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Bullet

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A bullet is a kinetic projectile , a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel . They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constructions (depending on the intended applications), including specialized functions such as hunting , target shooting , training, and combat. Bullets are often tapered, making them more aerodynamic . Bullet size is expressed by weight and diameter (referred to as " caliber ") in both imperial and metric measurement systems. Bullets do not normally contain explosives but strike or damage the intended target by transferring kinetic energy upon impact and penetration .

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119-430: The term bullet is from Early French, originating as the diminutive of the word boulle ( boullet ), which means "small ball". Bullets are available singly (as in muzzle-loading and cap and ball firearms) but are more often packaged with propellant as a cartridge ("round" of ammunition) consisting of the bullet (i.e., the projectile), the case (which holds everything together), the propellant (which provides

238-595: A broadside , although the line of battle tactics had not yet been developed. Several theories have sought to explain the demise of the Mary Rose , based on historical records, knowledge of 16th-century shipbuilding, and modern experiments. The precise cause of her sinking is subject to conflicting testimonies and a lack of conclusive evidence. In the late 15th century, England was still reeling from its dynastic wars first with France and then among its ruling families back on home soil. The great victories against France in

357-524: A pejorative sense to denote that someone or something is weak or childish. For example, one of the last Western Roman emperors was Romulus Augustus , but his name was diminutivized to "Romulus Augustulus" to express his powerlessness. In many languages, diminutives are word forms that are formed from the root word by affixation . In most languages, diminutives can also be formed as multi-word constructions such as " Tiny Tim ", or "Little Dorrit". In most languages that form diminutives by affixation, this

476-502: A 9 mm Luger handgun, reaches speeds of only 2,200 kilometres per hour (1,370 mph). Similarly, an AK-47 , has a muzzle velocity of about 2,580 kilometres per hour (1,600 mph). The first true gun evolved in China from the fire lance (a bamboo tube that fired porcelain shrapnel) with the invention of the metal hand cannon sometime around 1288, which the Yuan dynasty used to win

595-612: A French infantry officer, invented a breech with abrupt shoulders on which a spherical bullet was rammed down until it caught the rifling grooves. Delvigne's method, however, deformed the bullet and was inaccurate. In 1855, a detachment of 1st U.S. Dragoons , while on patrol, traded lead for gold bullets with Pima Indians along the California–Arizona border. Square bullets have origins that almost pre-date civilization and were used in slings. They were typically made out of copper or lead. The most notable use of square bullet designs

714-591: A cartridge) often leads to confusion when a cartridge and all its components are specifically being referenced. The sound of gunfire (i.e. the "muzzle report") is often accompanied with a loud bullwhip -like crack as the supersonic bullet pierces through the air, creating a sonic boom . Bullet speeds at various stages of flight depend on intrinsic factors such as sectional density , aerodynamic profile and ballistic coefficient , as well as extrinsic factors such as barometric pressure , humidity, air temperature and wind speed. Subsonic cartridges fire bullets slower than

833-408: A considerable proportion of longbow archers. Examination of the skeletal remains has found that there was a disproportionate number of men with a condition known as os acromiale , affecting their shoulder blades . This condition is known among modern elite archery athletes and is caused by placing considerable stress on the arm and shoulder muscles, particularly of the left arm that is used to hold

952-461: A decisive victory against Mongolian rebels. The artillery cannon appeared in 1326 and the European hand cannon in 1364. Early projectiles were made of stone. Eventually it was discovered that stone would not penetrate stone fortifications, which led to the use of denser materials as projectiles. Hand cannon projectiles developed in a similar manner. The first recorded instance of a metal ball from

1071-579: A devastating shotgun effect. Trials made with replicas of culverins and port pieces showed that they could penetrate wood the same thickness of the Mary Rose's hull planking, indicating a stand-off range of at least 90 m (300 ft). The port pieces proved particularly efficient at smashing large holes in wood when firing stone shot and were a devastating anti-personnel weapon when loaded with flakes or pebbles. To defend against being boarded, Mary Rose carried large stocks of melee weapons, including pikes and bills ; 150 of each kind were stocked on

1190-556: A force of galleys from the Mediterranean, which sank one English ship and seriously damaged another. Howard landed forces near Brest, but made no headway against the town and was by now getting low on supplies. Attempting to force a victory, he took a small force of small oared vessels on a daring frontal attack on the French galleys on 25 April . Howard himself managed to reach the ship of French admiral, Prégent de Bidoux , and led

1309-466: A hand cannon penetrating armor was in 1425. Shot retrieved from the wreck of the Mary Rose (sunk in 1545, raised in 1982) are of different sizes, and some are stone while others are cast iron. The development of the hand culverin and matchlock arquebus brought about the use of cast lead balls as projectiles. The original round musket ball was smaller than the bore of the barrel. At first it

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1428-693: A hardened bullet. The combined result was that, in December 1888, the Lee–Metford small-bore ( .303 ", 7.70 mm) rifle, Mark I, was adopted for the British army. The Lee–Metford was the predecessor of the Lee–Enfield . The next important change in the history of the rifle bullet occurred in 1882, when Lieutenant Colonel Eduard Rubin , director of the Swiss Army Laboratory at Thun, invented

1547-497: A harder alloy of lead and tin or typesetter's lead (used to mold linotype ) works very well. For even higher-speed bullet use, jacketed lead bullets are used. The common element in all of these, lead, is widely used because it is very dense, thereby providing a high amount of mass—and thus, kinetic energy—for a given volume. Lead is also cheap, easy to obtain, easy to work, and melts at a low temperature, which results in comparatively easy fabrication of bullets. Poisonous bullets were

