Osvaldo Gatto H.M.S. Victory Cannon

This small life-size cannon was a warning or alarm cannon widely used by battleships in the late 18th and early 19th century. It was shot if there was a mutiny or if it was necessary to identify a ship which would stop when hearing the detonation. This particular one is very similar to the cannon that the British ship HMS Victory of the Royal Navy had. This ship took part in the famous Battle of Trafalgar where Admiral Nelson and his fleet defeated Napoleon in 1805. The barrel is jacketed and its mouth does not protrude excessively out of the gun mount. This is so because this type of gun should not aim at all. Instead it should produce a loud detonation as a kind of alarm sign. Anyway, elevation is set with the same element its bigger brothers have, a quoin.