Re: Submission: Ship's Blunderbuss

In a message dated 7/27/1 3:01:52 AM, jim_clunie@???????.com writes:

<< Nothing new under the sun .. This device was called a swivel gun, used by
17th to 19th century navies. It had more range than you give it credit for.
A swivel gun loaded with grapeshot was able to fire from the mainmast crow's
nest down to an enemy ship's quarterdeck with good effect. They also fired
solid shot (about 1 pound, as far as I have been able to tell). >>

True, but previously unavailable in SJ (short of pure homebrew).  I simply
made the blunderbuss bigger (from Combat and Tactics) and increased with its
range.  Keith Strohm included a historical swivel gun (along with grape shot)
in his article "Warships of the Sea" from Dragon 250; the ship's blunderbuss
isn't really designed to be the historical weapon.