[C38] Salon Shelving Options, sprits, sails and nautical trivia of the endless armchair thread

[tdtron at earthlink.net]

Supposed etymology
It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, 
called a "monkey", to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th 
centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the "monkey" would 
contract, causing the balls to fall off.[4] However, nearly all historians 
and etymologists consider this story to be an urban legend. This story has 
been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy,[5] etymologist Michael 
Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).[6]

They give five main reasons:

  1.. The OED does not record the term "monkey" or "brass monkey" being used 
in this way.
  2.. The purported method of storage of cannonballs ("round shot") is 
simply false. Shot was not stored on deck continuously on the off-chance 
that the ship might go into battle. Indeed, decks were kept as clear as 
possible.
  3.. Furthermore, such a method of storage would result in shot rolling 
around on deck and causing a hazard in high seas. Shot was stored on the gun 
or spar decks, in shot racks-longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored 
into them, known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy, into which round shot 
were inserted for ready use by the gun crew.
  4.. Shot was not left exposed to the elements where it could rust. Such 
rust could lead to the ball not flying true or jamming in the barrel and 
exploding the gun. Indeed, gunners would attempt to remove as many 
imperfections as possible from the surfaces of balls.
  5.. The physics does not stand up to scrutiny. The contraction of both 
balls and plate over the range of temperatures involved would not be 
particularly large. The effect claimed possibly could be reproduced under 
laboratory conditions with objects engineered to a high precision for this 
purpose, but it is unlikely it would ever have occurred in real life aboard 
a warship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_monkey_%28colloquial_expression%29








----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Smolinske" <SSmolinske at rainierrubber.com>
To: "Catalina 38 Listserve" <listserve at catalina38.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2010 12:15 PM
Subject: Re: [C38] Salon Shelving Options


> Its freeze the balls off of a brass monkey,   the monkey was a flat
> piece of brass with holes cut into it for the cannon balls to be stacked
> on,  Balls were stored in pyramid type stacking arrangement and the base
> layer was on the "brass monkey",  because of the different thermal
> expansion/contraction properties of lead and brass when it got cold
> enough the brass would contract and squeeze the lead balls out of the
> monkey and the whole stack of cannon balls would collapse.   Brass was
> used as it does not interact with lead and they didn't have to worry
> about the two metals corroding together.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org
> [mailto:listserve-bounces at catalina38.org] On Behalf Of Patrick Harpole
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2010 9:01 AM
> To: george at gsuppes.com; Catalina 38 Listserve
> Subject: Re: [C38] Salon Shelving Options
>
> correct.........but actually a "legend"    The cannon balls were stored
> in
> racks.
> Patrick
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <george at gsuppes.com>
> To: "Catalina 38 Listserve" <listserve at catalina38.org>
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2010 8:52 AM
> Subject: Re: [C38] Salon Shelving Options
>
>
> I thought it was cold enough to freeze the balls off of a brass monkey,
> being the monkey is made of brassan and cannon shot are not.
> Sent from my BlackBerry(r) on the MetroPCS Network
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Patrick Harpole" <1derful at comcast.net>
> Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 08:42:21
> To: Catalina 38 Listserve<listserve at catalina38.org>
> Reply-To: Catalina 38 Listserve <listserve at catalina38.org>
> Subject: Re: [C38] Salon Shelving Options
>
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