WW - Cannons

But Jack had seen beyond her down-at-heels appearance, seen the glory and grandeur of a full-rigged ship that could prove both fast and maneuverable. This “w-nch” had felt a lot of ocean slide beneath her keel, but she was sound; he could feel it in his bones. She most resembled a Dutch East Indiaman. Typical of merchant vessels, she was woefully under-gunned: only six big guns on both the port and starboard sides of her main deck, then two smaller guns, six-pounders, on her weather deck, and, finally, three small swivel guns topside, one fore and two on her quarterdeck.

The W-nch’s main deck guns were heavy ones, twelve-pounders. Jack thought about what it would be like to hear the roar of those big twelve-pounders loosed in a broadside against an opponent, and shivered with excited anticipation—before he sternly reminded himself that merchant captains counted themselves blessed if they never had to fire their guns.

(...)

In view of this, Jack was pleased that, in response to his request for more armament, Mr. Beckett had allowed two more twelve-pounders to be installed on the main deck with the other twelve-pounders. He’d have liked to have a couple more six-pounders on the weather deck, but he’d try for that next voyage.

***

The Price of Freedom, Chapter 7