Tampions
Description
Six turned gun tampions all still attached as one block of wood. Four mini horseshoe markings at one end.
32-pounder tampions in a spool of six. A tampion is a plug that goes into the muzzle of a gun to keep the sea spray out of the barrel. They were machined on a lathe from a single piece of pine without a final parting cut. These gun tampions are still in one block, which implies that when a new tampion was needed for the gun they would be cut off from the one at the end. Each gun had two tampions, one for the barrel and one as a spare. Tampions were employed when the gun was not often in use such as when the ship was in port or under maintenance.
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Object Detail
Diameter: 155mm (6 1/8")
Weight: 1/16cwt (2.75kg)