Hi-

Is anyone aware of any projects to compile a list of documented cannon failure during the ACW? I was thinking of starting such a list as an Excel file, adding to it as I came across such events. Obviously, I don't want to waste time doing this if others have already undertaken it (and I would be happy to add anything I notice to another person's list instead.)

If there is nothing out there already, I was going to start compiling one and ask folks to list what they come across in a thread here if they don't see the event mentioned already. I'm not in a hurry and consider it a good candidate for a long term working list. Besides, I think reading short summaries of each of the failures would bring up some interesting stories. Igniting the charge in large bore banded rifles seems to have been a rather hazardous endeavor and it might very well have been safer to be in the general direction of the receiving end.

Most of the one's that I've read of are heavier artillery starting in the 20 to 30 pdr range and extending on up. In this I would include some Parrotts that did not burst but were condemned after only a day's combat because of serious erosion/cracks at the vent holes that suggested they were no longer structurally sound. I would be disinclined to include simple rifling wear of brass tubes unless it occurred rapidly in a single combat. I would include field, siege, seacoast and naval artillery.

What do you think?