#cannonballs

As they tended to roll about constantly, they had to be stored sensibly. Simply placing them in crates and running back and forth during a battle was not very effective, so they were stored in two ways. Cannonballs on board a ship were mainly stored in gunpowder magazines deep within the hull for stability reasons, whilst a small quantity of ‘ready-to-use’ ammunition was kept on the decks in wooden racks, known as ‘shot garlands’. More on that below, however.

Shot garlands aboard HMS Victory (x)

And not, as the so-called ‘Brass Monkey’ legend claims, stacked in pyramids on brass trays, known as ‘monkeys’. That refers to the army, not the navy, as the balls would simply roll away there.

The majority of the ship’s heavy round shot was stored in the hold in shot lockers, the lowest part of the ship, to serve as additional ballast and ensure a low centre of gravity. These chambers were usually located on both sides of the hull, near the main or stern hatches, which made it easier to hoist them up when needed: And they were divided internally to store projectiles of different sizes (weights) separately, thus avoiding mix-ups during battle.

The shot garlands consisted of long wooden planks with holes drilled into them to hold the individual cannonballs securely in place. They were typically mounted along the edges of hatch openings or between the gun ports on the sides of the ship (the gunwales). This ensured the balls were always ready for use, and as they were stored in such racks, they did not roll about.

I was thinking about the use of cannons and cannonballs in OFMD, and ideas on the significance of how cannons are used to explore masculinity.

Izzy’s first resort is violence, and his go-to method is guns and cannons. In 103, he wants to ‘open fire’ on Stede’s ship. In 104, his plan to defeat the Spanish Navy is to ‘prepare the guns’ and ‘execute anyone who won’t fight’.

And his methods have a certain influence upon Stede, who in blind panic in 108 cries desperately to ‘prepare the cannons’ when faced with the British Navy firing upon his crew.

Stede has spent the last few days in the presence of Jack who has repeatedly abused him for not being a ‘real man’. And rather than trusting there might be another way because Stede’s self esteem is shot, and this turn of events is actually pretty scary, Stede resorts to What Real Men Do: lob coconuts, make animals fight. Fire cannons. Violence.

And then we have Ed. At the start of 103, he isn’t going to open fire on Stede’s ship, obviously. He wants to invite him for tea and more.

And in the same episode, the use of weaponry to rescue Stede is part of a much wider theatre-performance fuckery in which Ed has the element of surprise on his side. The Spanish Navy are unprepared for Blackbeard’s initial attack. And Ed doesn’t just ‘open fire’ from his ship. His crew attack with stealth and precision.

Knowing that element of surprise is now gone, Ed comes up with a plan to use the weather and tides to his advantage in 104, which would’ve worked on the correct date. Even when that fails, Ed still doesn’t open fire on a superior vessel. He knows it’s pointless, and goes to sit out a wait for death instead of going out in a ridiculous blaze of glory. Ed is somewhat defeatist here; but by pausing, and with the help of Stede’s imagination, he is able to come up with a nonviolent fuckery, the lighthouse plan. No cannons needed.

When returning to the Revenge after leaving with Jack briefly, Ed negates Stede’s instruction to ‘Prepare the cannons’ with ‘Wait! Hoist a white flag! Better alive than dead.’ Ed constantly rejects the use of cannons in favour of nonviolent approaches to survival.

The time we see Ed engage with the use of a cannon is to bring about his own death. I think there’s a lot to be said about that.

Ed recognises something toxic about cannons. He doesn’t like them, doesn’t use them. They represent a type of masculinity and captaincy which he doesn’t align with. So when he presents this great hulking iron cannon to the crew, he’s making a fucking point. They will all die by a cannon fired into the mast because that’s what this type of masculinity does - it kills and maims and destroys. And Ed has been engaging in a performance of toxic masculinity for weeks now, and he cannot do it anymore, but no one has stopped him yet.

So he’s just going to blow the entire thing up now with toxic masculinity’s weapon of choice. He keeps being told to fire the cannon; well, he’s going to fucking fire it now to destroy himself.

Ed is brought down, and ‘killed’ by the cannonball he loathes so much, the same thing that rightfully killed Jack, hoisted by his own petard of masculine violence.

But Ed survives. And there are many interpretations as to why. Narratively, Ed has to survive, and love plays a hugely significant part in that. But Ed also doesn’t deserve a death at the hands of cannons and cannonballs in the same way a character such as Jack does because he is not made of that kind of violent masculinity.

After Ed’s revival, we have a lovely scene in 205 in which Ed cannonballs into the ocean. He has reclaimed and repurposed the word and image. He is a human cannonball: messy, silly, funny, and loved.

I’ve just noticed the open cannon behind Ed!

Cannonballs likely hit the a mast on the Revenge in 206 with Ned Low’s arrival, who is then brought down initially by Stede’s emotional intelligence. And when Ned is killed it isn’t by traditional weaponry. He isn’t shot. He’s tossed into the sea the same way Stede kills spiders, something else that dares to hurt Ed. Stede kills to protect, not for masculine posturing.

We see also a cannonball fly at the screen at the end of 207, a symbol of continuing imperialist attack and toxicity.

It still needs to be conquered, and it is partly: by Ed and Stede’s public beach kissing, then fighting ‘for love’; and by cunning - Jackie literally turning poison into positivity, in the final episode.

Prior to that though, there is a healthy reinterpretation of cannons. As Ed and Stede consummate their relationship in 206, Roach ignites a few which are not as imposing as the one Ed tries to light, and they also point away from the ship at nothing more than the night sky.

These cannons might still be interpreted as masculine symbols, but a different kind. They contain fireworks not cannonballs. They bring colour and happiness. Like Ed and Stede, fireworks won’t harm you if respected, but they can and will if you get too close, mistreat them, and don’t understand their danger.

But rather than wanting to kill, these firework cannons offer a celebration of life and love. Their purpose is to bring joy. A reimagining of the function of cannons here leads into a reimagining of the nature of masculinity, as two gentle men very much in love go to bed together for the first time.