Threedecks Forum

I'm curious as to what measurements wargamers use for various ranges. I've generally followed Dudley Pope in "Life in Nelson's Navy." The reprint of volume one of "The Naval History of Great Britain During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars" comes with a glossary of sea terms, but I'm not sure I can go along with those. Also, rarely mentioned is "Hailing Distance," which seems to have been the most common distance used by carronade-armed vessels. I have a book on the life of Commodore Rodgers which states that it was 100 to 300 feet. That works out to a max of 100 yards. Pope states that a cable's length was a couple of yards over 200 yards, during the period, whereas the modern term means 240 yards. I have seen battles described as being fought at half a cable's length, which makes sense for 100 yards. I think it's a matter of taste. Pistol shot is also a bit suspect. Ireland had more duels than all the rest of Europe combined, but the average range which duels were fought at was around 12 yards. At that range, there were very few fatalities! I tend to think that 12 yards would put the vessels in danger of tangling each other's rigging. So, wargamers, what do you say?

Table of ranges from The Sea-gunner's Vade-mecum: Being a New Introduction to Practical Gunnery https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=azt ... &q&f=false

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear about what I wanted. I want to know what actual ranges correspond to ranges given for battles in James and other sources. That means, how many yards do most gamers consider Pistol Shot, Musket Shot, Gunshot, and extreme. The standard seems to be about 25-50 yards for pistol shot, 200-400 yards for musket shot, 1,000 or so yards for gunshot, and whatever extreme would come out to. I have my ideas, but I want to compare them to those of others. I play in 1/1200 scale and use Metric measurements.

In a practical sense, I tend to use these guidelines:

• Pistol Shot - 25 Yards
• Musket / Cable - 200 or 250 Yards (depending on which the rule set in question handles more easily)
• Carronade / Long gun - per the rule set