Gun Salutes

[alexlitandem]

Patrick,

Re odd number gun salutes: in Volume 45, Issue 4, page 326, of the Mariner's Mirror, there was an article by Commander W.E.May RN, within which he notes that even number gun salutes are only to be used...when saluting the dead.

There is an, admittedly necessarily anecdotal note in another article I googled, in which it is suggested that odd numbers have always been considered lucky ( so how come 13 is an exception?). That article is to be found here:

http://www.cyclequest.com/Vets/21%20Gun%20Salute.htm

And another, referencing Shakespeare, here:

http://www.lighthorse.org.au/military/21gunsalute.htm

[PMarione]

Thanks Alex.

About guns I remember an anecdote told by the late Adrian Caruana who was keeper of the ordnance at Chatham DY.
They used to fire great guns to show how it worked (it has alas been discontinued now). You can't fire an old gun just with a charge of powder because you destroy the bore. So you have to use some of shot. They originally used cabbages which were perfect for the purpose till they had complain from people from the other side of the Mersey (probably a miles away) receiving cabbages in their garden!
They then replaced the cabbages with a bag of sand that dispersed some yards outside the gun's mouth. Probably better not to be in front of the gun!

There are also yarns about ships coming in Portsmouth or Plymouth, saluting the admiral with the gunner having forgotten to remove the shot of the cannon! That probably made a very angry admiral with a hole in his house roof.

@+ P

[Peter]

MAN KILLED BY CANNON BALL
A shocking accident happened on Friday last – The Rosamond was firing a signal gun, and by mistake had a shot in it, and a Dockyard boat being near it unfortunately killed a man in it by the name of William Antrum.

Hampshire Chronicle, 16th May 1814.

This incident took place in Portsmouth Harbour, England.

The gunner in charge of the firing of a salute had a little rhyme to help him to try and get his timings right, it went like this: "If I wasn't a gunner I wouldn't be here, fire one." And so on........ Still used today. Today's gunnery rates still have difficulty using watches.

...The firing of salutes in honour of a Royal or other personage or of a country is a very old custom. Gun salutes are always given in odd numbers; in former days even numbers were always reserved for occasions of mourning. The interval between successive guns is five seconds. Gun salutes are not fired between 1030 and 1300 on Sundays, or between sunset and 0800 except to return a salute from a foreign man-o-war....
Ref: Royal Navy Book of Reference (BR). 1938, (MOD, 1965), p.57.