I had to laugh when I read that. As an engineer, as I am (or the ship's carpenter, back in the day), I'm furious.There are plenty of battle reports, where the guns had to be pointed at a very sharp angle, if the ships were stuck or on the anchor. Most of the time only a part of the guns could be employed then, as the angle always gets sharper amidships as for the curve of the hull, thus making it impossible to shoot. And at these moments I do believe nobody really cared for the deck´s planks
XXXDAn
Carpenter: "What are you doing? You do know that you're weakening the planks?" (Boom! from enemy cannon)
Gunner: "Do you want to die? No? Then (insert expletive here) and get below deck you daft (possible extra expletive)!"
Captain: "Chippie! Get below decks... now!"
Carpenter, muttering as he retreats: "Yes Captain! You'll knacker the decks, though... I'm just saying."
On a serious note, I'll consider extra anchor points for some of the rear rigging on the guns. I'd guess that between guns, the anchor for the neighbouring gun would be used to slew the gun to one side: That's how I'd do it. Guns at the end of a row would need an extra anchor point.
Last edited: