Gun Wad
Description
Bundled mass of rope fibres – compressed into tight wad. Brown/yellow in colour. Approximately oval or egg shaped – flat on both sides. Bundle of rope twisted and coiled together with ending bundle or top knot on one flat surface.
A wad for a 24-pounder gun. When loading the gun, it was essential that both cartridge and projectile were retained in place. The gun wads performed this and other necessary functions. The wad between the powder cartridge and the cannon ball was to momentarily absorb the pressure build up from rapidly burning black powder, thereby increasing the cannon ball’s velocity. The second was simply there to keep the cannon ball in place. The wad is composed of recycled rope fibres. Wads were usually made up on board the ship and the gunner was issued with pieces of old rope and cable, known as junk, for this purpose. HMS Invincible, a 74-gun ship, would have been issued with five tins of junk.
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Object Detail
Width: 150mm
Depth: 50mm (1 15/16")