Fascinating thread!
How would i guess that the posting of my atypical ball would result in such a treatise on cannonballs.
Hot shot and shot towers would certainly never dream of making part of my vocabulary!
I finally located some data on the use of hot shot in old Portuguese (and Brazilian) coast forts. It was a question of having not browsed with the right term; here they call it bala ardente (burning bullet).
Considering Fearn's reasonable suggestion that this ball was not even fired, having been discarded due to its faulty construction, one question arises: why then wasn't it discarded right after casting inspection, instead of going to take a risky chance to be used in campaign?
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