What was the device that held the cannonballs in a pyirimid shape on pirates ships?

Question

What was the device that held the cannonballs in a pyirimid shape on pirates ships?

Answer 1

This is a "What is the origin of mind your p's and q's?" type question.  There is no auhoritative answer, but adherents to one theory or another  seem almost ready to go to war over it. It is all very amusing.

As for your question, I favor authorities who say that these devices were made of wood - not brass - so their name would be simply "monkey."

One of Webster's definitions of the word is "any of various machines, implements or vessels." I rest my case.

Answer 2

Some say the device is called a "brass monkey."

From p. 43 of Robert McKenna's book "The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy":

"Brass monkey, a metal frame laid on the deck of a ship to help contain the bottom layer of a stack of cannon balls. The phrase 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' meant that in extremely cold temperatures the brass frame shrank more than the iron cannon balls, and the stack would collapse."

However, others disagree:  

"According to the United States Navy Historical Center, this is a legend of the sea without historical justification.  The center has researched this because of the questions it gets and says the term 'brass monkey' and a vulgar reference to the effect of cold on the monkey's extremities, appears to have originated in the book 'Before the Mast' by C.A. Abbey.  It was said that it was so cold that it would 'freeze the tail off a brass monkey.'  The Navy says there is no evidence that the phrase had anything to do with ships or ships with cannon balls."

http://www.military-quotes.com/jokes/sto...

Answer 3

RetroRay is right. (And until very recently, I thought the saying "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" was extremely rude.)