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| Midshipman Swanson learning to crew a great gun with the Provincial Marine Amhurseburg. |
For the Gunner
Article I
Article I
As soon as one of his Majesty's ships is ordered to be commissioned, the gunner is to apply to the storekeeper of the ordnance at the port for the established number of guns, with the proper quantity of ammunition and stores, which he is a carefully to examine before they are put into the hoys, and he is to report to the storekeeper any imperfections or deficiencies he may discover in them.
II
The gunner, having received directions for that purpose from the captain, is to inform the storekeeper when the ship will be ready to receive the guns; he is to attend to receive them on board, and is to see that every gun is put into its proper carriage, and placed in its proper port; No. 1 being the foremost gun on the larboard side, and No. 2 the foremost on the starboard side on each deck.
III
He is, whenever other duties will admit of it, to employ his mates and the men of his crew, in fitting the breechings and tackles, that they may be ready for the guns when they are carried on board.
IV
He is to examine very carefully into the state of the Magazine, that he may be certain of it being properly fitted and perfectly dried, before the power is carried on board; but if he should find any appearance of dampness, he is to report it to the Captain that it be properly dried.
V
He is to inform the Captain when the powder will be ready to be sent on board, that the fire in the galley may be put out, before the vessel which carries it is suffered to go alongside. While the powder is taking into the ship, no candles are to be kept lighted, except those in the light room; nor is any man to be allowed to smoke tobacco. As soon as the whole is stowed in the Magazine, the Gunner is to see the doors, a light room and the scuttle carefully secured, and is to deliver the keys to the Captain, or to such other Officer as he shall appoint to take charge of them.
VI
The powder is to be taken on board at the following places only, unless ordered otherwise on particular occasions, viz; Plymouth Sound or Cawsand Bay, Spithead, Blackstakes, Longreach, River Thames; and Ships being ordered into any port are to take out their powder before they pass either of those places.
VII
He is never to go into the Magazine without being ordered to go there. He is never to allow the doors of the Magazine to be opened but by himself; he is not to open them until the proper Officer is in the light-room; and he is to be very careful in observing that the men who go into the Magazine have not about than anything which can strike fire, and he must take care that no person enters the Magazine without wearing the leather slippers supplied by the Ordnance.
VIII
He is never to keep any quantity of powder in any other part of the Ship than the Magazine, except that which the captain shall order be kept in the powder-boxes, or powder horns on deck; and when he delivers cartridge from the Magazine, he is to be very particular in observing that they are in cases is properly shut. And whenever it may be necessary to remove powder from the Ship, he is to use the utmost caution that all the passages to the Magazine may be wetted so that accidents may be prevented.
IX
He is not to stave, nor to convert to any other use, the empty powder barrels; but is to keep them and, when the Ship comes into port, to return them to the store-keeper of the Ordnance, who is to directed to pay him one shilling for every empty barrel he shall return in good condition. He is to mark with white paint, in legible characters, those barrels into which powder has been returned from cartridges.
X
He is to turn the barrels of powder once at least in every three months, to prevent the separation of the nitre from the other ingredients of the powder; he is also to examine frequently the barrels and, if he finds any of them defective, he is to remove the powder into some other barrels which have been emptied. He is frequently to examine the cartridges which are filled, that he may remove the powder from any of them that he finds defective.
XI
When powder of various quantities shall be sent on board, he is to very attentive in using them in the order which the Board of Ordnance shall prescribe.
XII
When any extra quantity of Stores or Ammunition is supplied for Foreign Service, he is to be attentive to use those first which have been the longest time on board, unless he shall receive particular directions to the contrary.
XIII
He is frequently to examine the state of the guns, their locks and carriages that they may be immediately repaired or exchanged if they be defective; and he is frequently to examine the musketry, and all the other small arms, to see that they are kept clean and in every respect perfectly fit for service.
XIV
He is to be attentive in keeping the shot-racks full of shot; the powder horns and boxes of priming tub[e]s full, and a sufficient quantity of a match primed and ready for being lighted at the shortest notice.
XV
Guns receive from the Ordnance Stores shall be scaled before they are loaded for service, and if it shall be necessary to scale them at any other time, the Gunner shall represent it to the Captain who is to give him an order for that purpose, in which the cause of it being done is to be particularly specified.
XVI
In filling cartridges, whether for service, or for scaling, he is never to exceed the quantity specified in the table (No. 29) in the Appendix, but he is to fill a sufficient number to be ready for quick firing, with such reduced quantities as the Captain shall direct.
XVII
When a Ship is preparing for battle, he is to be particularly attentive to see that all the quarters are supplied with every thing necessary for the service of the guns, the boarders, firemen, &c. he is to see all the screens thoroughly wetted, and hung round the hatchways, and from them to the Magazine before he opens the Magazine doors.
XVIII
He is, during an action, to take all opportunities of filling powder, that there be no cessation of firing for want of ammunition; he is to be attentive to send out cartridges with a quantity a powder reduced or increased as the Captain shall, from time to time, sent him directions.
XIX
After an engagement he is to apply to the Captain for a survey on the powder, shot and all other Stores remaining under his charge, that the quantity expended in the engagement may be ascertained.
