British teenager injured in cannon accident 2001

[Cannoneer]

A British teen suffered serious damage to his left hand while demonstrating the firing of a 9-pounder naval gun to a group of onlookers onboard the sailing ship Grand Turk when at dock in Portsmouth. I checked the stickies, and this incident isn't listed there.

Report of an investigation of an injury sustained during the firing of cannon on sv Grand Turk while alongside at Portsmouth 2001


Summary of report

[GGaskill]

It is interesting to see that the recommendations are pretty much absent of the usual (for here) histrionics and hand wringing.  Mostly reminders to make sure personnel are properly trained and perform the procedures correctly.

Of course that was eight years ago so today's response might not be so rational.

[cannonmn]

In the "article" the recommendation was to go to paper or cloth cartridges.  I guess they'd never heard of the much safer foil cartridges, which is kind of amazing.

Blank firing is the most dangerous kind.  Why?  Internal pressures, thus to some extent, temperatures are lower and much more debris will remain unburned in the gun compared to firing a round with a normal-weight metal projectile.

Since blanks are often fired with crowds present, the showmanship mentality takes over and safety can suffer.  Rapid fire with a muzzle-loader should never be permitted, and wait time between shots should be strictly enforced by a separate observer with no gun crew duties.

[GGaskill]

It's interesting that having more crew members adds to the desire to fire more rapidly.  I crew my own small guns alone and, while I initially thought the three minute wait was excessive, I have found that I would have to rush to complete the process in three minutes.  Maybe it would be better to have fewer crewmen so it can't be done quickly.

[subdjoe]

I wonder if there was some debris in the vent that fell onto the charge when the charge was seated.  We always brush the vent first, then worm, wet sponge, drain, dry sponge.  Sometimes it takes several tries to get the remains of the foil cartridge out.  The gun is a little tempremental about it.  Sometimes no problem, sometimes we have to sweet talk and coax her into giving it up.   

[KABAR2]

I wonder if there was some debris in the vent that fell onto the charge when the charge was seated.  We always brush the vent first, then worm, wet sponge, drain, dry sponge.  Sometimes it takes several tries to get the remains of the foil cartridge out.  The gun is a little tempremental about it.  Sometimes no problem, sometimes we have to sweet talk and coax her into giving it up.   

This was a case of the sequence was wrong.
They swabbed and then searched the piece with the worm;
debris left behind was never swabbed after searching the piece, allowing embers to remain.