1666-414: A high standard, as surface imperfections can affect firing accuracy. The physics affecting the bullet once it leaves the barrel is termed external ballistics . The primary factors affecting the aerodynamics of a bullet in flight are the bullet's shape and the rotation imparted by the rifling of the gun barrel. Rotational forces stabilize the bullet gyroscopically as well as aerodynamically. Any asymmetry in

1785-489: A higher melting point , and greater specific heat capacity , and higher hardness , copper-jacketed bullets allow greater muzzle velocities. European advances in aerodynamics led to the pointed spitzer bullet . By the beginning of the 20th century, most world armies had begun the transition to spitzer bullets. These bullets flew for greater distances more accurately and transferred more kinetic energy . Spitzer bullets combined with machine guns greatly increased lethality on

1904-465: A joint, but ill-coordinated, French-Breton fleet at the battle of St. Mathieu . The English with one of the great ships in the lead (according to Marsden the Mary Rose ) battered the French ships with heavy gunfire and forced them to retreat. The Breton flagship Cordelière put up a fight and was boarded by the 1,000-ton Regent . By accident or through the unwillingness of the Breton crew to surrender,

2023-490: A long series of rifle experiments and proved, among other points, the advantages of a smaller bore and, in particular, of an elongated bullet. The Whitworth bullet was made to fit the grooves of the rifle mechanically. The Whitworth rifle was never adopted by the government, although it was used extensively for match purposes and target practice between 1857 and 1866. In 1861, W. B. Chace approached President Abraham Lincoln with an improved ball design for muskets. In firing over

2142-421: A possible "piss-dale", a general urinal to complement the regular toilets which would probably have been located in the bow. The castles of the Mary Rose had additional decks, but since almost nothing of them survives, their design has had to be reconstructed from historical records. Contemporary ships of equal size were consistently listed as having three decks in both castles. Although speculative, this layout

2261-509: A rare type of firearm consisting of a wooden shield with a small gun fixed in the middle. Throughout her 33-year career, the crew of the Mary Rose changed several times and varied considerably in size. It would have a minimal skeleton crew of 17 men or fewer in peacetime and when she was " laid up in ordinary " (in reserve). The average wartime manning would have been about 185 soldiers, 200 sailors, 20–30 gunners and an assortment of other specialists such as surgeons, trumpeters and members of

2380-410: A small party to board it. The French fought back fiercely and cut the cables that attached the two ships, separating Howard from his men. It left him at the mercy of the soldiers aboard the galley, who instantly killed him. Demoralised by the loss of its admiral and seriously short of food, the fleet returned to Plymouth . Thomas Howard , elder brother of Edward, was assigned the new Lord Admiral, and

2499-407: A square sail might be equipped with a bonnet – an extra section of sail that is laced onto the foot of a square sail. Instead of reefing, the bonnet was removed. Lacing that would suit a bonnet was found on Mary Rose . When the wreck of Mary Rose was first recovered, there was surprise that this was not the beamy vessel that was expected. The relatively narrow length to breadth ratio

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2618-595: A square sail; and the bowsprit set a small square spritsail . According to the Anthony Roll illustration (see top of this section), the yards (the spars from which the sails were set) on the foremast and mainmast were also equipped with sheerhooks – twin curved blades sharpened on the inside – that were intended to cut an enemy ship's rigging during boarding actions. The operation of Mary Rose 's rig and some of its fitments were substantially different from several phases of later versions of square rig. All

2737-571: A subject to an international agreement as early as the Strasbourg Agreement (1675) . The Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868 prohibited the use of explosive projectiles weighing less than 400 grams. The Hague Conventions prohibits certain kinds of ammunition for use in war. These include poisoned and expanding bullets. Protocol III of the 1983 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons , an annexed protocol to

2856-434: A variety of ammunition intended to destroy rigging and light structure or injure enemy personnel. The majority of the guns were small iron guns with short range that could be aimed and fired by a single person. The two most common are the bases , breech-loading swivel guns , most likely placed in the castles, and hailshot pieces , small muzzle-loaders with rectangular bores and fin-like protrusions that were used to support

2975-468: Is carvel built. The ship is an early example of this method of construction in England. Her hull shape is now known to have been set out using the three arc method of producing the hull cross section. This geometric process is similar to that known to have been used some two hundred years later, so giving a much earlier date for this technique. This, and studies of other ships specified in the 15th century,

3094-511: Is a productive part of the language. For example, in Spanish gordo can be a nickname for someone who is overweight, and by adding an -ito suffix, it becomes gordito which is more affectionate. Examples for a double diminutive having two diminutive suffixes are in Polish dzwon → dzwonek → dzwoneczek or Italian casa → casetta → casettina ). In English,

3213-424: Is a word-formation device used to express such meanings. A double diminutive is a diminutive form with two diminutive suffixes rather than one. Diminutives are often employed as nicknames and pet names when speaking to small children and when expressing extreme tenderness and intimacy to an adult. The opposite of the diminutive form is the augmentative . In some contexts, diminutives are also employed in

3332-434: Is based mostly on interpretations of the concrete physical evidence of this version of the Mary Rose . The construction of the original design from 1509 is less known. The Mary Rose was built according to the carrack -style with high "castles" fore and aft with a low waist of open decking in the middle. The hull has tumblehome : above the waterline, the hull gradually narrows. This makes boarding more difficult and reduces

