Naval historians, take note

For all who are interested in naval history, and all who've enjoyed the naval historical novels of C. S. Forester, C. Northcote Parkinson, Dudley Pope, Alexander Kent, Patrick O'Brian et. al. (and the movies made of them, such as 2003's Master And Commander), there's intensely interesting news from England. The BBC reported last year:

A treasure trove of artefacts is being recovered from what experts describe as one of the most important maritime discoveries since the Mary Rose.

The late 16th Century shipwreck hails from a pivotal point in England's military history.

The raised haul includes a 2m-long (7ft) cannon, which will give archaeologists an insight into Elizabeth I's naval might.

The wreck, discovered 30 years ago, is situated off the coast of Alderney.

Dr Mensun Bound, excavation leader and marine archaeologist from Oxford University, said: "This boat is really grade A in terms of archaeology - it is hard to find anything that really compares with it."

. . .

"At first the weather was not too kind and we missed out on the window for the first attempt, but then the sea went down and the skies opened up, and everything was suddenly going our way.

"There were a few tense moments, but overall it went really well.

"The cannon is in perfect condition - nothing has broken - it has an intact hand grenade, part of its carriage system is in place, there is the barrel of a gun or a sword on one side.

"We cannot wait to get a closer look at it once it has been cleaned up.

"Archaeologically and historically, this is an important day."

The team hopes to raise another cannon in the coming days.

As well as the cannon, the team has also recovered many more objects, including a musket, a soldier's breastplate and an intact navigational calendar.

These join a large collection of artefacts - including another cannon - raised from another dive in the early 1990s.

Pivotal point

Experts believe the Alderney warship and its contents will help shed light on a key point of England's naval history. The boat is thought to have sunk in 1592, possibly after an encounter with one of the area's many reefs.

Just four years earlier, Elizabeth's navy had defeated the Spanish Armada and was embarking on expeditions that would exert its maritime and territorial domination around the world.

Dr Bound said: "The wreck illuminates a time when England was fighting for its very survival - the world was at war, the Catholic south was fighting the Protestant north."

At the same time, he added, the navy was undergoing a technological revolution.

He said: "Henry VIII's Mary Rose dates to 1545 and is an old-style ship. It had all sorts of guns, of different types, different shapes, different calibres, different ages, different styles."

But just 47 years later, the Alderney warship looked very different - and by looking at artefacts such as the raised cannons the team hopes to discover just how advanced the navy really was.

"We hope they will demonstrate that this ship was carrying our first uniform, co-ordinated weapons system," Dr Bound explained.

"We think that here we have a standardised weapons system here; the guns are all the same type, the same materials, the same technology, the same calibre.

"It is a different type of navy, its a more professional navy. We have here the beginnings of broadside naval warfare."

The cannons and other arms, such as muskets and guns, will now be brought up the Thames to the Tower of London. There they will be examined and then flown to York for conservation.

Now comes news that a modern replica copy of one of the Alderney wreck's guns, a four-pounder cannon (the smallest 'caliber' in use by the Royal Navy), has been successfully test-fired at a quarry in England. The Daily Mail reports:

It may appear primitive, but this cannon marks the point when Britannia began to rule the waves.

Britain's 'first weapon of mass destruction' was discovered on a warship that sank in the Channel in 1592.

It could fire a cannonball at close to the speed of sound - fast enough to punch through the solid oak planks of an enemy galleon 100 yards away.

The extraordinary power of the 7ft 'Elizabethan supergun' was revealed when a replica was test-fired in a disused quarry.




Mensun Bound, a marine archaeologist at Oxford University, said: 'No gun of this type and period had ever been tested before and the results were surprising.

'Muzzle velocities were achieved that were almost the speed of sound and the shot that was fired was able to punch through 4in of oak with ease.

'The weapon was also remarkably accurate and was able to hit the target every time.

'In addition to round shot, different types of long shot were also found on the wreck, which were used for ripping through rigging, rending sails and killing and maiming people.'

If even so small a cannon could do so much damage, it becomes clear how the larger versions carried aboard sloops, ketches and brigs (usually 6- or 9-pounders), frigates (usually 12-pounders, but some had 18- and 24-pounders) and line-of-battle ships (usually 24-pounders and 36-pounders) inflicted such devastating destruction on their opponents. It also makes sense that the 'new-technology' cannon would first appear in the small 4-pounder size. According to one source:

The English had "imported" a Swiss gunmaker, who had developed a technique which made guns smaller yet stronger at the same time. He crafted the first guns for [the] Elizabethan Navy, and his method was adopted by English gunners.

The Alderney wreck, a pinnace carrying up to 12 guns, was a very small ship for its day, a communications vessel rather than a fully-fledged warship. As such, it would have had small timbers and scantlings, insufficient to stand up to the recoil of heavier cannon. It was probably one of the first ships of the Royal Navy to carry the new design of weapon. Once proven in action aboard such small vessels, the guns would have been enlarged in design and caliber, so that they became suitable for use aboard bigger warships. The outcome was the massive ships-of-the-line which fought at Trafalgar, with between 64 and 130 guns apiece, in 'calibers' ranging up to 64-pounders. All can be accurately described as direct lineal descendants of the Alderney pinnace's guns.

You can view a video clip of the replica cannon being fired at the BBC Web site. The Alderney shipwreck project also has its own Web site, with lots of information about what's been discovered there. Very interesting reading for naval enthusiasts.

Peter