Fyndnummer 16077 utgör huvudnummer för lavetten.
Text i fyndliggaren: Tillhör fynd 16082. Nr 16077-16088 + 17615 tillhör lavetten vid kanonport 23.
Lavetten är den konstruktion (även kallad fyrarullalåda och skeppslåda) av trä som kanonen låg på. Den består av två sidostycken, ett tvärstycke (kolv) mellan dessa, en botten, två hjulaxlar samt fyra hjul. Vidare fanns det järnbeslag på lavetten, som manövrerades med block och talja samt spakar. I stort sett samma typ av lavetter användes på fartyg från 1500- till 1800- talet. Tillverkningen av lavetter flyttades 1622 från Lådmakargården vid Norrmalmstorg till Skeppsholmen (nuvarande Blasieholmen). På Vasa har det påträffats 62 lavetter; 27 på övre batteridäck, 33 på undre batteridäck och 2 på trossdäck.
Gun carriage
A gun carriage is the four-wheeled wooden construction that carried a cannon, so that it could be aimed, moved about the deck and restrained safely. A carriage consists of eleven wooden elements: a bed (bottom), two cheeks (sides), a transom (a vertical block between the cheeks just under the trunnions of the gun), two axletrees, four trucks (wheels) and an elevation bar. These elements are usually held together by nine heavy iron bolts, a number of nails, and a quantity of iron reinforcing straps and other hardware. The carriage and gun were restrained by breechings, heavy ropes which passed through holes in the cheeks and were tied to ringbolts in the ship’s side, and the gun was manoeuvred with breeching tackles slipped over hooks mounted on the cheeks and held to more ringbolts in the ship’s side, as well as handspikes, heavy wooden levers. 62 carriages were found on the ship, 27 on the upper gun deck, 33 on the lower gun deck, and 2 on the orlop. They are of four different sizes, for four of the five different types of carriage guns carried by the ship (light 24-pounders, heavy 24-pounders, 3-pounders, and howitzers; no carriage survives for the 1-pounders).
The style of gun carriage found on Vasa is typical of the 17th century, with a full, flat bed and stepped cheeks, with holes for the breechings. In later periods, the bed was omitted and the cheeks were connected only by the axles and transom. The design is heavy, with the normal light 24-pounder mounted on a carriage weighing 300-400 kg, for a total weight of gun and carriage of 1500-1700 kg (the guns vary between 1200 and 1300 kg).
Carriages were manufactured in a specialised workshop, which after 1622 was part of the navy yard on Skeppsholmen, and the making and repair of carriages was part of the contract for maintenance of the fleet. The carriages show that standardised patterns were used in this workshop. Although Vasa sailed in August 1628 with only 64 of its official armament of 72 guns, the carriages for the missing eight guns had been delivered and were found near their eventual gunports. Historical accounts indicate that only one of the two 1-pounders was mounted on its carriage, the other was lashed to the deck for transport.
Gun carriage truck
The truck is the wheel on which the gun carriage rolls. It is a solid wooden disk , sometimes with the edges lightly chamfered, with a circular hoel for the axletree in the centre. The hole is reinforced by an iron ring nailed to the outer face of the truck. In some cases, the truck is made of two pieces of wood, a thicker disk with a thinner disk nailed to its outer face. These may be trucks for lighter guns adapted to heavier carriages by increasing the thickness. All of Vasa’s gun carriages were built for four trucks on two axletrees.
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