3451-463: Is not achieved, gas from the propellant charge leaks past the bullet, thus reducing efficiency and possibly accuracy. The bullet must also engage the rifling without damaging or excessively fouling the gun's bore and without distorting the bullet, which will also reduce accuracy. Bullets must have a surface that forms this seal without excessive friction. These interactions between bullet and bore are termed internal ballistics . Bullets must be produced to

3570-561: Is only time- and cost-effective for solid lead bullets. Cast and jacketed bullets are also commercially available from numerous manufacturers for handloading and are most often more convenient than casting bullets from bulk or scrap lead. Propulsion of the ball can happen via several methods: Bullets for black powder, or muzzle-loading firearms, were classically molded from pure lead . This worked well for low-speed bullets, fired at velocities of less than 450 m/s (1,475 ft/s). For slightly higher-speed bullets fired in modern firearms,

3689-410: Is suggestive that the three arc methodology was probably already in existence before the time Mary Rose was built. The construction sequence began with laying the keel and setting up the stem and sternpost. The midships frame and a few other frames (master frames) controlled the shape of the hull, so the floor s in those positions were fastened to the top of the keel. Then planking started with

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3808-479: Is supported by the illustration in the Anthony Roll and the gun inventories. During the early stages of excavation of the wreck, it was erroneously believed that the ship had originally been built with clinker (or clench) planking, a technique in which the hull consisted of overlapping planks that bore the structural strength of the ship. Cutting gunports into a clinker-built hull would have meant weakening

3927-747: The Henry Grace à Dieu ("Henry by the Grace of God"), or Great Harry at more than 1000 tons burthen . By the 1520s the English state had established a de facto permanent "Navy Royal", the organizational ancestor of the modern Royal Navy . Construction of Mary Rose began on 29 January 1510 in Portsmouth and she was launched in July 1511. She was then towed to London and fitted with rigging and decking , and supplied with armaments. Other than

4046-403: The garboard s being fastened to the keel and those floors that were already installed. A temporary timber batten (called a ribband) was fastened across the floors that had been fitted and the remaining floors were shaped to fit the curve delineated by the ribbands and the garboards. The keelson was fastened over the top of the floors and planking continued up from the garboards to near the end of

4165-512: The Bay of Biscay and then attacked Gascony . The 35-year-old Sir Edward Howard was appointed Lord High Admiral in April and chose the Mary Rose as his flagship . His first mission was to clear the seas of French naval forces between England to the northern coast of Spain to allow for the landing of supporting troops near the French border at Fuenterrabia . The fleet consisted of 18 ships, among them

4284-552: The Geneva Conventions , prohibits the use of incendiary ammunitions against civilians. Some types of bullets include: Diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment , and sometimes to derogatorily belittle something or someone. A diminutive form ( abbreviated DIM )

4403-616: The Henry Grace à Dieu and the Mary Rose performed very well, riding steadily in rough seas and that it would have been a "hard chose" between the two. The reports of good sailing performance early in her career did not continue after successive repairs and the major rebuild altered her characteristics. The Mary Rose represented a transitional ship design in naval warfare. Since ancient times, war at sea had been fought much as on land: with melee weapons and bows and arrows, only on floating wooden platforms rather than battlefields. Though

4522-862: The Holy Roman Empire and Spain . All three became involved in the War of the League of Cambrai in 1508. The conflict was initially aimed at the Republic of Venice but eventually turned against France. England's close economic relationship with the Low Countries , ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs and any ambition of the young Henry VIII to recover territory in France made Spain the obvious ally. In 1509, six weeks into his reign, Henry married

4641-686: The Hundred Years' War were in the past; only the small exclave of Calais in northern France remained of the vast continental holdings of the English kings. The War of the Roses  – the civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster  – had ended with Henry VII 's establishment of the House of Tudor , the new ruling dynasty of England. The ambitious naval policies of Henry V were not continued by his successors, and from 1422 to 1509 only six ships were built for

4760-496: The Mary Rose and the Peter Pomegranate (later known as Peter after being rebuilt in 1536) of about 500 and 450 tons respectively. Which king ordered the building of the Mary Rose is unclear; although construction began during Henry VIII's reign, the plans for naval expansion could have been in the making earlier. Henry VIII oversaw the project and he ordered additional large ships to be built, most notably

4879-564: The Mary Rose were commented on by her contemporaries and were once even put to the test. In March 1513 a contest was arranged off The Downs , east of Kent , in which she raced against nine other ships. She won the contest, and Admiral Edward Howard described her enthusiastically as "the noblest ship of sayle [of any] gret ship, at this howr, that I trow [believe] be in Cristendom". Several years later, while sailing between Dover and The Downs, Vice-Admiral William Fitzwilliam noted that both

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4998-534: The Potomac River , where the Chace ball and the round ball were alternated, Lincoln observed that the Chace design carried a third or more farther fired at the same elevation. Although Lincoln recommended testing, it never took place. Around 1862, W. E. Metford carried out an exhaustive series of experiments on bullets and rifling, and he invented the important system of light rifling with increasing spiral and

5117-531: The Red Bay wreck 24M . There is some fastening of floors to timbers in Mary Rose that is less systematic and robust, but there are no treenails connecting frame elements to each other as seen on later vessels. This demonstrates that the hull was not made by first building the hull framework and then adding the planking once that was complete. Instead planking and framing were carried out in alternating steps, with later futtocks being added as planking carried on up to

5236-424: The angle of incidence , and the velocity and physical characteristics of the bullet. Bullets are generally designed to penetrate, deform, or break apart. For a given material and bullet, the strike velocity is the primary factor that determines which outcome is achieved. Bullet shapes are many and varied. With a mold, bullets can be made at home for reloading ammunition, where local laws allow. Hand-casting, however,

