Only the foundation remains of one of the fort's furnaces which heated cannon balls. Used against wooden ships, the red-hot projectiles could start a disastrous fire - even after skipping on the water several times.
Loading a cannon with hot shot required special precautions. The paper powder bag, double thick, was inserted first. Hay wadding, first dry, then wet, served as a buffer between powder and cherry-red projectile. Wet clay was then often placed ahead of the shot.
( Above illustrations of a fork for hot shot and tongs : )
Tools such as these were used to handle the hot cannon balls.
It took about thirty minutes to heat a 32-pounder shot in a hot furnace. More than 60 rounds could be prepared at one time.
The invention of the ironclad ship, along with the widespread use of exploding shells, made hot shot obsolete.
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