Saker (cannon)

For other uses, see Saker (disambiguation).

A Spanish saker of 1686.

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The saker was a medium cannon slightly smaller than a culverin developed during the early 16th century and often used by the English. It was named after the Saker Falcon, a large falconry bird native to the Middle East.

A saker's barrel was approximately 9.5 ft (2.9m) long, had a calibre of 3.25 inches (8.26 cm) and weighed approximately 1900 lb (860 kg). It could fire round shot weighing 5.25 lb (2.4 kg) approximately 7400 ft (2.3 km) using 4 lb (1.8 kg) of black powder. The shot (designed well before explosive artillery had been devised) was intended to bounce along the ground to cause as much damage as possible. Tests performed in France during the 1950s show a saker's range was over 9000 ft (2.7 km) when fired at a 45-degree angle.

Henry VIII amassed a large arsenal of sakers in the early 16th century as he expanded the Royal Navy and came into conflict with France. Henry's foundries used so much bronze that there was a world shortage of tin. According to the inventory in the Anthony Roll the Mary Rose carried several sakers, though none have been found so far and may have been recovered by salvagers soon after the disaster. Sakers were heavily used during the English Civil War, especially during sieges when they were used by both attackers and defenders of fortified towns. They also saw action in the Jacobite rising and were used by the armies of both William III and James II at the Battle of the Boyne.

A French version of the saker, the moyenne, meaning "middle sized", was often used at sea. Venetian merchant ships often carried sakers to defend themselves from pirates, and similar cannons have been found on Spanish Armada wrecks.

In the New World the colonists removed the naval guns from their ships for use in land engagements, often installed in the forts they built to protect their newly founded towns from French, Spanish and hostile Indians.

Further reading

• Artillery through the ages