Discharge!

This is coolbert:

From the previous blog entry:

"Trafalgar also each of those ships-of-the-line having a firepower equal to a 30,000 man army!!"

And upon what exactly is such an assertion made? Please follow my calculations closely and see if you agree!

Given that: a pile of twenty-nine rounds as fired from a Brown Bess musket weighs two pounds [4.4 kg.].

One hundred and four [104] cannon as carried by HMS Victory to include: [number of cannon and weight of shot - - one round fired]

* 30  X 32 pounds.
* 28 X 24 pounds.
* 30 X 12 pounds.
* 14 X 12 pounds.
*  2 X  68 pounds.

The combined weight of shot, as fired by the cannon of the HMS Victory, each cannon firing once, equals 2,296 pounds. [5061 kg.]

2,296 divided by 2 times 29 equals 33,292. That last figure representing the number of troops on the ground each firing their Brown Bess musket a single time.

"The weight of shot as fired by a single salvo from the vessel, each and every of the one hundred and four [104] guns carried by the warship firing ONCE, was equal to an army of 30,000 men-a-foot, each and every foot soldier discharging his Brown Bess musket a single time!!!"

An impressive number. And recall that at Trafalgar, the total number of ships involved at the battle was over fifty vessels combined, English and French/Spanish!

Prodigious firepower massive and overwhelming. Just don't stand in the way!

coolbert.