I live on the border between Maryland and Virginia, not far from the Chesapeake Bay, one of the great waterfowl gathering places in the US, and the progenitor location of the Chesapeake Bay Retriever.
Back in the late 19th and very early 20th Century, when market hunting was still legal, huge Punt Guns were created and used in this area.
These Punt Guns were all home-made, generally with 9-foot long barrels that were 2-inches in diameter.
The guns were filled with loose shrapnel such as cut up nails or boiler punchings, and a huge load of black powder was used as the propellant.
Basically, this was a huge muzzle-loaded blunderbuss that was firing scrap iron and steel.
The guns were mounted on nearly flat punt boats, sculled or poled up to a flock of birds, and dozens, of birds were killed with a single shot.
Punt Guns generally operated in small fleets, with entire flocks of hundreds of birds wiped out in a split second.
Happily, Punt Guns disappeared with the Lacey Act of 1900, but very occasionally you will find a decaying version at the back of an antique store.
2 comments:
New word for the day...
from: merriam-webster
langrage noun
lan·grage | \ ˈlaŋgrij\
variants: or less commonly langrel \ -rəl \
plural -s
Definition of langrage
: shot formerly used in naval warfare for tearing sails and rigging and consisting of bolts, nails, and other pieces of iron fastened together or enclosed in a canister
It was sometimes loaded into cannons when the shot ran out. I first heard the term in "Pirates of the Caribbean." I think it was used in "Master and Commander" as well. I think you could safely use the word to describe the loads in the punt guns.
Chesapeake, by Robert Mitchum tells so much about this in my native Maryland. The old family names were changed, (McCormack - spices, Kent (tobacco), and market hunters name was very similar to the old name in our area. Take time to read it and you will find much Maryland and Virginia history there.
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