Place

Sizzling Salvo Wayside

On the left and right sides of the panel, on a dark grey background, white text in English and Spanish reads:  Sizzling Salvo. The furnace fire is blazing hot. A team of soldiers prepares hot shot to fire at wooden warships—heating cannonballs until they glow. During a naval attack, one soldier tends the coal fire and loads the cannonballs. After 30 minutes, other soldiers use tongs to remove the red-hot shot and carry it to guns along the seawall.  The goal of hot shot was to set an enemy’s ship on fire. Although soldiers here never fired hot shot in battle, they drilled for the possibility. The advent of ironclad ships during the Civil War made hot shot furnaces obsolete.  End of Text  In the center of the panel, between the 2 columns of text, a color cutaway illustration of an L-shaped, dark grey, hot shot furnace set in front of a grey stone wall.  On the left, a white column of smoke rises up through the chimney in the vertical end of the furnace. Extending from left to right through the center of the furnace’s horizontal section is a slanted channel filled with cannonballs. Recessed into the lower right end of the furnace below the channel are bright yellow and orange flames of a fire.  Below and to the left of the furnace, a white number one in a red circle. At the left side of the furnace, a soldier in a blue uniform and blue cap, loads grey cannonballs from a pile on the ground into the channel. In the low, center of the furnace, a white number 2 in a red circle. Cannonballs heat up to about 1500 degrees Fahrenheit (or 815 degrees Celsius) and turn a bright orange as they move closer to and over the fire. To the right of the furnace, a white number 3 in a red circle. 2 solders in blue uniforms hold iron tongs to carry red-hot iron shot to nearby cannons.  At the bottom right, a small circle divided into 4, triangular wedges. Each wedge has a portion of a flag and date range for an important period in the fort's history. 1 wedge is bright, indicating the time period of the panel story and the other three wedges are muted. From the top, moving clockwise: Great Britain: 1763-1784; Spain: 1784 to 1821; the United States: 1821-1900, is bright; and Spain: 1672-1763.  Below the circle, white text in English and Spanish reads:  American Military Era.  In front of the panel, surrounded by fine gravel, is a 4-foot high, beige stone furnace. At the left end of its 6-foot high peaked roof, a 4 ½-foot high by 3 ½-foot square chimney.  [End of message]

Quick Facts

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

The hot shot furnace was built in the 1840s to heat up cannon balls to fire a wooden ships.

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

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Last updated: February 12, 2021