5355-459: The copper-jacketed bullet — an elongated bullet with a lead core in a copper jacket. It was also small bore (7.5 and 8 mm) and it is the precursor of the 8 mm Lebel bullet adopted for the smokeless powder ammunition of the Lebel Model 1886 rifle . The surface of lead bullets fired at high velocity may melt from the hot gases behind and friction within the bore. Because copper has

5474-427: The speed of sound —about 343 metres per second (1,130 ft/s) in dry air at 20 °C (68 °F)—and thus can travel substantial distances to their targets before any nearby observers hear the sound of the shots. Rifle bullets, such as that of a Remington 223 firing lightweight varmint projectiles from a 24 inch barrel, leave the muzzle at speeds of up to 4,390 kilometres per hour (2,730 mph). A bullet from

5593-514: The strait north of the Isle of Wight . The wreck of the Mary Rose was located in 1971 and was raised on 11 October 1982 by the Mary Rose Trust in one of the most complex and expensive maritime salvage projects in history. The surviving section of the ship and thousands of recovered artefacts are of great value as a Tudor period time capsule. The excavation and raising of the Mary Rose

5712-698: The 15th century and other Tudor navy ships had names like the Regent and Three Ostrich Feathers (referring to the crest of the Prince of Wales ). The Virgin Mary is a more likely candidate for a namesake, and she was also associated with the Rosa Mystica (mystic rose). The name of the sister ship of the Mary Rose , the Peter Pomegranate , is believed to have been named in honour of Saint Peter , and

5831-424: The French. Before seeing action, she took part in a race against other ships where she was deemed to be one of the most nimble and the fastest of the great ships in the fleet (see details under " Sails and rigging "). On 11 April , Howard's force arrived off Brest only to see a small enemy force join with the larger force in the safety of Brest harbour and its fortifications. The French had recently been reinforced by

5950-461: The Greener bullet in 1836. Greener fitted the hollow base of an oval bullet with a wooden plug that more reliably forced the base of the bullet to expand and catch the rifling. Tests proved that Greener's bullet was effective, but the military rejected it because, being two parts, they judged it as too complicated to produce. The carabine à tige , developed by Louis-Étienne de Thouvenin in 1844,

6069-490: The Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon and joined the League, intent on certifying his historical claim as king of both England and France. By 1511 Henry was part of an anti-French alliance that included Ferdinand II of Aragon , Pope Julius II and Holy Roman emperor Maximilian . The small navy that Henry VIII inherited from his father had only two sizeable ships, the carracks Regent and Sovereign . Just months after his accession, two large ships were ordered:

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6188-729: The U.S. Armory at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia , improved the Minié ball further by eliminating the metal cup in the bottom of the bullet. The Minié ball first saw widespread use in the Crimean War (1853–1856). Roughly 90% of the battlefield casualties in the American Civil War (1861–1865) were caused by Minié balls fired from rifled muskets. A similar bullet called the Nessler ball was also developed for smoothbore muskets. Between 1854 and 1857, Sir Joseph Whitworth conducted

6307-405: The addition of "ball grooves" which are known as " cannelures ", which moved the resistance of air behind the center of gravity of the bullet. Tamisier also developed progressive rifling: the rifle grooves were deeper toward the breech, becoming shallower as they progressed toward the muzzle. This causes the bullet to be progressively molded into the grooves which increases range and accuracy. Among

6426-400: The admiral's staff, for a total of 400–450 men. When taking part in land invasions or raids, such as in the summer of 1512, the number of soldiers could have swelled to just over 400 for a combined total of more than 700. Even with the normal crew size of around 400, the ship was quite crowded, and with additional soldiers would have been extremely cramped. Little is known of the identities of

6545-417: The aerodynamic shape changed little for centuries. Generally, bullet shapes are a compromise between aerodynamics, interior ballistic necessities, and terminal ballistics requirements. Terminal ballistics and stopping power are aspects of bullet design that affect what happens when a bullet impacts with an object. The outcome of the impact is determined by the composition and density of the target material,

6664-969: The alteration of meaning is often conveyed through clipping , making the words shorter and more colloquial . Diminutives formed by adding affixes in other languages are often longer and (as colloquial) not necessarily understood. While many languages apply a grammatical diminutive to nouns , a few – including Slovak, Dutch , Spanish , Romanian , Latin , Polish , Bulgarian , Czech , Russian and Estonian – also use it for adjectives (in Polish: słodki → słodziutki → słodziuteńki ) and even other parts of speech (Ukrainian спати → спатки → спатоньки — to sleep or Slovak spať → spinkať → spinuškať — to sleep, bežať → bežkať — to run). Diminutives in isolating languages may grammaticalize strategies other than suffixes or prefixes. In Mandarin Chinese , for example, other than

6783-521: The badge of the Queen Catharine of Aragon , a pomegranate . According to Childs, Loades and Marsden, the two ships, which were built around the same time, were named in honour of the king and queen, respectively. The Mary Rose was substantially rebuilt in 1536. The 1536 rebuilding turned a ship of 500 tons into one of 700 tons, and added an entire extra tier of broadside guns to the old carrack -style structure. By consequence, modern research

6902-411: The battlefield. Spitzer bullets were streamlined at the base with the boat tail . In the trajectory of a bullet, as air passes over a bullet at high speed, a vacuum is created at the end of the bullet, slowing the projectile. The streamlined boat tail design reduces this form drag by allowing the air to flow along the surface of the tapering end. The resulting aerodynamic advantage is currently seen as

