What is a "Brass Monkey"?

Who knew that the Beastie Boys were seaman.

GreenerBrand1, erm... Every sailing ship had to have cannon for protection. Cannon of the times required round iron cannonballs. The master wanted to store the cannonballs such that they could be of instant use when needed, yet not roll around the gun deck. The solution was to stack them up in a square-based pyramid next to the cannon. The top level of the stack had one ball, the next level down had four, the next had nine, the next had sixteen, and so on. Four levels would provide a stack of 30 cannonballs. The only real problem was how to keep the bottom level from sliding out from under the weight of the higher levels. To do this, they devised a small brass plate ("brass monkey") with one rounded indentation for each cannonball in the bottom layer. Brass was used because the cannonballs wouldn't rust to the "brass monkey", but would rust to an iron one.  When temperature falls, brass contracts in size faster than iron. As it got cold on the gun decks, the indentations in the brass monkey would get smaller than the iron cannonballs they were holding. If the temperature got cold enough, the bottom layer would pop out of the indentations spilling the entire pyramid over the deck. Thus it was, quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

Is it terrible that the first thing I thought was Beastie Boys!?!

I was thinking of the drink. Oops.

It's a funky junkie

JonboysTrivia, nope, it is true, my brother worked on an old tall ship and this was known to happen

a funky chunky monkey

I've learned so much playing this game. Wonder if there is one for young children?

Remember the Beastie Boys... Brass Monkey!!

JayElleBee, untrue. My Father in Law is a retired Naval Commander who conducted historical research for the accuracy of Royal Navy archives. cannon balls were never stored so precariously. even the rolling of a ship would have been dangerous and on stormy seas there would have been a staggering hazard to the Shipmen, from loose and rolling cannon balls. such a system would have been dangerous, cumbersome and impractical. . i

Amos, not forgetting the 4th monkey - "do no evil", whose hands covered his nuts...

Never knew the origin or meaning of that phrase! Amazing the things you learn in this game!

WHO PERRISHED THEMSELVES WITH YOU AS YOUR SPRINGBOARD TEAM ANGEL OF ADVENT WILL GIVE THEM LORD

Whom however named said brass apparatus a « “monkey “» and maybe more importantly why so?

Bruh😒😒

Taramaiden, what you said. It is utter nonsense that they stored cannon balls this way.

MayhemsMomma415, every body was seamen at some stage of their life

it's a statue in bars in Australia & also a drink popular in the 60s

I got the question right, but a statue seems to be the best answer.

I thought it's a Mickey's beer with orange juice

Dumb As Rocks, as a kid I had 3 statuettes of brass monkeys, in the “See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil” poses….

Player Big Jannie, just depends how well they read and how curious about the world they are. I once looked after a three year old who asked me “Do red-tailed hawks eat peregrine falcons?” His 8 year-old brother swiftly replied “Those are both birds of prey, so they’re like, brothers! Besides, would one cat eat another cat? I don’t think so.” Not sure if he was technically correct, but the speed with which he came up with an answer for his still-in-diapers little brother, and said child’s original question, blew me away. They and their middle sibling, with all of their many questions and diverse areas of interest, made me VERY happy that Google was in existence to help find answers I didn’t know. The family I was a nanny for after high school (1990s) was also one with 3 equally bright and inquisitive kids, and their questions sometimes stumped me. (Kids of 2 doctors, one is now a doctor herself, her older brother has worked at Google, and her little brother has a tech job too!). In either of those families, I can envision the kids playing THIS game as young kids…

Teslasgirl66, same here

Uninitialized, you absolutely know about this

MayhemsMomma415, I just had the Beastie Boys song in my head.

How many times I have heard this saying before, now I know where it came😂 learn more from this game!

Player Big Jannie, try Cody Cross, similar but simpler.

like this comment if you got this right!

THE BEASTIE BOYS, BRASS MONKEY ! CLASSIC !!

Taramaiden, I am glad someone knows something true about this phrase. It has been held that it refers to the effect of cold on statuettes of creatures. Certainly no sensible seaman would store cannonballs in such a precarious device

I thought it was a "funky monkey 🐒". Learn something new each question!

I'm sorry but if 'that funky monkey' had been a choice I would have picked it regardless. 😆 lol

Now I know where the saying came from!!!

MayhemsMomma415, I believe they sing of a mixed drink of the same name.

Aren’t two of those options the same?

classic song from the beastie boys

Uninitialized, wow! you're very well informed! Awesome!

Haarveen3, really? And he is old enough to have used cannonballs?

TMAC0819, Exactly what I was thinking!

answer says "plate" - should say "frame"