h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We have to be careful how much we add, this could easily go to 50,000 words or much more, and I try to cap single entries to 5.000

An interesting thing I have been looking at is the speed of gun-fire. In the story of the 'Man Without a Country'. The main character, Philip Nolan, takes charge of a frigate's gun in battle after its commander is killed. There is speculation that this was the battle between Constitution and Java. In any event he had been an army artillery officer and knew how to command a gun. At one point they talked about how he sat on the carriage waiting for the gun to cool and chatted with the men. I thought this strange as I had the common idea that the guns would all be fired as rapidly in battle as possible. I later found an instruction for gunners in the 1830's US navy that one of their duties was to ensure that 'no wet sponge be placed in a hot bore, lest it become checked', or words to that effect. I have seen photos of US civil war forts where the muzzles of all the cannon had been burst. While I agree that two or three shots a minute are quite possible, I have done it myself firing blanks, I do not believe it could be kept up very long without damaging the guns. Although the novel is fiction, the author was quite knowledgeable about the subject and the official records seem to back him up.

I am not suggesting we include any of this, but I thought you might find it interesting.

FS

Updated, added a good deal of additional information, nothing about gunnery. I make the total as we sit at about 4,100 words If you want anything else added it has to be less than 800 words or we have to start cutting.



FS

Hi Bob;

Have you lost interest, or run out of things to say? You have not posted in over a week. I think I am about to pop this into PR Do you still want credit?

FS

Sorry a major decorating project I have a few points, as for credit I will leave that to you if you find my contribution warrants it

Hi Bob;

I did not mean to imply your contributions were insignificant, only that your silence made me think that I had upset you, perhaps by my refusal to make this a complete view of life aboard Victory. I was not sure you still wanted to be included.

I view this as similar to your entry - Roman Naval Ranks A74481906, and I want to keep it as focused as possible.

If I do decide to do a complete "Life on a Sailing Man-of-War" it will be a large University type entry, and I will move it into my Navy - US 1830's - as I have years of research at hand, and much is well documented both in official records and first person accounts.



FS

No - no problems and I think this entry can be expanded by spawning other more detailed entries on life on-board wooden war ships

We need an entry on the ACW ironclad warships the Monitor (I think it was called)

'We need an entry on the ACW ironclad warships the Monitor (I think it was called)'

Actually we have one at A1012582

What I was thinking about was more life in last decades of sail and a bit about the switch to steam.

FS

May I suggest this as a neater version of the crew numbers

Crew Nationalities
British 702
English 514, Irish 89, Scottish 66, Welsh 30, and the Isle of Man 1
American 22
Italian 9
Dutch 7
Maltese 6
French 4
Swedish 4
West Indian 4
Canadian 2
Danish 2
Indian 2
German 2
Norwegian 2
Swiss 2
African 1
Brazil 1
Jamaican 1
Portuguse 1
Unknown 48

What do you think, Any better ?

May I suggest this as a neater version of the crew numbers;

Crew Nationalities
British 702
English 514, Irish 89, Scottish 66, Welsh 30, and the Isle of Man 1
American 22
Italian 9
Dutch 7
Maltese 6
French 4
Swedish 4
West Indian 4
Canadian 2
Danish 2
Indian 2
German 2
Norwegian 2
Swiss 2
African 1
Brazil 1
Jamaican 1
Portuguse 1
Unknown 48



I had considered your approach as to number represented as to their order in the list

However I see a few problems, not only do we have one individual listed as only 'British', at the time Canadian, Jamaican and Indian were all nominally British, as well as possibly Maltese (The island was settled by British from the crusades and was a football during the war.) In fact the mixture of country and nationality reflects the actual entries on the muster list. I tried to list all those who could be considered as British at the top of the list, and left the rest in a jumble to reflect the diversity and mixture of the crew.

With the lack of passports and birth records that we are used to, I am not sure the record is all that clear. A little confusion is a good thing here



FS

Just a small tweak here

The third alternative was forced impressment into service. From the time of Queen Elizabeth I3 the Crown had allowed the navy to force men, who were subjects of Great Britain, into service. There were certain restrictions, they were often ignored.
>>>Groups of men known as Press Gangs were used, these were gangs of sailors,<<<
or civilians hired for the purpose, that roamed the countryside
>>> concentrating on areas near the naval ports and the coastal counties<<<
searching for men to compel into the service. If no man-of war sailor was available fishermen and merchant sailors were preferred, but any strong healthy-looking person might be taken.

your opinion pleasae

A little more
Discontent was still abundant in the navy and many men waited only for an opportunity to desert from their ship, sometimes abandoning years of back-pay owed to them. Owing to the risk of desertion,
>>>whilst in port the Marines stationed on-board stood guard over the crew to prevent the crew leaving the ship.<<<
British warships became virtual prisons, with the men being denied any shore-leave. When in their home port the wives of the sailors.

The Royal Marines Known in the service as ‘lobsters’ because of the red uniform coats.

Listed here as their position aboard ship is most unusual to modern understanding. Unlike the modern Marines, in the age of sail they were also an active part of the crew hauling on the ropes during sailing manoeuvres and adding their weight to the capstan when raising the anchor or hoisting masts and yards. The marines were stationed as guards in >> the the << ship, restricting access to various places such as the captain and admiral's cabins, the powder magazine and spirit >>(rum and beer ration)<< room.

Remove the extra “the” please

That will do for now these were the first few there were not many excellent entry

Post 30 excellent change

There were 146 marines aboard Victory, including a captain, 3 lieutenants. 4 sergeants, 3 corporals, a trumpeter and two drummers. The remainder were private soldiers. One of the functions of the drummers was to 'beat to quarters' when the ship was cleared for action. There were different beats to indicate if it was to be a drill, or if action might be imminent.

can you add this beat to quarters' sound link if possible http://www.julianstockwin.com/Sounds.htm

I have hesitated to add your link to 'Beat to Quarters' as it does not sound right to me. I believe it should be a thirty second roll followed by two or three distinct beats, depending on drill or actual action, repeated until the ship is reported ready.

I have also hesitated to put all the guarding duties against the Marines while in port, as I am sure the petty officers also served this function.

Other items updated

Thanks

FS

Only use it if you feel comfortable with it.

The marines were used as they were armed when on duty and could shoot deserters (after they had left the ship and were still in sight) and offered a stronger deterrent than the petty officers who were also used to police the ship, if a deserter was caught the punishment was hanging so to a deserter shooting was worth the risk.

Dont forget the bum boats that visited the ships in harbor, a word or two might be good .