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07/08/2014 05:36:42 PM · #26 |
No one figured this one out yet?
Ray |
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07/08/2014 06:18:45 PM · #27 |
Originally posted by LanndonKane:
Originally posted by snaffles:
Originally posted by LanndonKane:
Originally posted by PapaBob:
Blind people learn how to function without sight, I would guess with enough time working in a room like that people may be able to learn to function. I am guessing not many people lined up for that kind of duty. |
I'm going with this answer, which seems like the simplest. I think you grossly misunderstood it. |
Uhhhh...you're responding to who, moi? Or  PapaBob? I know a blind person would have been great in this role, I just don't know if the army would be willing to have just one person on for specialized service like this.
Furthermore, as this fort and its very detailed records have survived, there is no mention anywhere of any one person being given the task of getting powder from the room. I would think that it would be a task that all the soldiers, or most of them, would have had to be able to do without blowing the place up. |
What I meant to say is, PapaBob's answer seems like the simplest, most obvious one, and I think you misinterpreted it. PapaBob never said anything about blind people signing up for the army. |
 LanndonKane, thank you and yes I did not mean it had to be a blind person but was meant to suggest people have the ability to adapt. I can not speak about how many people had access or would be trained but to me this was likely a limited number if skilled persons or we would likely not have a bunker to look at..... |
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07/08/2014 06:42:38 PM · #28 |
Originally posted by RayEthier:
No one figured this one out yet?
Ray |
I have a theory which actually does make sense and could have been put to use. But if you know how it was really done - let me guess, does an eyepatch figure in it? - then tell us the secret! Or just pm me instead! |
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07/08/2014 07:01:11 PM · #29 |
8. Ground Floor: Storage Rooms and Powder Magazine
Armory
© Parks Canada
The ground floor was the location for a number of storage rooms, containing the equipment and food supplies needed in case of an attack on the fort. The most interesting room on the ground floor is the powder magazine. Because it held some hundreds of barrels of gunpowder, enough to destroy the blockhouse in the event of an explosion, many precautions were taken in its construction. The use of iron, from which a spark might have been struck, was avoided. Door fittings were of brass. The ventilation shafts and the doors were sheathed in copper. Iron nails were used to lay the floor boards but were elaborately concealed. Another precaution that was taken was the zig-zag construction of the ventilation shafts to avoid the danger of an enemy bullet entering the powder magazine through that route.
Powder Magazine
© Parks Canada
Because the making of cartridges was a hazardous activity it was done, one barrel of gunpowder at a time, in an adjoining room, called the shifting room. As an additional safety measure, the shifting room was separated from the powder magazine by two heavy wooden doors sheathed in copper.
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07/08/2014 07:09:45 PM · #30 |
Yep :-) And trust me, I opened one of those ventilation shafts. You cannot see any light at all.
As an aside, I visited another blockhouse in the area, the 2nd largest after Fort Wellington. I was hoping to see their powder magazine so I could compare the two and see if there were any differences.
Sadly, the Merrickville blockhouse, although allowing free admission, is less about military life and more about a 'what-if' scenario, like what if the Americans chose to come up the Rideau Canal. That never happened. Anyway, though it also housed soldiers, and does have lots of interesting period pieces, the difference between the two blockhouses is night and day. Ownership and management, mostly...*sigh*
Anyway, I couldn't get to the magazine as it's not open to the public; the bored young man at the desk said that there was only a trapdoor leading downstairs and the basement was just used for storage. Which truly sucks balls.
However I did walk around the exterior basement wall, and although three of the walls have offset gaps in the stone for ventilation and light, the fourth wall has no such gaps. So that seems to indicate where the powder room is, even though I couldn't see it.
Message edited by author 2014-07-08 19:17:04. |
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07/08/2014 09:56:48 PM · #31 |
Originally posted by PapaBob:
I can not speak about how many people had access or would be trained but to me this was likely a limited number if skilled persons or we would likely not have a bunker to look at..... |
If the army's training was anything like the navy's, then not so much. If you were a little kid with few options then the navy used to be willing to take you on as a powder monkey. You would get minimal training and you got the job of pulling powder and packing cartridges. "Here you go lad, have some nice felt slippers and don't blow us all up." You would think it would be a high trust, highly trained position, but it was the equivalent of being a dish washer in a diner, lowest rung on the food chain. |
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07/09/2014 01:55:58 PM · #32 |
You got my curiosity up, and I did some reading - most references to black powder magazines were related to those on ships, which were located low in the ship, and definitely where you couldn't just leave the door open for light.
From what I read, the magazines were lined with copper, and had a wool curtain in the doorway. There was a special lantern they used for light that was designed to avoid an explosion.
The British deliberately ignited the Fort York magazine, which had 30,000 lb of black powder in it, unleashing one of the largest explosions in North America. Not sure how volatile the magazine was, but you definitely didn't want it exploding unexpectedly.
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07/09/2014 06:29:23 PM · #33 |
I've heard in casual conversation that the reason black eyepatches were worn by pirates wasn't in order to protect a damaged or missing eye. Supposedly it was so that one eye was always acclimated to the poor light conditions belowdecks so you could readily find your way around, without having to wait for your eyes to adjust. Would probably also work in a powder magazine, I suppose.
ETA:  BrennanOB...true, what you say about dishwashers being on the lowest rung in the restaurant industry...but once you get used to the job, you get to see the cooks in action and during slower times, can ask the nicer ones about cooking. Sure it's a crap job, but you can still learn from it! :-)
Message edited by author 2014-07-09 18:32:09. |
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07/09/2014 08:19:54 PM · #34 |
Originally posted by snaffles:
Sure it's a crap job, but you can still learn from it! :-) |
Yup, which is why more than one admiral in the golden age of sail started as a powder monkey, and more than one dishwasher became a chef de cuisine.
I do love that explanation of the eye patch, sadly it seems like it is a recent myth. It does work, and it was Mythbusters approved, sadly it seems it wasn't really used back in the day. The Royal navy wrote down everything and every other long serving seaman seems to have written a ripping yarn. If you read them all, no one mentions the common use of an eyepatch for this clever use.
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07/10/2014 08:17:19 AM · #35 |
When one considers the fact that the vast majority of the crew on sailships were required to familiarize themselves with the various tasks to be performed both above and below deck, I for one am not buying this suggestion.
If such were the case, one would think that a very significant portion of the crew would have worn eye patches, something which seemingly is not supported by written records.
Lastly, I have no idea if any of your folks ever had to wear a patch for any extended period of time, but having done so, I can assure you that it plays havoc with things such as depth perception, peripheral vision and the ability to manoeuvre around on flat stable surfaces... let alone a ship on the high seas.
Ray
Message edited by author 2014-07-10 08:18:02. |
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