Month: April 2019

A stolen pillow causes a skirmish and slaughter – Henry Hudson, 1609

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This account from the memoirs of Henry Hudson is one of the most vicious bow vs. musket battles I've found. The people of the Mountaynes came aboord us, wondring at our ship and weapons. We bought some small skinnes of them for Trifles. This after-noone, one Canoe kept hanging under our sterne with one man … Continue reading A stolen pillow causes a skirmish and slaughter – Henry Hudson, 1609

Range, Power, Penetration, Velocity of a Brown Bess – Roberts, Brown, Hammett and Kingston

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A DETAILED STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS AND CAPABILITIES OF 18TH CENTURY MUSKETRY ON THE BATTLEFIELD N A ROBERTS, J W BROWN, B HAMMETT & P D F KINGSTON Abstract During the mid 18th century, the standard British Army issue weapon was the Brown Bess Musket. There are various accounts of the performance of this early … Continue reading Range, Power, Penetration, Velocity of a Brown Bess – Roberts, Brown, Hammett and Kingston

A battle against a prince and forty thieves – Anthony Jenkinson, 1558

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Anthony Jenkinson, an English explorer, is known for the memoirs of his several expeditions to Russia. On his first expedition, Jenkinson sought to enter Russia by way of the Tatar lands north of the Caspian sea. He traveled in a caravan of mixed company, both Christian and Muslim. The caravan captured four suspicious men on … Continue reading A battle against a prince and forty thieves – Anthony Jenkinson, 1558

The naval weapons of Sir Richard Hawkins: musket arrows, slurbowes, fire arrows

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Here's a very interesting passage from Sir Richard Hawkins' account of his 1594 expedition. Hawkins' ship was attacked by a larger Spanish vessel, and his only hope for escape was to shoot through its mast and sails. Hawkins lists the many weapons his ship carried for this purpose: [To] shoote downe his contraries Masts or … Continue reading The naval weapons of Sir Richard Hawkins: musket arrows, slurbowes, fire arrows

“The Handgonne Priming Dilemma”

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https://www.full30.com/watch/MDA5ODAz/the-handgonne-priming-dilemma This is an extremely interesting video. It seems that aiming a Tabor-style handgonne is not so difficult as one might think. The earliest type of gunpowder, called "meal" or "serpentine" powder, was very fine, like flour. But it had a problem, as it was very hard to store and the component elements would separate … Continue reading “The Handgonne Priming Dilemma”