Påträffad vid kanonport 29.
Fyndnummer 04394 utgör huvudnummer för den ihopsatta lavetten. Övriga delar är: 03287, 04396, 08023, 08024 och 08025. En axel samt kolven är nytillverkade och därmed ej original.
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.
Utställd i Strid! oktober 2011-.
Text in english
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 bed
The bed is the base of the gun carriage, to which the other parts are attached; it is used here as the main find number for the carriage as a whole. The bed is a solid plank of even thickness, cut square at the front end and widening towards the back end, which is finished with a rounded, decorative shape extending past the cheeks. There are two shallow rebates across the bottom for the axletrees. There are three bolt holes along each side for the cheeks, as well as a number of nail holes for the cheeks, the axletree, and the iron straps which reinforced these attachments.
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