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Mary Rose 'Marks'

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jaxenro:

--- Quote from: WillS on September 24, 2016, 09:32:46 am ---Oh yeah, I agree entirely.  If you pick a mark and you hit the guy next to it, or somebody hits your mark it's sort of irrelevant, because a target is down.  It's about efficiency I suppose right?  You don't waste thousands of arrows that way, as you're always going to hit something.

--- End quote ---

Sort of my point. It's not that they didn't aim, I m sure they did, just like the guys with the musket did. But I think it was volume more than aimed shots that resulted in the killing zones and pinpoint accuracy was irrelevant. You want to put your arrow in close proximity to where there were the most targets of opportunity.

It wasn't like hunting where you waited and stalked for the best shots. And there is a reason they tried to put archers on the flanks, hitting a man charging straight  towards you is harder than hitting one in the flank. I mean the man shaped targets are always standing straight up and down but how many of us run fully erect? Isn't it more of a hunched over position? And what's the "hang time" for arrows? A lot can happen on a fluid battlefield in a second or two.

WillS:

--- Quote from: jaxenro on September 24, 2016, 11:23:21 am ---lots of stuff
--- End quote ---

We're in agreement, totally.  5000 archers aiming at individual marks causes chaos. 

This is in comparison to the age-old myth (no doubt helped along by the Hollywood idea) of archers aiming into the sky and a "hail of arrows" just falling randomly.

cadet:
Conventionally, muskets like brown bess were without sights and rifling, and in musketry drills were "presented" rather than aimed by rolling ranks in mass volley fire at massed enemy.  That's not to say marksmanship wasn't valued, just that that's how it was done militarily; and it perhaps gives us some clues as to warbow use only a couple of centuries earlier.

jaxenro:
To go back to the original point is there any size comparison of the bows with the different marks? Are the ones with five marks stouter than the ones with two? I know you can't test for draw weight but all things being equal otherwise wouldn't a larger heavier stave be expected to have a higher weight?

WillS:
If only it was that simple!

A smaller bow could be the same draw weight as a much larger one, if the smaller bow was made from better quality timber. 

I've always been meaning to do an analysis of each type of mark and cross reference with the bows dimensions, but never got round to it.

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