Cannon Balls!!! Did You Know This?

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 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, folks thought that was just a vulgar
expression?

When first I heard this story, I too believed it since it sounds like such a good explaination. But I have since been told and have read on snopes that this is a made up thing just to entertain. I still say it sounds logical and quite believable but I guess I wasn't around during those times to know if this was all true or not. Either way, it does make for a good story. Then again, so does the one about S. H. I. T., (ship high in transit), and many others that have been floating around the internet for years that I also don't know whether to believe. I don't even know why this site called snopes is considered such an authority on these things and given so much credit for being right about everything.

Roger - Was this a "First-Hand-Account" of yours?

This is called "Kokanee Fishing Forum"! KFF does not stand for Kentucky Fried Foolishness.

SmokeOnTheWater said:

Roger - Was this a "First-Hand-Account" of yours?

This is called "Kokanee Fishing Forum"! KFF does not stand for Kentucky Fried Foolishness.

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Now if it said that on the KFF apparel, I'd buy the shirt and the hat. laugh hyst

Coast Guard Stories

skookum9 said:

When first I heard this story, I too believed it since it sounds like such a good explaination. But I have since been told and have read on snopes that this is a made up thing just to entertain. I still say it sounds logical and quite believable but I guess I wasn't around during those times to know if this was all true or not. Either way, it does make for a good story. Then again, so does the one about S. H. I. T., (ship high in transit), and many others that have been floating around the internet for years that I also don't know whether to believe. I don't even know why this site called snopes is considered such an authority on these things and given so much credit for being right about everything.

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This piece of trivia is actually taken from coast guard stories. There is a lot of history which some of it has been blown out of porportion. Who knows how much there is to believe. But we do see our current history in the making daily.