FRENCH AN IX 'ESPINGOLE' ?

[fernando]

Outstanding Wayne
Mind you, if the sailor smokes a couple joints and looses his hands firmness, he might shot the horse's head

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by fernando

Outstanding Wayne
Mind you, if the sailor smokes a couple joints and looses his hands firmness, he might shot the horse's head

i will NOT mention the XXX joke about why the camel is called the 'ship of the desert'. it will get me banned. i leave that to your fertile imaginations.

nice barca, fernando. you might want to beef up the gunwales* a tad, they look a bit flimsey for that coffee grinder.

gunwales, or gunnels is of course derived from gun walls, the extension of the hull planking (and later, plating) upwards past the weather deck to which swivel guns (and lines and ropes of all sizes and descriptions) were attached.

sadly, you would need to drill a rather large hole in a horse to mount this swivel gun. which kind of defeats the purpose as the horse would not like that.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by kronckew

i will NOT mention the XXX joke about why the camel is called the 'ship of the desert'. it will get me banned. i leave that to your fertile imaginations.

English pun; no sense in portuguese

Originally Posted by kronckew

...nice barca, fernando..

It is called a lancha (from the malay lancharam ... go figure), in a version exclusive from my fishing home town.

Originally Posted by kronckew

...you might want to beef up the gunwales* a tad, they look a bit flimsey for that coffee grinder...

Wrong angle. This may be a replica but its total length is almost 80 cms ( 31" in your lingo), and its 'amuradas' are thick enough to bear a couple coffee grinders like the one posted by Richmond .

Originally Posted by kronckew

...sadly, you would need to drill a rather large hole in a horse to mount this swivel gun. which kind of defeats the purpose as the horse would not like that.

The hole is already there; the swivel gun position would be an odd one, though. Ah, now comes the ban

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by fernando

...
The hole is already there; the swivel gun position would be an odd one, though. Ah, now comes the ban

i never considered it from that angle.

maybe as a mobile anti-aircraft weapon?

after all, leonardo invented the airplane back in the 15/16c., 300 or so yrs earlier, so they must have thought of a defence by 1812.



p.s. - googling lanch poviera brought up some images of slightly larger ones, nice looking boats. well capable of mounting his find.

[fernando]

You got it Wayne. When a kid, i used to play inside the last of them, when ashore (during the fifties).
Pity the whole fleet has disappeared. The present one is just for fun