7021-550: The bow to brace against the pull on the bowstring. Among the men who died on the ship it was likely that some had practised using the longbow since childhood, and served on board as specialist archers. A group of six skeletons was found grouped close to one of the 2-tonne bronze culverins on the main deck near the bow. Fusing of parts of the spine and ossification , the growth of new bone, on several vertebrae evidenced all but one of these crewmen to have been strong, well-muscled men who had been engaged in heavy pulling and pushing,

7140-444: The bullet is largely canceled as it spins. However, a spin rate greater than the optimum value adds more trouble than good, by magnifying the smaller asymmetries or sometimes resulting in the bullet breaking apart in flight. With smooth-bore firearms, a spherical shape is optimal because no matter how the bullet is oriented, its aerodynamics are similar. These unstable bullets tumble erratically and provide only moderate accuracy; however,

7259-408: The bullet, allowing it to cut through the air more easily, and improves terminal ballistics by allowing the bullet to act as a jacketed hollow point. As a side effect, it also feeds better in weapons that have trouble feeding rounds that are not full metal jacket rounds. Bullet designs have to solve two primary problems. In the barrel, they must first form a seal with the gun's bore. If a strong seal

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7378-575: The construction can only be roughly calculated since only about one third of the ship still exists. One estimate for the number of trees is around 600 mostly large oaks , representing about 16 hectares (40 acres) of woodland. The huge trees that had been common in Europe and the British Isles in previous centuries were by the 16th century quite rare, which meant that timbers were brought in from all over southern England. The largest timbers used in

7497-494: The construction were of roughly the same size as those used in the roofs of the largest cathedrals in the High Middle Ages . An unworked hull plank would have weighed over 300 kg (660 lb), and one of the main deck beams would have weighed close to three-quarters of a tonne. The common explanation for the ship's name was that it was inspired by Henry VIII's favourite sister, Mary Tudor, Queen of France , and

7616-403: The crew has been conjectured based on contemporary records. The Mary Rose would have carried a captain, a master responsible for navigation, and deck crew. There would also have been a purser responsible for handling payments, a boatswain , the captain's second in command, at least one carpenter, a pilot in charge of navigation, and a cook, all of whom had one or more assistants (mates). The ship

7735-557: The crew. Many of the artefacts are unique to the Mary Rose and have provided insights into topics ranging from naval warfare to the history of musical instruments. The remains of the hull have been on display at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard since the mid-1980s while undergoing restoration. An extensive collection of well-preserved artefacts is on display at the Mary Rose Museum , built to display

7854-429: The crown. The marriage alliance between Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII of France in 1491, and his successor Louis XII in 1499, left England with a weakened strategic position on its southern flank. Despite this, Henry VII managed to maintain a comparatively long period of peace and a small but powerful core of a navy. At the onset of the early modern period , the great European powers were France,

7973-477: The exception possibly being a " powder monkey " not involved in heavy work. These have been tentatively classified as members of a complete gun crew, all having died at their battle station. The Mary Rose first saw battle in 1512, in a joint naval operation with the Spanish against the French. The English were to meet the French and Breton fleets in the English Channel while the Spanish attacked them in

8092-471: The final battle, although the accuracy of the sourcing for this has been disputed by maritime archaeologist Peter Marsden. The bones of a total of 179 people were found during the excavations of the Mary Rose , including 92 "fairly complete skeletons", more or less complete collections of bones associated with specific individuals. Analysis of these has shown that crew members were all male, most of them young adults. Some were no more than 11–13 years old, and

8211-526: The first pointed or "conical" bullets were those designed by Captain John Norton of the British Army in 1832. Norton's bullet had a hollow base made of lotus pith that on firing expanded under pressure to engage with a barrel's rifling. The British Board of Ordnance rejected it because spherical bullets had been in use for the previous 300 years. Renowned English gunsmith William Greener invented

8330-457: The floors. The first futtock s were then installed, again using ribbands to achieve a fair shape relative to the master frames. The hull construction continued with phases of planking and the fitting of second and third futtock until deck level was reached. Mary Rose does not have the characteristic dove-tailed mortises seen joining the floors and first futtocks in Basque -built ships such as

8449-441: The guns against the railing and allow the ship structure to take the force of the recoil. Though the design is unknown, there were two top pieces in a 1546 inventory (finished after the sinking) which were probably similar to a base, but placed in one or more of the fighting tops. The ship went through several changes in her armament throughout her career, most significantly accompanying her "rebuilding" in 1536 (see below), when

8568-483: The guns on one side of a ship – possible, at least in theory, for the first time in history. Naval tactics throughout the 16th century and well into the 17th century focused on countering the oar-powered galleys that were armed with heavy guns in the bow, facing forwards, which were aimed by turning the entire ship against its target. Combined with inefficient gunpowder and the difficulties inherent in firing accurately from moving platforms, this meant that boarding remained

8687-654: The heavier design could possibly have been used to shoot fire arrows. The inventories of both 1514 and 1546 also list several hundred heavy darts and lime pots that were designed to be thrown onto the deck of enemy ships from the fighting tops, although no physical evidence of either of these weapon types has been identified. Of the 50 handguns listed in the Anthony Roll, the complete stocks of five matchlock muskets and fragments of another eleven have been found. They had been manufactured mainly in Italy, with some originating from Germany. Found in storage were several gunshields ,

