The Civil War Navies Message Board

The Brass Monkey Mystery

Someone on another board had brought up the subject of the saying "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". The internet is full of web sites stating this was not a naval term, it could not be proved, etc., etc.

Years ago I visited the HMS Bounty in Tampa Florida. This ship was hand made to the exact specifications of the original back in the 30s or 40s. I remember noting in my memory how they stored the "ready shot" along the inside tops of the gunnels, just above a gun port. The method of storage were 1" or 1.5" metal bars set out about three to four inches from the gunnel, just far enough to place a cannon round. My memory is rough because I was only aboard for an hour or so and this was over twenty years ago.

Thumbing through one of my photograph books this morning I found a photograph taken on board the USS Kearsarge. Behind what looks to be a smooth bore 32Lb. cannon is a hatch ringed at the bottom with a very well made metallic tubing holding cannon rounds. This metallic tubing looks a lot like "bright work" or bronze. If this tubing could contract enough from a tempature decrease it may well loose it's cargo of cannon shot to the deck. I'm not saying this is the infamous "Brass Monkey" but it sure looks like the descriptions I was told about in my naval service.

David Upton

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