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From: ssc-vax!wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Marine Musketmen (was Re: Battle .... smoothbore weapons)
Message-ID: <12165@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 11 Dec 89 05:19:36 GMT
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From: ssc-vax!wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja)

> >As to "picking officers off," I don't really believe this would be possible
> >with a smoothbore.
> >
> 
>It is my understanding that at sea, a big warship would put some marines in the
>rigging, and that they would fire down onto the bridge of nearby enemy ships in
> the hopes of killing officers. Lord Nelson was killed in this way. I would
> suspect that this was done at ranges in excess of 70 meters most of the time,
> not to mention the difficulties of reloading while in the rigging, and having
> both your platform and the target rocking in the waves.

Nelson was mortally wounded by small-arms fire from Redoutable, a French
74.  Victory was directly alongside; yet the 74 was so much lower that the
mizzen top was only 50 feet above Victory's upper deck.  The marines's job
on both sides was the kill enemy officers; the French sharpshooters knew
darn well who the short, bemedaled, one-armed officer was.  A tempting
single target for a dozen or so marksmen 50 feet away.

Nelson's credo was point-blank combat.  "No Captain can go far wrong who
lays his ship alongside that of the enemy."  Half-pistol shot (50 feet)
might be a typical minimum range.

As close range was one aspect; target grouping was another.  The majority of
the command officers were on the quarterdeck; the Admiral, the Captain, the
Master, the First Lieutenant, not to mention the quartermasters at the
wheel.  What we'd today call a "target-rich environment."  Extreme accuracy
still wasn't possible, but get a couple dozen musketmen and a couple of
swivel guns firing grapeshot at a cluster of targets on the quarterdeck.
On Chesapeake, a single volley killed the first lieutenant, master, and
wiped away the wheel.

					  Ron Wanttaja
					  (ssc-vax!wanttaja)