XX
When he is exercising the men at the guns, he is to see that they perform every part of their exercise with the utmost correctness, particularly explaining to them, and strongly enforcing, the necessity of their pointing the guns carefully before the fire them, and of spunging them well, with the touch-hole close stopped immediately after they've been fired.
XXI
He is to supply, at such times as the Captain shall direct, ammunition for the guns and musketry, not exceeding in each month, for six months after the guns are first received on board, one charge of powder and one round of shot for one third of the number of upper deck guns, in Ships of two or three decks; or one fourth Ships of one deck; and twelve charges of musket cartridge with ball and twenty-four without ball, for each man of one third part of the Seamen of the Ship's company, and for all the Marines; not exceeding, after the first six months, one half that quantity for the guns, or muskets.
XXII
He is to be careful in keeping the boxes of hand grenades and grape-shot in dry places, and to expose frequently the grape shop to the sun and wind, to prevent the bags from being mildewed. He is never to start the hand-grenades; but is to return those which are not used in the boxes in which he received them.
XXIII
He is never to allow any match to be burnt in the day, nor more than two length at the same time in the night, without being ordered so to do by the Captain. When match is burning, it is always to hang over water in tubs, and the Gunner's Mate of the watch is to attend it.
XXIV
If a detachment of Seamen or Marines shall at any time be sent from the Ship, the Gunner is to make out an inventories of the arms, ammunition and Stores which are sent with it, which is to be signed by the Officer appointed to command the detachment, and to be witnessed by the Captain's Clerk, who is to examine the quantity supplied. And on the return of the detachment, the Gunner, in presence of the Officer who commanded it and the Captain's Clerk is to examine the arms, &c. which are brought back, and to report the deficiency if any, in each article two the Captain; who, from the manner in which the Officer shall account for such deficiency, will determine whether it be proper to allow the articles to be expanded by the Gunner in his accounts, or charged against the pay of the Officer or any person under him, but whose carelessness or misconduct the whole or any part of them was lost or destroyed.
XXV
When a salute is to be fired, the Gunner is to be very attentive to take such precautions in drawing the guns as may insure there not being a shot in any of them; and if Vessels of any description be so near as to risk the[m] being damaged by the wads, he is to draw them also; and he is to lay up and point the guns so as to prevent their doing mischief, although a wad or shot, notwithstanding the precautions he is taken, may have been left in one of them.
XXVI
He is to take every possible precaution to prevent any ball cartridges been given to the men, among the blank cartridges issued to exercise.
XXVII
Whenever he shall be directed to strike any guns into the hold, he is to pay them all over with a thick coat of warm tar and tallow mixed together; and after having washed the bore of the gun with fresh water and very carefully spunged and dried the inside, he is to put a good full wad, dipped in the same mixture, about a foot within the muzzle, and is to see that the tompion is well driven into and surrounded with putty, and he is to drive a cork tight into the touch-hole and to secure it there.
XXVIII
He is to be extremely attentive in examining all the guns, in seeing them carefully drawn and thoroughly spunged before they are returned into store. He is also to examine very carefully the Magazine, to see that no loose powder remains in any part of it after the powder has been returned into store; and is to be very careful that there are not any cartridges left in the cartouch-boxes, when they are sent on shore.
XXIX
He is to be very careful of the tools he receives from the storekeeper of the Ordnance for the use of the armourer, whom he is to furnish with such only as he may want for immediate use; and he is to require him to account particularly for all those with which he shall be furnished.
XXX
He is to be very attentive to the conduct of the armourer, in his mates, to see that they discharge their duty properly; that they keep the muskets, and other small arms clean and in good order, always repairing them, when they are defective, and not suffering them through neglect to become too bad to be repaired. At the end of the voyage, or at any other time that the Ship's company is paid, he is to give the armourer and his mates certificates of their good conduct, if they shall have so perform their duty as to deserve them; but not otherwise.
XXXI
If, from any extraordinary circumstances, when the ship is on Foreign station, the small arms should be so damaged that they cannot be cleaned or repaired by the armourer; the Gunner is to represent their Condition to the Captain, who is to direct a Lieutenant and the Master to survey them, and if their report shall confirm the representation of the Gunner, he is to apply to the Commander-in-Chief to give orders for their being repaired; but as the Commander-in-Chief be not present, the Captain is himself to get them repaired by workmen on shore, being very careful not to pay more for their repair than the established price of the country; the Gunner is to attend frequently, and the armourer constantly, to see that the work is properly done; but if there be an Officer of the Ordnance at the place, the Captain is to direct him to get them repaired.
XXXII
As the Brass Sheaves and Iron Pins of Blocks for Gun-tackles, from being much exposed to Salt Water, are frequently set fast with rust, he is to be particularly attentive when this is the case, to cause the iron pins to be knocked out, to be oiled or greased.
XXXIII
He is to be very careful not to suffer the bare Gun metal Adzes, which are supplied by the Ordnance for the use of the Magazine, to be struck against the Copper hoops of the Powder barrels; but always to have the wooden setters applied to them, to convey the stroke from the Adze, there been several instances of strong sparks of fire being produced from the Collision of a Metal adze against a Metal setter, or a Copper hoop.
