Sayings and there origins

[Rat Faced]

Well done Ratface in the old days cannonballs were stored on a brass monkey,which when it gets cold shrinks and the balls go rolling away

Only in the sea forts though, like Gibralta.

They wouldnt work on a ship, although I think a couple had them fitted for some strange reason. On ships they used some wooden storage system.

If they'd used the Brass Monkeys, the balls would have cause serious damage during bad weather. Its a myth that they were used on ships themselves, although the boys that carried the powder were called Powder Monkeys on ships.

Come to think of it, there are a lot of the parts of old ships having slang names to do with Monkeys.. probably 'cause they had to act like monkeys in the rigging