rom the comparative length of its
range, was superior to the carronade, notwithstanding the greater weight
of the shot it carried. Thus, curiously enough, although a considerable
number of carronades were placed on board ships of war, they were not
reckoned for some time as belonging to the armament of the ship, and
officers persisted in speaking only of the long guns they carried, and
ignoring the carronades, although, in reality, far more destructive in
their effects. Especially did they object to exchange any of their long
guns for carronades. On board the larger ships, as the quarter-decks
carried already as many guns as there was room for ports on each side,
no additional pieces could be admitted; but the forecastle in most ships
allowed of the opening of a pair of extra ports, and by strengthening
the poop, it was found that three pairs of ports could be placed there.
A 50-gun ship had room for three pairs of ports on her poop, one pair on
her quarter-deck, and a pair on her forecastle. By similar alterations,
a 44-gun ship was made to carry ten carronades, while on board the
sixth-rates and the quarter-deck ship-sloop class, by building up
bulwarks or barricades, they could be made to carry eight carronades.

Notwithstanding the fewer number of men with which carronades were
worked, and the powerful effect of their shot at close quarters, it was
some time before all British men-of-war were entirely furnished with
them. At length it was determined to arm with them the 44-gun ship
_Rainbow_, commanded by Captain Henry Trollope, who, with Lord Keith,
then Captain Keith Elphinstone, and Admiral Macbride, were among the
first patrons of the new style of gun. About March, 1782, she was
equipped with 48 carronades--namely, 20 68-pounders on her main-deck, 22
42-pounders on her upper deck, 4 32-pounders on her quarter-deck, and 2
32-pounders on her forecastle, her broadside weight of metal being thus
1238 pounds, whereas in her former armament of long guns, the broadside
weight of metal was only 318 pounds. Thus armed, with the
above-mentioned officers and crew, she sailed on a cruise in search of
an enemy; for some months, however, she was unable to come within
gunshot of a foe, and it was not till the 4th of September of that year,
when, being off the Isle du Bas, she came in sight of a large French
frigate, to which she at once gave chase. The enemy proved to be the
_Hebe_, mounting 28 18-pounders, and 12 8-pou