Ships and Guns brings together experts from the field of historic artillery and underwater archaeologists to present a series of papers which focus on the development of naval ordnance in Europe and, especially, Venice, in the 15th17th centuries, as exemplified by the maritime archaeological resource. Subjects include Venetian ordnance in shipwrecks of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, the race to develop big calibres in the first war of Morea, Genoese ordnance aboard galleys in the 16th century, the strategic logistics of guns at sea during the Spanish armada of 1588 and ships and guns of the Tudor navy.
Often specialists in ordnance study artefacts recovered from wrecks without a complete knowledge of the archaeological context from which they have been recovered. Archaeologists investigating the context of the objects on the other hand, often do so with only a superficial knowledge of historic artillery. This volume hopes to redress the balance, and also to present a large amount of information, often concerning little-known wrecks, on this important but under-published subject area.

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
  • Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Ships, Guns and Historical Archaeology
  • References
• 1: Morphology and Constructive Techniques of Venetian Artilleries in the 16th and 17th Centuries: some notes
  • Introduction
  • The bronze
  • The Venetian muzzle-loading bronze gun
  • The gunfounders
  • Armament of the main warship, the Galley
  • Abbreviations
  • References
• 2: Venetian Ordnance in the Shipwrecks of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Seas
  • Introduction
  • The wrecks
  • Conclusions
  • References
  • Archival sources
• 3: The Race to Big Calibres During the First War of Morea and Sigismondo Alberghetti's Guns of New Invention
  • References
• 4: Two Venetian Swivel Guns from the Messina Strait, Italy
  • Introduction
  • The finds
  • Ship's equipment
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
• 5: A Venetian Ship Sunk in Cyrenaica at the Beginning of the 18th Century
  • References
• 6: Genoese Ordnance Aboard Galleys and Merchantmen in the 16th Century
  • Introduction
  • The modernization of Genoese sea ordnance from the end of the 15th century, and the previous situation
  • The development in the 16th century – composition of the equipment
  • The situation of the Genoese galley ordnance from the eve of Lepanto to the 1590s
  • Fortune and decline in the Genoese manufacture of bronze naval ordnance
  • Appendix
  • References
• 7: Bombards in Savona in the 15th and 16th centuries
  • Appendix
• 8: Guns and Profit. Tuscan Naval Artillery in the 16th to 17th Centuries
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
• 9: Armed Ships of the Post-Medieval Period in Croatia
  • Introduction
  • The sites
  • Potential sites
  • Conclusion
  • References
• 10: Did Naval Artillery Really Exist During the Modern Period? A Brief Note on Cannon Design
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
• 11: Stowed or Mounted The Spanish Armada of 1588 and the Strategic Logistics of Guns at Sea
  • Introduction
  • La Trinidad Valencera (Martin 1979; 1983)
  • The wreck site (Martin 1979)
  • The siege train (Martin 1988; 2001b)
  • The ship’s guns (Martin, Parker 1999, 269–274)
  • Sea carriage ( Figure 11.9 )
  • Breech loaders
  • Gunners’ rules and shot gauges ( Figure 11.11 )
  • Conclusion
  • References
• 12: “A Jewel of Great Value”: English Iron Gunfounding and its rivals, 1550–1650
  • References
• 13: Ships and Guns of the Tudor Navy 1495–1603
  • Introduction
  • 1495 3
  • 1514 4
  • 1540
  • 1546 5
  • 1558 6
  • 1576 7
  • 1603 8
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
• 14: The British Sea Service Mortars
  • Introduction
  • A new form of warfare: mortars and vessels, 1680s–1730s
  • Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • References
• 15: Sixteenth-Century French Naval Guns
  • Venetian cannons
  • Serpentine cannons (canons serpentins)
  • Demi culverins bastard (couleuvrines bâtardes)
  • Minions (couleuvrines moyennes)
  • Falcons (faucons), periers (canons perriers) and sakers (sacres)
  • Wrought iron breech-loading guns ( Figure 15.10 )
  • Short guns for sea service
  • Gun foundry and royal store at Marseille
  • References