saker (cannon)

{{Short description|Type of muzzle-loading cannon}}

{{Other uses|Saker (disambiguation)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}

{{Cannon}}

File:Saker.jpg

The saker was a medium cannon, slightly smaller than a culverin, developed during the early 16th century and often used by the English.{{cite web|url=http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/cannon.htm|title=Cannon|publisher=mysite.du.edu|access-date=2014-12-02}} It was named after the saker falcon, a large falconry bird native to the Middle East.{{cite web|url=http://www.regimental-art.com/history_greys.htm|title=History of the Scots Greys|publisher=regimental-art.com|access-date=2014-12-02}}

A saker's barrel was approximately {{convert|9.5|ft|m|abbr=on}} long, had a calibre of {{convert|3.25|in|cm}}, and weighed approximately {{convert|1,900|lb|kg}}. It could fire round shot weighing {{convert|5.25|lb|kg}} approximately {{convert|2,400|yd|km}} using {{convert|4|lb|kg}} of black powder.[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20483/20483-h/20483-h.htm Artillery through the ages][http://www.littlewoodham.org.uk/research/ord.htm English ordnance 1626 to 1643] The shot was intended to bounce along the ground to cause as much damage as possible, the explosive shell being rare before the 19th century.{{cite web|url=http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/exhibitions/makingOfBritain/page2-1.shtml|title=Exhibitions | Galleries |publisher=National Army Museum, London |access-date=2014-12-02}} Tests performed in France during the 1950s show that a saker's range was over {{convert|3,000|yd|km}} when fired at a 45-degree angle.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hisentco.com/Private/Downloads/BallisticCharts.xls|title = HisEntCo - Rules for historical miniature war games and items of historical interest}}

Henry VIII amassed a large arsenal of sakers in the early 16th century as he expanded the Royal Navy and came into conflict with France. Henry's foundries used so much bronze that there was a world shortage of tin.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} According to the inventory in the Anthony Roll, the Mary Rose carried several sakers, though none have been found so far and may have been recovered by salvagers soon after the ship's disastrous sinking.{{cite book|title=Shipwreck: A Saga of Sea Tragedy and Sunken Treasure|author=Horner, D.|date=1999|publisher=Sherdian House|isbn=9781574090840|url=https://archive.org/details/shipwreck00dave|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/shipwreck00dave/page/244 244]|access-date=2014-12-02}} Sakers were heavily used during the English Civil War,{{cite web|url=http://www.dimacleod.co.uk/history/ecwshots.htm|title=The Artillery Garden|author=Duncan I MacLeod|publisher=dimacleod.co.uk|access-date=2014-12-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329034617/http://www.dimacleod.co.uk/history/ecwshots.htm|archive-date=2010-03-29}} especially during sieges, when they were used by both attackers and defenders of fortified towns.{{Cite web|url=http://www.eventplan.co.uk/newarksiege.htm|title=Historical Events}} They also saw action in the Jacobite rising of 1689 and were used by the armies of both William III and James II at the Battle of the Boyne.{{cite web |url=http://www.battleoftheboyne.ie/artilleryusedatthebattle/ |title=Artillery used at the Battle - the Battle of the Boyne |access-date=2008-08-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919014835/http://www.battleoftheboyne.ie/artilleryusedatthebattle/ |archive-date=2008-09-19 }}

File:English Saker, Used by Chinese and Vietnamese, Fort Nelson, Hampshire.jpg

A French version of the saker is the couleuvrine moyenne, meaning "middle sized", which was often used at sea. Venetian merchant ships often carried sakers to defend themselves from pirates, and similar cannons have been found on Spanish Armada wrecks.{{cite web|url=http://www.swmaritime.org.uk/article.php?articleid=261&atype=m|title=SW Maritime History - Meeting at Teignmouth 2nd October 1999|publisher=swmaritime.org.uk|access-date=2014-12-02}}

In the New World, the Pilgrims removed the naval guns from the Mayflower for use in possible land engagements, which they installed in the fort that they built to protect their newly founded Plimoth Plantation from French, Spanish, and hostile Native Americans.{{cite web|url=http://www.stmaryscity.org/Archaeology/Forts%20of%20St.%20Mary%27s/Forts.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309000522/http://www.stmaryscity.org/Archaeology/Forts%20of%20St.%20Mary's/Forts.html|archive-date=2007-03-09|url-status=dead|title=Forts of St. Mary's|access-date=2014-12-02}} The British installed six saker cannons in Castle William on Castle Island in 1644 when the first of many rebuilds and rearming over the centuries was conducted in order to control the approaches to Boston Harbor.{{fact|date=October 2024}}

In Britain, Brigadier General Michael Richards was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance in 1714 and he commissioned a Danish expert, Albert Borgard, to design a new artillery system. Borgard did away with the traditional nomenclature of culverins, sakers and minions, and devised a new system based on the weight of shot that each gun used, from 4 to 64 pounds. Although Borgard's gun designs were quickly superseded, the practice of naming ordnance by weight of shot persisted in Britain into the 20th century.{{cite web |url=https://www.arc.id.au/Cannon.html |title=British Cannon Design 1600–1800 |last=Collins |first=A. R. |date= |publisher=www.arc.id.au |access-date=7 December 2021 }}