Did you know:
It was necessary to keep a good supply of canon balls near the cannon on
war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the
problem. The best storage method devised was to stack them as a square
based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine,
which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be
stacked in a small area right next to the cannon.
There was only one problem -- how to
prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others. The
solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called a Monkey. But if
this plate was made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it.
The solution to the rusting problem was to make Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much
faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped
too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon
balls would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough
to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.
And all this time, you thought
that was a vulgar expression, didn't you?