8806-471: The incident, making it the focal point of several contemporary chronicles and reports. On 11 August , the English burnt 27 French ships, captured another five and landed forces near Brest to raid and take prisoners, but storms forced the fleet back to Dartmouth in Devon and then to Southampton for repairs. In early 1513, the Mary Rose was once more chosen by Howard as the flagship for an expedition against

8925-438: The introduction of guns was a significant change, it only slowly changed the dynamics of ship-to-ship combat. As guns became heavier and able to take more powerful gunpowder charges, they needed to be placed lower in the ship, closer to the water line. Gunports cut in the hull of ships had been introduced as early as 1501, only about a decade before the Mary Rose was built. This made broadsides – coordinated volleys from all

9044-471: The large ships the Regent and the Peter Pomegranate , carrying over 5,000 men. Howard's expedition led to the capture of twelve Breton ships and a four-day raiding tour of Brittany where English forces successfully fought against local forces and burned numerous settlements. The fleet returned to Southampton in June where it was visited by King Henry. In August the fleet sailed for Brest where it encountered

9163-513: The larger breech-loading iron murderers and the small serpentines , demi-slings and stone guns. Only a handful of guns in the first inventory were powerful enough to hole enemy ships, and most would have been supported by the ship's structure rather than resting on carriages. The inventories of both the Mary Rose and the Tower had changed radically by 1540. There were now the new cast bronze cannons , demi-cannons , culverins and sakers and

9282-503: The lungs. Bullets are not the only projectiles shot from firearm-like equipment: BBs are shot from BB guns , airsoft pellets are shot by airsoft guns , paintballs are shot by paintball markers , and small rocks can be hurtled from slingshots . There are also flare guns , potato guns (and spud guns ), tasers , bean bag rounds , grenade launchers , flash bangs , tear gas , RPGs , and missile launchers . Bullets used in many cartridges are fired at muzzle velocities faster than

9401-597: The majority (81%) under 30. They were mainly of English origin and, according to archaeologist Julie Gardiner, they most likely came from the West Country ; many following their aristocratic masters into maritime service. There were also a few people from continental Europe. An eyewitness testimony right after the sinking refers to a survivor who was a Fleming , and the pilot may very well have been French. Analysis of oxygen isotopes in teeth indicates that some were also of southern European origin. At least one crewmember

9520-433: The majority of the energy to launch the projectile), and the primer (which ignites the propellant). Cartridges, in turn, may be held in a magazine , a clip , or a belt (for rapid-fire automatic firearms ). Although the word bullet is often used in colloquial language to refer to a cartridge round, a bullet is not a cartridge but rather a component of one. This use of the term bullet (when intending to describe

9639-435: The men who served on the Mary Rose , even when it comes to the names of the officers, who would have belonged to the gentry. Two admirals and four captains (including Edward and Thomas Howard, who served both positions) are known through records, as well as a few ship masters, pursers , master gunners and other specialists. Forensic science has been used by artists to create reconstructions of faces of eight crew members, and

9758-415: The nominal prefix 小- xiǎo- and nominal suffixes -儿/-兒 -r and -子 -zi , reduplication is a productive strategy, e.g., 舅 → 舅舅 and 看 → 看看 . In formal Mandarin usage, the use of diminutives is relatively infrequent, as they tend to be considered to be rather colloquial than formal. Some Wu Chinese dialects use a tonal affix for nominal diminutives; that is, diminutives are formed by changing

9877-485: The number of anti-personnel guns was reduced and a second tier of carriage-mounted long guns fitted. There are three inventories that list her guns, dating to 1514, 1540 and 1546. Together with records from the armoury at the Tower of London , these show how the configuration of guns changed as gun-making technology evolved and new classifications were invented. In 1514, the armament consisted mostly of anti-personnel guns like

9996-497: The old smooth-bore Brown Bess and similar military muskets. The original muzzle-loading rifle , however, was loaded with a piece of leather or cloth wrapped around the ball, to allow the ball to engage the grooves in the barrel. Loading was a bit more difficult, particularly when the bore of the barrel was fouled from previous firings. For this reason, and because rifles were not often fitted for bayonets , early rifles were rarely used for military purposes, compared to muskets. There

10115-400: The only known contemporary depiction of the ship from the Anthony Roll have been used to determine how the Mary Rose was rigged. Nine, or possibly ten, sails were set from four masts and a bowsprit: the foremast had two square sails and the mainmast three; the mizzen mast had a lateen sail and a small square sail; the bonaventure mizzen had at least one lateen sail and possibly also

10234-543: The optimum shape for rifle technology. The first combination spitzer and boat-tail bullet, named balle D by its inventor Captain Georges Desaleux, was introduced as standard military ammunition in 1901, for the French Lebel Model 1886 rifle . A ballistic tip bullet is a hollow-point rifle bullet that has a plastic tip on the end of the bullet. This improves external ballistics by streamlining

10353-536: The powder magazine of the Cordelière caught fire and blew up in a violent explosion, setting fire to the Regent and eventually sinking her. About 180 English crew members saved themselves by throwing themselves into the sea; a handful of Bretons survived, only to be captured. The captain of the Regent , 600 soldiers and sailors, the High Admiral of France and the steward of the town of Morlaix were killed in

10472-727: The primary tactic for decisive victory throughout the 16th century. As the Mary Rose was built and served during a period of rapid development of heavy artillery, her armament was a mix of old designs and innovations. The heavy armament was a mix of older-type wrought iron and cast bronze guns, which differed considerably in size, range and design. The large iron guns were made up of staves or bars welded into cylinders and then reinforced by shrinking iron hoops and breech loaded and equipped with simpler gun-carriages made from hollowed-out elm logs with only one pair of wheels, or without wheels entirely. The bronze guns were cast in one piece and rested on four-wheel carriages which were essentially

