...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-1092

Small part of the bore of an iron gun, sawn off and broken off at various angles to demonstrate a small, slightly conical copper bush inserted from the inside of the barrel, in which the vent has been bored.

The vent regularly wore out inside the bore under the pressure of firing and had to be bushed; the wear of a gun was judged by the wear of the vent, of which a cast was taken with a special sponge and sent to The Hague.

Although the practice of filling the vent with a copper bush from the inside was already mentioned as early as 1807,¹¹L. van der Muelen, Handleiding in de artillerie. Bestemd tot het geven van onderwijs, op het kadetten instituut der Marine van zijn Majesteit den koning van Holland, Rotterdam 1807, p. 17. according to Van Goens in the Netherlands it was not done with iron guns,²²H. van Goens, Handleiding tot de kennis van de zee-artillerie, Rotterdam 1861-65, p. 514. because the strength of the gun was thought to be questionable once the vent was worn out.

L. van der Muelen, Handleiding in de artillerie. Bestemd tot het geven van onderwijs, op het kadetten instituut der Marine van zijn Majesteit den koning van Holland, Rotterdam 1807, p. 17; H. van Goens, Handleiding tot de kennis van de zee-artillerie, Rotterdam 1861-65, p. 514; J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1092

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Copper Bush with Vent in Part of an Iron Gun, Netherlands, c. 1860 - c. 1870', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20054105