Ron

Are you trying to make a monkey out of us by monkeying around with
nautical terms? I'll bet you a monkey/500 that your explanation ain't
right. Why? a) the balls weren't brought up on deck until they were
needed, lest they rust together; b) the precision of the balls'
diameters was roughly +/- 1 cm, and I doubt whether your brass plate was
adjusted to the diameters of individual balls; c) there would be more
corrosion with iron in contact with brass than iron-to-iron; d) I doubt
whether a cannon would survive shooting 30 balls one after the other
without exploding in the face of the matelots, so why have a dangerous
pile of 30 balls? e) the word 'monkey' was used nautically, that is
sure, but as an adjective for a jury-rigged temporary device - e.g., a
monkey foresail was an ad hoc one that was lashed up to replace a torn
one; f) I have seen piles of balls next to cannons on museum-style ships
but I think they were always retained by simple wooden battens, which,
incidentally would be the correct term (batten was also used nautically
for the strip of wood or iron which held a tarpaulin over an opening -
"batten down the hatches").

I was recently sent a list of the "origins" of a number of sayings, each
one more apocryphal than the others and, being a doubting Thomas, I take
everything like this with a pinch of the salt that would rust the balls
together. Sorry to put a monkey wrench in the works! :-)

Brian

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