Cannon Balls

[kronckew]

A Titbit of information you may not have known about:

[toaster5sqn]

Do you really believe that a rolling and pitching ship would store cannonballs in such an unstable manner?
I've read that the whole story was made up in Victorian times to sanitize the obvious biologically reference. The saying is believed to have been inspired by the popularity of brass castings of the three wise monkeys (see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil).

Robert

[adrian]

I too believe this to be an 'urban myth' and some years ago I read a detailed explanation that debunked it very convincingly. In all my research and reading I have never found anything that even remotely supports the 'myth' either.

[Rick]

Engaged, a shot garland like this would spill the top round off the pile on near impact creating yet another problem rolling around on the deck for the poor bastards who were serving the great Guns.

[kronckew]

The real brass monkeys:

[M ELEY]

I agree with the stacking of cannon balls on a ship seeming impractical, but the pyramidal stacking of cannonballs was definitely a practice for land installations and in the field. Cannon 'stations' along the river of some cities in Virginia have yielded cannonballs buried in the earth still in their original stacked pile. So maybe the story might be right, but not in a naval setting???