Quote:
Originally Posted by Retlaw
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Cannon balls were kept in racks next to the guns on the gun decks, three men manned each gun. .......whilst the powder monkeys (young boys because of confined spaces) are continually coming up through the hatches from the magazine delivering more charges.
Retlaw.
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The naval term for the rack was "shot garland".
Anyway, I've looked again at the first picture and it is does give a similar enclosed, somewhat claustrophobic appearance to the steps leading to the deck hatches on a 19th century Man 'O War, so maybe there is something in the theory. But a theory is all that it is, because of course, we have no hard evidence. Still, it's fun to speculate.
To continue with the naval parlance, I bet those steps have been used as heads on more than one occaision.