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a hundred paces away from the battery & one surrounds
them with barricades or trenches. And there one goes to get
powder in bags or frails. And each piece has
its own frail for loading three or four times. Then, when the
cannon is placed on the platform, one puts a board that is proof of an
arquebus between two gabions. Then a gunner loads it with a
linstock, & with the rammer which is at
len the other end of the linstock, two men
ram the powder as much as they can, in nine or ten pushes, until
they find the powder to be hard & and well-compacted. Then
another adds some hay or straw and the r others
ram a little. Another loads the ball and the hay-bearer puts in
as much of it as before & one rams a little. Some put
wooden bungs but this runs the risk of making the piece
burst. And where one has to shoot many cannon shots, one
would need many bungs, which would cost much to carry. Once the
cannon is loaded, xx or xxv pioneers push it forward with
bars, keeping to one side behind the gabions without taking off the
board until the cannon reaches it. Once the cannon is in front, the
gunner mounts it with the wedges which are at the
back, taking the sight on each side and then in the middle. Then another
who is nearby gives fire. Each gunner cannon needs
3 gunners: the loader, the one who aims, the one who gives
fire. Sometimes, against a camp or into a breach, one shoots cartridges,
made as you have elsewhere, or else one uses a basan full of
flint stones, cart nails & similar.
P A ch cannon must not move
unless it has two harnesses, be they of wood or iron. And
to furnish the wheels, powder box, and other furniture of the cannon,
one needs seven quintals and a half of iron.
Pour les pre The best battery is done at a curtain
wall, some say, for that is, as if at an
bieve angle, for by doing this you shake loose
several stones.
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Some put small wheels of the piece and a thick board to the end of the
carriage of the piece in order that it may be drawn more quickly and
without making a noise. Others put leather around the
the wheels & also put leather soles or shoes on
the horses' hooves in order that one does not hear
them.

