GGG
Much better than a spill for gun work is a slow match. Used on both of the tall
ships I volunteer on, it is now a piece of cotton cord that looks much like
clothes line, soaked in potassium nitrate. Easy to ignite but burns at the rate
of about a foot an hour with just an ember stuck to the end of the cord. No
open flame and no burning ember falls off. This is very important on a gun deck
where you may have 30 guns getting ready to fire. About 18” of slow match is
wrapped around the tip of a linstock, and both ends are lit if things get
critical, just in case one end goes out. The linstock is also 24-30” long to
get the operator as far from the gun as possible because a blast of fire and
brimstone come straight up out of the touch hole when it fires - and also, the
gun can recoil unpredictably. Check the smoke coming straight up out of the
breech here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/48514097566/in/dateposted-public/
No need of a slow match on a flintlock, of course, and canon had flintlocks
called gunlocks after the late 18th c. And there are no cannon on a ship, just
guns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linstock
Ed Minch
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