直布罗陀之战局部
The Battle of Gibraltar, 25 April 1607, Cornelis Claesz. van Wieringen. 180 x 488 cm, oil on canvas.
The method of reloading muzzle-loaded weapons creates more problems. Two methods could have been adopted; loading outboard or inboard. Outboard loading involved the loader climbing outboard, either out through the gunport or down from the weatherdeck, and the gun would be cleansed and loaded while the gunner sat astride the gun. This method was still practised in 1622, when a gunner on a Danish frigate, the Christianshavn, records loading a gun by‘lying outside the gunwale’ (Holck, 1933: 282).
Outboard loading would have been difficult on early 16th century vessels due to their having small gunports and the fitting of weather deck anti-boarding netting when in action. This method of loading would also be more timeconsuming, because only one gunner could straddle the piece at a time, as well as being highly dangerous (Fig. 2).
