Part 9 (2/2)

Approved aiming procedure was to make the first shot surely short, in order to have a measurement of the error. The second shot would be at greater elevation, but also cautiously short. After the third round, the gunner could hope to get hits. Beginners were cautioned against the desire to hit the target at the first shot, for, said a celebrated artillerist, ”... you will get overs and cannot estimate how much over.”

As gunners gradually became professional soldiers, gun drills took on a more military aspect, as these seventeenth century commands show:

1. Put back your piece.

2. Order your piece to load.

3. Search your piece.

4. Sponge your piece.

5. Fill your ladle.

6. Put in your powder.

7. Empty your ladle.

8. Put up your powder.

9. Thrust home your wad.

10. Regard your shot.

11. Put home your shot gently.

12. Thrust home your wad with three strokes.

13. Gauge your piece.

Gunners had no trouble finding work, as is singularly ill.u.s.trated by the case of Andrew Ransom, a stray Englishman captured near St.

Augustine in the late 1600's. He was condemned to death. The executional device failed, however, and the padres in attendance took it as an act of G.o.d and led Ransom to sanctuary at the friary.

Meanwhile, the Spanish governor learned this man was an artillerist and a maker of ”artificial fires.” The governor offered to ”protect”

him if he would live at the Castillo and put his talents to use.

Ransom did.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 49--A SIEGE BOMBARD OF THE 1500's.]

By 1800, although guns could be served with as few as three men, efficient drill usually called for a much larger force. The smallest crew listed in the United States Navy manual of 1866 was seven: first and second gun captains, two loaders, two spongers, and a ”powder monkey” (powder boy). An 11-inch pivot-gun on its revolving carriage was served by 24 crewmen and a powderman. In the field, transportation for a 24-pounder siege gun took 10 horses and 5 drivers.

Twelve rounds an hour was good practice for heavy guns during the Civil War period, although the figure could be upped to 20 rounds. By this date, of course, although the principles of muzzle loading had not changed, actual loading of the gun was greatly simplified by using fixed and semi-fixed ammunition. Loading technique varied with the gun, but the following summary of drill from the United States _Heavy Ordnance Manual_ of 1861 gives a fair idea of how the crew handled a siege gun:

In the first place, consider that the equipment is all in its proper place. The gun is on a two-wheeled siege carriage, and is ”in battery,” or pushed forward on the platform until the muzzle is in the earthwork embrasure. On each side of the gun are three handspikes, leaning against the parapet. On the right of the gun a sponge and a rammer are laid on a prop, about 6 feet away from the carriage. Near the left muzzle of the gun is a stack of cannonb.a.l.l.s, wads, and a ”pa.s.sbox” or powder bucket. Hanging from the cascabel are two pouches: the tube-pouch containing friction ”tubes” (primers for the vent) and the lanyard; and the gunner's pouch with the gunner's level, breech-sight, pick, gimlet, vent-punch, chalk, and fingerstall (a leather cover for the gunner's second left finger when the gun gets hot). Under the wheels are two chocks; the vent-cover is on the vent, a tompion in the muzzle; a broom leans against the parapet beyond the stack of cannonb.a.l.l.s. A wormer, ladle, and wrench were also part of the battery equipment.

The crew consisted of a gunner and six cannoneers. At the command _Take implements_ the gunner stepped to the cascabel and handed the vent-cover to No. 2; the tube-pouch he gave to No. 3; he put on his fingerstall, leveled the gun with the elevating screw, applied his level to base ring and muzzle to find the highest points of the barrel, and marked these points with chalk for a line of sight. His six crewmen took their positions about a yard apart, three men on each side of the gun, with handspikes ready.

_From battery_ was the first command of the drill. The gunner stepped from behind the gun, while the handspikemen embarred their spikes.

Cannoneers Nos. 1, 3, and 5 were on the right side of the gun, and the even-numbered men were on the left. Nos. 1 and 2 put their spikes under the front of the wheels; Nos. 3 and 4 embarred under the carriage cheeks to bear down on the rear spokes of the wheel; Nos. 5 and 6 had their spikes under the maneuvering bolts of the trail for guiding the piece away from the parapet. With the gunner's word _Heave_, the men at the wheels put on the pressure, and with successive _heaves_ the gun was moved backward until the muzzle was clear of the embrasure by a yard. The crew then unbarred, and Nos. 1 and 2 chocked the wheels.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 50--GUN DRILL IN THE 1850's.]

_Load_ was the second command. Nos. 1, 2, and 4 laid down their spikes; No. 2 took out the tompion; No. 1 took up the sponge and put its wooly head into the muzzle; No. 2 stepped up to the muzzle and seized the sponge staff to help No. 1. In five counts they pushed the sponge to the bottom of the bore. Meanwhile, No. 4 took the pa.s.sbox and went to the magazine for a cartridge.

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