Topic summary
Naval cannon
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Naval artillery.
Firing
Firing a naval cannon required a great amount of labour and manpower. The propellant was gunpowder, whose bulk had to be kept in a special storage area below deck for safety. Powder boys (sometimes called powder monkeys), typically 10–14 years old, were enlisted to run powder from the armoury up to the gun decks of a vessel as required.