(Fig. 1): Bombard or mortar of a very early date. (From a MS.) (Fig. 2): Vase-shaped bombard of a date posterior to the reign of Henry IV. It is fastened to a wooden bed or trough, which rests on a movable pivot in a stout square timber frame. (From a MS.) (Fig. 3): A soldier with a hand-gun fitted to a stock. (From a treatise, “De Re Militari,” printed 1472.) (Fig. 4): An early gun, in a primitive gun-mounting. It is supported on a massive timber framing at each side, while the flat breech is resting against a strong wooden support, driven into the ground, to prevent recoil. (From Mallet’s “Construction of Artillery.”) (Fig. 5): A gun as used during the chief part of the 15th century. It is fixed on the swivel principle, being suspended between the branches of an immense fork of iron. The elevation or depression of the gun was effected by means of a large iron bar, in the form of a scythe, standing in a vertical position. The whole thing is fixed on an iron plate fastened on a massive bed of oak. (Fig. 6): A hand-gun of the reign of Edward IV., fired by means of a match. (From Roy. MS., 15 E. iv.) (Fig. 7): A gun called a Peterara, of the time of Edward IV., in the Rotunda at Woolwich, made of bars of iron laid longitudinally, and bound together with iron hoops. The powder chamber is seen, with the handle to raise it, and there is a locking arrangement, so that it cannot be blown out when the gun is discharged. It has trunnions, and is fastened into the metal frame, which supports it on the wooden carriage. (Fig. 8): A cannon of the 15th century, more of the form of the mortar, supported in a wooden framework. (From Roy. MS., 14 E. iv.)
[A 15th CENTURY SHIP.]
PLATE 27.
This engraving, taken from Rouse’s MS. ‘Life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick’ (British Museum, Julius E. iv.), of the latter part of the 15th century (1485) gives a very clear representation of a ship and its boat. The Earl is setting out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In the foreground, we see him, with his pilgrim’s staff in hand, stepping into the boat which is to carry him to his ship, lying at anchor in the harbour. The costume of the sailors is illustrated by the men in the boat. The vessel is a ship of burden, but such a one as kings and great personages had equipped for their own use, resembling an ordinary merchant ship in all essentials, but fitted and furnished with more than usual convenience and sumptuousness. In Earl Richard’s ship, the sail is emblazoned with his arms, and the pennon, besides the red cross of England, has his badges of the bear and ragged staff. The ragged staff also appears on the castle at the masthead.
The castle, which all ships of this age had at the stern, is, in this case, roofed in and handsomely ornamented, and, no doubt, formed the state apartment of the Earl.
There is also a castle at the head of the ship, known as the forecastle, though it is not very plainly shown in the drawing.
It consists of a raised platform; the round-headed entrance to the cabin beneath it is seen in the picture; the two bulwarks also, which protect it at the sides, are visible, though their meaning is not at first sight obvious.