How exactly were guns counted on Napoleonic warships (e.g. British Merlin-class)?
Hi,
I'm hoping someone can clarify for me how exactly a ship's guns were counted on Napoleonic warships, specifically in cases where the number of guns doesn't appear to match the number of gun ports in available ship plans.
I am aware that guns outside of the main armament (e.g. carronades) are not generally counted towards the total, however a lot of the plans I can find appear to show more gun ports than the vessel is listed as supporting - even including carronades.
For example, I've included images here of plans for the Merlin class from "British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817" by Rif Winfield. The original armament for this class is listed as 16 x 6pdr guns (so a 16-gun ship-sloop) plus 4 Quarterdeck carronades, however the plans included appear to show 10 ports per side on the upper deck and 3 ports per side on the quarterdeck - suggesting an armament of 20 main guns and 6 quarterdeck carronades.
What is the reason for this discrepancy, and if some of the ports are for some reason not used - which ones would those be?
Additionally, am I correct in thinking that Bow- and Stern- chasers aren't typically counted as part of the armament when describing a ship by number of guns?
(Linked images of Merlin class because I'm not able to add them directly to the post)
https://files.catbox.moe/0f88nu.jpg
https://files.catbox.moe/hzqta0.jpg
edit: fixed autocorrect of "LinkedIn"