Did anyone else notice the cannons went Pfft instead of BOOM last night in Boston?

[Bill Nance]

My wife and I were both thinking WTF? Im used to hearing the 1812 with cannon shots that thunder and make your insides shake. These sounded like Safe N Sane fireworks pops.

 

[x-frog-22]

I thought the same thing. Perhaps a no load, so not to disturb the Rep. of Cambridge.

 

[Zappa]

Those must be the new "Mass Compliant" canons.

 

[kevin9]

We noticed the same thing on TV. Lotsa sparks but no oomph. I thought maybe the mic's might not have been picking up the bass from the cannons this year.

 

[01SVTvert]

The low frequencies could have been too loud for the mic to pick up. You see that on some dashcams that show shootings and the shot of the pistol is too loud and ends up not being recorded

I vote for the new "AG safe" cannon loads. They fire slightly warm cotton blankets onto enemy troops so that they take naps rather than kill.

 

[RichM]

Yes, but the USS Constitution was firing a nice 21-gun salute yesterday... annoying the local residents, I'm sure!

 

[FhvnLT4A]

I got to light the first one of these 24LB naval guns on the fourth... and it was SOMETHING ELSE!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxA_sgsY0sk&feature=related

 

[Bill Nance]

We noticed the same thing on TV. Lotsa sparks but no oomph. I thought maybe the mic's might not have been picking up the bass from the cannons this year.

I thought this too, but I caught the same effect from some youtube videos that were shot no where near the cannon. I'm going with the snooty people in Back Bay complaining about the noise.

 

[jcr]

I was at the rehearsal concert on the 3rd. I was outside the oval, but in direct line with the state. This means I was pretty far from the canon.

I thought that they sounded pffft rather than boom.

After the first volleys, and wondering if I heard correctly, I listened more carefully.

Loud pffft, only. Live.

Why?

 

[MisterHappy]

it's for the children?

 

[Garys]

I don't know what people on TV heard, but I was there and they were regular blank rounds and were quite loud. They were doing rehearsal rounds all throughout the day and those were loud. I was maybe 100 feet from the howitzers when then fired during the 1812 Overture and they were the same as during the rehearsals earlier. One thing that they did this year that was new was put fireworks around the half dome of the Hatch Shell. Different sound, but I wonder if they used filters to mute the sound from those on TV and they effected what you heard from the field pieces as well.

I was also there on the 3rd for the rehearsal. No fireworks and I was a lot further away, but the sound was the same.

I've worked most of the July 4th concerts over the past 25 years, at varying distances from the Hatch Shell, so I have some frame of reference. This year I was probably the closest I've ever been since I was behind the Shell, on the river side. If I had moved 20 feet around, I'd have been able to see the artillery. Even with the speakers, being right behind the orchestra, and the fireworks, we could hear the shots quite loudly.

 

[cb1]

It should be a crime to fire a cannon at any level less than "as loud as freakin possible", especially on the 4th.

 

[KMaurer]

You can never really tell about the actual sound when you're listening to the radio or watching television; all you hear is what the sound techs decide to let you hear. When it comes to the cannon, I never believe anything I hear, even when I'm actually there, preferring to judge by the thump I feel through my feet (or my butt if I'm sitting down) a split second before the sound reaches my ears.

I didn't make it to the Esplanade this year, spending the day with my daughter down in Fairhaven instead. I found it interesting that when they fired the cannon at Ft. Phoenix, they said that they were using a charge of 18oz of powder, in contrast with the 10lb or powder they used for actual combat loads. Quite a contrast. Plenty loud enough to impress the civilians, but nothing close to the real thing.

Ken

 

[Kevlar]

They were doing rehearsal rounds all throughout the day...they were the same as during the rehearsals earlier...I was also there on the 3rd for the rehearsal...the sound was the same.

Only 2 of the 3 howitzers were firing during rehearsal...

As always, a military artillery unit brought three howitzers to the Esplanade to fire during the Boston Pops’ traditional dramatic orchestral piece that begins the fireworks display. During firing practice earlier in the evening, however, the 1-101st Field Artillery of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, under the direction of Capt. Tim Murphy, realized one of the howitzers was not firing properly. The culprit was determined to be a faulty firing pin. Faced with the prospect of only two-thirds of the cannon being able to fire during the Overture’s stirring climax, the Massachusetts State Police jumped into action.

Another howitzer had been utilized at an event in Plymouth earlier in the day. Apprised of the situation in Boston, National Guard members began to take the working firing pin out of that howitzer, so they could drive it up to Boston. To make sure it got here in time, MSP Motorcycle Unit Troopers David Mcquade and Douglas Loring revved their ignitions and hit the Southeast Expressway. When they got to the Weymouth area, they met the driver who had left Plymouth with the new pin. The troopers took possession of the pin, turned around, and rode back to Boston, arriving like the cavalry in time for the new pin to be inserted into the howitzer.

Because of the quick response of Troopers Mcquade and Loring, the famous Overture went off with a bang – or three of them, actually, from all three howitzers firing as intended. The Massachusetts State Police were honored to have been of assistance to the members of the military serving this country on this most patriotic of days.

Happy Independence Day from the Massachusetts State Police.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/plymouth...-helps-save-the-day-for-Bostons-1812-Overture