10591-426: The quantity (and so weight) of heavy structural timbers that carry the higher guns. Modern understanding is that tumblehome does not improve stability by positioning the guns closer to the centreline, though that may have been the belief and intention of her builders. Since only part of the hull has survived, it is not possible to determine many of the basic dimensions with any great accuracy. The moulded breadth ,

10710-428: The remains of the ship and its artefacts. Mary Rose was one of the largest ships in the English navy through more than three decades of intermittent war, and she was one of the earliest examples of a purpose-built sailing warship. She was armed with new types of heavy guns that could fire through the recently invented gun-ports. She was substantially rebuilt in 1536 and was also one of the earliest ships that could fire

10829-437: The reserves, "in ordinary". She was laid up for maintenance along with her sister ship the Peter Pomegranate in July 1514. In 1518 she received a routine repair and caulking , waterproofing with tar and oakum (old rope fibres) and was then assigned a small skeleton crew who lived on board the ship until 1522. She served briefly on a mission with other warships to "scour the seas" in preparation for Henry VIII's journey across

10948-498: The results were publicised in May 2013. In addition, researchers have extracted DNA from remains in the hopes of identifying origins of crew, and potentially living descendants. Of the vast majority of the crewmen, soldiers, sailors and gunners alike, nothing has been recorded. The only source of information for these men has been through osteological analysis of the human bones found at the wrecksite. An approximate composition of some of

11067-610: The rose as the emblem of the Tudors . According to the historians David Childs, David Loades and Peter Marsden, no direct evidence of naming the ship after the King's sister exists. It was far more common at the time to give ships pious Christian names, a long-standing tradition in Western Europe, or to associate them with their royal patrons. Names like Grace Dieu ( Hallelujah ) and Holighost ( Holy Spirit ) had been common since

11186-400: The same as those used until the 19th century. The breech-loaders were cheaper to produce and both easier and faster to reload, but could take less powerful charges than cast bronze guns. Generally, the bronze guns used cast iron shot and were more suited to penetrate hull sides while the iron guns used stone shot that would shatter on impact and leave large, jagged holes, but both could also fire

11305-582: The ship according to the Anthony Roll , a figure confirmed roughly by the excavations. Swords and daggers were personal possessions and not listed in the inventories, but the remains of both have been found in great quantities, including the earliest dated example of a British basket-hilted sword . A total of 250 longbows were carried on board, and 172 of these have so far been found, as well as almost 4,000 arrows, bracers (arm guards) and other archery-related equipment. Longbow archery in Tudor England

11424-445: The ship's structural integrity, and it was assumed that she was later rebuilt to accommodate a hull with carvel edge-to-edge planking with a skeletal structure to support a hull perforated with gunports. Later examination indicates that the clinker planking is not present throughout the ship; only the outer structure of the sterncastle is built with overlapping planking, though not with a true clinker technique. The hull of Mary Rose

11543-418: The ship, right above the bottom planking and below the waterline. This is where the galley was situated and the food was cooked. Directly aft of the galley was the mast step, a rebate in the centre-most timber of the keelson , right above the keel , which supported the main mast, and next to it the main bilge pump . To increase the stability of the ship, the hold was where the ballast was placed and much of

11662-431: The speed of sound, so there are no sonic booms. This means that a subsonic cartridge, such as .45 ACP , can be substantially quieter than a supersonic cartridge, such as the .223 Remington , even without the use of a suppressor . Bullets shot by firearms can be used for target practice or to injure or kill animals or people. Death can be by blood loss or damage to vital organs, or even asphyxiation if blood enters

11781-473: The structural details needed to sail, stock and arm the Mary Rose , she was also equipped with flags, banners and streamers (extremely elongated flags that were flown from the top of the masts) that were either painted or gilded. Constructing a warship of the size of the Mary Rose was a major undertaking, requiring vast quantities of high-quality material. For a state-of-the-art warship, these materials were primarily oak. The total amount of timber needed for

11900-412: The supplies were kept. Right above the hold was the orlop , the lowest deck. Like the hold, it was partitioned and was also used as a storage area for everything from food to spare sails. Above the orlop lay the main deck , which housed the heaviest guns. The side of the hull on the main deck level had seven gunports on each side fitted with heavy lids that would have been watertight when closed. This

12019-525: The tone of the word. Mary Rose The Mary Rose was a carrack in the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII . She was launched in 1511 and served for 34 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on 19 July 1545. She led the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet, but sank in the Solent ,

12138-461: The waist. It was a dedicated fighting deck without any known partitions and a mix of heavy and light guns. Over the open waist, the upper deck was entirely covered with a boarding net , a coarse netting that served as a defence measure against boarding. Though very little of the upper deck has survived, it has been suggested that it housed the main living quarters of the crew underneath the aftercastle. A drain located in this area has been identified as

12257-482: The weather deck level. This is in sharp contrast to the usual way of building a carvel hull today. The construction sequence used for Mary Rose was typical for a ship built during the lengthy transition period during which carvel became established in Northern Europe and the precise detail is one of the milestones in that story. Although only the lower fittings of the rigging survive, a 1514 inventory and

12376-421: The widest point of the ship roughly above the waterline, was about 12 metres (39 feet) and the keel about 32 metres (105 feet), although the ship's overall length is uncertain. The hull had four levels separated by three decks . Because the terminology for these was not yet standardised in the 16th century, the terms used here are those that were applied by the Mary Rose Trust . The hold lay furthest down in

