Cannons and carriages colors

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Need resources for the colors of cannons and their carriages for British and American Ships during the American Revolution Period. Thanks for help.
 
That is a tough one. I would go on Amazon and do a search for a book that might have the answer. I have not modeled that era since I made the Constitution in plastic many years ago.
 
Hi Bob, I have been trawling the internet the past few days regarding gun carriage colour, specifically 18th century.
The gist of what I can find is that the carriages were red to deep red (deep red being the colour of lots of blood). The French had both blue and red.
The carnage on the gun decks would have been horrendous, at close quarters a 42 pounder had enough force to go completely through a ship. Anyone nearby would have showered with viscous splinters some as big as man's leg.
A book in my possession states that in tests at 100yards a 42 pounder using a one third charge (that is, charge is one third the weight of the ball) the ball will go through 5 feet of solid dry oak.
Sorry for the digress.
Regards
Eric
 
I guess it did not change since the deep red was the color of carriages in the 17th century and for the same reason. Wonder what French ships used blue? I have never seen any information on whether the cannons were ever painted or left as cast.
 
Apparently from the time of the French Revolution the carriages were painted blue but in the "colonies" some were still red, this also applied to their shore batteries.
I don't know if Wolfram's book has anything regarding gun carriage colours.
Eric
 
You're welcome Bob, Google the following line as is,
the colors of 18th century naval gun carriages
and then try variations ans see what it brings up.

You will notice that there doesn't SEEM to be a lot of info, however if you wanted to build a carriage, well, that's a different story!

Regards
Eric
 
Hi Bob, I have been trawling the internet the past few days regarding gun carriage colour, specifically 18th century.
The gist of what I can find is that the carriages were red to deep red (deep red being the colour of lots of blood). The French had both blue and red.
The carnage on the gun decks would have been horrendous, at close quarters a 42 pounder had enough force to go completely through a ship. Anyone nearby would have showered with viscous splinters some as big as man's leg.
A book in my possession states that in tests at 100yards a 42 pounder using a one third charge (that is, charge is one third the weight of the ball) the ball will go through 5 feet of solid dry oak.
Sorry for the digress.
Regards
Eric
I am currently working on an 18th century Pirate Brig and was wondering the same thing about the color of the ship and the cannons.
 
Hi Bonair1, usually pirate ships were merchant ships or ships of the line (aka battleships) that had been commandeered or even stolen, if a pirate ship was damaged they take over another one. So, if the ship was a "ship of the line" it would have already had a colour scheme pertaining to that country. British ships were mostly red on the inside of the gun decks and some gun carriages were red as well as stated above. Cannons were usually black, I haven't come across any other colour, but I can be corrected. Some early ships cannons were made of bronze.
Ships colours were also at the discretion of the captain.
 
L.G. Carr Laughton's Old Ship Figure-heads & Sterns suggests that from at least the 17th century, with exception of cabins, the invariable colour of inboard works for British Warships was red.
I don't have a reference, but I believe eric67...blood red is logical.
 
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