Community - The Heart of Antiquity

The GREAT TURKISH BOMBARD!

Found this in the Wiki regarding a big mammyjammer of a cannon:

The Great Turkish Bombard : is a siege gun dating from soon after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. It is cast in bronze and was made in two parts: the barrel which holds the shot and the chamber which holds the charge. The two parts screw together and there is a ring of sockets at the ends of each section, these take levers to facilitate screwing and unscrewing the parts.
Overall length is 5.2 m and it weighs 16.8 tonnes. It fires a stone ball of about 300 kg some 1600 m. (across 6 Sims?? izzat right?)
The rate of fire was very slow - about 15 rounds per day.

Currently in the Royal Armouries at Fort Nelson, Portsmouth, England.

I propose that the Brethren Pyrates at Large try to locate this region called Fort Nelson and either bribe the Royal Armourers or infiltrate thar ranks in our usual stealthy and catlike manner for the purpose of absconding with this thing.

In addition, I would propose that noobs be shanghaied from the welcome centers and placed into service learning the gunner's trade. I'm sure they could be taught to unscrew that thing, place the charge and load the stone and snap it all back together and beat the 15 shot a day record.

Navee gets stoned, Noobs learn a craft, and Pyrates drink rum and watch it all come together. Is win, win, win situation.

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Comment by Sho Kyong on July 10, 2009 at 9:52am: Istanbul not Constantinople....now that will be in my head all day!

Comment by Bridget Jennings on July 10, 2009 at 7:32am: I can give gentlemen a copy of my avatar cannon when I get back to SL next week (I you want one of your own)

Comment by Tweed on July 10, 2009 at 6:49am: Looks like they made the casting molds from clay.

Gude find Teddy and fairly ingenius way to keep down the loitering. I guess they just fire em off and shoot the bums and winos outta the park a couple times a day.

Comment by Teddy Schumann on July 10, 2009 at 5:25am

I've found a cheap place for sleeping in Istanbul:

There are more than a dozen siege cannons on display in front of Besiktas Maritime Station in Istanbul:

This here is from sl:

Comment by Sho Kyong on June 23, 2009 at 1:33am: Ye means ye can see them too?

Comment by Tweed on June 22, 2009 at 12:24pm: Yarr and avast me swarthy wee Harpy, mebbe I do snore a bit since taking a boom to me nose in yore tako last year but at least I don't get drunk and have chimpanzees flying outta me arse in time to hurdy gurdy musick.

Comment by Sho Kyong on June 22, 2009 at 9:48am: prolly louder than Tweed's snoring I bet.....................

Comment by Burnman Bedlam on June 20, 2009 at 8:23pm: Amazing! I can only imagine the noise that beast would have made. :)

Comment by Tweed on June 20, 2009 at 8:05am: Iyam wondering why the Turkish Engineers opted to cut and thread the thing in the center and not just on the end cap so it would be easier to load.. Mebbe they couldn't make a mold big enough to cast the whole thing at one time??

That they come up with the idea of screwing it together in 1450 is pretty danged amazin.