Expanding Bar Shot (13A33)
This expanding bar shot was found on the foreshore in the Hamoaze and was probably used for gunnery practice from the training school at HMS Cambridge.
Bar shot was used for destroying the rigging of enemy ships. Fixed bar shot had a solid bar of iron joining two round shot but expanding bar shot included a telescoping bar that increased the swathe cut by the spinning shot. The shot was loaded into the barrel of the cannon shortened up, when fired the two balls would fly apart and spin through the air, cutting a wide swathe through any rigging it met.
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Images
Iron bar shot in the closed position for loading |
References
