Swivel gun
They have been called by many names, sometimes "Murderer", "Base", "Sling", "Port-Piece", "Serpentine", "Culverin", "Pierrier", "Stock Fowler", and "Patterero" in English;[5][6]: 368–369 [7] "Pierrier à boîte" in French; "Berço" in Portuguese; "Verso" in Spanish;[8] "Prangi" in Turkish;[9]: 143 "Kammerschlange" (lit.
"chamber snake", properly means "breech-loading falconet") in German; "Folangji" (佛郎机, from Turkish "Prangi" or Turkic "Farangi"),[9]: 143 "Folangji chong"[10]: 348–349 (佛郎机铳, Prangi or Farangi gun),[9]: 143 "Fo-lang-chi p'ao" (佛朗机炮 or 佛朗機砲, Portuguese cannon)[11] in Chinese; "Bulang-kipo" ("불랑기포[佛郞機砲]") in Korean;[12] "Furanki" (仏郎機砲, "Frankish gun") or 子砲 ("Child cannon") in Japanese;[13][14] and "Bedil" or "bḍil" (ꦧꦣꦶꦭ) in Javanese.
[19] Usage of breech-loading swivel guns continued in Europe however, with, as early as the 17th century, characteristics very similar to the modern machine-gun or mitrailleuse.
[26] Pelliot viewed that the folangji gun reached China before Portuguese did, possibly by anonymous carriers from Malaya.
[27] Needham noted that breech-loading guns were already familiar in Southern China in 1510, as a rebellion in Huang Kuan was destroyed by more than 100 folangji.
In 1561 the Portuguese, allied with Otomo in the Siege of Moji, bombarded rival Japanese position, possibly with swivel guns.
a great deal of variation of such cannons were produced, and it appeared in pretty much all of the conflicts of this time, including the Imjin War.
[28]: 505 In early 20th century, Chinese junks were armed with old-fashioned swivel guns, both muzzleloader and breechloader.
The breech-loading guns were called "breech loading culverin" by Cardwell, they were 8 feet (2.4 m) long with 1–2 inches (2.54–5.08 cm) bore.
[29] Dyer c. 1930 noted the use of cannon by Makassan trepanger in Northern Australia, in particular the bronze breechloader with 2 inches (5.08 cm) bore.
[30] Steel rifled breech-loading swivel guns are known which were manufactured by the United States towards the end of the 19th century, and used in colonial theaters such as in Madagascar.
[31] Swivel guns are among the smallest types of cannon, typically measuring less than 1 m (3.3 ft) in length and with a bore diameter of up to 3.8 cm (1+1⁄2 in).
They were not ship-sinking weapons, due to their small caliber and short range, but could do considerable damage to anyone caught in their line of fire.
Their portability enabled them to be installed wherever they were most needed; whereas larger cannon were useless if they were on the wrong side of the ship, swivel guns could be carried across the deck to face the enemy.
The small size of swivel guns enabled them to be used by a wide variety of vessels, including those too small to accommodate larger cannons, and also permitted their use on land; they were commonly issued to forts in North America in the 18th century, and Lewis and Clark took one with them on their famous expedition into the American interior in 1804.
[37] The Chinese knew breech-loading swivel guns since at least 1507, when it was brought to Fujian by a man named Wei Sheng and used in quelling a pirate incident in 1507.
[10]: 348 Needham noted that breech-loading guns were already familiar in Southern China in 1510, as a rebellion in Huang Kuan was destroyed by more than 100 folangji.
