Page 161 - Udaan 2019-2021

Why We Give A 21-Gun Salute…

SRIJITA TALUKDAR, IX/X

A 21-gun salute is the most commonly recognized of the customary gun salutes
that are performed by the firing of cannons or artillery as a military honour. The
custom stems from a naval tradition where a warship would fire its cannons

harmlessly out to sea until all ammunition was spent to show that it was
disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent. The tradition of saluting can be

traced to the Middle Ages practice of placing oneself in an unarmed position and
in the power of those being honoured. In order to guarantee peace, warriors
would lay down their swords before approaching a foreign dignitary. While that

works for swords, bows, axes and staves, it doesn't work that well for cannons --
particularly not those on gunships. A ship simply can't just toss its cannons

overboard every time it comes into a port of questionable friendliness, after all.
Therefore, another solution was in order: the cannons would fire a cannonball

into the waters. It took a while to reload a cannon, so discharging them once
rendered them ineffective.

Most likely, due to superstition and a belief that the number seven was lucky,
many ships carried seven cannons. All that's left is that we multiply by three.
That multiplier comes from the shore-based response to the 7-gun salute. Ships

didn't carry a lot of gun powder because if it got wet, it'd not be very useful. On