[Rhodes22-list] Fw: Cannon Balls

[Steve Alm]

Where I hang out, a Brass Monkey is a cock...(hic)...tail.
Slim  ;-)

On 9/25/02 12:30 PM, "lcrowther" <lcrowther@cox.net> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> Cannon Balls
> 
> In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried
> iron cannons. Those cannon fired round iron cannon balls.
> 
> It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. But how to prevent
> them from rolling about the deck?
> 
> The best storage method devised was 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 called
> a "Monkey" with 16 round indentations. But if this plate was made of iron,
> the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem
> was to make "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, you thought that was an improper expression,
> didn't you?)
> 
> 
> 
>