12495-611: The wrought iron port pieces (a name that indicated they fired through ports), all of which required carriages, had longer range and were capable of doing serious damage to other ships. The analysis of the 1514 inventory combined with hints of structural changes in the ship both indicate that the gunports on the main deck were indeed a later addition. Various types of ammunition could be used for different purposes: plain spherical shot of stone or iron smashed hulls, spiked bar shot and shot linked with chains would tear sails or damage rigging, and canister shot packed with sharp flints produced

12614-473: The yards were hoisted and lowered as part of the normal processes of setting, hand ing or reducing sail. The furling of the square sails pulled much of the bulk of the sail into the centre of the yard, so the work aloft did not involve a lot of work on the yards (the foot-rope did not come into use until the early 18th century), with much being done from the tops. Ships of this era generally did not have reefing points (though they existed on boats' sails). Instead

12733-529: Was a distinct change in the shape and function of the bullet during the first half of the 19th century, although experiments with various types of elongated projectiles had been made in Britain, America and France from the first half of the 18th century onwards. In 1816, Capt. George Reichenbach of the Bavarian army invented a rifled-wall musket using cylindro-conical ammunition. In 1826, Henri-Gustave Delvigne ,

12852-483: Was a milestone in the field of maritime archaeology, comparable in complexity and cost to the raising of the 17th-century Swedish warship Vasa in 1961. The Mary Rose site is designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 by statutory instrument 1974/55. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. The finds include weapons, sailing equipment, naval supplies, and a wide array of objects used by

12971-479: Was accompanied by fine lines , particularly in the run (the underwater hull shape aft of the midship section). Even in the full sections in the forward part of the hull there are some hollow lines. Generally, hull shape is a major contributor, in conjunction with the efficiency of the sails, to good sailing performance. This hull shape can certainly explain the reported good sailing qualities that Mary Rose displayed prior to her rebuild. The sailing capabilities of

13090-477: Was also staffed by a barber-surgeon who tended to the sick and wounded, along with an apprentice or mate and possibly also a junior surgeon. The only positively identified person who went down with the ship was Vice-Admiral George Carew . McKee, Stirland and several other authors have also named Roger Grenville , father of Richard Grenville of the Elizabethan-era Revenge , captain during

13209-406: Was also the highest deck that was caulked and waterproof. Along the sides of the main deck there were cabins under the forecastle and aftercastle which have been identified as belonging to the carpenter, barber-surgeon , pilot and possibly also the master gunner and some of the officers. The top deck in the hull structure was the upper deck (or weather deck ) which was exposed to the elements in

13328-487: Was an improvement of Delvigne's design. The rifle barrel has a forcing plug in the breech of the barrel to mold the bullet into the rifling with the use of a special ramrod . While successful in increasing accuracy, it was difficult to clean. The soft lead Minié ball was first introduced in 1847 by Claude-Étienne Minié , a captain in the French Army. It was another improvement of the work done by Delvigne. The bullet

13447-471: Was by James Puckle and Kyle Tunis who patented them, where they were briefly used in one version of the Puckle gun . The early use of these in the black-powder era was soon discontinued because of the irregular and unpredictable flight patterns. Delvigne continued to develop bullet design and by 1830 had started to develop cylindro-conical bullets. His bullet designs were improved by Francois Tamisier with

13566-408: Was conical in shape with a hollow cavity in the rear, which was fitted with a small iron cap instead of a wooden plug. When fired, the iron cap forced itself into the hollow cavity at the rear of the bullet, thus expanding the sides of the bullet to grip and engage the rifling. In 1851, the British adopted the Minié ball for their 702-inch Pattern 1851 Minié rifle . In 1855, James Burton, a machinist at

13685-413: Was loaded into the barrel just resting upon the powder. Later, some sort of material was used as a wadding between the ball and the powder as well as over the ball to keep it in place, it held the bullet firmly in the barrel and against the powder. (Bullets not firmly set on the powder risked exploding the barrel, with the condition known as a "short start".) The loading of muskets was therefore easy with

13804-487: Was mandatory for all able adult men, and despite the introduction of field artillery and handguns, they were used alongside new missile weapons in great quantities. On the Mary Rose , the longbows could only have been drawn and shot properly from behind protective panels in the open waist or from the top of the castles as the lower decks lacked sufficient headroom. There were several types of bows of various size and range. Lighter bows would have been used as "sniper" bows, while

13923-473: Was of African ancestry. In general they were strong, well-fed men, but many of the bones also reveal tell-tale signs of childhood diseases and a life of grinding toil. The bones also showed traces of numerous healed fractures, probably the result of on-board accidents. There are no extant written records of the make-up of the broader categories of soldiers and sailors, but since the Mary Rose carried some 300 longbows and several thousand arrows there had to be

14042-591: Was set to the task of arranging another attack on Brittany. The fleet was not able to mount the planned attack because of adverse winds and great difficulties in supplying the ships adequately and the Mary Rose took up winter quarters in Southampton. In August the Scots joined France in war against England, but were dealt a crushing defeat at the Battle of Flodden on 9 September 1513. A follow-up attack in early 1514

14161-410: Was supported by a naval force that included the Mary Rose , but without any known engagements. The French and English mounted raids on each other throughout that summer, but achieved little, and both sides were by then exhausted. By autumn the war was over and a peace treaty was sealed by the marriage of Henry's sister, Mary , to French king Louis XII . After the peace Mary Rose was placed in

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