The Virtual Pub
Come Inside... => Saloon Bar => Topic started by: Snoopy on January 09, 2009, 09:39:27 AM
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I received this in an email: rubschin: What does the panel think?
CANNON BALLS !!! DID YOU KNOW THIS ? I DIDN'T
It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The best storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.
Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.
The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.
Thus,it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, you thought that was just a vulgar expression, didn't you?
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Bollox?
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::)
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I'll answer my own question then because I have now looked on Google and found:
Summary of the eRumor
This piece of alleged history explains that in the olden days of sailing ships, cannon balls were stacked on the decks on brass plates called "monkeys." The plates had indentions in them that held the balls on the bottoms of the stacks. Brass, however, expands and contracts with the temperature and if it got cold enough, the cannon balls could fall...giving real foundation to the phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!"
bullet The Truth
According to the United States Navy Historical Center, this is a legend of the sea without historical justification. The center has researched this because of the questions it gets and says the term "brass monkey" and a vulgar reference to the effect of cold on the monkey's extremities, appears to have originated in the book "Before the Mast" by C.A. Abbey. It was said that it was so cold that it would "freeze the tail off a brass monkey." The Navy says there is no evidence that the phrase had anything to do with ships or ships with cannon balls.
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Bollox then noooo:
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My immediate thought was that, given the rate of fire, 30 would be a vast amount of ammunition to keep stored next to the cannon... whistle:
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Another source says:
On dry land, the obvious way to store cannon-balls seems to be by stacking them. On board ship it's a different matter. A little geometry shows that a pyramid of balls will topple over if the base is tilted by more than 30 degrees. This tilting, not to mention any sudden jolting, would have been commonplace on sailing ships. It just isn't plausible that cannon-balls were stacked this way.
For those wanting a bit more detail, here's the science bit. The coefficient of expansion of brass is 0.000019; that of iron is 0.000012. If the base of the stack were one metre long the drop in temperature needed to make the 'monkey' shrink relative to the balls by just one millimetre, would be around 100 degrees Celsius. Such a small shrinkage wouldn't have had the slightest effect. In any case in weather like that the sailors would probably have better things to think about than coining new phrases.
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Bollox then noooo:
But still more interesting that "Sniff my cake" over and over again whistle:
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I declare this thread closed
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Have you no work to be getting on with?
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Yup. I am werking whistle:
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rubschin: No wonder you find it hard to sleep at night.
char048
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I am even thinking of sub-contracting a job to BM whistle:
(Does not involve painting, wood or goats)
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I am even thinking of sub-contracting a job to BM whistle:
(Does not involve painting, wood or goats)
scared2:
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Cannonballs as stored on HMS Victory
(https://www.virtual-pub.com/SMF/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.postimage.org%2FaV2gRhqi.jpg&hash=0fb0c83398598d64c2f1fde72b778b07bb9a9437) (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV2gRhqi)
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Is that a nest?
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This site is full of really interesting shite! lol:
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Can shite be interesting?
an oxymoron surely. rubschin:
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Can shite be interesting?
an oxymoron surely. rubschin:
There are certain members of Parliament that would give you a good argument about that ~ allegedly.
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Can shite be interesting?
an oxymoron surely. rubschin:
Must be mate, the NHS Cancer Screening people keep sending me little bags in which to send them samples......the latest sample had lots of nuts in it, I bet they will find that interesting eyes:
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Can shite be interesting?
an oxymoron surely. rubschin:
Must be mate, the NHS Cancer Screening people keep sending me little bags in which to send them samples......the latest sample had lots of nuts in it, I bet they will find that interesting eyes:
I bet there are more nuts in here.
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I think we need to name and shame DS eveilgrin:
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Why just him?
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Why just him?
surrender:
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Why just him?
'Cos you would deny it and I've already confessed to creeping senility. BM is known to be certifiable for bring us all together here anyway and Wenchy is as daft as they come.
rubschin: If we didn't already have a site name "The Cuckoo's Nest" would seem appropriate.
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Wenchy is as daft as they come.
shocked003
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There will be trouble ahead.....
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There will be trouble ahead.....
.......lets face the music and dance.
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I can see you now DS, white suit, black bow tie, slicked back hair, leaning on the piano, cigarette held between the fingers , all very Noel Coward, crooning. eyes:
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There will be trouble ahead.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tSzTcBjNaw
lol: lol: lol: