Quote:
Originally Posted by Retlaw
. Also brass monkeys have nowt to do with cannon balls.....
Retlaw..
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Agreed that brass monkeys have nowt to do with cannonballs (I'm amazed that the myth still persists). However, Powder Monkeys do have everything to do with cannonballs - men as well as boys running and carrying supplies from the magazines below decks to the gunnnery crews on the decks above. There probably would have been a hundred or so of them involved on a major warship such as HMS Victory.
I'm quite sure that if these steps attracted young lads to fool around on some 160 years ago someone no doubt would have drawn a similarity to activity aboard a Nelsonian or later ship and hence conferred such a sobriquet.