Hi JC

I have always understood that the wheels on ship board cannon were made from timber

Paul

Jc.  dude.  I am a novice in the "classic" sailing boat department, but it is my understanding that virtually all the wood on most of these ships was painted with something or other, paint or tar etc-barring the deck perhaps- and I`m sure I have read that (for instance) the guns on the Victory were painted in yellow ochre (or whatever the pale colour on the ship was), wheels and all   ( they are called "trucks" I believe?)   Ashley 

 just thought I would throw that nugget of info in. Airfix instructions are the best and could do with being copied by these manufacturers, they always show exactly what colours all the bits are!  

JC. The little WHEELS on the carriages were called TRUCKS  according to my sources……   Ashley

Yes, the trucks do seem to be wood colour, they must have run out of paint…………

I too favour ‘truck’. It is also to be found in the wheel arrangement of a steam locomotive, e.g. the "Flying Scotsman" has a Pacific wheel arrangement , 4-6-2 the latter 2 representing a 2 wheel bogie under the footplate. This is known as a ‘pony truck’

 Turning to colours of Nelson era vessels, the decks were not painted but ‘holystoned’. As late as the 50’s when I was a Deck Apprentice wooden decks were holystoned by a holystone,  apparently a form of sandstone  I also believe that hull interiors on gun decks were painted red so that all the blood and gore would be less noticeable…fat chance.

Cheers

yewmount

JC. I am sure the trucks on cannon carriages were called trucks before there was an America…..

One wonders what was in the paint they used for the gun decks, as the cannon barrels are not black just to look good, but because of the gunge they mixed up to stop the rust. Perhaps the stuff they used to use had a res hue just because thats what colour it turned out like, but later on they either changed the mix or didnt bother. OR EVEN on smaller boats that were more likely to be wet below decks the red colour was used but something like the Victory or a 74 gunner (or is it 75?) was that much drier and so white was used. PERHAPS the admirals aboard these larger boats liked a less dingy gun deck when touring ??    Ashley

Great pic Fat Controller!! reminds me of my pre-sea days at College when we were being taught about different tackles and their usage. I well rememeber that a 2 + 1 was called a "gun tackle"

 There is of course another shipboard truck, the round head to the mast often carrying a sheave for a flag hoist. From this the saying –"from truck to keel"

Cheers

Hi paul

 Universal language eh! For the life of me I cannot remember the names of the rest but I believe that a 3 + 3 was the largest and that to reeve it one had to start in the middle sheave of one of the blocks. I remember too that there was a standing block and a running block and in your pic of "Victory’s" gun deck the standing block is the double-sheave made fast to the bulkhead while the running block is made fast to the gun carriage.

Going back to the original question there is no doubt at all that ship-board cannon had wodden trucks. Hell, if they were made of iron guess what a horrible mess they would make to a wooden deck as they were trained, fired then the recoil

 Cheers

Ian