance made in the power of King Henry’s sea ordnance is
unmistakably shown from trustworthy documents. There is a continuous
progress during the reign, and ships which were rebuilt subsequently
carried an armament entirely different from that which they
originally had. The _Sovereign_, for instance, built about the
year 1488, originally carried one hundred and eighty guns, mostly
small serpentines. As rebuilt in A.D. 1509 she carried an armament
which included four curtalls, three demi-curtalls, three culverins,
two falcons, and eleven heavy iron guns. From an inventory of the
armament of the _Henry Grace à Dieu_, of 1514, it appears[49] that
that historic ship was then armed with a miscellaneous collection of
pieces, comprising 122 iron serpentines, 12 “grete yron gonnes of oone
makyng and bygnes,” 12 ditto “that come owt of fflaunders,” all with
separate chambers; 2 “grete Spanish peces of yron of oone sorte,”
with chambers; 18 “stone gonnes apon Trotill wheles,” with chambers;
“ffawcons of Brasse apon Trotill wheles”; one “grete bumberde of Brasse
apon iiij trotill wheles”; two “grete culverynes of Brasse apon unshodd
wheles”; as well as a “grete curtalle of Brasse upon iiij wheles,” a
sling, vice pieces, and serpentines of brass on wheels shod with iron.
Rebuilt at a later date the _Henry_ carried a different armament,
which included brass cannons, demi-cannons, culverins, demi-culverins,
sakers, and cannon-periers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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